Sunday, January 5, 2014

a new obsession?

I follow some assorted blogs about quilting and crafting and knitting.  One of them is Red Pepper Quilts.  Last week this blogger posted pictures of her "Economy Block" quilt and I caught the bug to try it.  I'm not sure where that name comes from, as I am used to calling this the square-in-a-square block.  A block by any other name is just as sweet.  Here are my first 3 samples--
These are 5" blocks made with fabric gleaned from my stock of 5" squares of all kinds and colors.  No, I haven't sorted them by color!  They are all mixed up in several boxes, but at least they are stacked neatly!
There is a nice tutorial for the step-by-step directions on the Red Pepper site.  These instructions are easy to follow and call for pieces that are a little bit over-sized so they can be trimmed to a uniform size for the finished block.  She also has a paper-piecing diagram that can be downloaded, which would be an easy way to go if you want to take the guesswork out of the equation.  Less room for error.
This is going to take a bunch of blocks to make a quilt big enough to cover a bed.  A 100" x 100" size would take 400 blocks.  Not sure where I am going with this, but putting these together satisfied my desire to put some colors together and sit at my machine without worrying about the end result!  Maybe you would like to join in the block quilt-along?  I am going to use some stolen minutes to sort out combos of 3 fabrics that would work in a block and make a stack.  Then more stolen minutes to cut them to the correct size.  Then some minutes at the machine when I need some sewing therapy!  Sounds easy, right?

2 comments:

MissesStitches said...

I saw her post, too. Looks like a great idea. Pretty sure I don't need to start another project at this moment, though!

Robin Cornwell said...

Hello Pam,
I am an art quilter from NH. A friend had posted an article about your work with T-shirts on facebook. The article mentioned your work with adding found objects such as metal and wood. Would love to see some of those pieces!