FUNKY Chicken Block Swap #2 - Sign-up deadline is March 31, 2011
05-19-2011, 07:04 PM
#1922
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Surprise Valley, CA
Posts: 1,249
Originally Posted by heyjami
I need more technical instruction please on that block combining technique. How do you sash those so they look like that?
Sorry, I'm a total beginner and I can't figure that out. :-)
Sorry, I'm a total beginner and I can't figure that out. :-)
Originally Posted by Foxflower
Thanks!
Hey Jami. I will describe what I do. Others probably have other methods...
Usually I start out with a blanket spread on the floor. I take the blocks I'm going to use (I don't know if you are going to use all yours at once or not) and separate by size and set the fillers in a separate pile as well. Then, I arrange the blocks as much into a rectangle or square as they'll go on their own. I add fillers as necessary. I the assess for color, size, and busyness. I like a more orderly look in scrappy quilts and I like my eye to keep moving with out getting confused, overwhelmed, or stuck in an area.
Warm and dark colors draw the eye first. In my second quilt I have Sandpat's beautiful chickie in the middle because it is so bold it centers the quilt in the middle, but would weight it if place on the side. In the first quilt I placed a bold block in the middle again, but had others to spaced around the quilt as well to balance it. There were a lot of bold blocks, so that wasn't to hard in that case. I also arranged small 6" and 3" blocks of similar color together in arrangements to me 9x12, 6x9, and 6x12 sizes. I could then move those around as larger blocks to get color balance. A few of the blocks had pink, lime, and purple, but not many, so I needed place those carefully. Crafty's fox block has all those colors and served to tie them in to the rest of the quilt, you'll notice I place most of those brights next to her fox.
Busyness can really overwhelm me personally, so I was careful to alternate heavily pieced blocks with the larger appliqued blocks. That gives the eye some rest as it moves along. I didn't do it on the 1st quilt, but using a solid color fabric as lattice can really allow the eye to rest as well. You also want something farely neutral I think so it doesn't draw your eye away from the blocks much. Or it could be a color you want to draw out of the quilt more, or something that matches in style such as my using neutral chicken wire as lattice with blocks that had lots of chicken wire in them, not to mention the chickens!
Once I get things in a somewhat pleasing arrangement I walk away from it for a bit, look from another angle, and usually ask someone to look at it who's color or design sense I respect. I may sit down and watch tv for a while glancing down at it from time to time. I switch things around until I'm satisfied. If I have to move it, I pin each block in place on the blanket and roll or fold it up until I'm ready to work on it again, same goes for keeping it ready to put together and add the lattice.
I really think away one arranges it is best describe as BALANCE. Hope this helps Jami. How do the rest of you do it?
05-19-2011, 08:37 PM
#1923
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: California
Posts: 453
WOW! Love this write up! We did that last night but not knowing exactly what I was looking for - I was just watching for balance but I couldn't resolve busy-ness like you mentioned. I think I may have to get more solids/neutrals in there to help that.
I also searched around here and found a fabulous tutorial on the nuts and bolts of putting blocks together that are different sizes.
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-96667-1.htm
thanks so much everyone!
Sandpat, thank you, I wanted that one because it look a little like chicken wire.
Hey Jami. I will describe what I do. Others probably have other methods...
Usually I start out with a blanket spread on the floor. I take the blocks I'm going to use (I don't know if you are going to use all yours at once or not) and separate by size and set the fillers in a separate pile as well. Then, I arrange the blocks as much into a rectangle or square as they'll go on their own. I add fillers as necessary. I the assess for color, size, and busyness. I like a more orderly look in scrappy quilts and I like my eye to keep moving with out getting confused, overwhelmed, or stuck in an area.
Warm and dark colors draw the eye first. In my second quilt I have Sandpat's beautiful chickie in the middle because it is so bold it centers the quilt in the middle, but would weight it if place on the side. In the first quilt I placed a bold block in the middle again, but had others to spaced around the quilt as well to balance it. There were a lot of bold blocks, so that wasn't to hard in that case. I also arranged small 6" and 3" blocks of similar color together in arrangements to me 9x12, 6x9, and 6x12 sizes. I could then move those around as larger blocks to get color balance. A few of the blocks had pink, lime, and purple, but not many, so I needed place those carefully. Crafty's fox block has all those colors and served to tie them in to the rest of the quilt, you'll notice I place most of those brights next to her fox.
Busyness can really overwhelm me personally, so I was careful to alternate heavily pieced blocks with the larger appliqued blocks. That gives the eye some rest as it moves along. I didn't do it on the 1st quilt, but using a solid color fabric as lattice can really allow the eye to rest as well. You also want something farely neutral I think so it doesn't draw your eye away from the blocks much. Or it could be a color you want to draw out of the quilt more, or something that matches in style such as my using neutral chicken wire as lattice with blocks that had lots of chicken wire in them, not to mention the chickens!
Once I get things in a somewhat pleasing arrangement I walk away from it for a bit, look from another angle, and usually ask someone to look at it who's color or design sense I respect. I may sit down and watch tv for a while glancing down at it from time to time. I switch things around until I'm satisfied. If I have to move it, I pin each block in place on the blanket and roll or fold it up until I'm ready to work on it again, same goes for keeping it ready to put together and add the lattice.
I really think away one arranges it is best describe as BALANCE. Hope this helps Jami. How do the rest of you do it?
I also searched around here and found a fabulous tutorial on the nuts and bolts of putting blocks together that are different sizes.
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-96667-1.htm
thanks so much everyone!
Originally Posted by Foxflower
Originally Posted by heyjami
I need more technical instruction please on that block combining technique. How do you sash those so they look like that?
Sorry, I'm a total beginner and I can't figure that out. :-)
Sorry, I'm a total beginner and I can't figure that out. :-)
Originally Posted by Foxflower
Thanks!
Hey Jami. I will describe what I do. Others probably have other methods...
Usually I start out with a blanket spread on the floor. I take the blocks I'm going to use (I don't know if you are going to use all yours at once or not) and separate by size and set the fillers in a separate pile as well. Then, I arrange the blocks as much into a rectangle or square as they'll go on their own. I add fillers as necessary. I the assess for color, size, and busyness. I like a more orderly look in scrappy quilts and I like my eye to keep moving with out getting confused, overwhelmed, or stuck in an area.
Warm and dark colors draw the eye first. In my second quilt I have Sandpat's beautiful chickie in the middle because it is so bold it centers the quilt in the middle, but would weight it if place on the side. In the first quilt I placed a bold block in the middle again, but had others to spaced around the quilt as well to balance it. There were a lot of bold blocks, so that wasn't to hard in that case. I also arranged small 6" and 3" blocks of similar color together in arrangements to me 9x12, 6x9, and 6x12 sizes. I could then move those around as larger blocks to get color balance. A few of the blocks had pink, lime, and purple, but not many, so I needed place those carefully. Crafty's fox block has all those colors and served to tie them in to the rest of the quilt, you'll notice I place most of those brights next to her fox.
Busyness can really overwhelm me personally, so I was careful to alternate heavily pieced blocks with the larger appliqued blocks. That gives the eye some rest as it moves along. I didn't do it on the 1st quilt, but using a solid color fabric as lattice can really allow the eye to rest as well. You also want something farely neutral I think so it doesn't draw your eye away from the blocks much. Or it could be a color you want to draw out of the quilt more, or something that matches in style such as my using neutral chicken wire as lattice with blocks that had lots of chicken wire in them, not to mention the chickens!
Once I get things in a somewhat pleasing arrangement I walk away from it for a bit, look from another angle, and usually ask someone to look at it who's color or design sense I respect. I may sit down and watch tv for a while glancing down at it from time to time. I switch things around until I'm satisfied. If I have to move it, I pin each block in place on the blanket and roll or fold it up until I'm ready to work on it again, same goes for keeping it ready to put together and add the lattice.
I really think away one arranges it is best describe as BALANCE. Hope this helps Jami. How do the rest of you do it?
05-20-2011, 04:03 AM
#1924
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: West Columbia, S.C.
Posts: 739
Originally Posted by heyjami
I need more technical instruction please on that block combining technique. How do you sash those so they look like that?
Sorry, I'm a total beginner and I can't figure that out. :-)
Sorry, I'm a total beginner and I can't figure that out. :-)
Originally Posted by Foxflower
Thanks!
I see that Fox has given you a very good tute on layout but I wanted to add a little about the sashing. I did mine with the quilt as you go process. There is a great tutorial here on the board if you'll search for it. The one done by Deb is the one I used. You basically cut your batting the same size as your block and your backing bigger for each block. Quilt each block individually, then cut your backing to 1" larger than the square. After each block is quilted and trimmed you sew them together with the seams turned to the front and them hemmed just like binding. It creates the sashing.
On this quilt, I did sew several blocks together before quilting so as to have the right combination size for the block next to it. I hope this helps you. And by the way---I got one of your blocks. Did you see her? THANKS!
05-20-2011, 04:49 AM
#1925
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: California
Posts: 453
I saw her! I have her twin in mine - I kept just one of those appliques - that was my first attempt at the fusible iron on applique! Oh, and my previous attempt was needle turn about 20 years ago (no exaggeration!). So Mariposa really opened my quilting world with this fun activity. I'm looking at all of the stitches and I see I have more work to do - but it was made with love so that makes up for any lack of stitch skill, doesn't it? :-)
I will look that up - I like the idea of QAYG... for this particular project. Although, FMQ on it does sound like a ton of fun too.
But some days you want your quilt done!
I will look that up - I like the idea of QAYG... for this particular project. Although, FMQ on it does sound like a ton of fun too.
But some days you want your quilt done!
Originally Posted by Roxanne
Heyjami,
I see that Fox has given you a very good tute on layout but I wanted to add a little about the sashing. I did mine with the quilt as you go process. There is a great tutorial here on the board if you'll search for it. The one done by Deb is the one I used. You basically cut your batting the same size as your block and your backing bigger for each block. Quilt each block individually, then cut your backing to 1" larger than the square. After each block is quilted and trimmed you sew them together with the seams turned to the front and them hemmed just like binding. It creates the sashing.
On this quilt, I did sew several blocks together before quilting so as to have the right combination size for the block next to it. I hope this helps you. And by the way---I got one of your blocks. Did you see her? THANKS!
I see that Fox has given you a very good tute on layout but I wanted to add a little about the sashing. I did mine with the quilt as you go process. There is a great tutorial here on the board if you'll search for it. The one done by Deb is the one I used. You basically cut your batting the same size as your block and your backing bigger for each block. Quilt each block individually, then cut your backing to 1" larger than the square. After each block is quilted and trimmed you sew them together with the seams turned to the front and them hemmed just like binding. It creates the sashing.
On this quilt, I did sew several blocks together before quilting so as to have the right combination size for the block next to it. I hope this helps you. And by the way---I got one of your blocks. Did you see her? THANKS!
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Dagny
Member Swaps and Round/Row Robins
297
03-06-2012 09:26 AM
Mariposa
Member Swaps and Round/Row Robins
729
03-02-2012 07:15 AM
sandpat
Member Swaps and Round/Row Robins
841
09-18-2011 04:02 PM
grammynan
Member Swaps and Round/Row Robins
88
02-14-2011 06:19 PM
barbsbus
Member Swaps and Round/Row Robins
72
01-12-2011 08:30 PM
