Quilt for a Brother

Unfortunately, not every quilt story is a happy one.  I think that may well be the motivation for the making of many quilts.  They are made for reasons of illness, sadness and sometimes, unbearable grief.  They may also be made out of frustration – The Drunkards Path Quilts come to mind.  They can be a therapy as much as an art form or for joy.  One thing I do know is that there is the wish from the maker, that it will bring some comfort and joy to the recipient.   Another thing to remember is, that once a quilt has left your hands, who knows what will become of it.  I like to make quilts that can be used.  Not just for looking at…

Some time back now, at my Mother’s request, I made a quilt for my brother, who was not very well at the time.  Because I needed the quilt quickly,  I decided to make a quilt in big blocks, I wanted something easy but still a bit interesting and that was how I came upon the 10 Minute Blocks by Suzanne McNeill.  Each block is made from 5 x 10″ squares, and made by sewing only three seams with the centre block carefully sewn into the seams.  Afterwards the centre block edges are turned back and top stitched in order to give the interest of a curved seam.

For more information look up 10 minute blocks by Susanne McNeill.

So I decided to make her 10 Minute Blocks from 10″ squares.  I made 9 of them.  I chose a palette of golds, browns  and blues.  I used unbleached calico for the block centres, to give the quilt definition.  I adapted her block idea by then using the same technique to join the blocks together.  Then added a border, followed by a second border of 5″ x 10″ rectangles, to compliment the quilt blocks,

I free motion quilted the whole quilt except the calico blocks, with forget-me-nots.

The complimentary backing is made from four squares of fabrics which were used on the front of the quilt.

To date, he has not taken the quilt home.  He says it’s too good to use…what can one do…..