red + yellow = Orange

Bold patterns are the important part in this quilt. Seminole is based on a design that the Florida Indians developed over 100 years ago using western fabrics. I first saw Seminole in a old quilting book my partner's friend Sally Ann gave me earlier this year. 

Seminole is a strip piecing project, I thought looked fun to try using my newest tool, the rotary cutter. It allows me to cut strips of fabric very precisely. The tricky part is working with fabric strips recut on the bias (against the grain) and then reassembling them into the lines of pattern you see here. I took detail shots to show how the strips look up close.

 It was all basted on the first strip of diamonds in this image of solid red and the calico yellow, red and tiny green leaves. The other fabrics were selected to complement the red yellow theme.

 The checker board (at the bottom) is only about one inch squares, finished in red and red gingham check. I spent a whole day making that strip cutting and sewing them back together.

 The entire finished top (seen below) is edged in the solid red and might have a yellow calico binding but that doesn't have to be decided today. I plan to use this 76x52 inch Seminole pieced top to improve my machine quilting when I get home from a trip back to Colonial Williamsburg, Va with my family. I wonder what exciting new pattern ideas I will find on this trip?

finished Seminole quilt top before quilting