In the responses I got yesterday there was some confusion about how I cut the triangles for the second Delft quilt. For the inner triangles the rectangles are 8 1/4″ x 2 1/4″ – half cut on the diagonal in one direction, half cut on the opposite.
When you lay the two sets of triangles from the same fabric on top of one another they have the 90° angle in the same place. However, as you can see, were you to lay the dark set on the light set the 90° angle is on the opposite corner.
Here is the first set of triangles cut and placed upon the centre square (5 1/2″ x 5 1/2″) – they’re ready to be sewn. I’ve tentatively laid out the squares as they will appear in the quilt top – once the first triangles are attached I won’t have a lot of freedom to move these blocks around because I want adjacent blocks to be offset 90° from each other – the triangles determine that arrangement. In this array, I’ve cut all the light triangles to go in one direction, all the dark in the other.
When I have these assembled and trimmed to 7″ I will add the second triangle to each block – using a dark triangle against a light one, and a light triangle against a dark one.
Here are the rectangles cut for the second set of triangles – 9 1/2″ x 2 1/4″ – I haven’t cut them yet because I figured I’d mix up the inner and outer triangles which are very similar in size; they won’t be cut until the inner triangles are all attached. I’ve laid the rectangles out with the light fabrics face down – both sets of fabrics will be cut the same on the cutting board but because the light rectangles are face down, the diagonal cut will be 90° offset from the diagonal on the darks.
I have to think about this carefully before making these cuts because the light/dark cuts have to be opposite to the light/dark cuts for the first triangles! I think this presentation is correct for making that cut.
Now it’s time to begin sewing. If I’m organized about it, I should be able to chain piece the rows by adding one triangle to each square, then the second, etc.
jmn 
All right I think that makes more sense to me. Thanks. Shall be interesting to see how this one turns out. If you don’t mind asking a)what did you do before you retired and b)how long have you been quilting?
Before I retired I taught teachers, first at Dalhousie, next MSVU, and then I was Dean of Education at UManitiba. Following that I returned to Halifax and taught another two years at MSVU. After retiring I worked at the Ontario Science Centre heading up their web team; next I spent time with a small internet company developing programs in Psychiatry for psychologists, social workers, nurses,….
I began quilting somewhere around 2000 – baby quilts. I was always a sewer – garments for myself. My first year in Toronto 1972, as a graduate student in Biochemical Genetics, I spent time at Hart House Theatre sewing in the costume department and learned a LOT about improvising garments. I’ve continued working at garments – spending time with Janet Pray (shirt-making), Sandra Betzina (focusing on pant making – twice), some online courses with Kenneth King (pattern drafting and finishing techniques), and others like Pam Erny, a shirtmaker I’ve followed online.
The quilting is something that began grabbing more of my attention when I happened on some early videos of Kaffe Fassett from a workshop he did in 2008 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YikU6Rde6TQ] exploring colour flow and that changed my quilting. [https://jmncreativeendeavours.ca/quilts-june-2012-may-2013/] From Janet Pray I learned about using the sewing machine needle in the down position as a third hand, how to sew without pins, and how to let the machine do the work (all a great help for both quilting and garment sewing).
The wall art was influenced by the work of Laurie Swim – I spent a week with her in Lunenburg in 2013 and quickly began developing my own style and techniques for raw-edge appliqué and thread painting.
That’s my history in a nutshell!
Wow! That’s an impressive career and no wonder you are always willing to share your quilting knowledge as it’s obvious you are a natural born teacher. I also started in clothes but not like your background! Then I took up quilting 15 years ago and now with grandchildren do both “disciplines”.
I don’t consider garments, quilts, or wall art “different” – my technical knowhow seems to come into play no matter the project.
Holy – I just followed the link of June 12 to May 13. You made a LOT of quilts in one year!!
All throws. I’ve only made 2 Queen quilts.
That’s still an incredible amount of quilting !
Just stumbled on this post. Is there a pattern available for this beautiful quilt?
Here’s a link to some information on how to construct the quilt: https://jmncreativeendeavours.ca/knittingsewing-tips/delft-2-quilt-top-information/
If you have questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
BTW my Delft Quilt #2 is a lap/throw – it finished at 54″ x 72″. To make this a bed size quilt add a few more rows and columns. Not difficult to calculate – a queen quilt is ~88″ x 88″. Measure the width of a column, multiply by 6 or 7 or 8, get somewhere close to between 70″ and 78″. Then add borders to bring the quilt up to final size. My quilt had 5 columns and 7 rows. A Twin quilt could easily be built from 6 columns and 8 rows (with borders to get you to a final size). A Queen probably 7 columns and 8 rows (with borders to get you to size). A King – I’d bet 8 columns and 9 rows would get you there.
Thanks for the instructions & the quick reply.