While I started iterating on the fabrics for the 2718 quilt, I knew I had time to explore working with the exposed seam hourglass blocks. Because I learned from the One Ninth mini quilt that working with the same fabric manufacturer was beneficial across longer seams, I went straight to my stash of Carolyn Friedlander prints for this mini quilt.
Half In Half Out Mini – Initial Fabric Pull
I started out with (2) 5″ squares from 44 different prints, and 42 of those prints are shown in the photograph above (2 more orange prints were used to get my bearings). After I took the photograph of the fabrics above, I realized that my first blocks were not quite right, and I also made a mistake with another print, so the final mini quilt ended up using a slightly different grouping of prints compared to what is shown above.
Half In Half Out
Making these (88) hourglass blocks and turning them into a mini quilt took me a month. As I was making these blocks, I was starting to realize what a commitment of time and energy it was going to take to piece a lap sized quilt with the exposed seams technique while also working. Half In Half Out was made in June 2025, and while I worked on the quilt, I listened to a lot of podcasts trying to wrap my head around things like the deployment of Marines to Los Angeles (in good traffic, I live about 2 hours north of LA) and the rapid construction of Alligator Alcatraz.
Half In Half Out will be on display at QuiltCon this year in the Small Quilts category.
In this inside out and upside-down moment, I wanted to explore “right-side up” from a different perspective. After first honing finished ¼” seams using turn and straight stitch seams, I explored typical quilt blocks and fell in love with these hourglass blocks. It was a fun challenge to puzzle how to alternate fabric right- and wrong-sides. I especially like the subtle 3D effect created by the seams. These 2″ finished blocks started as 5″ squares!
Half In Half Out – Back of Quilt Top
Prior to basting the quilt sandwich, I snapped a quick photograph of the back of the quilt top. I learned from my early exposed seam block experiments that these hourglass blocks get really bulky at the seams, so I sewed them together with a larger than normal seam allowance. This view of the back of the quilt top is what inspired the name for the quilt: half of the seams are inside the quilt sandwich, and half of them are exposed on the front of the quilt.
With the combined exposed seam technique and the larger seams used to piece the hourglass blocks together, Half In Half Out is very heavy for its size.
Half In Half Out
I pieced, quilted, and bound Half In Half out with 50wt Aurifil in 2600 (Dove), which is a light gray. With so much top stitching already complete before even basting the quilt, I opted to stitch in the ditch along the horizontal and vertical piecing seams for the quilting. This ended up helping accentuate the 3D lattice like effect created from the exposed seams.
Half In Half Out Mini Quilt Edge Treatment
To match both the Half In Half Out theme and the exposed seam top-stitch look, the binding is half right side out and half wrong side out, with normal straight seams, and machine finished on the front of the quilt.
Half In Half Out finished at approximately 17″ wide by 22″ tall. Don’t tell my other exposed seam quilts, but Half In Half Out might just be my favorite.
Linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday, Finished or Not Friday, and Beauties Pageant.
What a lovely quilt!
Yvonne this is beautiful. I can’t imagine the brain power that went into making this quilt. I’m looking forward to seeing it in person at QuiltCon.
I love this! I look forward to seeing this in Raleigh.
OMG, the amount of time and work in those projects is impressive. I admire your patience and perseverance!
The colors and texture of the quilt are so fascinating. I’d love to be able to run my finger over it, and feel the weight of it. What a fun idea to explore, and you created a beautiful little quilt as a result.
I obviously love the fabrics you chose – they always work so well together. And that last photo – with the binding half in, half out – that’s ingenious!!
This is beautiful. The hourglass effect is interesting, you see it but you don’t.. haha!! The colors and values really make you look all over the whole quilt. Love it!
This is so much fun and I continue to be intrigued by the process.
It is exquisite!!! Just wonderful finish all around.
Yvonne, Half In, Half Out is fabulous! Thanks for all the close-up looks at this one. I love the look of it. I’m thankful for piecing and quilting that takes my mind off the horrendous things that are happening in our country – we need that, at least some of the time.
It’s fun to see your process for making this quilt and to hear how you dealt with challenges, like bulky seams. It’s a gorgeous quilt, as well as being really bold and fun. Fingers crossed this project does well at QuiltCon.
This is an interesting quilt and the process of making it is so interesting. I love all the intentional inside out and how using the front and back of the fabric in the hourglass gives you the opposite effect with the inside out seam, so the back is on the front or front on the back. And, I love the Carolyn Friedlander fabrics. I am surprised it only took a month to make, as it seems quite tedious! I am sure people will love seeing it at QC!
I just have this extraordinary sense of precision and accuracy and deliberateness (is that a word?) when reading this. Each seam is precise, deliberate. Each place set just so. It’s so calming in that way, yet the idea — WOWSERS! What a stunning small quilt. It packs so much in, and I imagine writing the title card was a challenge. A *huge* congratulations on getting it accepted into QuiltCon!!
Congrats on another quilt accepted at QuiltCon! It’s got quite an interesting effect from a distance. Are you burying threads when topstitching? If so it must be tough/tedious through all those layers!
This quilt is fascinating. Is it possible you will write up a pattern or how-to, or a YouTube. I’d love to give it a try!!
The lattice effect is beautiful! I love that you took the theme all the way through to the binding.