In my first few years as a quilter, I got really into mini quilt swaps and made quite a few minis for various themed swaps. I don’t really do swaps anymore for various reasons, but lately I seem to have replaced it by signing up to make quilt blocks for several different initiatives! Here’s a round-up of some of the blocks I’ve made in recent months.
For the Quilts Unscripted bee in May, E. A. Cox requested that we make two-toned “hope” blocks. I made both of them shortly after the horrific school shooting in Uvalde, and I was really not feeling very hopeful at all in the wake of that tragedy. My first block was black and gray — perhaps a bit on-the-nose, but still accurately reflecting my feelings. After working through some of those emotions, I was able to make a brighter, softer-feeling yellow and gold block. I really like how the improv letters turned out in that one, and may have to play around with this kind of “font” in the future.
In April, Isabelle Selak requested we make blocks featuring tiny piecing and “all the colors.” I went full-on improv and pulled scraps from my bins somewhat randomly and pieced spontaneously. These two blocks were fun to piece and I love all the saturated tones.
In March, Sarah Goer requested wonky improv sawtooth star blocks. She specified color families and asked that each block feature three colorways — one for the center, one for the star points, and one for the background. As you can imagine, I loved this prompt and never tire of star blocks. I kinda want to steal this prompt for my own quilt!
I’ve also been participating in the Houston MQG’s block of the month this year. We are using the 2021 Modern HST pattern by Steph Jacobson and I’m really enjoying the simplicity of half-square triangles. I’m using a selection of warm-toned Kaleidoscope solids that I had in my stash, and a white-on-white print that was intended for another project a few years ago but never got used.
Back in late February, I made these two blocks for Abby Vargas’s latest Exquisite quilt. The idea is that one color — purple — is the “connector” and flows from block to block via 1″ wide points along 1-3 sides of the block. The other two requested colors were white and turquoise, which could be used anywhere. I designed these two blocks and look forward to seeing the full quilt!
I made this block back in March or April for a Houston MQG project. The sizes of the wonky cross block and striped fabric strips were specified, but the edges beyond the black and white stripes were improve pieced using the supplied Alison Glass fabric and low volume fabrics from my own stash.
And finally, last week I made this improv log cabin block for the current Quilt Scouts initiative, based around Earth Day and learning about textile waste and what can be done to minimize it. This block was made entirely from scraps and as part of the project, we even exchanged scraps with other quilters. I received the dark green fabric on the left side of the block, and provided another quilter with a scrap of the light turquoise fabric on the right. I constructed this block in a truly improv manner — no ruler except to trim the seam allowances after the pieces had been stitched together.
Making blocks has been a great way to both contribute to quilting community projects and initiatives while also playing around with a lot of different fabrics and design prompts. It’s also been a great way for me to feel like I’m still getting some solid sewing done during a period where my creative mojo has been a little lacking.
Your two tone hope blocks really speak to me: both in the colors you chose and in the “fonts” you created. Hope is like that, sometimes a bit more dormant and sometimes a switch gets flipped and the light can shine through.
I was pretty nervous about E.A.’s prompt when I first read it, but it turned out to be such a good one.