I wanted something bright and colorful to hang. The Lotus quilt was my target. It really struck me. My first attempt was boring but I wasn't giving up. I knew I wanted color. Let's just say my boring blue Xmas glitter fabric version is going to be cut apart and turned in to hexagons with brightly colored points instead. That will help it I hope!
Anyhoooo....
A friend of mine bought the Hex and More Ruler by Jaybird Quilts. It's actually a pretty nifty ruler. I am definitely buying one for myself although she told me to just borrow it for awhile. She won't be using it for a bit. She has an even bigger ruler collection than I do. I'm waiting on her to locate her Radiant Suns by Doodlepress template. I really want to make that. I saw a YouTube video on it and really want to make it. I'm not afraid of curves....
But curves are not on the design wall right now. The Lotus Quilt by Jaybird Quilts.
First off I have to admit that I did not purchase the pattern. There honestly isn't much to the design although it would give official finishing directions which I assume are just lop off half of a block and use it on the edges. I literally just cut my blocks in half and am sewing them on the edges which is why I have identical blocks on the sides of the quilt which I'm not too keen on. I'm considering ripping them apart and making 2/3 blocks which is what I'm going to do with the next version I do. I know that sounds weird but I can see what could be done to save those tips on the uncut edge triangles. Before I cut them in half I knew I needed to add 1/4" to the sides to not lose my points but I was being fabric thrifty quite honestly so I just lopped them off. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'm going to sew a few more together before I start ripping. I might be remaking those 8 side triangles that I need before this quilt is done. I know that sounds confusing but it works in my brain. You only need 2 out of 3 of the jewel shapes to clear that 1/4" mark so why make an entire triangle. When I make the next one I'll add a little tutorial here to show off my brainstorm.
My other idea is to just lop them off in half like I already did and add 1 1/2" strip of that dark fabric to the straight cut edge. That will give me a nice built in border too which is sweet. I'll be losing the tips from the side triangles but I'm okay with that. In fact, I really like that idea so that might happen this time around. It will be less work than ripping apart. I can cut and sew a strip to the side of each half triangle faster than I can rip apart, cut more triangles and sew together again and cut again. Yikes. That's madness for a quilt I ultimately hope to sell so yeah, totally adding a 1 1/2" border to the cut edge of each of these half triangles. That's going to happen later today. I'll post updates to the Lotus Quilt after I finish this.
I will say that I'm totally buying this ruler even if my friend has it on an extended loan. I would have bought it already if Jaybird Quilts had Creative Grids make her ruler. I'm a ruler snob. That's all there is to it.
No matter what, this one will be for sale at the library. My earth tones one I'm going to make smaller jewel cuts. This lotus I used for this bright one was the biggest possible to make it faster... and fast it was. I could totally have made this in one day if we had not taken a 3 hour detour to Sirs fabrics to buy a bolt of wide backs. I decided it would be quicker to buy wide backs on sale than it would be to piece the backings. Yeah, Joanns sells some but they're always on a dinky sale when I'm looking for them and I'd rather get them on a good sale. Yeah, we both like a road trip too which is probably the biggest reason we went. It was a spur of the moment $135 fabric shopping spree. Yeah. I bought more than 11 yards of quilt backs...