Monday, August 29, 2011

August Block

Oh August's block is so much fun to piece. Just make a strip set, cut triangles from it, and sew them back together. Easy peasy! Even though it's quick and easy, it makes a really striking block.


As striking as the block is, many blocks together make an even more dramatic quilt.

As soon as the fall newsletter craziness subsides (yes, it's quite close to being mailed out), I hope to add this quilt to my piecing pile. It's fast, fun, and dramatic--just how I like things!


Friday, August 5, 2011

July Block

One of my favorite design tricks is to take a traditional block, like Monkey Wrench below, ask myself questions about what I can do to modify it into a new block.

So I ask myself questions like: what happens if I change the location of light and dark fabrics? Here, you can see it creates a reverse image of the block, like the negative of a photograph. (Does anyone still use negatives anymore?)


But then I wonder, would it be more interesting if I added more fabrics to the block?


I like where this is going, but I could take it further. What would happen if I turned the center square into a four-patch?


And so in asking myself these questions, I changed a traditional Monkey Wrench block into July's block.