I've got a lot to cover today so keep reading! There is a book giveaway included from Martingale at the end! New block pattern, color studies and book giveaways...sounds like a good Wednesday to me!

I'm very excited to share my block this week "CORNER GARDEN"! This block came out of the leaves in my Bird Talk quilt with a desire to do a simplified floral bloom. I think this block would be adorable in the corners of a pieced border of a quilt, plus it plays off the 4 corners of the block, thus the CORNER part of the garden name. The pattern is here in the gray link box right under this paragraph, but keep reading for color play and a BOOK GIVEAWAY from Martingale Publishers!

Big square flower blooms and leaves....simple in flat colors or you can try them with a color ramp from light to dark. Change up the colors and contrast from one bloom to the next and switch up the leaf colors. I also played with the negative and positive shapes in the last one, with a change in leaf backgrounds too. 

Since the corners of the pattern are made up with stitch and flip squares, why not try greens to the center to make a base for the flower bud with two of the corners? And you can play with varying shades of color to give the illusion of angle and perspective on the flower sides. The bottom images also play with the rectangles that border the leaves. If you make part of those the leaf colors it creates an image of stems weaving together in a flower twist.

Then I started to break down the shapes to be less literal as flowers, and to emphasize the triangles to the sides of the leaves. They start to look like supergraphic stripes and boxed in angled stripes vs leaves. I also explored a blue/cream/green palette. The last image starts to play off the faceted corners of the octagonal shapes.

And this last one breaks down the shapes even more to the churn dash idea and graduated stripes. These feel graphic and can work well if you are more focused on shapes and don't want blocks that suggest flowers and literal objects. 

I think this block has lovely possibilities to explore pairs and reflected units, playing off rainbow colors or just simple groupings.

These are my all-Thatched and scrappy versions of Corner Garden. The scrappy one uses Abby Rose and Dandi Annie plaid with Cream and Tangerine Thatched. These are 8" blocks. I tend to make my corner pieces a little larger and trim them down to size. And if all the HST corners are the same, I make my HST with an 8-at-a-time method vs individually.

The 4" block I made in V& Co Ombre Confetti. I just love doing these little blocks!

And I thought it would be fun to try making a block from strip/string quilt pieces. The block below is a 12" block using strips from Solana, Dandi Annie, Painted Meadow, Sweet Pea & Lily, Blushing Peonies and Abby Rose. I used the Ombre Confetti for centers since I thought the dots reminded me of big pollen filled flowers.  There are lots of ways to have fun with this block!

The other exciting piece of news today is the Martingale giveaway of some of the Moda All-Stars books! You can enter to win a digital download version of one of the quilt books. I am taking names here on my blog to be entered into a random sweepstakes for a digital copy of Lucky Charm Quilts. Sales of this Moda All-Stars book benefit Alex's Lemonade Stand, a Foundation for kids with childhood cancer and has funded over 1,ooo research projects. TO ENTER TO WIN A DIGITAL COPY OF THIS BOOK, enter a comment below telling me your favorite color to sew with! I'll be drawing a winner on Friday and will contact the person through their information on the blog comment. Thank you for supporting the All-Stars books that benefit wonderful charities!

Happy Moda Blockheads Wednesday and happy GIVEAWAY NEWS! First, the block! We are starting ROUND 2 of the blocks from the 14 designers. This week's block is STARRY EYED by Corey Yoder. You can get the block pattern on Corey's bog.

I am busy pulling colors today for another project but will get to sewing, hopefully this afternoon! Once I have my block I'll post an update here. But for my start, I did some color studies with the block to figure out what I am doing.

I am doing a block that will live on the blue stripe of my rainbow row quilt. I sometimes pull colors from the other rows in to the blocks in bits and pieces and since the blue and green are next to each other I could put in some green accents too.  I liked the idea of making a little optical illusion on that top left one by having a light blue next to a medium blue in the outer ring of quarter square triangles. I feel like it gives it a shaddow look, as if the sun were coming from the left and casting a shadow on 3-dimensional diamonds. 
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On the block to the right, the four quadrants are each home to blue or green families with a light white and gray center that sets them off.  And green takes more prominence in the lower left. This is too much green for my blue row, however I like how graphic and strong this one looks. And the last one is the idea of lightness emanating from the center, with the quarter square triangles and stitch and flip triangles making the directional rays reaching out into the dark. I also really like the strength of this block but I wonder if it will pull TOO much attention since that light radiating center is so focused. Which one to make? I make a plan like this and the blocks do evolve a bit on their own as I sew and depending on my fabric scraps.

But while I am figuring that out, I wanted to share my mockups and also let you start entering the MODA BLOCKHEADS BOOK GIVEAWAY from Martingale Publishing! There are a couple versions you can possibly win. Martingale is giving away a PRINTED book and you can leave a message on their page (click the box below) AND you can possibly win a digital version of the book from one of this year's Moda Blockhead designers! Each of us has our own giveaway to do with a digital version of the book from Blockheads 1! 

I started doing Blockheads, sewing along and not as one of the designers, on Blockheads 2. So I am also really excited about this book since I haven't made these blocks yet! And no, I can't win my own giveaway. That would be cheating! But one of you can!

How to enter my digital giveaway of Moda Blockheads 1 book from Martingale? Leave me a message below in the comments about what you have learned so far doing Blockheads. Doesn't have to be long. One thing I've learned is how much I like my different seam rippers! Ha, ha, I'm sure some of you can relate. I do like how I've tried new things and learned so much (triangle paper, applique techniques to name a couple).

​I will pick a winner next Wednesday morning, just in time for the next block from Sherri McConnell. 

​Here's a couple more images to get you excited for the book!

Check out the other Blockheads designers to see how to enter for more chances to win a digital book!
Happy sewing everyone!
4.22 – Corey Yoder  <–this week's designer and pattern blog
4.29 – Sherri McConnell
5.6 – Betsy Chutchian
5.13 – Jan Patek
5.20 – Brigitte Heitland 
5.27 – Lisa Bongean
6.03 – Lissa Alexander
6.10 – Laurie Simpson
6.17– Vanessa Goertzen
6.24 – Stacy Iest Hsu
7.1 – Robin Pickens
7.8 – Janet Clare
7.15 – Jen Kingwell
7.22 – Joanna Figueroa

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