Quilt Reveal: Red and White Hourglass Quilt

I have finished the Red and White Hourglass quilt for the Project Quilting challenge for this week . The challenge is to make a quilt that is inspired by an hourglass. It must be started and finished in one week.

I've actually wanted to make a red and white hourglass quilt for a long time, years. I saw one in a museum and the docent would not allow me to take a photo of it, even though it is a simple traditional pattern. I drew it out and shaded in the red parts so I would remember what it looked like, but I must have been on a No New Quilts Until the Old Ones are Finished rule, so I did not start the quilt and it stayed on the To-Do List.

I thought about making a red and white hourglass quilt for this challenge, but I wasn't sure I would be able to make a good one in time. I wanted one with enough blocks that the secondary patterns would show through and I also had the blog hop quilt to finish.

So I thought I would make one with one long hourglass block, and a quote on the other side. I got the bright idea that I could print the quote on fabric and that would make the words easy to get on the fabric.

Then I got the bright idea that I could applique an hourglass. So I looked for a pretty picture, and while I was playing in Canva, I thought I could make the whole design, print it on fabric, and make a wholecloth quilt with minimal quilting, easy peasy.

The printer didn't cooperate. I don't think it is the printer's fault. I think that with new releases of Windows and printer drivers, the printer is becoming obsolete even though it works perfectly fine. Or maybe I don't use the ink fast enough and it dries up before I get a chance to use it. This problem has been happening, so I don't think it is just this ink cartridge. There was some faint picture but not enough to see what it is.

So I went to Plan B, or is it Plan A? I used some solid fabric and decided I wanted a bigger quilt so I added other reds from my scrap pile. I didn't make the block with half square triangles that turn into quarter square triangles. I made stripes and set the squares on point.

I found some more red scraps when I went to look for a backing fabric so I made more blocks.

Since this is a quilt that I wanted to make for a long time, I wanted to make it right, so I quilted on both sides of the ditch so that the hourglass blocks are more apparent. The lines are organic sewn. I am hoping that the flaws in the points get hidden rather than accentuated.

I have always admired lightly quilted quilts and I really like the look of this one.

I trimmed the quilt. My original plan was to birth the quilt, but I decided to use the leftover red fabric I had. I didn't have the time to make the quilt bigger, but I thought it would show the quilt better if the backing fabric could not be seen from the front.

I machine stitched the binding to save time. This is a skill I am learning and have not perfected, but I guess I won't learn it if I don't keep trying.

I'll take some glamor shots later, but I wanted to make sure I got this blog post up. I missed the deadline on one of the challenges because I didn't have the blog post up.

Thank you for this challenge again this year. I finally got my red and white hourglass quilt made!

I will post a Youtube video about this quilt and give you a link here next Sunday.

15 Minutes to Stitch 2024

I I have definitely been quilting every day.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7 days

15 minute days this year -- 56 out of 56 days

Success rate  = 100%

Linked with: Life in Pieces 15 Minutes to Stitch