A Tsunami, a Festival, and Baptist Fans

I saw an intriguing quilt recently on Deonn Stott's blog, "Quiltscapes". Such a clever name for the quilt--Tsunami: A Giant Storm at Sea. And that is exactly what it is: a giant version of the beloved quilt pattern, Storm at Sea. You can see many variations of this quilt on Deonn's blog here. (The red/white/blue version would be great for Quilts of Valor.)

And here is my progress so far. These blocks are huge--the smallest block is the lavender/purple square-in-a-square. It is 8 1/2" unfinished. I've made quilts smaller than that!!  You will notice that only three blocks combine to make the entire quilt, and create the illusion of curves with only straight edges being sewn. Don't you love that in a quilt?

I am using Grunge "Seeing Stars" fabric line for this creation. So out of my wheelhouse. I was going to use batiks, but when I went fabric shopping with a friend last week, I realized none of the shops we were visiting carried batiks. So when I saw the colors I was hoping to find were all in this line, I snatched them up.

Eight years ago I foundation pieced a mini Storm at Sea quilt. Just yesterday, as I walked past the yardstick gallery outside my sewing room door where that mini hangs, I realized something. The colors I used then are exactly the colors I chose for this quilt--without consciously choosing to copy it.

Crazy, isn't it? I guess my mind goes to those colors when I think of a storm at sea.

And to get an idea of the size difference between these two projects, here they are on the design wall together.

Sorry for the poor lighting on this. This little quilt pretty much matches the size of the smallest block in Tsunami. 

So if you have always wanted to make a Storm at Sea quilt, but are not sure you would have the patience for all those little pieces, and diamond shapes, this may be the way to go.

Missouri Star Quilt Company has a tutorial for making the blocks, and they have partnered with Deonn to make a template to cut those diamonds. The pattern comes with a paper template, but I bought the template from MSQC, and I am not sorry. The links for the digital pattern, printed pattern, tutorial, and the acrylic template are all in Deonn's post linked in the first paragraph of this post.

You can see the template in this photo, with all of the fabric cut and ready to sew. Very easy to cut everything for this quilt.

On Thursday I had the opportunity to spend just a few hours at the Salt Lake City International Quilt Festival. I really enjoyed the large number of vintage quilts on display. There was a section of red/green quilts for a "Christmas In July" display. Another display titled "Out of the Blue" was almost entirely vintage blue and white quilts. And there was a display called "Pieces of the Past", that included a wide range of vintage quilts. There were several other displays, and I enjoyed them all, but those three were my favorites.

But the highlight of the festival for me was the opportunity to meet another blogger. Barbara Black (My Joyful Journey blog) works in the Education Office for the Quilt Festival, whether in Salt Lake City, Houston, or wherever they are. I was able to stop in, grab a hug, and chat for a while before going to enjoy the festival. It was such a treat!

Barbara was binding a quilt (Blueberry Hill) she had shared on her blog recently.

She has been teaching quilt making for many years, and is a concise, thorough teacher. She even teaches on cruises. This is the info on her next one. She also does teaching videos for The Quilt Show's BOM. I am in awe of her many talents!

I will be adding this meet-up to the tab above named accordingly (Blogger meet-ups).

On the actual quilting front, I am finally getting around to quilting the half-log cabin quilt I assembled after having shoulder surgery a few years back. I am using Barb's large Baptist Fan stencil. I had my quilt basted by my longarm quilter, and then I mark one row at a time using the stencil and a pounce pad. That way the marks haven't all rubbed away before I get to them.

Don't look too closely at the two rows I have already quilted. There is a multitude of wobbles and bobbles. I've had the stencil for a long time, but this is the first time I've used it. 

I'm quilting this on my HandiQuilter Sweet 16. No, I don't usually let the quilt hang down over the table as I work. I keep it rolled up in front of me. But when I stepped away to take the photo, it unrolled.

I am practicing the Baptist Fans on this quilt, because I want to use them on my Circa 1880 quilt, but I didn't want that to be the first time I had tried quilting that Baptist Fan pattern.

More glorious sunsets recently. Here is one of them.

I should be back in a week for the monthly mini post and a check in with Chooky's Churn Dash SAL (thanks for the spontaneous Zoom today, Chooky).

Until then, be creative, and be kind!

Janet O.