Finished the top tonight. Was such a nice project, but the quilting will have to wait as I've two others under the thimble at the moment. I combined the best of what I saw, the two-tone and the double sash. Hope you like it. I don't like the picture and will take another tomorrow when I get 'round to it; it's really quite handsome.

Just perfect!! Can you post close up pictures, I enjoy seeing more detail!!

It is awesome... I love it...

I like it, I remember the block, it makes an excellent wall hanging :D

Striking! Love the colors.

ooh I love it!!!! I printed off the pattern for that one last week. I have to sit down and figure out yardage amount for a full size quilt now.

It is wonderful. Love your colors!

Stunning! That pattern is so striking.

Wowzers Steve!!! I love it, the colors are great! :) Good job! :)

I will take a close up as well today Izy, though I’ve not quilted it yet and the only thing more you might see is the pattern in the fabric. It is graphically a really strong quilt, and for my house rather large to go hanging (I found myself using the words ‘honkin’ big’ to describe the block size). Measuring 53 x 53 (without binding!), it really got big fast for something that’s only four blocks.

It takes about a yard and a half of each color (for the four blocks) Aggi, with careful cutting and depending on if you want the double sash and two colors vs. four. Some of the longer strips can come out of the same length as the shorter, so look at them first when cutting.

Glad you liked it ladies; did you all notice I used orange this time?

I noticed the orange, very striking with your other colors.

Steve, Great quilt. I did a couple of table runners last year in a pattern very similiar to this. It looked easy, but it really wasn't. I finally tweaked them to make it easier and they were the first things to sell of my table at the festival I took them to. Yours is great! :D

Very nice job! Lovin' the colors!!!

M

What a striking quilt, Steve! Your piecework is so precise!

Triciasquilts, I’m very curious what you did to make the pattern easier? Despite what Lucky Patsy's "Mom" says about the precise piecing, it was a bit hard getting them all sashed correctly. The blocks were so large that finishing it, and getting all the seams to line up, was a bugger. In the end I did a pretty good job, though honestly I think an experienced quilter would have done much better work of it than I did. It’s off about 1/16th in the middle, but with the interlocking you can’t really tell. I thought the woven lines more important than the seam. Once it’s quilted, that minor flaw should fade from sight.

I’ve decided to outline quilt instead of ditch so that each piece puffs out and the weave shows; though truthfully I’m unsure about my thinking on this.

Steve, that is just beautiful. Once again, you've shown what a master you are becoming! Have you given thought to entering a quilt show? You'd win something!!

You flatter me. My piecing is still not up to par (heck my pressing still needs work), and the quilting, though catching up is still progressing to the level I want. I think I'll eventually a show but that's still a few years off.

I had a thought: if I outline, but only the weave itself rather than each and every line, the design itself would be enhanced (it'll look more like it's actually a woven piece). Does that sound like plausible solution?

You were saying what about having just part of the talent of another quilter on another thread? That is awesome!!!! So crisp and precise!! Fantastic colors!! Truely, truely impressive!!

That's very cool. Looks like an engineer did it. :wink: I think it should go to your wife--for the name, or the engineer's convention--for the design.

You sure do good work. :!:

Great block & your arrangement made for a very cool quilt. Love the colors too, expecially the orange! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Steve, I love it. The colors are great!!!

Steve, what a pretty quilt! It's such a striking pattern and great colors too!

I like your ideas for quilting it! I think it would make it look more like a weave. Go for it!

And don't wait a few years to enter a show! You'd be denying tons of people the chance to see your beautiful quilt!

I entered the first quilt I ever made in a show and won second place! In a field of two!! LOL!

Gorgeous! I love the orange!

Thanks again ladies. I wish I was 100 % satisfied with the piecing; as is, it is acceptable to my mind. Yeah, I know you all think I have color sense, but honest it’s just eyeing bolt against bolt and seeing what tickles the eye and then thinking about the scheme on the pattern. Tonight, for instance, I’m dwelling on what such a rich brown against a cream white would have looked like, and then again, what orange, or for that matter any other color, would have done; do you all have the same fascination with hues and what they do to a pattern?

I’m pleased with this, but honestly would have liked to see what a master quilter could have done with the piecing. Yeah, I could dwell on what I liked about it, but I always see room for improvement in my own work and seldom am completely at ease with anything. Maybe I should repeat the pattern or at least the technique till satisfied. If nothing else it will give me a chance at the cream white I was thinking about (with possibly a robins egg blue frame?).

Here are the pics I promised of the quilt up close as well as another that a friend at work was kind enough to snap for me (see, not so exact as all that):

Your quilt is looking real awesome and inspirational Steve. It's funny, i've seen lover's knot done a dif way when i have googled it, and wanted to show you an online photo i found, do you think it is the same pattern, just placed differently? Or maybe another patter? Anyways, thought you'd enjoy seeing this version

Steve,
I was just going to say, way to go! Nice job! and all that but I think a little lecture is in line here!
Your quilt is lovely and you've come a long way from where you started. You are not, I repeat, NOT, to go around pointing out the minor errors on your quilt. Really! No one is going to notice them at all. I had no idea your center seam was a tad off! It just doesn't show up in the overall picture. Just smile and say, "Thank you!"

