Modern doesn't have to mean Wonky

Check out these amazing quilts by Kay Koeper Sorensen.

Quilts + Color: Quilts Radiating From The Center

Scrappy Saturday - Disappearing 16 Patch

(True Confession time: I actually did these last Sunday. But it was a weekend. And it's Saturday now. And they're purple. And scrappy.)

Anyway, I had a bunch of violet scraps left over from the February Monochromatic Challenge over at Patchwork Times (pieces cut out and waiting in a shoebox for me to get back to them), and I liked the idea of the Disappearing 16 Patch, so I cut out a bunch of 4½" squares, combined them with some Robert Kaufman Kona Solids charms, and got this:

which I then cut up, and got this (more or less):

 

You're supposed to sew them together like that, so that would be your new block, but I'm thinking of using them as HSTs, either in conjunction with another color, or maybe with white, e.g.,


Reflections

• Press open vs. press closed – I made 2 16-patches, and pressed the seams on first closed, then open on the second block. The "open" block did lie flatter when it was done, but it was MUCH easier to match the corners on the rows by nesting the closed seams. I think I'll stick with closed, in general, for now.
• Looking at the finished blocks, I think I would have liked more prints and fewer solids. It would have made it feel "scrappier", I think, and the patch size is large enough so that it's nice to have a pattern to look at.

Grandma's Trellis Pillow - pt. 1

 

So, for my very first FNSI, I made these not-so-terribly exciting 9-patch setting blocks. I wish I had something more "oooh-worthy" to show off, but I did feel like I needed to do these first, given my problems with scant quarter-inch seams. The "ooh" blocks come next though, so there should be some prettier pictures in the next day or so.

I did get to use up a bunch of scraps at least. Some of the blocks were strip-pieced, but a lot of them were just made out of scraps that I trimmed to 2"x2" and then sewed together, kickin' it old-style.

Click on the link below to see what other folks got up to for their Fridays!

To heck with my taxes, I'm gonna quilt!

UPDATE: See Grandma's Trellis Pillow - pt. 1 for my results!

Patchwork Squared Modern Solids Quilt Along

I've really been wanting to ge more "community" in my quilting, so I decided to join the P2 Solids quilt along, and here's my first block!

P² Block 1 - Broken Rainbows

The schedule is 1-2 blocks per week, so it'll move right along, and it's also supposed to be teaching some basic skills, which I definitely need. I've gotten a little tired of paper-piecing–it's starting to feel a little like a crutch.

The first week's assignment was to pick your own block. I've liked this one for a while, although this is the first time I've sewn it. One advantage to stuffing your brain full of quilt-related information is that every once in a while, said brain will make a connection. Mine was that Anita Grossman Solomon's "simpler" cutting directions for No-Waste Windmills would also work for Broken Rainbows, especially when we're working with solids, so there's no need to worry about right side of the fabric. I followed her directions, and the sucker sewed right up (only 2 seams ripped, which is pretty good for a new block, I think.)

Anyone else doing the P² Quilt Along?