The Incredible Shrinking Quilt

I made The Way Home in 1996 for the National Quilt Museum’s contest: “New Quilts From an Old Favorite ~ Mariners Compass”. It was one of 18 winning quilts that hung in the museum, traveled the country, and was featured in a book about the exhibit. What a blessing!

It’s 60″ square, and is also featured on the cover of my Compass Capers book. A year or two ago I thought it would be fun to make it in miniature. I drafted it the size I thought best, and began paper piecing the compasses at a retreat. Then it went on the back burner. Earlier this year I pulled it out and worked on it between other projects. I pieced the center square first and then got to work on those elongated, pointy oval shapes. I wondered what those shapes are called. I’ve been referring to them as “marquis,” like cut gems. I looked it up and in geometry they can be called “pointed ovals” or “vesica piscis”. I think I’ll stay with marquis. It’s the shape that’s made when 2 circles overlap. – and that’s how I originally drafted it.

They were fun to piece!

The difficult part was choosing a fabric to fit between the compasses. The original one was purchased at Ben Franklin in Oconomowoc, WI all those years ago (I really miss that store).

Even though I had some of it left (yes, it’s been in the stash since 1996!), the scale was way off for a mini. But we live in an amazing age. I was able to rescale a photo of the fabric to the size I needed, and have it printed on quilter’s cotton at Spoonflower.com.

Once the compasses were pieced I stitched these new fabric rectangles to the center compass. The tricky part was going to be the curves. I knew that the seam allowances on the marquis compasses were just too bulky to fold back around the paper patterns. Fortunately I’d saved the background pieces of paper from between the compasses when they were drafted. I traced them onto freezer paper, ironed it to the back of the marquis compasses, and pressed back the seam allowances on the map fabric with liquid starch to create the finished arc. Then I squeezed a thin line of Elmer’s School Glue™ along the back seam allowance on the curve, placed it on the first marquis compass, aligned the points, and ironed the glue dry.

It looks nice, but it’s only glued in place. Here it is from the back:

It was now ready to appliqué, and since Mary Jo’s hand appliqué had been such an inspiration to me at the last retreat ~ I knew I could do this (stay tuned for a post about some of her amazing quilts)! It was actually a very enjoyable process, and I soon had 2 marquis compasses stitched in place.

Pressing the remaining curves of the map fabric for the other compasses was a bit trickier at this point. But I persevered and was very pleased with the results!

I then went looking for a green fabric to encircle the center piece ~ and I found the remnants from the original circle made back in 1996. Sometimes keeping too much stuff has it’s advantages. I used the Pieceliqué™ basting method once again, and hand appliquéd the circle.

Now it’s time to piece the very odd shaped corner compass quarters. Here’s what they look like in the original quilt:

Watch for my next update ~ I’m hoping it will be soon. I’ve been thinking about the possibility of entering it in the miniature quilt competition in Paducah this coming April. The deadline for entries is November 19th. Perhaps that will be the incentive I need.

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And one more thing, in case you were wondering about the Autumn image at the top of this post, this past week we stopped at Jelli’s Market, a pumpkin farm near us. They do fun artwork on their hay bales every year, and I especially loved this one. Happy Autumn ~ and God Bless America!