FootHills Quilt

This quilt began when Mary Elizabeth Kinch featured an antique quilt on her blog called the FootHills Quilt.  She drew up a pattern and hosted a quiltalong.  I've included a photo of the original quilt below.

I'm always a sucker for antique quilt patterns, and this one was so unusual, with so many options to play!  Just looking at it now I can see more ideas to make another quilt using different values.

Visit this blog post by Mary Elizabeth to get a few more details on this quilt.  (Maker and dates are unknow, but it was made in Alberta!)  Since I'm from Alberta this was an extra connection that makes me happy.

So as you can see looking at this original quilt, mine looks quite different.  I think this quilt is a great way to think about value (lights and darks) and how they play into your final design.

I knew immediately that I wanted those geese flying up and down to be the focus of my quilt.  For that reason I chose dark fabrics for most of my geese and the remaining fabrics are lighter.  Of course I switched up a few blocks with geese lighter than their surroundings but that still highlights the geese somewhat.

I think I will write a separate post going into more detail on how I used value in this quilt and how you could change the design by switching up the use of value to highlight different aspects of the design.

I did vertical straight line quilting on this one.  This is my go-to way of quilting as it's a never fail for me.  I always like the look and feel (quilted about 1" apart).

Especially as I used a cotton lawn on the back.  This always makes the quilt feel extra soft and luxurious with a lovely drape.  The selvedge on this Rifle Paper Co butterfly fabric is so lovely that I didn't want to make it disappear.  I sewed it on top when I pieced the backing.  I love adding texture and interest this way.  Although of course this just makes it harder for me to let it go!

Edited to Add:  Adding this to the Fourth Quarter Finishalong.  Here's my post with the original list of quilts to finish.