This is the quilt I made with the fabrics I pulled for my last post. The pattern is a classic—”Puss in the Corner.”

The puss in the corner patches (the ladybugs here) look like an open chain. And depending on the fabrics used, the rest of the block can create a stair-step effect. You can see that best with the 2 yellow-orange fabrics in this quilt. I really like how those two yellow-orange fabrics are out of step with each other. It catches the eye in a way that a continuous series would not.

The basic quilt is only 36 x 48 inches. I liked the length but not the width. So for the first time ever, I added a “piano key” border. Not only does it widen the quilt by about 4 inches, it also allowed me to add a few pops of green. The cool greens are a really welcome relief in a quilt that is really HOT!

In my next post I’ll give a short tutorial on making a piano key border. It looks like a it would be a lot of work but it really isn’t!