Sideways, but still... Recently we returned to Georgia where I had the experience of sorting through the remains of my mother-in-law's particular legacy. In this case, boxes and boxes of fabric and cut fabric and blocks and quilt tops very near to completion. I was searching specifically for the last quilt we had been working on together - a kaleidoscope quilt that was cut and more blocks than not assembled. We found it the next to last box that was opened. I did a happy dance and got teary-eyed at the same time.This however, is not that quilt top. This is instead a finished top. I say finished, but obviously there were issues or it would have been quilted. A couple of things that my inexperienced eye picks out 1) the center is puckered- was she concerned that it needed work? 2) the baby blue fabric in the fill spots is thin-like she used a sheet instead of fabric for the large pieces. And too one of the corner squares has been pieced as if she had run out of a solid cut large enough to fit. The more experienced eyes of the quilt fabric shop ladies pointed out that the triangle fill pieces are placed on the bias and will stretch when it is bound. Also, Hazel used two different reds - randomly - in the red stripes. The ladies also said that the center would "quilt out" but that the triangular fills would need to be replaced. The sole print fabric that was used seems to have little if any relationship to the solid colors that were used - the flowers are pink, teal, and maroon.
For all the flaws though, the piecing is spot on. The star is vibrant and the size impressive. So what is an overextended girl to do? Buy fabric of course! The plan is remove the insipid baby blue fill pieces and replace them with (correctly) cut tone on tone teal fabric. The teal will pick up part of the print, modernize, and coordinate with the rest of the solids in the quilt. That is, once the sewing machine is back from the shop.
Some detail shots:
