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We are half way through the blocks at this point! It is so fun to see them all come together as a group. This is a cheery block from Corey Yoder to kick off round 3, RING AROUND. The pattern is at Corey's blog:  This week's block has a ring of squares that surrounds the center diamond. You can keep the "ring" around the center fairly straightforward (like the first one and the one below it) or treat the small squares as more of a checkerboard (second image). Playing with shades of light and dark can make a glowing square overlaying the horizontal and vertical bands running through the block. Dropping out the corners to white emphasizes the octagonal shape that the block can take. And that last image treats each corner as it's own color group.  I was intrigued by dropping out a couple opposite corners and how the shape can look like a leaf out of a Minecraft world. I also experimented with the dark outside going into a light inside as well as creating more of a hashtag shape within the center. So many possibilites!  At first I thought I was going to try one of those giant pixelated leaves but when I tried it with the other blocks it looked a little out of proportion. However, someone commented on Facebook at the leaf could look good with the circle one next to it (middle of bottom row) as a big bloom. That could be a fun pillow! So I'll still try it on another project.  I had fun with the center being a little picture frame for my scenic print from Solana (shipping in October 2020 to quilt shops) and a mixture of prints from Abby Rose and Painted Meadow surrounding it. Thanks Corey for the fun block!  More Moda Blockheads Designers:
7.29 – Corey Yoder- we are here! 8.5 – Sherri McConnell 8.12 – Betsy Chutchian 8.19 – Jan Patek 8.26 – Brigitte Heitland 9.2 – Lisa Bongean 9.9 – Lissa Alexander 9.16 – Laurie Simpson 9.23– Vanessa Goertzen 9.30 – Stacy Iest Hsu 10.7 – Robin Pickens 10.14 – Janet Clare 10.21 – Jen Kingwell 10.28 – Joanna Figueroa
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Happy Wednesday! I enjoyed making Joanna Figueroa's block this week. I had just finished the little 1" HST from Janet Clare's block design so those corners came together so fast after all that practice! If you haven't gotten Joanna's pattern, you can go to her blog through the link below: Color studies for "Broken Dishes" start out with a few shades of blue with white, then progress to include green, along with playing with light and dark. The four corners of the block look very different depending if they are white, dark color or lighter colors. I like how the right image on the top row has the look of bows or baskets on angles in the corners. And directly underneath that block, the bands of colors of teal or blue run through in horizontal and vertical bands. The first image on the second row has a "rounder" or more octagonal feel, while the one next to it has strong square side borders. In the bottom row, the first image is a graduation of light in the center, radiating out. And the two images next to it assigns colors to each corner, creating shaddow and light bands within the colors.  My blocks this week will live in my blue row. The all-Thatched has Royal and Sky blues, utilizing some backs for more light shades. The scrappier block uses the warmer Seafoam blues from Abby Rose with an additional "Varietals" print from Solana added in. If you have Abby Rose, the blues carry through very nicely to Solana.   Can you believe we have finished the second round of the sewalong? Next week we will go back to Corey Yoder and start the rotation over! Happy sewing and have fun visiting the other Blockheads designers!  More Moda Blockheads Designers:
7.22 – Joanna Figueroa- we are here! 7.29 – Corey Yoder 8.5 – Sherri McConnell 8.12 – Betsy Chutchian 8.19 – Jan Patek 8.26 – Brigitte Heitland 9.2 – Lisa Bongean 9.9 – Lissa Alexander 9.16 – Laurie Simpson 9.23– Vanessa Goertzen 9.30 – Stacy Iest Hsu 10.7 – Robin Pickens 10.14 – Janet Clare 10.21 – Jen Kingwell The lovely block "The Proposal" from Jen Kingwell brings back memories of a sparkly diamond ring glinting out in the moonlight with a question that warmed my heart from my dear husband (husband-to-be at that moment). I will be doing my block this week in white and light gray shades, just like a diamond. But what if you wanted to try something else?  This paper-pieced pattern can be done with gradations to give that 3 dimensional look. Or maybe treat it as a graphic, light and dark bands with more contrast. The third image plays off dark on light background on the top with light on dark background mirroring on the bottom. In the bottom row, when you accent the middle side angles with another color, it starts to look more like an emblem. The last image also suggests some transparency and light coming through on an angle. Teresa on facebook asked about ideas for this on point and it is an interesting block to think about that. Since I still had my file open I tried modifying and rotating a few. I like how a grouping of 4 can point to a center area. For the one on the right, I took the two halves of the block and joined them on the opposite side to make rays coming out of the center.  Isn't it perfect that this block from Jenn comes right at the time of her anniversary? Happy Anniversary Jen! In honor, the folks at Moda thought it would be fun to share a special proposal or wedding in our lives or family. This is my dear husband and I on our wedding day. He is the best partner in life!!  I'll post my block when its done. Right now I'm STILL making HST from Janet's block from last week! Almost there...
