The Blue Quilt
After my last post, several of you wondered about the blue quilt on my design wall. On May 11th, Minnesota adopted a new Great Seal of the State of Minnesota. BigJ challenged me to make a quilt inspired by the new state seal, and that is the blue quilt on my design wall.
The first thing I did before beginning the work, was to check that there was no copyright on the seal. It is public domain, although there are some restrictions, none of which applied in this case. This link shows you the new seal and the significance of each of its symbols. I am not integrating all of them into my quilt, nor am I making the quilt round. My quilt will finish approximately 48 inches square.
Hubs had one specific change he wanted in the quilt; he wanted the trees to have trunks. Thank goodness it was something simple!
The quilt is a blend of improv, traditional piecing, paper piecing, and applique. I started with the simple step, choosing the fabrics. I have a light and dark blue, along with a bright yellow. The next step was to begin the construction. I started with improv, making the waves of blue and dark blue. This was a bit tricky due to the size of the strips, which are 36.5 inches. Once that was done, I freehand sketched the loon and the wild rice onto freezer paper.
This photo shows a bit of my process. the loon is sketched out and cut from freezer paper. The trees are sketched on two pieces of regular paper, so I could get the size proportion correct, as well as the overlap of the two trees. The North Star was the easiest part of this segment of the quilt; it is paper pieced, using foundation papers from Missouri Star that I had left over from this quilt project.
The trees are traditionally pieced. It took some thought on how to join them together, but I enjoyed the process of seeing if I could make it work. And I remembered to add the trunks!
I haven’t cropped the photos so you can see how I would use them to “step back” and look at the quilt, to see if the proportion between the segments was correct. Once I was happy with the placement of the star with the trees, I stitched them into one block or unit. Then I added a large light blue rectangle to the trees and star, the base for adding the loon and the wild rice.
The little pink sticky note reminds me that I needed to make that strip of fabric just a bit larger before I went on. To the right, you can see the loon taking shape.
For the loon, I ironed the freezer paper design onto black fabric, then traced around it with a white chalk pencil. That done, I think traced around it again 1/4″ away to remind me to leave a 1/4″ when cutting it out. The eye (which is red, but difficult to see since it is about 1/4″ in diameter) and the white wing and neck of the loon were added by needle turn applique. I am not very good at applique, so that is the most challenging part of this segment of the quilt.
The loon has now been cut out and basted onto the quilt, ready for the applique step. I do know that I could glue baste, but I am finding it just as easy to use the needle turn method.
Once the loon is done, it will be on to the wild rice. Another bit of applique, and then the middle segment of the quilt will be finished, and I can move on to the borders. I’ll share more on that when I get to that stage.
So that’s my progress on the blue quilt on my design wall. I’m itching to get this done so I can move on to the next project. Although I’m enjoying the challenge of this quilt, it is definitely taking me out of my comfort zone. I’m ready to work on something fun and relaxing soon!
Wendy
Life at Pieceful Thoughts
25 Comments
Diann@ Little Penguin Quilts
That’s so cool, Wendy! What a fun idea and challenge from Big J. Looks like it’s coming along really well, too! What do the words on the seal mean? Are you going to add them?
Vicki in MN
OMG I saw this hanging on your design wall in the last post and was going to ask about it and forgot by the time I wrote a comment! You are so very creative, love it!!!
Bernie
This is such a lovely idea and how creative you are to be able to implement/execute J’s idea.
where will this hang?
Bernie
I had to come back again….. I just looked at the Minnesota state symbols. It was super interesting! Love that you have a state muffin, photograph, bee and more. So I went and looked at Washington’s symbols. We have many but alas, no state muffin.
Barbara J Stanbro
Oh my gosh…that is so pretty. Nice work. Looking forward to seeing it finished.
rmgsummers413a14ca5a
What a beautiful job you are doing. Hubby’s challenge is really giving you something to sink your teeth into. I love reading about the thoughts and planning you are putting into each section. I will have to remember some of those ideas if I ever tackle something like this. The trees, star and loon look great. Leaving sticky notes to remind you of the next step is such a great idea. I look forward to seeing more.
EVa
This will be such a wonderful work. it will be a wall hanger I guess? You do a fantastic work!! You are good in appliqué!! I learned now what a seal is and I think everybody will ask your hubby who did it. And he will be proud to tell.
You did a fantastic work and it will turn out all very good. You mix all the technics and this is fantastic.
Yvonne @Quilting Jetgirl
Oh, what a fun prompt and I love the BigJ suggested it. Your progress looks great, and I hope the needle turn applique is more fun than stressful to work on.
karenfae
love your step by step adding more to it – looks great
chollasandbox
Love seeing the process and looking forward to seeing the finished project. Glad to see Minnesota is following the trend to change everything and keep old people confused!
laura bruno lilly
What a great way to incorporate your wavy strips! I’ve made up a few based upon your tutorials and love the process. Because they were made from scraps, I feel progress was made on reducing the scrap bin – but not advancing towards any particular usage just yet. HA!
T
You’re doing great with Big J’s challenge quilt, Wendy!!
Vicki Welsh
I like where you are going with that!
texasquiltgal
Nice job Wendy!! The blue, which apparently is so significant, is perfect, and I love the Lakota influence on the name of the state. I like BigJ’s tree trunk suggestion – trees need trunks! Has he seen the progress so far?
texasquiltgal
I meant “Dakota”, not Lakota.
Cocoa Quilts
Thanks to Big J for making the suggestion/challenge. I love to see how you are working on each section. I looked at the seal and wondered if you are adding any words?
marissthequilter
This is so impressive and I was not surprised to read that this project has taken you out of your comfort zone. Well done Wendy.
Kate
What a fun challenge! You are definitely having to pull out all of your skills, the good ones and the weak ones. It’s coming together beautifully!
Quilting is in my Blood
What an awesome challenge from your husband. It’s looking great. I especially love the loon and the wild rice.
Helen
This is a very different kind of project for you. I look forward to watching it come together.
Anja @ Anja Quilts
Good luck. Can’t wait to see the finished version.
aquilterstable
Well this is fun! Thanks for sharing some of your process.
Laura
Great project Wendy! I checked out your link to the state seal and it is very cool! 🙂
Kathleen McCormick
This is awesome. I knew I missed a post the other day, but it has been hectic. I love your take on the design – can’t wait to see it grow up!
Tracie
First off, it’s so fun that BigJ asked you to do this. Second, you’ve got skills! I didn’t doubt your design ability and now I know you can needle-turn appliqué. Wow 🤩 The loon looks so cool already! Thanks for sharing your process.