Something new for me

On my design wall, a work in progress, bolder and odder than I have ever made. I'm influenced by Karen Griaska (see sidebar) who has a pattern for making this very easy block.  This is  by no means a final arrangment.  And this is about half (maybe less than half) the blocks for the final quilt.  I'm staying in the red, blue and green colors, mostly, and using up a lot of my smaller pieces of fabric.  The thing looks better here than it feels close up.  It kind of scares me. As can be seen these 8-1/2 inch blocks ae not sewn together and when they are the whole thing will be smaller, of course.  I love the ease of sewing the blocks.  I measure the pieces according to Karen's directions and mark sewing lines tapering so I get that fan effect. but I cut straight edged pieces and there's a fair amount of waste but that's okay, these are pieces I want to use up.  I love that I can do a square or two a day and after a while I'll have enough. I've done that kind of sewing before. And I have two or three quilts-to-be gestating via swaps from Swap-bot where I get one or two blocks of a certain type of pattern a month, add some of my own, and in a few months have enough for a quilt. The cheery quilt in the previous post was accumulated that way. This works with my generally busy life and desire to sew a little most days but not immerse myself in a big project.

Karen's reputation was made by her book about using selvages and I have made several quilts using selvages -- all thanks to her. I will probably make more ... I've got a bag of selvages in my closet and keep adding more as I cut them off fabrics I'm working with.  I read Karen's blog every day where she regularly discovers all kinds of wonderful quilts on both Etsy and Pinterest (neither of which sites I frequent. The quilt world is so various and so exciting these days one cannot keep up but her blog helps me see things I wouldn't see otherwise.  And both her quilts and some she prints inspire me.  By the end of the summer I'll have enough blocks to put this quilt together and then we'll see if I have nerve enough to display it on my bed.