In August I started an intermediate quilting class at the local community college choosing to audit the course so that I wouldn’t have to worry about attendance, tests, or a grade. Been there, done that A LOT! I had hoped for more instruction about intermediate quilting techniques, but the format of the class is more of everybody working on whatever they want with a little bit of lecture, some student sharing, and the teacher helping students who are there at various levels including two students who had never quilted before. There is a class assignment that interests me, and that is to create an art quilt that has a perimeter less than 120 inches using the 12 colors of the color wheel. I decided to create snowball blocks using Kona Classic Palette charms with coal corners. Then I when I saw Sarah Goer’s Fabri-Quilt New Block Blog Hop Watermelon Plate block, I was inspired to add a one-inch contrasting color strip in the middle of my snowball blocks and call them lanterns.

Before I broke into my new Kona charm package, I created a practice block out of my scraps to see if what was in my head would translate to an attractive lantern block.

Practice Lantern block

I decided it would work and starting cutting up the charm squares and sewing them together. After I chain-sewed them, I hung them up on my design wall still joined together by thread, and they reminded me of prayer flags.

When the mini quilt is finished, I’ve decided to hang it in my office with the thought that the lanterns could represent feelings of gratitude which may provide opportunities to talk about the benefits of gratitude with my clients. Below are four of the 20 lanterns-to-be ready for their coal triangle corners.

Linking up with Freshly Pieced: WIP Wednesday.