A couple of weeks ago I saw this quilt on The Colorful Fabriholic's blog and asked if I could use the design for our guild's comfort quilt program. (She approved!)
I did a test run, using her 4" finished strip dimensions. My B/W fabric choices were less than stellar and the 4Ps I had on hand were not bright enough, so I set it aside. (Sorry, no photo)
Then I learned that the guild I recently rejoined has an ongoing black/white/bright challenge that has to start with a square-in-a-square. What if I substituted the SIAS for the 4P? YES!
I discovered a stash of better black/white and white/black fabric in another project box and started cutting (without reference to the above photo). In my memory, the 4Ps had been at the end of a pair of strips (unlike Jan's that were at the end of a single strip) and since I didn't want a huge SIAS, I reduced the strip dimension to 3" x 6" finished. I proceeded to cut virtually all of my fabric before I remembered that Jan's quilt also had longer strips without the 4P. Oh, well, I'll try to make my plan work.
Since I was using a pair of strips, the SIAS would need to finish at 6" but that was too clunky.
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How about an economy block?
A bit better ... but then, I had the great idea to make the center square black with bright figures and the other two fabrics plain (or almost plain) bright fabrics to stand out better next to the B/W strips. I proceeded to cut a huge stack of center squares and made a few test blocks.
Better, but I wore out my brain trying to figure out the sizes of squares I would need to finish at 6". I checked several websites for how to calculate, tested a few. In the end, not thrilled with the results.
At one point I even considered just mixing up my pairs of black and white strips and ditching the challenge ...
Then I had the bright idea to refer to the photo of Jan's quilt. Duh! That's when I realized the bright blocks were at the end of a single strip, not a pair.
Much better! At Devo yesterday I cut sets of squares to use in the simpler square-in-a-square. I'm hoping to get back to this soon because the challenge deadline is June 16. The finished quilt will go to one of the comfort quilt programs I support.
interesting look!
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had fun playing with this design idea, Libby! I love the black and white with brights combination a lot. That daisy print is really pretty! Have fun continuing on with this project!
ReplyDeleteAnd so a quilt design evolves! Are you making units of a b/w strip plus the SIS, then laying them out and then sewing in long strips?
ReplyDeleteI really like the design you are creating. The black and white fabrics with the pops of color make such fun quilts.
ReplyDeleteI like the use of the economy block. This piece is really wonderful!
ReplyDeleteIt's always fun to see how people develop their quilts. The black, white and bolds are going to make a very cool quilt.
ReplyDeleteI like where you're going with this! It may have been a challenge to get there, but I think you're onto something now.
ReplyDeleteLOVE black and whites with brights! You have a great start. It reminds me of a Jen Kingwell quilt!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun (or frustrating) adventure, Libby! Memory is a funny thing, isn't it? I could have sworn that... (insert any number of things here!)
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