I’m working on what may very well be my final finished quilt for the year. It’s another custom order for a friend of mine to give as a baby gift, and I decided to try out the double-hourglass tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew. It has been, indeed, quite easy and I strongly recommend giving it a try.
The only thing is that some of the cutting and trimming is a little tedious. My blocks ended up about 6¼”, so I trimmed them all down to 6″. I’ve never really done much squaring up like that, mostly because I’m lazy and it’s boring. But, man, I really think it made all the difference in how the points are lining up (reasonably well) and how the top came together (very nice and flat). Lesson learned: suck it up, trim blocks, and you’ll thank yourself.
I’ve also been pressing the seams open, which totally goes counter to what I was taught, but I really think is the right choice when there are all of these crazy angles coming together. On the plus side, even the back looks kind of pretty.
Now, though, I’m stuck. How on earth to quilt this thing? It’s small, only about 30×36. I’m nervous to stipple it, because of the bulky seams at the corners of the blocks, but I’m not sure I want to do straight lines, either. So, if you had a quilt of double-hourglass blocks, how would you quilt it?
Tags: double hourglass
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They look awesome! I love to square up – very satisfying.
I quilted my double hourglass in the center of my big tablecloth with diagonal lines. It was 1/4″ to each side of every block center. I did not do any verticle or horizontal lines. Kind of ended up like stained glass!
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Love your lesson learned. I need to remember that as usually I am too lazy to bother. I like the hour glass blocks but never tried the tutorial. Maybe next year. Wish I could help with the quilting suggestion, but I am not great at FMQ and usually send mine out unless they are straight line or swirly around the seams. Good luck. I’m sure it will be beautiful.
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i’m not a squarer-upper either. if i were you, i think i would free motion quilt it maybe in loops or stippled, but avoid the bulky intersections. i did that on an hourglass quilt once and it worked reasonably well. i’m impressed, the back is pretty and tidy, too.
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the squaring up does make a big difference, and the open seam? I love it too. Now am doing it for ALL my seams.
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You could always send it to http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/ and see what she has to say. : ) Lots of very interesting ideas over on her blog.
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The back IS very pretty!
I would probably stitch in the ditch because I’m crazy like that. BUT what about doing concentric circles – small one in the little hourglass, big one in the larger hourglass? Maybe I’m just thinking it because you’re got the hourglass motif in there and it might cool to add circles to represent how time comes back around again. Like seasons.
Or it could just make it look like pie.
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I agree with you totally.
It looks very nice on both sides, good work Liz. -
these blocks look so amazing and perfect!!!! thanks for coming to my blog and entering the giveaway. good luck
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I love this! Needs to go on my list of quilts I want to make.
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yes, squaring up makes all the difference…but boring! stipple and avoid the bulky corners. Can’t wait to see the finished quilt!
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Beautiful quilt. I love the finished product also. MoMo is one of my favorite designers. Squaring is so tedious that I usually skip it also. I do agree it was worth it on these blocks. Your points look great.
I have a question for you. When you say your friend commissioned this quilt, did she pay you for making it? I never know how to handle that when I am asked to make something for a friend.
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