A Snake Trail Quilt ~ by Lorellen Moore

Last weekend, I went to Cincinnati to celebrate my mom’s 60th birthday. It was a lot of fun – great weather, a visit to the Cincinnati Nature Center and a really, really delicious dinner at Sotto.

While I was there, I also was able to see my mom’s latest quilt finish in person ~ her Snake Trail Quilt.

My mom is really a master at taking a pattern and changing it up to make it her own. This quilt uses blocks from the Snake Trail pattern in Denyse Schmidt’s book Modern Quilts Traditional Inspiration.

My mom changed up the pattern in several ways. First, she altered the construction of the block. She used the pattern to determine the correct placement of the curves on the square, but rather than traditionally piecing the block, she converted the pattern to use foundation paper piecing. (See! We are so alike! She loves to paper piece too!)

Next, she reduced the block size 78%, to make it a bit smaller. The most obvious change however, is the layout. This is the pattern in the book.

The layout possibilities for this block are really endless. My mom used an assortment of colors of linen for the background. For the Snake Trail, she used a scrappy mix of Liberty of London (I believe some purchased from Sewn Studio in Cincinnati) and other prints in her fabric stash.

She quilted it in the ditch of the block squares, and then about 1/2″ away from the curved seam lines. It just turned out amazing! I hope you are inspired by my mom, just like I am.