Jacob's Ladder quilt

Another finish from this summer's challenge.  This quilt has had quite an adventure, and is now (I think) 2 years old. A couple of years ago I attended a guild retreat, and I won the block draw. Everyone made one block - it was a 1/2 square triangle using a Kaffe Fassett print and a white-on-white.  The winner (me!) received all the blocks and the batting/backing to complete the quilt.  I looked at the quilt design, and while it was nice, it really was not me, and I knew I would not keep the quilt if I made it that way. So I took the blocks home and started thinking about how I could redefine them.

I realized looking at my big 1/2 square triangles (approximately 9" square) that I could cut them into 4 pieces and I would have 2 smaller 1/2 square triangles, one white square, and one Kaffe Fassett square.  Which I could then put together into one of my favourite block formations. It's not quite a Jacob's Ladder block, but similar, with two 1/2-square triangles and two 4-patches.

It took me a while to cut into those lovely triangles, but I did it, and started sewing 4-patches from the result. Then I found a layout I liked, and started putting together the blocks. About halfway through, I suddenly realized that I needed to put my blocks together in two different orientations (one with HSTs pointing in, and one pointing out).  A quick count, and I ripped out 3 blocks and put them, and the remaining bits, together for the alternate blocks.

I went hunting for a border fabric - which of course had to be Kaffe Fassett. The backing ended up different - something a little calmer than the rest of the prints. It's "Just Right" by Michael Miller, and was indeed just right for this quilt.