Hot Today - Modern Quilts are too!

Marny here...

The forecast in this morning's paper says it all.  "Be prepared to deal with hot temperatures again today.  Our highs will be in the middle 90's.  There will be a gusty south wind that may feel like a blowtorch."  For some reason that description seemed very apt to me!

So down to the sewing room I go.  The temperature is better and there is fabric to play with.  The scraps sorted on my cutting table are calling to me.  One pile in particular seems to be all about "cool."  It happens to be made up of the analogous colors:  green to blue-green to sort of blue.  There are three values of each.

They happen to be the leftovers from one of our new patterns called Supper Club.  I have a variety of little pieced units remaining.  I love the cool colors of the ocean, grass and sky.  Slicing and dicing will commence.

The little strip sets get cut into unequal portions.

Another scrap gets cut into 1 1/2" strips.  Not sure at this point why, except that it seems it might be useful down the line.

The little units are stitched to a background strip.

Cut apart and pressed.  Then sewn to another, wider strip of  background.  

Cut apart and pressed to reveal "blocks".

Playing with layout 1.

Layout 2.

Layout 3.

Lots of playing and decisions to be made.  The blocks purposefully have unequal amounts of background on either side.  I may add some to the top and/or bottom of the blocks as well.  Then they will be trimmed down.  At this point, a really asymmetric result with more negative space is what I have in mind.  But there is a lot of flexibility built into the process.  It will also need a something unexpected to add visual interest.

This process would be great for many of the pieces we are left with after finishing a quilt.  The little center "stripes" don't have to be pieced leftovers, they could be any fabric.  Just think of the baby quilts and table runners that could result.  Give it a try!

See you next Tuesday.