My son and I designed this Mariner’s Compass Quilt with Fan Border in Electric Quilt for his graduation from Chrysalis High School. We had a great, creative time together designing and placing the blocks on a computer screen. We could audition colors instantly, save several versions of the quilt, then compare our options. To make this a meaningful memory quilt, friends and family wrote messages on the green squares that I included in the king size quilt. (My son is 6 ft. 3.) I ironed freezer paper on the back of each square to make the fabric stable to write on and furnished pens with acid-free pigment ink.
He chose red and indigo Japanese fabrics for the interlocking blocks. I constructed the snail’s trail mariner’s compass medallion and fan border with foundation paper piecing and completed all the sewing (including free-motion machine quilting with wool batting) on my trusty Bernina. I finally finished the Mariner’s Compass Quilt several years after the graduation. In the role of Vanna White is the late Ty Beanie.
Quilting the king-size quilt on a Bernina 730 – a tight fit, but it worked!
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Quilting is done – it’s finally ready for binding!
Finished quilt border with glamour shot of Ty Beanie.
Ty Beanie playing Vanna.
The finished quilt – love how it turned out – and so does my son!
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