Square Deal Quilt

                                                                                             Square Deal Quilt

The Square Deal quilt!  This is one of my favorite pieces so far.  This traditional quilt block is made of three colors, two of which are naturally dyed with chestnut and quebracho.  I prefer doing the actual quilting by hand and use a nice thick thread to help add to the texture of the quilt.

                                                                                          Shashiko dyed with tea

                                                                                              Pre-piecing prep

I dyed the thread to dull the brightness .  I like to buy it in white and regulate the color and saturation manually.  Dyeing the thread a little at a time is no big task.  Small quantities can be dyed as the quilting is in progress.  

                                                                                    Back of Square Deal Quilt

I like to go a little more freeform when I'm assembling the backs.  I used two different color ways of the same printed fabric, that I found in the remnant section of the fabric store.  Sometimes I like the backs to contradict the pieced fronts in color or style, but this time the back (being a good match for the front) worked really well.

I like working with styles like this one which uses one shape (a triangle) and arranges it in a really interesting pattern.  Strippy quilts achieve this same goal, which is why I enjoy creating original patterns using that method. Examples of that work coming in future posts.