Tuesday, June 16, 2026

Riding the Waves (aka Blue Onion) Finished!

This was one of those projects that jumped to the front of the line and insisted on being finished right away! This is "Riding the Waves."

Riding the Waves, 39.25" x 49.5"

Just a few short weeks ago, our guild (Common Threads Quilters Guild of Newnan, GA) had a presentation by Mary Ruth Hudson called "Tackling Curves in Quilts". The next day, Mary Ruth taught a workshop with the Blue Onion pattern by Karla Alexander of Saginaw Street Quilts.


The workshop was on a Friday, and just a few days later, I shared a post showing the blocks I had made up until that point (you can see that post HERE.) I ended up making a total of 24 blocks, but only 20 of them were used in the quilt.


I played with a few different layout options, and had decided to go with the layout shown above, which is similar to the pattern cover. I even started sewing the blocks together into rows, but the idea of diagonal waves kept nagging at me. Then I discovered the perfect backing fabric in my stash and knew that I had to change my plans.


The diagonal wave design on both the front and the back of the quilt reminds me of the giant slide at the state fair. That's what led to the name "Riding the Waves." I quilted from the back side, following the design of the backing fabric. The quilting adds some fun wavy stitching lines to the front of the quilt.



The four extra blocks were turned into placemats, which will be donated to Meals on Wheels through our quilt guild.



I'm  linking up with:
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Monday Musings at Songbird Designs
Wednesday Wait Loss at Inquiring Quilter
Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts
Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

11 comments:

  1. That's a beautiful quilt, Julie! I like the how wave theme worked out, and the blue that ties everything together throughout. It looks like you really had fun playing with those blocks from the workshop!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What fun, Julie! You picked great colors for it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love your layout! Such a pretty quilt. Thanks for sharing on my weekly show and tell, Wednesday Wait Loss.
    https://www.inquiringquilter.com/questions/2026/06/17/wednesday-wait-loss-489

    ReplyDelete
  4. So cool! I love all the colorful colors and your quilting from the back--very clever and effective!

    ReplyDelete
  5. That was the perfect backing and the perfect decision to change course! That is an awesome quilt finish! Hooray!

    ReplyDelete
  6. It is spectacular! That pattern is on my radar and now I just may have to get it done. 😂

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow - that is really pretty! Great finish.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh, yes, after finding that backing you definitely had to change up the layout…..it is soooo perfect for it! Your blocks are beautiful and the quilt is gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I really like your layout, and the backing really does go with it perfectly! Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow - I like what you came up with ! that is a cool layout and super cool quilt!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Very fun layout. Congrats on a very cool finish. The quilting makes it even more fun.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...