MAD ABOUT PLAID for Moda Blockheads

Happy Moda Blockheads Wednesday! Well, its actually Tuesday night but I am going to post this early so I can go to bed!! On blockheads days, when it is my pattern, I stay up till crazy late night/morning hours to make sure my post goes up, etc. Tonight I'm trading that for sleep and you all can get this pattern a little early! Win-win! Read a little further down to get your link to the pattern (link in the gray bar). AND for sharing this week, it would make us all happy to see YOU with your block so snap a selfie for your posting!

This block is called MAD ABOUT PLAID and explores some lines that intersect in solid squares, both horizontally and vertically, to make a plaid-like block. You can take it very straight forward and do simple rectangles and two color combo, or play with those stripes more for gradations and accents. I wanted to have a block with lines and some simplicity to balance out the more complex and intricate blocks in the sampler. When I design a collection of fabric, I have the focal print with big florals, but the line also needs small prints or some kind of stripe or plaid to balance out the group. You can see that simplicity doesn't mean boring since there are still plenty of options for interpretation. (Also can you believe you have two weeks in a row with NO half square triangles or flying geese??)

My first block is clean and simple and just as much about the negative space as the colored bars. As soon as you enter color within the big rectangles it starts to change and have more depth. Play with gradation and lightness? Background color within the squares where the lines intersect can make that recede or come forward. The last one plays a little with different colors on the corners.

What if you wanted the colors of the rainbow? Carry a color all the way through the lines, horizontally and vertically to make it feel like continual stripes. Or, the middle and last one show the rainbow moving around the shape and being specific to the corners. I love how the colors look as accent to the black and gray version.

Focus on the center by just emphasizing the squares and one row of rectangles, making a central square. Or take a completely different and asymmetrical approach with more random placement or focus on a side or corner. I like how this can be a framework for more improv work. The last one shows that even if plaid is not your thing, you can still use this as a framework around a baby fancy block. If you make the 12" block, you would need to make a small 3" finished (3 1/2" unfinished block) for the center.  That little 3" size is cute in the center!

Okay, you made it this far so you can get the pattern!! I hope you will keep reading (and see me in my work-from-home no-makeup glory), but in the meantime, your pattern is here. Click this bar for the link to the pattern info:

MAD ABOUT PLAID Quilt Block Pattern- click here!

Want to know what I made this week for my actual blocks? It's October so I'm in that Halloween ORANGE mood. I made two 8" blocks- one all Thatched, one with a mix of prints- in the orange family. For my prints I used a mixture from Blushing Peonies, Solana (which should be shipping later this month!!) and Abby Rose. On the all -Thatched, I used Tangerine, Apricot and the backside of the orange from Solana. I love how soft an orange that is on the backside! And of course Thatched Cream.

But it is Halloween this month and I've just been getting the fall decorations out with my daughter. So I also made a 12" in Tangerine and a fun scrappy mix of black and white fabrics for the bars. If I make this into a pillow cover I will either make more to make a set of 4 or add a border around it in another shade of orange. I could extend those lines out into the borders like I did on my FRINGE quilt, pictured below. That quilt was actually the inspiration and starting point for this block design.

Are you feeling MAD ABOUT PLAID yet? I hope so and I can't wait to see what you come up with for this block. Oh, one more thing...those squares could be really fun for some cute novelty fabrics and fussy cutting! Think of little lines connecting intersections of cute prints or some little treasure in each square.

When I'm making a block with the lines/rows in the same fabric in multiple sections, I sew long rows of my strips then subcut them down to size for the smaller sections. This makes the construction go much faster!

This week we thought it would be fun to see a little more of each other so it would be lovely if you felt like taking a picture with your block. We love to see a face with the maker and get to know you a little more. So snap a selfie or see if  your cat or dog is talented enough to take a photo of you (they are probably thinking 'leave me alone but scratch my belly first'). Let's see your smiling faces!

All this orange is putting me in a fall mood and I'm ready for a pumpkin latte! Happy sewing everyone! 

Visit my fellow Moda designers for more Blockheads fun:
Corey Yoder - https://corianderquilts.com/
Sherri McConnell - https://www.aquiltinglife.com/
Betsy Chutchian - http://betsysbestquiltsandmore.blogspot.com/
Jan Patek - http://janpatek.blogspot.com/
Brigitte Heitland - https://www.brigitteheitland.de/blog
Lisa Bongean - https://lisabongean.com/
Lissa Alexander - http://modalissa.com/
Laurie Simpson - http://minickandsimpson.blogspot.com/
Vanessa Goertzen - https://lellaboutique.blogspot.com/
Stacy Iest Hsu - https://www.stacyiesthsu.com/blog/
(next week is Janet Clare!)
Janet Clare - http://janetclare.co.uk/blog/
Jen Kingwell - www.jenkingwelldesigns.com/blog
Joanna Figueroa - https://blog.figtreeandcompany.com/