Texas Quilt

Here are Gwen and Freddy at the retreat. I keep saying it but they are so much fun to work with.


















This is the quilt top I made. I thought I would start with mine and show you some of the others later. I made a lot of the "parts" before I came. They like to use lots and lots of black and white sawtooth. Notice how it frames the central part of the quilt.





























This is the center, made up of broken dishes in blues and oranges. I really like the way other patterns are created when you put the broken dishes squares together. Freddy emphasizes value, she likes to use darks, and lights rather than colors with the same value. She says if you use the same value of colors they look "mushy".






























On one of the design boards that was across from me someone had done a lot of 4 patches and put them on point. The more I looked the more I fell in love with that technique. They have a really neat way of putting squares on point. Don't you just love the little star in the corner.



















I asked Freddy for advice on which fabric to use and she said use them all!!! So I did.




























When I put my squares up on my design board there were some gaps. Gwen loves to use sawtooth to fill in the gaps. Look at what she suggested I do in this corner. It looks like it was planned but it wasn't.

























Gwen also likes to use strips of fabric for gaps. If you will notice here the strip of fabric flows into the other squares and provides interest and surprise.

















I put the four square on point on three sides. I had made some spiky sawtooth and I really wanted to use it so they suggested I use it on the bottom. I had a liberated log cabin that Freddy and Gwen both liked and wanted me to use. My spiky sawtooth was not the same height as the log cabin square so I inserted the strip of red.






















Here is another strip and some sawtooth inserted to fill in a gap. Notice how the purple triangles of the sawtooth and the purple of the square provide a little surprise.


















Freddy and Gwen like surprises in their quilts. They like for their quilts to be interesting to look at, so that every time you look at them you see something new. They taught me so much. I wanted share some of their ideas and tips.