Friday, November 5, 2010

The First Act of Avoidance

I pin basted Child's Play. Still debating whether to quilt it from the back, following major lines in the design of the backing fabric, or whether to basically custom quilt it on the front. I know, I know, if I would only give in and learn to free motion quilt I wouldn't have this issue. Well I'm not ready yet so let me show you what I'm doing instead. ;- )

Back in the day, when I was a fresh young quiltmaker, I had this vision of making a quilt that would be reminiscent of what I consider "pioneer quilts." I wanted to use simple pieced blocks in indigo blues and turkey reds with shirting print backgrounds. This is what I had when I pulled the bag out recently:

I thought there were more blue blocks but I guess not. I don't believe I'd thought about how to set the blocks. Back then I was lucky to get a block or two made in a sitting as my children were all still little and/or in school. Now I can't bear the thought of a straight-on setting with sashing. After I made a few more blocks I put the bag away again.

The other day I was looking for a quick something to do for my 15 minutes of play. I don't remember how I came across it but I found an intriguing block in an antique quilt. I went into the scraps I'd received from V~ and made up a sample.

Fun! So I got out my indigo blues and shirting prints and made a few more.

Wheeee! I like these blocks! I made a few more. Then I got out the Churn Dash/Monkey Wrench blocks to see how they would look together. One thing led to another and pretty soon I had this on my design wall:

I think I've made a breakthrough with my pioneer quilt. :- )

5 comments:

  1. Hi, what a lovely setting of those blocks, I love the Churn Dash blocks and the small blue ones look great.
    Sue..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Now THAT'S a breakthrough quilt! I absolutely love where your UFO took you. I love the new blocks and the assembled blocks look like they were all meant to be together. Good for you Sue Brown, good for you!! High fives and three cheers for an empty UFO bag!! Big hugs, Finn
    P.S. if you get a chance pop over and see the startling new changes Sara of Sara's Quilts made to her old odd blocks. If you don't have her addy she's the Sara on the UFO Challenge list.

    ReplyDelete
  3. WOW! I LOVE love love it!!! Churn Dash is one of my all-time favorite blocks and the other blocks just 'make' this quilt!! Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  4. And I like what you are doing with these OLD blocks to get them made into something useful.

    Glad to be in touch with someone else who likes Finn and Bumblebeans!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow! This really became exciting! Red and the spinning blocks are just what it needed.

    ReplyDelete

I'm sorry it's difficult or impossible for some of my readers to leave comments. I do appreciate your visits and the kind comments I receive.