Turtlemania Leads to New Quilt Block
Since posting several files about turtles during the past two days, along with some images of vintage embroidered whimsical turtle blocks, I looked for other examples of antique quilt blocks of turtles. I found one, pieced, turtle block that was created by combining four Drunkard Path type blocks together, and adding a head and a tail.
Appliquéd turtle block made by Pat Cummings on 4/18/07
That block design looked like entirely too much work, when one can just as easily use a needleturn appliqué method to accomplish the same look. So, as you see, I used some perfect batik fabric in my stash to appliqué the body of the turtle. The benefit of using the overall shape of the body and cutting just one piece of fabric is that the design of the batik is not interrupted.
The overall shape of the block was first published in the 1930s by Home Art Studios, and you can see the original block in Blockbase (#3411.)
Now for another little turtle story. Somewhere in my home town, there is the tiniest “pond” imaginable, that sits near the road. Someone suggested filling in this pond so that a car dealership could be expanded. There was public uproar about this proposed action. Why? There is a rock that juts out of the pondlet, and on sunny days, turtles congregate there. It was a victory for the turtles! The pond is still there and so are they.
I promise to talk about something else next time. How about frogs? teeheehee.
Have a super day! The sun is actually shining today!!
Pat
[...] I have the design layout for my Jacob’s Ladder block (also called Road to California) and am planning to work on that tonight. I felt really bad going to my class last night without one of my blocks finished but then I found out that another girl in the class hadn’t finished either one of her blocks, and that made me feel a little better. The block we learned last night is called the Drunkard’s Path block. It isn’t too excited except that it has curves, ooooh. Our teacher told us to not be scared of the curves, because they are not as hard as everyone makes them out to be. Once you have done one or two, you will become an expert. But, what I thought was so cool, was that she gave us this pattern from Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting March/April 2004, and it uses the Drunkard’s Path block in the cutest way, to make turtles! Pat Cummings has a great picture here of the turtle with the Drunkard’s Path block, but she actually appliqued her block. I think I am going to do the turtle block as well, but not appliqued. Also, after I saw that cute quilt made entirely from turtles, I thought it would looks soooo cute using those 30’s prints. I also noticed that the pattern calls for something like 20 fat quarters. Well, I think I have about 10 or 15 so I am trying to come up with a way to swap people for some 30’s fat quarters. I know I could probably just raid my mother in law’s stash but that wouldn’t be as fun as swapping! So, check back soon because I think there will be some sort of fat quarter swap in my future for 1930’s prints. I would really love to make a turtle block pillow for my friend Will who really likes turtles, or at least he did the last time I spoke with him which was awhile back. His wife might not like turtles but from what I know of her, she is really easy going and might like a turtle pillow. I think the cutest part of the turtle pattern is that the head and the tail are just attached at the base of the piece, meaning they float freely on the quilt. Does that make sense, sort of like prairie points. They are three dimensional, cool! Also, I saw an interesting quilt design the other day on Lucy’s blog and now I have found the instructions for the tumblers quilt. It is such a cute design and doesn’t look too hard. In fact, I sort of like the fact that the sides are angles because then it fools the eye and if the corners don’t match exactly, it will be difficult to tell. The most difficult part, I believe would be putting the border on to make the whole thing square! This would be a good thing to use charms for, perhaps left over charms from all those charm pack projects I am doing. I have do have a few left over almost every time. Great, just what I need, another project! Well, all this talk of quilting and different patterns has made me anxious to get home and get to sewing. Too bad it is only 9:00am and I have to work until 4:30pm! Oh well, that’s life, if I want electricity to power my sewing machine and money to pay for fabric, I guess I have to work every day. [...]