Thanks to Quiltmania and Simply Moderne I've got TWO patterns to share with you this summer! I love getting my issues in the mail because they provide so much color and pattern and inspiration. I couldn't be more pleased than to have my quilts included with their creative images.  Simply Moderne is showing Constance in Issue 21. The fabric line used here is Abby Rose, currently in quilt shops, and focuses on selecting 4 color families that are grouped with a main print, stripes and stars. Since I like having a large focal print of flowers, I used my cabbage roses and selected the Tangerine, Green, Pink and Midnight colorways. I recently saw Anna Dineen @mywanderingpath on IG do this pattern in patriotic fabrics. It is a good opportunity to give those big and bold prints a place of honor and attention! Danica Willeg worked on piecing this and it was longarmed by Marion Bott.  And another Abby Rose quilt made it into Quiltmania! My Little Bird Song is a wall sized quilt which is great for using scraps or leftover bits. This is made with traditional patchwork piecing from rectangles, squares and half square triangles and its diagrammed out for arrangement. I pieced and quilted this one. I did freemotion quilting on my domestic machine by adding more leaf shapes into the negative background spaces. This is in Issue 138.
The magazines travel to shows to show you the latest in the quilting world. During this unusual time of the pandemic, we've had numerous shows canceled or delayed. I appreciate the connections we have through the internet and social media but it is a unique experience to go to shows like these and be in person with other quilters. There is a vibrant energy and it fills the soul with creative ideas. I was fortunate to go to Quiltcon in February, back when we still were hugging and laughing out loud. I was thrilled to see Carol Veillon, the founder and Executive Director of Quiltmania. It was a surprise to me that my Beanstalk quilt had been selected for the COVER of the Simply Moderne Issue 20! What a fantastic surprise! We are pictured here with Lissa Alexander from Moda Fabrics. What wonderful people!  Beanstalk uses my Painted Meadow line of coneflower fabric from Moda Fabrics. The curved leaves are a great way to get comfortable with curved piecing- its only a quarter circle! I pieced this quilt and it was longarmed by Marion Bott with a beautiful Sand Dollar pantograph. I can't wait to try this one in Thatched Basics and a version in string quilt blocks. Quiltmania has supplied these lovely photos and I hope you can pick up one of the issues on your news stand. They can also be ordered directly from Quiltmania at their website https://www.quiltmania-inc.us/ or www.quiltmania.com You should be able to order any of these three currently. Grab a cup of tea and take a moment to yourself to enjoy stitch and color and quilts!
