Custom Deco Quilt Palette for 2024 + QAL Week 4, 108 Weeks Behind Schedule

56 x 68 Deco Throw Quilt, PANTONE Pairings Palette for 2024

This is the time of year for sleigh bells, twinkling lights, caroling... and complaining on social media about how much we disagree with the design industry's color forecasters' predictions for Color of the Year.  PANTONE Europe's Color of the Year for 2024 is Peach Fuzz:

And Robert Kaufman's Kona Solid Color of the Year for 2024 is a pale aqua they're calling Julep: 

Looking at these two "new" color trend predictions side-by-side, many of us are getting flashbacks of  Margo and Todd's bedroom decor from the 1989 holiday movie National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  

Pantone Peach Fuzz Walls with Kona Julep Vase and Window Blinds

"Why is the floor all wet, Todd?"

"I don't know, Margo!!"  

"Why does Pantone think our 1989 bedroom set will be the embodiment of global lifestyle trends at the macro level in 2024?"

"I DON'T KNOW, MARGO!!!" 😆

FrankenWhiggish Setting Options: To Further Complicate, Or To Finish In This Lifetime?

Hello, Quilting Friends, and Happy Thanksgiving weekend to those of you in the United States!  In between the cooking and the baking and the holiday decorating of the past few days, I've been spending an inordinate amount of time in my EQ8 quilting design software, exploring my options for the Frankenwhiggish Rose hand stitched needle turn appliqué blocks that I started in March of 2014 (you'll find that post from nearly a decade ago here).  

At this point, all that stands between me and the end of making the nine identical Whig Rose appliqué blocks is 48 broderie perse rosebuds and 96 fussy-cut stuffed berries.  However, I remain undecided about what I'm going to do with those nine blocks once they are finished.  I have tried out so many options in EQ8, each one more complicated than the last:

70 x 70 On-Point with Mariner's Compass and Pieced Setting Triangles

In the EQ8 rendering above, I've just duplicated a photo of one finished appliqué block and the EQ8 software lets me see how all nine appliqué blocks will look together when they are finished, combined with any combination of thousands of other blocks, borders, sashings, etc.  It's one of my favorite ways to use EQ8 software, and although designing on the computer can suck up a lot of time, every 10 minutes trying something out on the computer saves me weeks/months/years of cutting up fabric, sewing it together, putting it all together on the wall and then hating what it looks like!  So in this version of the quilt, I'd be making four mariner's compass blocks using scraps of my applique block fabrics mixed with other fabric scraps from the same color family and style.  The centers of the mariner's compass blocks could even be the birds from my Vervain Monado-Havana fabric, the luxe drapery fabric I've been chopping up for my broderie perse rosebuds.  Although the mariner's compass blocks look complicated, the EQ8 software lets me print out foundation paper piecing templates in exactly the right size for my quilt, directly onto newsprint paper (I get mine on Amazon here; this post contains affiliate links), which makes it so easy to get sharp, crisp, perfect points.  I'd appliqué the center circle to each compass.  As of right now, I like the way the pieced setting triangles create an illusion of scallop curves to frame the body of the quilt, but they feel a little heavy -- might reduce the scale and use smaller strips and squares for those so as not to overpower the dainty rosebuds and berries.  

But how nice it would be to just be FINISHED with this already once I have the blocks done?  This quilt, like the 8-year skirt project I finished a couple weeks ago, really has no purpose other than educational.  I wanted to try needle turn appliqué, and I know how to do it now, so it's a "win" for me already and I'd like to move on to something else!  So this is the other, simpler option I'm considering:

Keeping It Simple, 66 x 66 Straight Set with Harlequin Border

In this version, I trim my appliqué blocks to finish at 16" square and set them straight with a harlequin border and little X corner blocks to repeat the X shape of the tulip stems in the appliqué blocks.  Then I've slapped on a 6" wide plain outer border, for feather quilting or whatever.

Star of North Carolina: AccuQuilt vs. Electric Quilt Software

Happy Friday, Quilty Peeps!  I took a little design detour yesterday, playing around with a historical quilt block called Star of North Carolina in an updated color scheme of Kona Solid fabrics.

My 58 x 74 Star of NC Design, Using 8 Inch Blocks

I became aware of this block recently when AccuQuilt reintroduced their limited edition 12" North Carolina Star BOB (Block On Board) die as a permanent offering.  "Block On Board" (BOB) refers to AccuQuilt dies that are designed to cut all of the shapes needed for a particular quilt block with a single pass through the die cutting machine.  (By the way, all of AccuQuilt's BOB dies are on sale 20% off, now through January 30th.  This post contains affiliate links).

AccuQuilt's 12 Inch North Carolina Star BOB Die

Barbara Brackman's definitive reference book, the Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns, 3rd Ed., identifies this as Block #473 in the Ladies' Art Company Catalog that was published from 1889 through the 1970s.  

Vintage Little Boy's Britches for Bobbie + Brandon's Breeches (Just for Fun!)

Hello, my lovelies!  Now that I've wrapped up both of my Christmas quilt projects, I've resumed working on my FrankenWhiggish Rose needle turn appliqué project and I'm continuing to weigh my options for a new machine piecing project.  At the moment, I'm feeling wickedly inspired by a vintage hand pieced quilt top that my client Bobbie rescued from abuse and neglect and brought to me recently for longarm quilting.

Rescued and Redeemed: Bobbie's Vintage Little Boy's Britches Quilt

98 x 98 Little Boy's Britches (Vintage) with Basketweave E2E

Bobbie isn't a quilter; she's an interior designer who loves and appreciates vintage quilts.  When she spied this quilt top in a secondhand shop, she says it was black with filth and they were using it to wrap motor parts in or something like that!  Can you imagine anyone doing that to a quilt top that somebody spent hours and hours piecing by hand?!  I feel like the cops ought to have been called, or Social Services, or at least the Quilt Police!  

