Tuesday, March 3, 2015

What Would Happen If....?


Today is purely play. I think I've said before that
while I enjoy books and demos to learn how to
do things, my favorite way is to just play with 
fabric and blocks to see what happens.

I have an abundance of scraps right now, and am
contemplating a scrappy quilt. This is an 8.5" plain 
muslin square I cut out as a foundation fabric to
sew strips to. I laid one down the center tacking
it with a acid free glue stick, then laid scraps onto
it right sides together until I'd completed the block.


Trimmed.


I cut this one down the into equal squares,
and started playing with different arrangements.
This one frames a center.


This one forms an X.


That was pretty well the end of my options with the 
first block. I started 2 more. This time I used a red 
pencil to mark diagonals to keep things straighter.


 These are two similar blocks as I ran out of identical fabric strips.
Each is a mirror image of itself from left to right diagonal.
 I see a possibility for a supersized block if I would
make 2 more.


But since this is just play, let's cut them up.
One on the diagonal, and one cut vertically
and horizontally. What happens?


One possibility for the diagonally cut block.
That has great potential as a quarter of a larger 
block. I see how secondary patterns would form
with the zigzag creating frames and crosses.



What about a great pinwheel block made 
with scrappy fans?
My favorite!


Or a modern zigzag?
Now it's a toss up for my favorite.




Now the diagonally cut block.
This is powerful.


Concentric squares this way.


This one is a little choppy for me.


What if we combined both blocks from 
both ways of cutting?
The neatest thing I found was I continued 
to have area to add both 90 degree 
and 45 degree pieces if I wanted to continue.




Let's put the whole gang in here now.
We're approaching a crazy quilt, I think.


This took me all of an hour or less.
I understand the relationship much
better now than before, and when I look
at something someone else has done,
I am better able to break that block down,
and be able to reproduce it with my
own flair.

Have you taken time to play
with blocks lately?
Let me know what you find out
with another kind of block.

Time for some more sewing and play.
Come on, Doxie Girls.
Let's go sew.

Linking up today with~
Blossom Heart Quilts Sew Cute Tuesdays
and I'm also featured there today,
so thank you so much, Alyce!
Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story
Freemotion by the River
Late Night Quilter
Val's Quilting Studio
Freshly Pieced
and
Sew Fresh Quilts

14 comments:

Teje Karjalainen said...

Looks so much fun and you have created lots of Super blocks! x Teje

Crafty Ashley B said...

What fun!! May have to try such "play" myself!

Vicki in MN said...

I can tell you had loads of fun!! It's exciting to just play around sometimes.

Unknown said...

This makes me want to play!

Marcy said...

You've got me thinking. Quilters do it with color.

Anne / Springleaf Studios said...

This is a nice post sharing all the play you tried. I need to try more of this myself.

Podunk Pretties said...

So many cute ideas! I've some leftover scrappy strings that need a little play time too!

Allison said...

So fun to just play with them. It's so cool to see all the different possibilities. I love scrappy quilts and whatever you do choose will be awesome, I'm sure.

Sandra Walker said...

Whoa! How much fun did you have, and how smart to remember to take all those pictures along the way! I need to do this with some of my scraps. I've been saving strips for a while. At first when you cut on the diagonal I thought, uh oh, bias edges, but then I realized, with the foundation square, I think you're okay, right?

Mary maloney said...

love it

Shauna said...

Those are all so cool. I keep saying I want to play like that, but haven't yet, but these make me want to play!!!

the momma said...

I never play. But gosh, you make me want to!

Ruth said...

We were challenged to do something similar for a Bee block - scary at first but lots of fun and they all turned out so different! I like the x you created from the diagonal cuts,

ipatchandquilt said...

Wow, that is amazing! Gorgeous experimentations! Love the red ones that are a bit crazy! ☺️
Esther
esthersipatchandquilt at yahoo dot com