Project 16.5 - Follow Your Arrow

I wasn't too sure about this week's Project Quilting challenge.  'Arrows' didn't seem like something that I would want to put on a quilt. But then I read further, and thought, OK, I can do this!  Especially when I saw that flying geese and chevrons were shown as examples. So I didn't have to put an actual arrow on my project; I could use an arrow-like shape.  

Last weekend I participated in a guild-sponsored  workshop on Seminole Patchwork. A couple of the motifs are basically zig-zags, or chevrons, so I considered doing something with that technique.  But Seminole Patchwork is done in strips, and the patterns that were provided make rather long strips.  This is shaping up to be a crazy busy week, so unless my project is super simple, it's not going to get done. So long strips of Seminole Patchwork would be too big and complicated for me to do for this challenge. While I plan to use my new skills in Seminole Piecing to make a quilt someday, this is not the day!  

But something about 'arrows' rang a bell way in the back of my memory, so I went digging in my UFOs.  Sure enough, I found a bin that contained a copy of the November/December 2010 issue of Quiltmaker magazine.  I save magazines which have patterns that I like so that I can make them at some point.  This particular issue contains the pattern for a quilt made from a block called Anita’s Arrowhead! 

This is a striking pattern that looks way more complicated than it is.  I had a dozen blocks done, and I even put some fat quarters that I planned to use into the bin.  I have no idea what caused me to put it away, but now that I found it, it’s going to move to the top of my ‘to-do’ list. 

Anita's Arrowhead ~9.5" square

But I digress…. back to PQ 16.5!  I grabbed a couple of 10-inch squares left over from a layer cake and made an Anita’s Arrowhead potholder. I feel like I make potholders way too often for Project Quilting, but they are useful and it's good to have a stash of them for last minute gifts.