This little quilt was made for a woman who has volunteered at our clinic for years, providing physical therapy services to many of our patients who have hard physical jobs. She has accepted a position at another university and will be leaving us next month.
It started out years ago as a single block. I’m sorry to say I have no idea where the pattern came from. After making one block I decided it was entirely too tedious to make a series of them for a quilt, so it went in the orphan block pile. When I was asked for a quilt block to give to Jill, this one immediately came to mind.
I added a border and was lucky enough to have EXACTLY enough fabric left from one of the prints to make the binding. I used a grid-print backing so it will be easy for people to sign on the back. The quilting in a spiral did slightly distort the overall quilt into a shallow bowl shape, but that steamed right out before I put on the binding.
Quilt Stats
Name: for Jill
Size: 15” x 15”
Materials: Quilting cottons
Quilter’s Dream Request Loft cotton batting
Superior So Fine thread used for piecing and quilting
Quilted by: me
Block designer unknown–please contact me if you know so I can give credit
Zippy Quilts 
I love this block. It is like the paintings you look at and feel at peace without knowing why. The color arrangement and the spiral quilting just set it off. I am sure Jill will love it.
Thank you 😊
That’s just the right way to describe this. It turned out really well and I’m sure Jill will cherish it. Thanks for putting it into words for me.
Wonderful! What a sweet gesture, one which your co-worker will cherish no doubt.
I like your idea of using a whole grid fabric with lots of signees…just wondering:
Do the pens for signing the back of the quilt glide well with the fabric already sewn in as the backing? I usually have to have a piece of stablilizer on the back for ease in signing it, then I attach it to the back as a label.
I used this fabric, unwashed, to back a quilt made for a wedding guestbook. It was quilted fairly densely, and people signed with no difficulty using fine point sharpies. I did test both sharpies and pigma pens on a sample, which I then washed, before deciding.
Thanks for the clarification!
Great block!
Thanks 🙂
I love the circular quilting – it is a such a wonderful contrast to the square blocks and it kept my eye moving around the piece – nice! Lovely gift!
Thank you 😊