70’s – Lovelli Quilts

It has been easy for me to find inspiration in the daily photos for Quilt Design a Day from Design-Seeds. I follow the suggested palette and I find myself looking up blocks in EQ7 which the photos or colors suggest, then I manipulate them using Block>Serendipity until I see patterns which I find pleasing. At the same time I am quilting for my longarm business and studying for my Appraisal business (not to mention hauling teenagers here, there, and everywhere 🙂 ). I love it when the three aspects of my business work together to inspire me. For example, last night as I was reading Georgia Quilts by Anita Zaleski Weinrub, I saw a block which was astounding and just a bit dangerous-looking: Circular Saw. The original quilt was pieced by hand in the 19th century, but could be adapted to foundation piecing methods. No matter which way the block is pieced, it is an intricate block and makes a striking quilt.

The following quilt edge was inspired by several antique quilts from Texas and Tennessee. I combined it with a block which I designed, and am calling Rotary. The original design inspiration was a vintage rotary phone. The edge also reminds me of tapestry edge finishes or the picot edge on lace. I wonder if that is where those quilters found their inspiration.

A “search light” sequence in a movie inspired the block design to this quilt. After I drafted the block I rotated and flipped it in an on-point layout to get the quilt design. I like the resulting optical illusion. This is not a color palette which I would have chosen on my own, but it was the suggested Design Seeds palette. I am thrilled with the 70s ‘vibe’ in this quilt. I found that the new color palette influenced my block design decisions.

Here is another ‘groovy’ quilt which I designed with the EQ7 function: Block>Serendipity>Kaleidoscope. I think this would definitely be an applique quilt. Fusible raw-edge applique would make it an easy quilt to sew and it would be a fun quilt in a child’s bedroom.