Modern Blocks: 99 Quilt Blocks from Your Favorite Designers

Really. Fun. 12-inch blocks to mix, match, and make your own. Piecing, applique, paper-piecing, and embroidery. Beginner friendly. Something for everyone.

Check out my block from the book below, Quarter-Cut Daisy. I’ve finished the center panel, and am now contemplating what to do with the borders. I’ve got 8 extra sashing strips, so I suspect that once upon a time I had planned to make 4 more blocks for the corners of the quilt. Hmm…

Here’s a peek at a few of my favorite blocks from the book:

After Hours
by Louise Papas

Fungus Family Portrait
by Amy Sinibaldi

Missing Your Kiss
by Penny Michelle Layman

Mondrian
by Jamie Moilanen

Besides being a wonderful collection of quilt block patterns, this fun book also dishes up a generous serving of eye candy. You can find Modern Blocks on Amazon or as an eBook download from C&T Publishing.

I’m also giving away one eBook copy to a lucky reader! Just leave a comment telling me your favorite kind of quilt block, currently. After all, a quilter has the right to change her (or his) mind from time to time. If you want to add a link to a photo of one of your favorite quilt blocks, that’s even better. One can never have too much eye candy to enjoy! The giveaway begins Friday, November 4, 2011 and ends Sunday, November 13, 2011.

Happy quilting!

The hat above is part of the quilt top that I worked (ahem, played) on while on quilt-cation. (Photoshopped for secrecy. I’m not ready to reveal more just yet…)

I used the same painting with fusible fabric technique that I used on No Paints Were Harmed in the Making of this Quilt and Magritte and Me. Now I’m back to work, even in my quilting studio, so I’ll continue on this particular quilt Labor Day weekend for a mini quilt-cation.

A very important detail when planning a quilt-cation is fabric. Here’s my suitcase of quilt-cation fabric. I hand-carried it with me onto the plane because it would definitely be a disaster if the fabric got lost along the way.

THE FABRIC I BROUGHT

Most of that is what I packed and brought, although I did order 8 or 10 yards online and had it shipped to my destination. I bought some irresistible batiks at Quilt Lovers’ Hangout in Fort Myers, Florida as well.

There is a delicate balance when packing fabric for a quilt-cation. You don’t want to be in the middle of a project and realize the exact piece you need is still in your stash at home, but you don’t want to pack your entire stash either, even if you could fit it all into a suitcase. And you definitely want to leave some room for the fabulous fabric that you will find at the local quilt shops near your destination.

Luckily there was just enough room in the suitcase to fit all my fabric for the return trip. Expandable suitcases are great for this, but in case of fabric shopping overload you can always mail your extra fabric back home.

But the real question is, how much of that quilt-cation fabric did I actually use?  For my quilt-cation project, 8×10 inch pieces, not 1/2 and 1-yard cuts would have been more than sufficient. I’ll know better next time…

THE FABRIC I USED

Happy quiltcation!

How do you pack for a quilt-cation? What kinds of projects do you like to make?

So far in 2011 I’ve finished a quilt that I started in 2004, made progress on a new quilt pattern (scheduled to be released in Spring 2011), and started stitching together my Dear Diary 2010 blocks.

This wasn’t the layout I was envisioning last year … I mistakenly thought I only made a handful of blocks and intended the open spaces to not only add visual interest, but increase the quilt dimensions as well.

After I started sewing the blocks together potholder-quilt style, I discovered this stack of blocks in varying stages of completion. Guess I needn’t have worried about the finished quilt being too small. I’m still glad I’m doing it this way, not only will there be less sewing in the assembly, I think it’s going to look better.

Stay tuned this year for further Dear Diary 2010 updates, breaking news on my new quilt patterns, and more quilting adventures! Although I’m not going to be blogging every day, I will be quilting every day and therefore should have no problem figuring out what to blog about. I promise to periodically set down my needle and thread to post a blog entry or two from time to time.

Everything I need to finish my quilt is in this drawer (I hope!) Go to my post Quilt of Dreams 2004 to see the quilt I’m making. I donated the first one to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. This one is for my daughter.

This is a detail of the rainbow garden on that quilt. Luckily most of the garden is already completed.

There’s a magical stage in the quilt-making journey where you have enough skills to turn the quilts you dream up into reality, but not quite enough experience to realize just how painful a process it might be. Way back in 2004 when I dreamt up this quilt was one of those times. Oh well, at least the second time around I’ll know what to watch out for.

