Updated April 29, 2020.
This free needlepoint quilt ornament uses a block called Overlapping Squares to create a great stash-busting piece. The block has three squares composed of Scotch Stitches in a diagonal row. My inspiration quilt had bright colors against black. I decided that I’d create my quilt in more Amish colors and stay away from yellow and orange.
Although many stash-busting projects can work with any thread or color, sometimes you want to edit what you have to create a more unified look. That’s what I did here. Out of my piles of odds and ends, I picked threads in red, violet, blue, and green, as well as some multi-colors.
The picture dulled the colors down a bit, but in reality the quilt has a pretty and bright look. That’s because bright and pastel colors look brighter and more intense against black. It’s a quality used to great advantage in Amish quilts.
The block, diagrammed below, uses 12 Scotch Stitches over three threads. On 18-mesh that makes each block 3/4″ square. You can make the overall size of the quilt anything you want. I made mine 4 blocks in one direction and 6 in the other. You could easily make this to fit the Planet Earth luggage tag, their credit card case or one of Mindy’s wallets. If you arre sef-finishingsomething you will use often, edit your threads to include harder-wearing threads.
With all this vibrant color, the quilt needed something to hold it together and finish it off. I took another cue from Amish quilts and added a narrow border. Amish quilts often use fabrics or colors that don’t appear in the quilt for these borders. I picked a blue-violet silk floss for the binding which was not used in the blocks, although other threads in similar colors were. The Amish do not use mitered corners, so each corner has a corner block of Mosaic or Reverse Mosaic (made so the longest stitch slanted towards the quilt). The sides are then Diagonal Gobelin.
The project didn’t take long to do and could be done in your choice of colors and background.
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
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