Handmade Christmas: Tilda 9-blade Fan Quilt

 

The source for this photo is unknown.  If you message me, I will be glad to credit it to you.

Sometime last spring - in the middle of the mask-making madness - youngest daughter sent me this picture and asked if I could make this quilt.  I consulted my expert (oldest daughter) and she said it was a fan quilt and that she was pretty sure the fabric was Tilda.

The source for this photo is unknown.  If you message me, I will be glad to credit it to you.

As it happened, I had a F8 bundle of Tilda Lazy Days sitting on my shelf just waiting for its opportunity, so I set about planning this quilt.  I couldn't find a pattern I liked anywhere.  I knew exactly what I wanted it to look like, but I couldn't find anything even close.  Finally,  I headed to my LQS and bought a 10* fan template and a circle template, and set about constructing a quilt.  Even the instructions on the template were for a Christmas tree skirt, not a quilt block.  And although this sounds like it was a fairly quick, linear decision, this process took several months.  

 

I think one of the hardest things about using a pretty bundle of fabric all tied up with a label is just untying the ribbon.  But, eventually, I managed that task and set about using my template on all these fat eighths. I had j*u*s*t enough fabric to make the number of fan blades I needed.  Each F8 yielded 9 blades, which was just what I needed.  I alternated the fabrics - 5 in one block and 4 in another - so that each block was different from all the others.  

 

Once I got the blocks made, I set them on point and sewed them together.  I think I had 2 blocks left over. I cut filler blocks for the sides, top and bottom and sewed the rows together.

 And then a cool little miracle occurred.  I knew that I wanted a scalloped edge all the way around, but I had never done one before.  One day, I sat down with a couple of pieces of printer paper taped together and sketched the curve I wanted.  I cut it out with scissors, and then measured the length of the quilt sides and the top and bottom.  The curved piece I drew was exactly the right length to put 4 scallops top and bottom and 5 on each side.  I was crowing about this amazing success to my expert when she said, "Oh, I don't cut the scallops until I have the quilt quilted.  Otherwise, the edges get wonky."  

Oops.  Mine were already cut.  Then she said, "But I can tell you how to keep them from getting wonky," and she told me to zig-zag the edges before I did the rest of the quilting.  I always do zig-zag the edges of the quilt before I quilt it, but I was glad she told me.  

As it was, they were a bit wonky and I had to take out some of the zig-zag and a couple of seams, but I managed to get the scallops to lie flat in the end.  

For quilting, I stippled the negative space and outline-quilted the fan blades.  I echo quilted the scallops around the curves and along the straight edge until the two sets of stitching met, with only a bit of open space in the middle.  

Backed with minky, this is the coziest of quilts, perfect for snuggling on cold winter evenings.