Dear reader, these blocks are the result of several hours of playing. No rules. No design in mind. Just a heap of fabric and a rotary cutter in hand.
The jumping off point for these blocks is the Children at Play fabric by Sarah Jane. I am in love with Sarah's illustrations and colour combos. She has lots of other drool-worthy goodies over in her shop. Do check it out! But I digress...as I was saying, with a jumping off fabric to start, I picked through my stash and found a surprisingly large selection of fabrics that seemed to go well. Then, I just started cutting...and cutting...and cutting. One block at a time, working my way toward a fun little quilt for some lucky baby.
It's been a great exercise in trying a few things that I'd only read about and never tried, like my first string block (third picture down, top right). Working quickly on what is essentially a different project with each block has also highlighted a few problems with my sewing (and my machine). Turns out, I am a puller and my machine feeds through the top and bottom fabric at different rates. This means I get stretched out or bunchy seams if I'm not careful. A good thing to know! My solution is to become very good friends with my pins. Use the pins. Stab the pins. Love the pins.
My question to you, dear reader: to sash, or not to sash*? I still have a few more blocks to sew up, so have a think on it, and do let me know what you think I should do. As is, the blocks will finish at 12" so it'll be a decent sized baby quilt even without any sashing.
*For those of you not in the know, sashing is the strips of fabric that go around a quilt block essentially creating a frame for each block.
I think it is too hard to know without seeming them all out together, i like the idea of no sash better but I feel it might look scattered in the wrong way without.
ReplyDeleteI love the blocks btw, it feels like a window into your head seeing which way you went with each one!
I think I'm leaning toward sashing - assuming I can find some fabric that looks all right. I think the larger size will be nice and you're right, Tara, it might look too busy without.
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