Columbus Day Mariner's Compass

I like Columbus Day. I'm half Italian and one of my sons in law is from Spain. A quick historic recap: Christopher Columbus was Italian and got his funding from the Queen of Spain so he could come over to America and "discover" us. No politics discussed on this blog; only quilts, a universal, happy language!

What do I have today? I wanted to post about Mariner's Compasses because that is the tool that kept many a mariner from sailing off into a watery death. In fact, my next book features a dozen compasses and I will post about that soon.

Galaxy Compass - 16" block (fabrics from a 2007 Blank Fabrics collection)

 This is my simplified compass, easy enough for beginners. There are only two points in each of the four corners of the block. They are foundation pieced and then set into the curved background.

1/4 of the compass block - can you see my quilting?

The last patch to be added is the center circle. I faced the circle with lightweight interfacing and then turned it right side out; placed it on the hole in the center and then zigzag machine stitched it with invisible poly thread.

Notice the center, machine stitched in place with invisible thread

 If you come back on the "Wicked Blog Hop" (see link on the sidebar), my day to post is October 24 and I will have something similar to this quilt as my posting. And I will have a FREE pattern to make your own mariner's compass with either spooky fabric or any fabric of your choosing. You have to sign up to either be a follower or follow by email. Then you'll be notified of that blog posting.

Here is the cover of my book, due out February 2013