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.