I’m afraid that I probably should have gone counter-clockwise, so all that sparkly perfection may be in vain. I’m holding off on making a date with Mr. Seam Ripper, as well as sewing any more blocks until I have confirmed which direction the logs should be spinning. Either way, it’s a beauty to behold. Just wait until I have a photo of the completed technicolor king size quilt with pillow shams to show you!

Here’s my version of a Log Cabin block, stress-free style. The last red log wanted to go on the other side, so of course I obliged. (How could I refuse?) This one’s for my Dear Diary 2010 quilt, but it would be fun to do a whole quilt of these mixed up Log Cabins.

happy piecing! ^_^

Chidori-Tsunagi, 6″

Mashu-Zashi, 6″

Asa-no-ha, 6″

That last one is on pre-printed fabric (I’ve only just begun, my stitching is the lighter part in the upper left corner), the other two are drafted with a white pencil. Following the stitching lines on the pre-printed fabric is good practice, I’m getting better at the tiny stitches in the centers. I think I prefer drafting to pre-printed though. When you draft them yourself you can draw the designs any size you wish and you can be more free with your stitch length and placement. These blocks are going to eventually become part of a sashiko sampler when I’ve finished enough of them.

Here’s a necklace I made with my Fast, Fun & Easy Cover Button Jewelry techniques by stitching on the pre-printed Asa-no-ha fabric. That’s a 1-7/8″ button.

4″ Dear Diary block made with my sashiko practice piece

and another 4″ Dear Diary block using up the rest of my practice stitches.

Sashiko is a great take-along project. You don’t need a hoop or complicated equipment. I’d like to try sashiko quilting on my painted Spring quilt top, but I didn’t use any fabric paint medium in the acrylics so it’s not going to be the most needle-friendly quilt top I’ve ever made. Maybe I could limit the sashiko to the upper part of the center panel where there’s not much paint and machine quilt the rest. For now though, I’m just going to continue with my sashiko sampler blocks.

Satin stitching is one of those techniques I just don’t do. Too much stress, too much hassle, too much thread to cut out when things go wrong. I’m more of a blanket stitch kind of gal.

Unfortunately the fabrics I chose for this little blue mushroom didn’t have as much contrast as I’d imagined they should. So it was either make an entirely new block from scratch or attempt to save the day with some satin stitching in bright blue rayon.

Not bad for a satin-stitch-a-phobe. I could definitely try this again. Maybe someday I’ll even make an entirely satin stitched applique quilt.

So the very next day I did. I had a sample of Glide Trilobal Polyester thread from Fil-Tec Bobbin Central that I’d been saving to try out on a mini quilt top.

As you can see on the cloud applique, it satin stitches beautifully. Notice the tight curves and inside points of the cloud. (These are 4-inch blocks.) I LOVE that even though I stacked up quite a bit of thread to cover the corners and curves, this thread was fine enough that it didn’t jam up or get caught in the feed dogs.

Glide’s shine matches that of rayon, plus it’s colorfast. Check out their wide range of gorgeous colors. There’s even color conversion charts for Madeira and Robison-Anton. The only thing I could wish for is Glide Trilobal Polyester thread in variegated colors. Until then …

Get 10% off all Glide colors for the month of February. Stock up on your favorite colors and fall in love with Glide.

The purple and black Square-in-a-Square at right is another one of those blocks I don’t see myself making more of. (The dime is for scale.) It is pieced for real, not painted, stamped or fussy cut. I can’t imagine why I ever made it in the first place, but I can see why there is only one.

I was digging in my scrap box for more of the sheep fabric, but couldn’t find any. What I did find was this little gem, already inset into the muslin and just waiting for me. I think it fits in rather nicely.

happy quilting! =(^_^)=

It’s my Dear Diary 2010 journal and I post every day with my Zig pigment pens.

But unless you happen to meet me in the street (or maybe at Road to California later this month) you might never get to read it. I promise to give you updates here every now and then.

Dear Diary 2010 is coming along quite well. I’m still working out a few kinks in the program, such as: maybe it’s not the most realistic expectation to design, create, and quilt a new block each and every single night when you get started around 10 or 11 pm. I can definitely design it and at least fuse or piece each one daily though. As long as I don’t skip any days I’ll be able to catch up.

None of them are quilted yet because I’m still deciding how I want to quilt them. I’m leaning towards hand quilting around the edges with big-stitch quilting with top-stitching thread. (I really love the look of bold hand stitches, and the 4-inch blocks are great for taking along.) Once they’re quilted I’m going to connect them with E seed beads.

Here are my first week’s blocks:

Stay tuned for more!

The pocket pattern fit the print just right so that it looks like two pieces, but it’s really only one. I’m going to stitch the applique pieces down before adding the buttons to the flowers.