Growing

 

The quilt will be 60" x 72" which means eighteen rows of fifteen blocks across. So the pattern of Black-Red-Violet-Blue-Green will get repeated three times in each row. So I need 3 different prints of each color, and eighteen different lights or creams to make up each dark/light pair.

Like these.

I couldn't use scraps because I needed eighteen 2-1/2" x 4-1/2" blocks of each of 32 fabrics, so I had to use fabrics from stash. (Oh gee darn.)

I had already made some pairs and had them up on the design wall, but I wanted to know the colors and fabrics would look okay before I invested all the time in sewing up the blocks. I had already determined each pair combo had to be unique and I had had to unstitch a dozen or so blocks and I wasn't eager to have to do that again.

Once I chose my fabrics and the lights, I cut out all the pieces and then matched one pair of each color combination and lay them across the top of the design wall in the order I thought I wanted them.

That was OK, but it's time consuming to get up and down off the ladder to arrange blocks at the top of the quilt. so I arranged the cut pieces on the design where I could reach them. I set out three rows because I thought that would give me a good idea of what the design would look like.

I already knew I didn't like the way the red blocks in the long diagonal row above attracted too much attention, but I figured once I had the blocks made and the design wall covered it would be an easy enough fix to swap one red for another.

Satisfied, I cut all the pieces I needed from each fabric, and stacked them up, ready for a session of power sewing.

Stay tuned!

Oh and, yes Cherie, I might make these do some zigging and zagging, but that's another thing that's easier to do once the blocks are made.

This needs a name. Any suggestions?