Fan Direction

I took off the sticky bandages this morning (it's been 10 days since the arthroscopic surgery). Was surprised to discover that the two stitches I have in look like they were made with blue dental floss. The little ends hang up in the air - just like quilt ties. Tomorrow they come out.

I wanted to give ya'all an idea of what direction you could go with the fans. I used the paint program on my computer for the first time and was pleased with how wobbly my results look. Cuz I look at it and think it looks really fun. See how different all the fans look, yet the overall appearance is pleasing. It'll be that way with your quilt too.

I did find out that I couldn't upload the paint images to Blogger tho, so I had to print them and scan 'em back in. More work than I was expecting. That's the reason for the black bars on the middle pic - don't know how to get rid of those. sorry.

This first pattern is my favorite (Bonnie left a comment that she finds it boring). Okay, it's boring, but it's also - soothing. No surprises, just keep making one after another. It'll also probably draw less attn to the quilting than the other two methods I've illustrated. Notice in all the examples how some of the fans are incomplete. They hit the end of the quilt and just stop. They run into another fan unit and stop. That's how it works. All examples start in the lower right corner.

1. Fans going up Start in a lower corner and go across. The next row is worked right on top of that going in the same direction. Etc. Not recommended for a large quilt - you get too much bulk.

2. Spiral fans Start in the lower corner and work your way around and around and around and around. In other words, go all the way around the outside. Once you've done that you do another go round starting in the same corner as the first time thru (in this case, the right).

3. Diagonal fans In this one you work in from two opposite directions - in this picture the lower right and the upper left. You essentially go over and up, over and up.