Monday, April 30, 2018

April UFO is not on the design wall!

Putting together my "On Ringo Lake" blocks was my UFO goal for the month for April. 
It didn't happen. 
And I'm blaming Barb! You see she organized a churn dash block swap and the blocks I received back were so awesome that I only wanted to play with them. I made an equal number of 9 patch blocks from reproduction fabrics and alternated them with the churn dashes, and just couldn't put them down until the whole top was together. Design inspiration credit must be given to Mary Manson's Colourways quilt for this idea of alternating 9 patch and churn dashes. 
I took Nann's advice (in her comment on this post) to randomly piece four blocks together and then assemble the four patches.  Fabulous idea!
Because I used this random method of sewing the blocks together, I didn't know how it would look until I put the top on the design wall. I think it turned out fabulous and the seam ripper wasn't even used once!
And here it is...10 blocks by 13 blocks for a total of 130 blocks, and each one is a made from a different fabric... no repeats!

You can see how much bigger than my design wall it is! At the top of the photo on the left side you can see the door way leading to the hall. The design wall starts behind the 6th block from the left!
I kept looking at the Ringo blocks sitting there and wishing I would get going on that, but these churn dashes were simply more insistent. 
I am wondering about a border and will give that more thought this week.
In summary, I didn't meet my UFO goal, but I made a terrific quilt top! These swap blocks didn't get a chance to turn into a UFO!
To see more design walls, hop over to Small Quilts.

24 comments:

Teresa said...

Fun quilt and I love the scrappiness of it. Time well spent - even if the UFO did not get its planned attention.

The Cozy Quilter said...

That setting is great...I like the secondary pattern of flowers. My churn dash blocks are still in a bag, awaiting inspiration.

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

Oh I like this - I love the scappyness of it. For a border there is of course always applique but that takes awhile to finish so wouldn't be a quick finish - you could put up of border sashing and then a piano key border or a 3 sashing border - a white then a color and then another white - I'm sure you will think of something!

Anonymous said...

Love this! Very inspiring, and very tempting!

Amy said...

Round of applause, Kathy! It's brilliant!

Jocelyn is Canadian Needle Nana said...

Isn't it so wonderful when a third design element appears like magic just by putting these two blocks together...two blocks I think I could manage, btw. This is beautiful to me.

Lynn C. said...

Great setting! Churn dash is one of my favorite blocks. Thanks for the good idea.

Mary said...

I love it!! Ringo Lake can wait. A scrappy applique border would be very fun as Karen suggested. I see tiny flower petals in the secondary design.

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

That is not a small quilt. It looks great! I love churn dash blocks.

AnnieO said...

Love the setting, it looks wonderful! How fun to get it all together with no repeats. I know you'll enjoy this forever.

Deanna W said...

So great that you did it as a random "sew together". Border or borders yes I think it needs something but it is still a UFO as it isn't done yet!!!pitter patter!!!haha

karen said...

I love the secondary pattern created by using the churn dashes next to the 9 patches...kind of rounded. Simple but stunning.

Ellie said...

Love the churn dash and nine patch! I think I'd skip the border unless you need the larger size.

Chopin - A Passionate Quilter said...

I would have never thought that you would be able to make such a stunning quilt wit churn dash and 9 patch blocks. What size are the blocks?

I love it!

Nana said...

I have never been the greatest fan of churn dash but this combination makes me want to pull out the scraps and get busy. Lovely quilt with the hidden flower in the background. Great job. I would only add a border if you needed more size. Are these blocks? 6x6?

Robin said...

Absolutely delightful! I don't blame you for wanting to work on this quilt top.

Needled Mom said...

I love those!

Louise said...

Wow oh wow! I don't blame you one bit for pushing this one thru to a finished flimsy! Absolutely fabulous :)

Ivani said...

You did great Kathy!! Love the 2 blocks together.

Janet O. said...

This has SO much visual appeal. Great job!
Look at it this way, Kathy--if you had worked on your Ringo Lakes blocks instead of these, these blocks would have been added to your UFO list. Either way you would have broken even--one off the list and one more on. So the way I see it, you still met your goal. :)

Jenny said...

I hadn't noticed the secondary pattern in your earlier photos of these blocks. It adds a whole new dimension to the quilt.

Kate said...

Wow! This is such a fun quilt. I don't blame you for letting On Ringo Lake just marinate a bit longer. This one is such a cool alternative.

moosecraft said...

Love this! I can see why you were do happy to keep stitching it all together! :-)

Deb from Frugal Little Bungalow said...

I love this layout!