Thursday, May 14, 2009

My Quilt Room is Back!

After the long cold winter with my quilting room closed off to save energy costs, I am dee-LIGHTED to have it back again! And I have a quilt in progress, too! I made most of the blocks a year or two ago, and I get to do the exciting creative part now, arranging and sewing them together. Here is a picture of a few of them with my lovely little quilting apprentice: I have some rules for this quilt, what good is a quilt without rules?

Rule 1: Every block must include a solid fabric. However, they must NOT contain two solids, I tried it here and every time I look at this block I get this sick bored feeling in the pit of my stomach... I may have to applique some circles on it.
And on this one I used four solids! I am definitely going to sew this circle on top. I love the way the colors work together! And I am not sewing the circle on top because my points don't match, they match very well thank you. It is just to relieve my boredom. For our purposes here, the polka dot fabrics also count as solids. After all, they are just solids with dots printed on top. So it is really FIVE solids!

Rule 2: Every block must contain a polka dot fabric. Polka dots make me happy. And hey, you've got to have some sort of continuity, right? I love the green polka dot in this one!

Rule 3: Every block must contain a floral fabric. This block appears to contain two florals (three if you count the appliqued dot). However, if you walk down the road a mile and a half I will hold it up and you will see it is a polka dot and a solid. I swear.
When I realized this block was a plain and boring 9-patch I had to pep it up with a circle!

Rule 4: Add some blocks that don't meet any of the rules, but make me smile. For example:
Or this one:

Rule 5: Be spontaneous. Be brave. Be daring. Don't overthink things.

Rule 6: Sew circles on top whenever I want to. Circles make me happy, just like polka dots do. See the nine patch and the card trick blocks above.

Rule 7: Use lots of stripes. I love the way they lead your eye around the quilt!
Also, if the stripes are thin enough they can count as a solid, too! Again, walk down the road to check...

Rule 8: Don't worry if other people think my blocks are too "busy". I like busy. Busy is better than boring!

This block is busy but I find it visually stimulating. It is not too busy for me. Neither is this one:

Rule 9: Make this quilt mostly green. It will be my green quilt. So where did all that pink and purple come from??

This block is a rule-breaker and a winner!

Rule 10: Have fun. Most of all, have fun making this quilt.
So those are my quilt rules for making these blocks and a free preview of my next quilt. I welcome any comments!