This is Patty’s Strip Quilt and its not only beautiful but has a great story to go along with it! Patty is an American and lives with her family in Germany after her husband retired from the U.S. Army. She started piecing this quilt top when she was deployed to Djibouti Africa while her family stayed in Germany. She lived in a tent for seven months and her husband bought and sent her a sewing machine so she would have something to keep her busy in the evenings. What a good man! She said the pattern was from a strip quilting book using the tube piecing method and a triangular ruler to cut the strips. She bought the fabrics at the Arts and Crafts store on the base in Stuttgart and her friend made the same quilt. She said this was only one of many quilt tops she pieced there. Here are some pictures of her tent and room.
When there is a will there is always a way to quilt!
We discussed a few quilting options and decided on my freehand 3’s and E’s for the center quilting and the Curved Echo border design on the bold strips. I wasn’t sure at first if the curves would look good on the bold striped fabric but we thought it was worth a try and I was so happy with the end result. I spaced the echo’s 3/4” apart which is the same width as the brown strip.
I used a soft Green So Fine thread for the center quilting and a medium brown So Fine for the border quilting. The batting is Quilters Dream Blend.
Patty did a pieced backing using up her leftover blocks. Very cool!’
I have another one of Patty’s quilts to work on and will load it on the machine today.
So this quilt has traveled from Africa to Germany to Canada and will soon be heading back to Germany, so a well traveled quilt!
A very interesting quilt with a very interesting story. Thanks Patty and Kathy for sharing. The quilt looks so beautiful on the fallen leaves. I like how the curved crosshatch softens the boldness of the striped border. With that pieced back, definitely a reversible quilt.
ReplyDeleteLovely design and colour choices, well travelled is so right, this will be a treasure to use and look at, with lots of memories, and your quilting is perfect for it all.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous quilt with gorgeous quilting!! Team work!
ReplyDeleteIt's the great, really!
ReplyDeleteLovely quilt with a nice story...love your quilting!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful quilt! And such an interesting story. I'm impressed all to heck that the base in Djibouti would have a Craft shop with quilting fabric! That would make a deployment tolerable for sure! Lovely quilting work too!
ReplyDeleteThe Arts and Crafts shop was in Stuttgard, Germany. I edited that part to make it more clear!
DeleteSo simple but the colors are awesome and a great stitching choice!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWOW! stories and photos make reading your blog just wonderful. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteWhat a pretty quilt, and a perfect picture under the fall tree! But I love the story with it! Scott's lived and worked in those tents, but in Oman and Afghanistan, not Djibouti. I'm impressed that she had enough power for the iron and machine. Super cool share, Kathy. :)
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