12
Sep
The One Block Wonder Challenge
Posted by Joy Iervolino in ONE BLOCK WONDER CHALLENGE
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I have been fascinated with kaleidoscope quilts of all kinds, fussy-cut or stacked, and even have my own pinless method of stacking repeats in several of my own patterns.
Just because I started my own pattern company doesn't mean I don't try other interesting methods. My guild has been going ga-ga over the book "One Block Wonders" by Maxine Rosenthal. The stacking method used in the book is great for getting started with stacking the layers together, but I still prefer to eliminate all pins quickly and take time to tie the stacks. I also use a few other tricks to avoid moving the layers while cutting out block sets. The end result is worth the extra effort to me.
Stack-n-Whack™ quilts in general have certain fabric considerations, depending on the size of the wedge used. In watercolor effects, an added challenge arises since the blocks flow into one another. I decided I would have to experiment with different fabrics for myself, since making mistakes is my most successful "learning style" anyway!
One thing I learned is that the quilt has a mind of its own, and you may have lots of blocks left over. Also, backgrounds that are cluttered with distractions, such as polka-dots or tiny lines, are distracting.
My First One Block Wonder
This was hard. It was a 24" print that I split down the foldline with a friend years ago. I used every block but one, which I put on the back as part of the label. It's ditch-quilted, which was fairly easy. It does, however, look ditch-quilted, and less unified. But it's done!
If I have another fabric that I am not sure about, I may use narrower strips for smaller triangles. Reducing the scale can change everything.
 I had a yard of a coordinate that looked like the background. I used that to fill in the top right and certain edges and corners. I didn't like it for the first month, and finally added the fish from extra fabric. This photo shows the lower right corner. |
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