In my last progress report I talked about playing with the cheddar and indigo blocks on my design wall and realizing more blocks were needed. This quilt is going to contain blocks in three sizes — six, 12 and 18 inches — in an arrangement still to be determined. I made four more blocks of each size — and then I stopped. Why? I hadn’t yet decided what size my quilt would be — an important piece of information when figuring how many more blocks to make!
I finally settled on a twin sized quilt for a rather compelling reason:Â I am ready to finish this project and move on to something else! After spending time moving blocks around on my design wall I realized how difficult it is to create a layout with different sized blocks. And it’s complicated by the fact that I’m combining various prints and trying to get them distributed evenly around the quilt.
I figured I’d better move to graph paper. Here’s the result, achieved with much erasing and with the bottom of the layout cut and pasted on:
The blocks with the big X are obviously the 18″ ones. The squares with the circle in the middle are the 12″ blocks and the squares with the small X are the 6″ blocks. The quilt will measure 66″ x 90″ (assuming I don’t put a border on it).
With paper layout in hand, I arranged the 18″ and 12″ blocks on my design wall . . . and kept moving them around until finally deciding on this distribution of blocks:
The white spaces you see are where the 6″ blocks will go, mostly in twos and threes but there is one space for a singleton block. I have something special in mind for that one.
I’m not very good at “going scrappy.” The quilt looks awfully busy to me — even before adding the 6″ blocks. But I love the block design and the fabrics so I just have to trust I will be happy with the end result.
It looks marvelous to me. I would call this “controlled scrappy” because even though you do have a variety of fabrics, you have limited the colors. That is my favorite kind of scrappy. You have also combined my two favorite blocks into one glorious block. I really like it, and hope you like it when you are done.
Dawn, I LOVE scrappy quilts, and I think this looks great, already! Go for it! hugs, Suzette
Dawn, it looks very random to me. This stage can be the most daunting for me. I take pictures and move everything around and then take more pictures. I think you are going to really like the quilt when it is finished.
Glenna, Suzette, Vickie: Thank you so much for your words of encouragement! I often have doubts at this stage of a project so your comments were a great boost.
I think it’s going to be great! There’s nothing like getting out the graph paper and working out a design. Can you tell that I majored in Math in college?
I agree with Glenna. The scrappy-ness is controlled so the busy-ness is interesting but not overwhelming. I’m anxious to see what the “singleton” looks like.
I love this design, and the layout is going to be amazing. I think you’ve done a great job on balancing it out.
You can’t go wrong! The fabric choices you made for your squares alone will guarantee a pleasing result. I can already visualize your twin size vintage sofabed all made up with this quilt.
Thank you, friends, for your comments. You’ve given me reassurance that I’m on the right track!