Monday, April 27, 2009

Blocks Happen

Okay, enough with the chemical issues. (For now anyway.) Let's move on!

Over the weekend I decided I would make a pair of quilts out of my stash of batik fabrics, one for me and one for my husband. This would satisfy my need to build quilts a block at a time and give me the chance to finally use some of those luscious fabrics I've collected over the years. His would use the darker, muted colors and be very clean-lined and elegant. Mine would be tropical colors and probably very busy. Like I've said before, we're Jack Spratt and his wife all over again. We are constantly marveling that we have been successfully married for so long when our tastes are polar opposite so much of the time. Guess that just proves the "opposites attract" maxim.

Anyway, I spent hours going over magazine clippings from years ago and my favorite block pattern book (which was printed on safe paper with safe ink apparently - I had the spine removed and replaced with the spiral coil to allow the book to stay open to the page I wanted) until I had a pretty good idea of what blocks I would use for each quilt.

By the way, I wouldn't recommend this book for beginning quilters. You have to have some experience with drafting blocks to be able to use it to its' fullest potential. And there are errors - at least in the version I own - that you have to be wise enough to recognize.

Before I pulled fabric for either of those quilts, however, I had to put away the scraps and patches I'd been playing with. One thing led to another and this is what happened:

(The Bow Tie blocks were created as I pieced all these other blocks.)


There's no guarantee the batik fabrics will come out today either. I still have some HST's and larger scraps on the sewing and cutting tables. This may turn out to be another fungly quilt. (Or more than one.) I sure had fun pairing up unlikely prints and messing with color and value combinations. Turned up some more old prints that need to go away too, so I may as well let the fun continue!

4 comments:

  1. His and Her quilts! I love it! I might have to steal that idea from you. And I just love your Churn Dash's. You look like you're on a roll!

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  2. Oops, Churn Dash and Shoo Fly! And I'm always a sucker for a bow tie! ;-)

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  3. I made my son a twin sized bowtie quilt in cream colored background with batik colored bowties. He still uses it 12 years later.

    What size quilts are you making you and your husband?

    I saw on TV they've put to rest the idea that opposites attract. I couldn't believe it myself and then I heard how they did it. They ASKED people if they wanted to marry their opposite! Well who in their right mind makes a conscious decision to do it in the first place?! It's more like we fool ourselves to start with and then we get to learn to live with it later. At least that's how me and my opposite feel (in agreement for once), lol.

    Can't wait to see how all these quilts end up.

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  4. Lovely...yes, it seems I got alot of gals started on the 'his' and 'hers' quilts when I recently did my fall quilts!!!

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