The Evolution of a Tuning Fork Quilt

I was asked to make a quilt for the silent auction during International Quilt Festival in Houston.  It needed to be a small quilt, less than 24" x 24", and it must be in Houston by mid September.  So I thought that perhaps I'd better get to work.

The first step in any of my quilts is perhaps the most fun: choosing a palette.  I had recently dyed a 6 step gradation of aquamarine, absolutely lovely colors, so I started with that.  I pulled one of the lightest and two of the darkest shades of aquamarine, along with some other fabrics I had dyed -- a light turquoise, a light yellow-green, a deep cobalt and some darker teal.  And I added a commercial light green and batik teal to the mix.  

Then I start making tuning forks.  I started with the lights, and this is where I was at the end of day one:

Day two was a long day.  First I made dark tuning forks, and then lots of light/dark tuning forks.  At the end of the second day, it was really taking form:

On day three, I started sewing the darn thing together.  Putting it all together is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle.  I start by staring at the quilt, trying to pick out areas that look like they might easily be sewn together.  Sometimes this is lines of tuning forks, sometimes square or rectangular sections. It's a challenge I enjoy. In this picture, you can see I have sewn together the upper left corner and part of the lower left:

I always have to make lots more tuning fork blocks to fill in as I sew it together.  I am usually heartily sick of sewing tuning fork blocks by the end of a piece.  But this piece was small, and I managed to have the top together at the end of day four.  At this point, it was 20" x 23":

Today I quilted it and sewed the facing on.  It took about three hours to quilt it, since most of the lines of quilting are less than an eighth of an inch apart.  When I quilt I vary the distances between the lines to give the quilting a bit of rhythm, but I keep them close together.  The final quilt measures 18" x 21":

Tuning Fork 28: Caribbean Dreams

And when I hung the quilt on the design wall to take the final photographs, I hung it "upside down."  At least, it is upside down compared to the way I designed it.  But I think that is the way I like it.  I'll leave it on the design wall overnight and see if I still feel that way in the morning.  I haven't sewn the label or hanging sleeve on yet, so the decision can be delayed.

What do you think?  Upside down or Rightside up?

I'm linking this post to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday, Richard and Tanya's Quilts Link a Finish Friday, Friday Fabric Frenzy, Confessions of a Fiber Addict and Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday.  Go see all the wonderful work there!