Hi girls,
What a treat to be inspired and challenged every month via
our quilting bee, and now it’s my pleasure to host the month of August.
The inspiration for my collaborative quilt comes from the
book The Modern Quilting Bee Block Party
by Alissa Haight Carlton and Kristen Lejniek. I love the open-endedness of the design and as I have never made a
free form quilt before I thought our quilting bee would be the perfect place to
start.
I ask that you create a strip of stripes showcasing a fun mix
of floral and geometric patterns, dots, stripes and solids in red, white and
aqua pieced together with a simple white background. This block can use up some
of your favourite scraps.
This block is a simple design and I ask that you create 2 different blocks (see variations below).
To give you an idea of the quilt design, here are 3 different blocks together. There won’t be any sashing between the blocks.
Fabrics and colour:
Red, white and aqua (floral and geometric patterns, dots, stripes and solids)
Solid white for background fabric 14" x 14"
Some of the fabrics I chose for my block:
Construction:
Makes 1 finished 13" x 13" block with 1 striped strip.
- Cut the 14" white background square into 2 rectangles (of any size). Cut the fabrics (red, white and aqua) into rectangles that are at least 3 ½" wide and vary in height.
- Sew the coloured strips together into a strip that is at least 14" long.
- Trim the edges so that they are straight and parallel.
- Sew the pieced strip between the white background fabric. Trim the block to 13" x 13".
Variations:
Here are some suggestions to add
some variety to the block. And, of course your own creative ideas are welcome
too J
2 pieced strips
You can choose to make the block
with 2 pieced strips. They can be wider or narrower. Simply cut the white
background fabric into 3 rectangles and follow directions above, leaving at
least 1 edge of the block white.
Vertical stripes
You can choose to add some
vertical stripes to your pieced strip. Also, you might notice that my skinny stripe is narrower than 3 ½".
What
I enjoyed the most was the process of selecting and organising the layout of fabrics,
experimenting with the free form style, as well as deciding on the variations between my blocks.
I am looking forward to hearing
from you all and seeing what you come up with.
Hope you’re enjoying balmy summer
days and nights in the Northern hemisphere….if you’re away on vacation, enjoy
and we will hear from you once you return home and begin quilting
again!!
And for our quilters based in Switzerland ,
bonne fete nationale - 1st
August!!
Thank you in advance my fellow
quilting bee friends.
Chris
Thanks Chris, what a fun project! I like the freedom and will let my brain work on this for a few days before I get started sewing....but I will start digging through my scraps right away, nice color choices!
ReplyDeleteJennifer
This will be fun! I love your color choices! I will dig through my scraps, but I see a trip to the fabric store in my future! For the time being, I will have to plan this block in my head until I can unpack my sewing machine and get to work! Moving really cuts into the sewing time! ;)
ReplyDeletethis looks like a lot of fun can't wait to get started on it!
ReplyDeleteChris, What an exciting, creative and very liberating August pattern! I am not sure which way I will go with this one, but excited to go to my local fabric store and have a peek for some pretty reds and aquas. Thanks for the inspiration... Hope it's not too chilly in Australia this winter. Here, it is blazing hot and we're in the throes of summer. I'm about to set off on a few weeks of holiday, so will get this block done near the end of August. xo
ReplyDelete