Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Another Way

You Can Design A New Block

Using An Old One















Admit it, you've always wanted to design a block. Other quilters do, so why not you? What's holding you back is not knowing where to start. Well, that's not a problem any longer because I'm about to show you any easy way to design a new block by starting with an old one.

I needed a 5"x5" block for the border of my quilt, African Image #1, so I designed this on a 5x5 grid. Afterwards I realized that the center of my new block was a Friendship Star.

I had an "ah ha" moment, a sudden flash of insight. I could take any block based on a 3x3 grid, like the Friendship Star, put it in the center of a 5x5 grid, add some dodads and have a brand new block.

Here are a few I came up with.






















Now it's your turn. You can use one of the blocks above, or any other simple block that is based on a 3x3 grid. Place the block of your choice on a 5x5 grid; then start adding squares, triangles, diamonds, or whatever. You'll surprise yourself with a new block of your very own. And you'll have a lot of fun.

4 comments:

  1. Great idea. I love the variation on the churn dash.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Leila

    The Churn Dash variation is one of those surprise blocks. It doesn't look like much until you put several together, then it suddenly comes to life.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cool idea! I posted some of my results from trying this at my blog (tho I'm using 4x4 centers in a 6x6 block): http://iridescentweasels.blogspot.com/2011/04/designing-new-quilt-blocks.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. SaraJoan

    I looked at your site and was most pleased by what I saw there. I expect you had fun designing your new blocks. And, you've given me food for thought.

    ReplyDelete