Koi Fish One Block Wonder

Panda checking out the length of Koi fabric

I've always admired OBW quilts and longed to make one of my own.  After purchasing all the books, mirrors and even the fabric, I decided it was best to wait until I took a OBW class to learn how to properly layer and cut the fabrics to achieve the kaleidoscopic look.  And just under a year later from the class, I have finally finished my first OBW quilt!!

Even though the bulk of the quilt is just one fabric, there are lots of seams to sew, pin and press (I think I went through an entire bottle of Maryellen's Best Press on this quilt top!!)  Then I took some time to find the perfect borders and figure out the quilting design.  But they were all well worth the wait...

The perfect border fabric...amazing!!

I auditioned a giant stack of fabric from my stash in search of the perfect borders.  None seemed quite right for this quilt and I was about to give up and tuck the quilt away for a few more weeks.  But first one last search, and much to my delight, I found this great Kaffe Fassett polka dot ombre fabric that miraculously contained all the colors from the Koi fabric!  It was simply amazing and I went to work cutting it up and attaching my spinning borders.

I purchased the original length of OBW fabric at full price, but months later saw the same fabric on clearance...so I got a bit more that I used with the quilt back flanked with some light blue circles/bubbles.  

As usual, I was unsure how to proceed with the quilting.  Using the isometric grid created by the equilateral triangles, I used my walking foot to stitch gentle curves along each triangle seam, creating flower petals.  And then I simply quilted the ombre borders as each color transitioned to better define the colorways.  This was fairly dense quilting for me and I was surprised at how many tv shows it took to complete the quilting!  But I love the finished design and texture achieved!  

Front:  Quilted flower petals using isometric grid

Back:  Interlocking Flower Petals

Koi Fish OBW Quilt

Tiny detail:  For the OBW quilt class, we were tasked with cutting up and assembling half hexies as homework between our first and second/final session.  I was so enthusiastic about this technique that I went home and finished my homework on the Koi fish quilt, and went on to layer, cut and assemble a set of half hexies for a second OBW quilt using a glowing butterfly fabric.  The quilt top is done, basted and cued up for quilting...so stay tuned!