I subscribe to Eleanor Burns theory. She says to, "Hang it high and keep it moving!"
With each project we learn something new and improve our skills just a wee bit more. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with next.

One of my quilting "mentors" has taught me that a quilter should NEVER point out his/her mistakes! It's hard for me, but I'm working at that - just presenting the quilt without my harsh editorial comment!

In my mind, I always hold my father up as the standard. He always does things well (in my mind) because he works hard at it, and anything less isn't something he does. My little brother is in his mid- forties and still goes to therapy over this 'issue'. I guess all three of us boys just idolize our father and set our own expectations way too high. We see the good in our work, but the flaws just nag at us.

Yes, you are right Yvonne, I know in my heart you are. The beauty should trample the insecurity right out of there. If I spent even half the energy working harder as I do grumbling and fretting, improvements would be a given.

Thanks for all the kind words; they really do encourage me to strive harder in a good way.

:roll:

Hey Barb, that's one nice quilt. I don't think it's the same pattern, but love the interlocking quality just the same. When you going to make one? :wink:

Of course I'm right, Steve! :mrgreen: I didn't say it would be easy but you just have to learn. I think that's hard for everyone to learn to just say, "Thank you!" and not say, oh, but did you notice... Someone wise once told me that when you do that you are slamming the other persons judgement. "Oh, you don't know what you're talking about. Look at this!" and I know you don't want to do that!

I can also understand growing up with parents who, in my eyes, were perfect! My dad was a carpenter. In the last home he built for our mother he used knotty pine in the kitchen. He matched the knots on the cupboard doors. You could hardly see where the opening was because it looked like one piece of wood! He was the ultimate craftsman. Our mother was a homemaker and made all of our clothes. We were the best dressed girls in our little town. At least we felt that way! Mom and Dad always expected us to do our best. I can remember bringing home an all 'A' report card with one A-. Dad was proud and I could tell but he looked at me and said, "Well, there's room for improvement!" :lol:
I used to ask our daughters the famous question, "Did you do your best?" That was all I requested of them. Do your best and be proud of it!

(end of lecture!)

You guys all give good council about NOT pointing out your own mistakes. We are all our worst critics and if you think about it, you wouldn't necessarily point out your friend's mistake on a quilt so treat yourself at least as good as you would treat your friends and don't point out the mistakes on your own. My quilt teacher tells us if a mistake isn't visible while galloping by on a slow moving horse then it really isn't much of a mistake...if it's noticable no matter what and by whom, then maybe you want to get your rippppppppittttttt gadget out and do a fix. Happy quilting. You all do phenominal work and are so inspirational. Thank You.

Steve, your Loves Knot quilt is wonderful. I, too, like the orange in the sashing. Someone sent a picture they got off the Internet for a Lover's Knot block...the picture of the block she sent is the one our quilt class did several years ago. It's a nice block, too.

Well I sure had fun doing it and like looking at it, so something must be right. It's true, we are our own worse critic, but why point it out and spoil it for others?

Live and learn, and learn, and learn... :wink:

Quilting is a learning process that never ends. I know I'm bad when it comes to picking out mistakes in my work and it took a long time and a lot of hard work to see them as a lesson. To me that is all part of the fun involved in quilting, I still get excited when sewing pieces together and seeing the outcome when I press them open...

I grew up with parents who set extremely high expectations for us kids, which put tremendous stress on us, more so for me because I am dyslexic. In time I found ways to do things that took the confusion out of the equation and worked for me, but I always felt I disappointed them even though I know they never intended their comments to have that affect.

With my own kids I expected them to do the best they could, and my only question to them was, "are you happy with the results?" because in the end that is all that matters. It's so easy to dwell on the negative and over look the positives....I believe that just because someone doesn't do something the way you think they should, doesn't mean they didn't do it to the best of their ability....

Steve your work is awesome, you have a good eye for color,so quit being so hard on yourself. :)

Okay, I've put my soap box away now.... :) LOL

I still say that that is the funniest part about the whole thing. When I started, what I worried most about was being able to pick out the colors. Now, it seems that's what I do pretty well. I suppose the rest of quilting will settle down the same way as I learn. Cool!

Hmmm...i dont think im gonna make this pattern steve, at least, not on my list of things to do soon, but maybe someday. I love yours so much, i will just enjoy looking at yours instead :)

I love the colors and the design. Less is more sometimes, especially in this case.

beautiful quilt steve...i have been thinking about doing this for my son in black and white so on a scale of difficulty of 1 - 5 (5 being the hardest) where would you rate it for a beginner? Everyone is right your quilt is awesome so learn to accept compliments for your work as you will get lots more going by your quilting efforts so far! :thumbup: