Sunshine Delft Quilt - Part 1

I have subscribed to Quilters Newsletter for many years. In the August/September 2012 issue there was an article about a quilt collector named Bill Volckening. There was also a second piece detailing one of his antique quilts in a pattern called "Suspension Bridge". This included a description of this quilt with pattern templates and instructions about how to make it. 

There was also a link to Bill's Blog page where he wrote about both featured articles. And he issued a challenge to the readers:  

I've challenged readers to make this quilt, I hope you'll send news and pictures of your quilts in progress, and of course, your finished quilts.

 I have considered making a NY Beauty variation for several years now. I like the graphic nature of the pattern. I have just not been too sure about all those fussy little points. Though I do know that the best way to make this pattern and ensure sharp points is to Paper Piece them - which is a very different technique from English Paper Piecing.

And just because there was not ENOUGH challenge in making this pattern, especially since I have not done any Paper/Foundation piecing in years .... I decided to add an additional degree of difficulty .... size. I was not interested in having another bed sized quilt, but did think it would look nice as a wall hanging. So when I copied the paper patterns I reduced the size by 50%.

Now the decision was - what colors should I use? I drafted the basic block in PowerPoint and printed off several black and white line drawings of the quilt and while watching television one night I used my big box of crayons to color various possible options.

I settled on a scrappy version in blues and yellows. I am thinking it will look great against the cobalt blue wall in my kitchen hanging over my white iron table and chairs. This combo also means I will not need to buy any additional fabric as I have enough of an assortment in my fat quarter/scrap containers.

Now that those decisions have been made it was time to get down to business - last week I made 12 of the corner sections .... only 36 more to go!!!