Oh, the trouble that follows when I attempt to clean up the cutting table and put things away! I came across a baggie of Churn Dash blocks from Barb's swap and remembered an idea I saved for an alternate block. I have another grandnephew due later this year and thought it would make a good baby quilt.
The curves that appear with the alternate nine patch block really attracted me. I pulled a modern white and gray print and solid black and cut the needed squares.
Not the greatest layout attempt on the nine patches--but enough to show the goal. These blocks will make good leader-enders as I sew together some of the 520 3.5" squares the newlyweds helped me layout last weekend. I failed to get a photo of the layout before we stacked up and labeled the rows.
The Churn Dash theme continued when I got the last three seams sewn for my dad's Chunky Churn Dash quilt--the pic is the before shot...it went together easily and I'm very happy with it.
Very serious work! My engineer dad sorts all the pieces into groups by type, "one pin", "four pin", "no pin", etc. Once he shared his secret with me, it made picking out the right piece a lot quicker! Mom's art studio always has a table set up for puzzles.
Pondering if I want to add borders to Chunky Churndash or not--a mockup will be necessary for final options. Again, this is a free pattern by Bonnie Hunter on her Quiltville website...which leads to another free Bonnie pattern, My Blue Heaven. I took Bonnie's class last year with the Camarillo Quilt Guild and called my version My Lupine Heaven, using two colors instead of one. In class I only completed one star block and one puss in the corner block, but cut many pieces. Here and there I've cut and sewn pieces and parts to use as leader-enders, and finally got to a point where I had enough to construct a bunch of blocks. The star blocks have 24 pieces each, which makes for a lot of sewing!
Oh my, that is a busy bunch of blocks. I'm not exactly happy with these, some seem very muddy and the star doesn't really stand out. Sigh. My plan calls for a 6x8 layout so there is still a lot of sewing to do. Perhaps choosing more light backgrounds with fewer prints will help the star blocks. The neverending scraps will feed the kitty forever, it seems :)
6 comments:
Yes, I well understand-- the kitty is well fed here too! ;) I have also done jigsaw puzzles with the retired resident engineer and he sorts pieces in a like manner. I love your Lupine Heaven and believe that those lower contrast blocks (they don't look muddy from here) will make the others sparkle, not too worry yet! The Chunky Churn dash for your dad is just great, it has wonderful visual appeal and balance-- well done! That baby churn dash/nine patch is going to be sweet-- cleaning up in the sewing room is always a "dangerous" proposition! :)
I love working on puzzles, but never thought about sorting the pieces that way! Just one more proof that I was never meant to be an engineer.
What a sweet dad! He's going to love his new quilt. I like your way of finding alternate blocks to build a quilt. Inspiring!
Two churn dash quilts in one post--love it! The baby quilt layout is very pleasing, and the Chunky Churndash for your Dad is a great guy quilt.
I am a puzzle doer from way back, but I have NEVER seen anyone lay out the pieces by shape. Obviously there is nothing of the engineer in me or my family members. That looks fascinating. We always sort them by color and texture groupings, after having assembled the border, of course. That is such a great photo of you and your Dad working the puzzle.
My Lupine Heaven is very pretty--and that is a lot of pieces going into a star block. Vintage quilts often seem to have places where the contrast is not as great, because they worked with what they had on hand. Since we have an abundance of options, we want everything to be just right. I totally get that, but I love when a quilt surprises me with unexpected value placement and lower contrast here and there.
You got lots to keep you out of trouble for awhile. Love both churn dash quilts. I get the puzzle out during the Christmas holidays and do them with the children. I hope they will still play with me when I am old, like you do with your dad. It's a wonderful picture. Enjoy! ;^)
Love the churndash with the 9 patches..gonna be so cute!! And you two have a method to your madness when it comes to puzzle solving. So fun!
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