What I love about quilting is the sheer volume of potential patterns that can be used in a top. I have seen quilts made from photographs, from graphic artist's designs, and from landscapes. If you can see it or even imagine it, you can create it in fabric. The longarm machine renters who come in to the shop often bring us imaginative and beautiful creations. Some are new patterns from up and coming quilting stars, while others are from patterns decades old recreated from pictures of quilts in museums. Regardless of where these patterns come from, the results are the same, beautiful creations made from the heart. The following quilts are quilts that had some fun with geometry. Triangles, squares, diamonds, etc. they all combine to something spectacular!

Hourglass blocks

Karla brought this simple hour glass quilt for her rental certification class. Alternating the direction of the hourglass block gives some nice interest to the piece. Also, the use of a single background fabric to tie in all the blocks and the interior border allows the colors to float in the middle of a yellow frame. She quilted this with a heart and flower design board called Sweet Hearts. The whimsical floral fabric really adds a great detail to this simple top.

Saw Blades

This is a design that had some fun with geometry. John also brought this in as his rental certification quilt. It looks like a saw blade! The sashing really breaks up the negative space and frames the blocks as individuals. The blues are different, but blend well together with that pink sashing balancing it all out. He quilted this with the paper pantograph Periwinkle. It is just a nice open floral design that has just enough whimsy in it.

Courthouse Steps

This is our last rental certification student for today. Kristie finished this great top with the Whole Lotta Bubbles design board. The design is of multiple circles that add a lot of movement to a quilt with a lotta lines. The fabric is also super cute! It’s a group of woodland creatures having a camp out, roasting s'mores in the border. All the other fabrics just compliment that. There is even some fabric of jumbled up graham crackers, chocolate bars, and marshmallows. How much fun is that?

Broken Courthouse Steps

This is Judy, one of our regulars. She quilted this pretty geometric design with the Square Spiral pantograph that adds a lot of great texture, but not a lot of other design. The square spiral is on point against the orientation of the blocks which I think looks amazing. I really like the blocks themselves. They are sort of a log cabin / courthouse steps block with sashing between them. This is definitely a fun geometric block to tuck away into my “To Do” pile.

Three Dimensional Maze

This is Jennifer’s quilt, who is another one of our regulars. I’ve seen geometric quilts like this before. The way the colors are arranged it looks very three dimensional. This is Labyrinth Walk, a pattern from a quilting magazine from 2012. Isn’t it fun? I’m told it is only two blocks that are then arranged in different ways to make this maze. Jennifer used the Turbulence pantograph to quilt it. Turbulence has a lot of swirls and turns which adds to the maze effect nicely.

Chainlinks

This quilt is also from Jennifer. These large interlocking circles are amazing. I tried to find the name of the pattern, but I couldn’t. It is all made with half square triangles and squares I think. She chose to quilt it with a pattern that adds a lot of great texture, but wouldn’t distract from the design. It is Square Spiral, a favorite among our renters.

Next time you sit down to plan a quilt, think about all the fun with geometry that you can have. Squares, rhombuses (or is it rhombi 😉), triangles, and rectangles can be combined into a real treat of a quilt top. When you're done, show us what you come up with by connecting with us on Facebook or Instagram. We’d love to hear from you!