Cheddar No Crackers Hits the Beach

jill here...One  can never have enough pattern fans.  Our friend, Jane, just created this gender neutral Cheddar, No Crackers pattern for a special someone entering her life!  It tells a story for water lovers: 

crabs, fish, sharks and whales, OH MY!  Sort of an "I Spy"!  And because the prints are so isolated, they become a feature.

Can't go wrong with aqua and orange....

Note the little fish swimming in the waves!

And the details!

The fierce guys are relegated to the back!

Shipping off to the California beach for a special baby...

thanks, Jane, for sharing

"Till next Tuesday!

More "modernizing" of traditional quilt blocks

Marny here…in a previous post we showed a few steps to add modern elements of asymmetry and negative space to blocks.  What do some modernized versions of the nine patch block look like in the traditional alternating grid?  What might they look like with just a tweak of the setting?    

Here is the starting point.
Traditional nine patch in traditional alternating grid setting.

Elongated nine patch in the same traditional alternating grid setting.

Negative space added to elongated block.  

Different distribution of color and negative space.

Modernized nine patch in a "new" setting.
Just a first step away from the "traditional" alternating grid.
Added negative space at the top and bottom of the quilt.  

The natural next step would be to try out altogether different settings!  There is no limit to the experimentation you could embark on with modernizing blocks and settings!  Hope you give it a try!  

Till Tuesday…

Household Texture Tour

jill here...People often ask us where we get our ideas for patterns.  There is never a shortage on inspiration...only how it can be different from what has already been created!  I took a little visiting (not mine, my daughter's) house tour of different patterns and textures; they are everywhere .....

Pillow with threaded lines.

Pillow with medallion design

Textured steps

Inside of  a charcoal chimney starter

Garden path.

Iron gate

Patio pavers

Path

Traditional tile work

Patterns are everywhere and fun to think about their translation.  'Till next Tuesday!

Changing Traditional Quilt Blocks to Modern

Marny here…many of us have favorite traditional quilt blocks.  It is a fun exercise to morph them into modern blocks.  Today we want to show asymmetry and negative space being used to modernize the traditional nine patch. 

Start with a traditional block such as this nine patch in three values. 

Explore asymmetry by changing the size of the pieces.
This block happens to have become rectangular rather than square.

Here is a different asymmetric version that is square.

Negative space added into the block.
The background used in this quilt could be white.  

Here even more negative space (background) added here.  

Have some fun with your favorite traditional block!  Till Tuesday…

Refresh, Renew, Reinspire

jill here....It was my husband's idea.  He was the brains and the brut strength.  I was not the beauty (no make-up, no mirrors, no bathrooms);  only a hat to cover a bad hair day!  But, the backpacking was refreshing and the views absolutely beautiful.  The only bad news for 10 days was the ranger's forecast.  Here's a few photos from my phone...

This was the first trailhead.  Note the sign of the bear.  Yes, Mike saw three (I was relaxing)!

The little city connected to our adventure was charming.  It was a great juxtaposition of old and modern.  There was a built in break to shop at three wonderful quilt shops (staked my claim from the get go)!

The photo doesn't do justice to our first national park's beauty.

Be one of the first five comments to correctly name the park and we'll send you a Tasty Measures pattern.   A comment of what inspires you this summer would be nice too!

'Till next Tuesday...