This week's block can really be interpreted SO MANY different ways so I just picked a few for color studies. But first, linking to Janet's blog for the pattern if you haven't gotten it already: Half Square Triangles. Lots of them. I think it's interesting that Janet's block size uses one size of half square triangles no matter which size block you are making for Moda Blockheads. So if you are making a 4" block you will just have fewer rows. If you are making a bigger block, they are the same size pieces, just more of them and you add rows. I am making 8" blocks so I've only done color studies with the configuration for 8". I'm sure you can imagine more or less!  I've started with the basic idea that Janet has on her instructions. Zig Zags have light and dark sections with solids running in between as a solid chevron color. The image next to it is a similar idea but with a scrappier mix of colors and the inside chevrons using different lights and darks. I've got a row of dark green triangles that crops the zig zag on the outer row. If you don't "see" it, squint your eyes to see the banding. The last image on the first row plays with light towards the center and darker colors around the outside perimeter. On the second row I've put light in the middle and am gradually making the colors darker going towards the top and bottom. And with that last one, I started playing with a vertical band within the half square triangles and bringing a column of arrow points down. I thought this was pretty fun so how about if the whole image did a play of contrasts like that?  Keep in mind that the half square triangles are all still going in the same direction as diagrammed originally. Its just playing with the placement of light and dark. I see arrows going up and down in vertical motion with a row of dark blues between. Or even zig zags in the background (large) behind the columns. Or how about we make the separating columns in color? On the second row I've rotated between light and dark arrow heads by column, all lined up. And the last image staggers the placement of the arrow head in the dark row AND brings in another color. Because the arrow heads are made from half square triangles and not flying geese, they feel more dimensional in their light and dark subtle variances.  This image keeps the chevron zig zags and plays with the half square triangles in the center as a composition within a composition. You could use flying geese for the perimeter blocks or still play with the subtlety through scrappier colors and breaking up the solid zig zags with accents.  One more...you would need about 8 shades of blue to do this. I started with white on the right and paired it with really light blue under and in the row next to it. As I moved left I kept pairing the triangle with a darker shade and making it one of the triangles in the next column (the pieces I added are in that right column). I get my illusion of zig zag with a green and light center band, with just two shades of green and the white and lightest blue. It would be tough to have enough shades of blue for this but I wonder if it could work with ombre fabrics??  For my block I started by looking through my leftover half square triangle box and bag. I sew an extra seam often when making snowball blocks or flying geese and rummage through for times like this to see if I have some ready pieces that might just need a little extra trimming to be the right size. The other thing that would be great for this week is Triangle Paper! I didn't know about that until I did Moda Blockheads last year and read Corey Yoder's blog about it. When I have a lot of half square triangles to make it sure makes a difference in efficiency! However, for my scrappy version I found about half my triangles in my HST scrap box and I made the other half. For my all-Thatched version I made all new pieces.  For the Thatched version, I used a combination of Flying Geese and Half Square Triangles. The center area is the focus with the contrast and accent colors. I love home this looks like a composition within a composition. And I am considering just making this into a little wall mini vs putting it into the sampler. I like how it looks standing alone. After joining it and pressing it intensely, I saw the Flying Geese unit at the top middle being "off" a little. I'm thinking I might just live with it. We'll see... Janet Clare says to not point out your mistakes, so I think I'm just pointing out "the personality of the block!"  And here is my scrappy version added to the mix! I used the composition of all HST and a darker zig zag running through horizontally. I made this one in the 6" size and since my quilt is using 8" blocks I will probably add an inch border going all the way around the block. I like the size of this one the way it is and did not want to make more HST. I hope you all had fun with this block!  More Moda Blockheads Designers: 7.8 – Janet Clare - we are here! 7.15 – Jen Kingwell 7.22 – Joanna Figueroa 7.29 – Corey Yoder 8.5 – Sherri McConnell 8.12 – Betsy Chutchian 8.19 – Jan Patek 8.26 – Brigitte Heitland 9.2 – Lisa Bongean 9.9 – Lissa Alexander 9.16 – Laurie Simpson 9.23– Vanessa Goertzen 9.30 – Stacy Iest Hsu 10.7 – Robin Pickens  |
About ROBINDesigner of colorful florals for Moda fabrics. Modern to transitional quilt designer. Illustrator, sewist, crafter. 
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