This quilt began with the picture in the second photo from a quilt book from 30 yrs. ago. I bought the book before I was a quilter and have always been fascinated with the mandala design but never attempted it. I was planning to do the Hoffman Challenge and drew up the design (third photo) using a 6" block and after cutting it all out and designing the blocks I actually read the Hoffman Challenge rules and discovered it was too big. "What did we learn from this experience??" READ THE RULES and READ THE RULES AGAIN!! So I made the Hoffman Challenge in the size that fit the rules and then decided to make this quilt anyway because I really wanted to and was up for the challenge of the mandala blocks. The challenge fabric is the cabbage rose floral.
There was no pattern in the book-just the little bit that you see in the photo. I drew it out on graph paper and decided to foundation piece the blocks. I drew the pattern and colored in the areas to the color scheme of purples, pinks and greens. (Photo Three) Some of the blocks were very complicated and to reduce the block size smaller than 6" would have been too crazy for me. This was fun but time consuming and I stopped and did other small projects in between to calm myself. Once the top was completed the hard part was over.
I chose to quilt with a combination of straight and circular lines. The pieced top was very angular so I felt it needed some softness from the curved lines.
Photo Four is an example of the quilting.
I have some fun purple flower beads left over from the REAL Hoffman Challenge and used them in this quilt (photo five.) I also used a few pink tiny rhinestones as accents. The finished quilt is 53 x 53. I plan to enter it in a few upcoming regional quilt shows. THe REAL Hoffman Challenge is due in July 2012 and I will wait until closer to July to display because I do not want anyone to copy my design.
This quilt began with the picture in the second photo from a quilt book from 30 yrs. ago. I bought the book before I was a quilter and have always been fascinated with the mandala design but never attempted it. I was planning to do the Hoffman Challenge and drew up the design (third photo) using a 6" block and after cutting it all out and designing the blocks I actually read the Hoffman Challenge rules and discovered it was too big. "What did we learn from this experience??" READ THE RULES and READ THE RULES AGAIN!! So I made the Hoffman Challenge in the size that fit the rules and then decided to make this quilt anyway because I really wanted to and was up for the challenge of the mandala blocks. The challenge fabric is the cabbage rose floral.
There was no pattern in the book-just the little bit that you see in the photo. I drew it out on graph paper and decided to foundation piece the blocks. I drew the pattern and colored in the areas to the color scheme of purples, pinks and greens. (Photo Three) Some of the blocks were very complicated and to reduce the block size smaller than 6" would have been too crazy for me. This was fun but time consuming and I stopped and did other small projects in between to calm myself. Once the top was completed the hard part was over.
Photo Four is an example of the quilting.
I have some fun purple flower beads left over from the REAL Hoffman Challenge and used them in this quilt (photo five.) I also used a few pink tiny rhinestones as accents. The finished quilt is 53 x 53. I plan to enter it in a few upcoming regional quilt shows. THe REAL Hoffman Challenge is due in July 2012 and I will wait until closer to July to display because I do not want anyone to copy my design.
very nice, Laurie...but I keep expecting to see one of your wonderful 'lady faces' to appear somewhere!! Love your work, as always!
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