Let’s Book It!

Way back in the dim past that was the beginning of this year, I decided that Sharon’s Let’s Book It linky party was a great idea. Sharon blogs at Vroomans Quilts, and was encouraging us to make something from all those quilting books, magazines and PDF files accumulating on our shelves and in our computer – you know, the ones we’ve bought or been given that we’ve never actually used except to admire the quilts.

“Great idea” said I, to myself. “But I’ve never made a quilt from any of my quilting books because I’ve never made a quilt from a pattern”. But Sharon’s idea went further – we were encouraged, if we so desired, to use a pattern for inspiration, as a springboard to another quilt.

I have admired this quilt in Quilts for Kids by Elaine Hammond ever since I saw the book on sale in the book store. Of course, it was the limited palette and the bold bright colours that got my attention; not the actual design of the quilt.

 
Then I saw the same design in Scrap Quilt Sensation by Katherine Guerrier.

It’s an old, tried and true pattern – Jacob’s Ladder, made of four-patches and large half-square triangles. Katherine’s scrappy quilt may not be as striking as Elaine’s design but it does make use of something I have in abundance – scraps!

My friend, Deb, who blogs at A Simple Life Quilts, finished a Jacob’s Ladder quilt in October last year. Hers is made in Thimbleberry fabrics and is modern and fresh from the use of white to make the ‘ladder’ stand out. I love the way the choice of fabrics and treatments make the same pattern look so different!

Several months ago, I decided to make four patches from 2.5” squares as my ‘leader and ender’ project. I did the math back then regarding how many I would need to make the quilt the size required by my quilting group (48”-54” x 60”-70”) and worked out that I need ninety-something. It was just as easy to make 100, then I’d have more than enough. Some could always go on the back where I generally have a panel of some kind to widen the backing fabric.

In this post, I showed you that I had 60 four-patches completed; I now have the 100 blocks completed; and have moved on to making the half-square triangles from 5" squares. Trimming them down to 4.5" squares is the most time consuming part of the experience!

All I have done was match a dark fabric with a lighter fabric (which may well be a mid-toned fabric) and sew them in pairs, then I’d join the pairs together to make four-patches or sew the squares diagonally to make two HST. Making blocks this way is so easy; I’m really making two quilts at any time without taking my focus from the one that is my ‘main’ project. 

If you’re not into scrappy quilts, Jenny Doan of the Missouri Star Quilting Company has a video on YouTube for making a Jacob’s Ladder quilt the easy way using pre-cuts but you could use yardage instead.

Are you playing along with Let’s Book It? It’s not too late to join in the fun – this is my first link-up ; nothing like coming in at the end of the year! (LOL) Sharon intends to continue with this next year (yay); there are a few more books on my shelf and patterns in my PDF library that need my attention and I’ve even been cutting pieces in anticipation!