You Can Make

Quarter-Of-Four Block Quilts

Starting With Storm At Sea Blocks

Storm at Sea is a traditional block that is designed on a 4x4 grid.

You Can Make

Quarter-Of-Four Block Quilts

Starting With Balkan Puzzle Blocks

You Can Make

Quarter-Of-Four Block Quilts

Starting With Clay's Choice Blocks

Quarter of Nine #5

You Can Make

Quarter-Of-Nine Block Quilts

Starting With Churn Dash Blocks

Quarter of Nine #4

You Can Make

Quarter-Of-Nine Block Quilts

Starting With Calico Puzzle Blocks

Quarter of Nine #3

You Can Make

Quarter-Of-Nine Block Quilts

Starting With Spool Blocks

Quarter of Nine #2

You Can Make

Quarter-Of-Nine Block Quilts

Starting With Shoo Fly Blocks

It's Not The Block You Start With

But The Quilt You End Up With

That Matters

Yesterday I showed you one of the two blocks I contributed to Modern Blocks from C&T Publishing. Today you get to see the second block.

It's Not The Block

It's What You Do With It

C&T Publishing has a new book out called Modern Blocks. It's Subtitled 99 Quilt Blocks from Your Favorite Designers. I am one of those designers. I contributed 2 blocks to the book.

When You Start Playing

You Never Know What Will Happen

This seemed like a quiet and unpretentious four patch block, until I began playing with it. Then all sorts of wonderful things started to happen.

How You Design A Quilt

Isn't Always How You Sew It

Yesterday I designed this quilt using the block beside it to the left. But if you look carefully you'll notice you can't use that block to actually sew the quilt. Its corners would get in the way.

Change The Colors

Make A Traditional Block

Your Own

What if I start with this block - Frolic, draw it in outline and then color it several different ways? What will I get?

Do You Need Inspiration?

If you look for inspiration for your quilts in the images and colors of the world around you, you might want to check out the photos of Bill Quayle at Quivertree Consulting.

You'll find sunrises, storms, flower, butterflies, Africa and more.

It Doesn't Matter Where You Start

You Can Always Go Someplace Else

Try Making White The Feature Color

In  A Block

Or In A Quilt

This 3x4 block is from three days ago. I'm going to play with it to see if I can make the white stand out. I want the colors to be in the background and the white to be in the foreground.

     You Can Feature White               

     You Can Feature White               

     You Can Feature White               

I did a trunk show a little over a week ago and somebody mentioned that I use a lot of white in my designs. It's true; I do. I often use white as a background and I have to make a conscious effort to use other colors instead.

I was at a quilt show a couple of days ago and saw some white lace flowers on a colored background. I suddenly realized I could be using white as a foreground color.

Yesterday, while designing blocks on a 3x4 grid, I discovered this block which features white.

So today I'm going to play with it and see what happens.

What If You Designed

Rectangular Blocks?

It may not be apparent that this quilt was designed using rectangular blocks, but it was.

Men Quilt Too !

I'm taking part in an on-line quilt show that features quilts by men. It is sponsored by Pigtales and Quilts and will last until 15 October.

I don't often show my quilts on my blog. My blog is a sketch book and is focused on the process of quilt design. But I do sew some of the quilts I design and I'm always happy to show them.

To Fully Appreciate A Block

You've Got To Play With It A Bit

Part 2

In my last post I introduced you to this block from my Rosebud quilt. I showed it colored several different ways.

Since then I've picked some fabric and sewn a few blocks. Now I'm going to play with them some more.

To Fully Appreciate A Block

You've Got To Play With It A Bit

Too often we take a block at face value. We assume a block has only one "look". But every block has several "looks", depending on how it is positioned and how it is colored.

A Pieced Alphabet For You To Try

Some years ago, when I was new to quilting and all I cared about was pieced lettering, I saw a cross stitch alphabet framed on the wall of a quilt shop and I had an idea. What if I replaced the cross stitch X's with squares, could I make a pieced alphabet?

There's A Color Lesson

In Your Tea Cup

Color saturation is one of those terms that sounds terribly technical. You just know that to understand it will take at least a Master's Degree in Color Theory.

Actually, the opposite is true. Understanding color saturation is as easy as brewing yourself a cup of tea.

Who Says

All Blocks Have To Be Square?

Nobody ever said all blocks have to be square. We just make them square from force of habit. But habits can be changed.

Do You Know

The Farmer's Daughter Block?

The Farmer's Daughter block is new to me. I thought it might be fun to try coloring it various ways to see what happens.

So I did.

What Do You See

When You Look At A New Block?

Do you see possibilities? Do you see potential? I wish I did, but I don't. When I looked at Kansas Troubles for the first time all I saw was a block I'd never seen before.

But that was no reason not to try playing with it to discover some of its hidden potential and possibilities.

Quarter of Nine #1

What You Can Learn From

A Disappearing Nine Patch Block

This quilt design was not made using Disappearing Nine Patch blocks; but it was inspired by them.

This Quilt's By Karen

Karen Trzcinski took this idea from my 30 July 2010 post and turned it into a quilt for her young cousin who chose the colors.

I like the fact that Karen used 3 colors instead of the original 2. But I really like the border treatment. The 2 vertical stripes is a great idea. I'm going to have to try that on one of my quilts.

You Don't Need A Fancy Block

To Make A Fancy Quilt

This is not a fancy block. In fact it's so not fancy that I don't know what to call it. But that doesn't mean it can't be a useful and interesting block.

You Aren't Just Choosing Colors

You Are Choosing Values

Choosing fabric for a quilt isn't just about picking colors you like. Color value is even more important than color in determining how well your quilt works. You need to select for both color and value.

What If We Go Back To June 2010?

A little over a year ago I was playing with this tessellating block.

Have You Tried

The Other Storm At Sea Block?

There is more than one Storm at Sea block. You can make a Storm at Sea quilt using either one. How is this possible?