Where Are My Lone Star/Star of Bethlehem Quilter Peeps??? Rebecca Needs a New Challenge Project!

 Alright, y'all -- from time to time I have to subject you to one of these posts where I get carried away by the wild, delirious possibilities of new projects that I may or may not be starting.  Today is one of those days, and I'm about to drag you around the inside of my brain like you're on Willy Wonka's wild ride through the chocolate factory!!

Having recently finished my Nanu Nanu! Retro '80s Building Blocks Sampler quilt that I started in 2016, and having finished my mammoth Pineapple Juice Nostalgia pineapple log cabin quilt last year that I'd been working on since 2014, I am feeling like I have earned the right to start a challenging new project.   Especially since I have another major long-term WIP quilt, my Jingle applique sampler that I started in 2013, scheduled to go back on the longarm the week of Thanksgiving so I can finish custom quilting it.  Nevermind that I am still not done with my Frankenwhiggish Rose needleturn applique blocks or that I have yet to start any of the three Sarah Fielke BOM projects that I signed up for this year.  We have a saying about that in the South: I'm FIXING to start them...  ;-). Seriously, though -- I've decided to wait on those until the end of the year, when the entirety of all three patterns is available to me, so I can confidently ignore all of the directions and do whatever I want with them, out of order, as I please.  And so, this reproduction pattern from Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts came sauntering by, shaking its tail feathers at me, and I am feeling smitten:

Behold, Stars Upon Stars!

Stars Upon Stars 64 x 74 19th Century Reproduction, Pattern available here

Stars Upon Stars is a late 19th century quilt owned by the Grand Rapids Public Museum in Michigan, and Edyta Sitar obtained permission from the museum to draft her pattern.  You can read more about this quilt and zoom in on high resolution photos on the museum's web site here.   You can purchase the Laundry Basket Quilts pattern to make your own version of this quilt on Etsy here (and yes, this post contains affiliate links to help pay for the asylum to which I'll likely be committed if I actually start this quilt and it doesn't go well...  😅)

Four More Blocks for My Retro '80s Building Blocks Quilt + Layout Options for FrankenWhiggish Rose Blocks

Happy Week End, everyone, and happy Month End as well!  One of the goals I'd set for myself at the start of January was to make some more blocks for my Retro '80s Building Blocks sampler quilt, and I finally did that yesterday.  Four more happy little 5" blocks are completed, only one of which was in the original Moda Modern Building Blocks design.  The other three blocks were among the many that I swapped out when I was redrafting the quilt in EQ8 Quilt Design Software (affiliate link) to suit my purposes.

Four More 5 Inch Blocks for Retro '80s Building Blocks

Gotta admit, I am still not 100% thrilled with the center of the little Lemoyne Star but it took me a LONG time to piece that one with all of its little Y-Seams, and I decided it's Good Enough.  Or at least, it's the best I could do that day.

Here they are, my completed blocks back up on the design wall, with the new ones added into the mix:

Back on the Design Wall: 38 Blocks Finished, 15 Remaining to be Made

For those of you who haven't seen any of my earlier posts about this quilt, here's a quick recap.  I started out with the idea that I wanted to make the Moda Modern Building Blocks quilt that was a popular BOM (Block of the Month) about eight years ago.  But I wanted mine to finish a different size to fit a particular bed, and I did not have the kit or the pattern anyway, so I set about redrafting the quilt in EQ8 from pictures of...  But instead of sizing my blocks as ruler-friendly multiples of 6", my blocks were multiples of 5" in order to get the finished quilt size I wanted with the borders I added.  The whole idea behind the "building blocks" sampler was for it to be a skill builder, so I eliminated all of the unecessary seams that Moda had added to simplify the piecing, adding back Y-seam construction because that's a skill I wanted to focus on.  I also swapped out 40% of the blocks in the original quilt for different ones in order to get that retro 1980s vibe I wanted and/or to include blocks that were more interesting (to me) or more challenging.  And I added rainbow borders that were inspired by the suspenders Robin Williams' character wore on the television show Mork & Mindy.  

Yes, I DO Remember How to Make a Quilt Block…. Back to My Retro ‘80s Building Blocks Sampler!

My mom came over to sew with me after church on Sunday, and I decided to get back to my languishing Retro ‘80s Building Blocks sampler (also known as Nanu! Nanu!).  I got one simple 5” block cut out and sewn together and another more complicated 10” block cut out and partially pieced before my mom called it quits and I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon playing with my spoiled rotten Rottweiler.

Block 12 in Progress, 10 inch Version With Y-Seams

My Retro '80s Building Blocks sampler is adapted from the Moda Modern Building Blocks Sampler that was released in 2014.  I changed the block sizes from multiples of 6" to multiples of 5" to get the size I wanted, which complicated cutting considerably since I no longer have "ruler-friendly" fractions for most blocks, substituted out a bunch of blocks, and have redrafted any blocks that Moda simplified because I'd rather sew Y-seams than have unnecessary seams bisecting all of my diamond patches.  The whole point of this sampler was to be a skill builder, after all.

Moda's Version of Block 12, 12 inches, with Easier Bisected Diamonds

Everything Old is New Again: EQ8 Design Inspiration From a Vintage Quilt

 Good morning!  Happy Passover to my Jewish friends, Happy Holy Week to my Christian friends, and Happy Spring to one and all!  In my house, my younger son has a half day of remote learning today and then he is off for a week of Spring break.  My older son is coming home from college tomorrow afternoon, and we are all going to attend a real, live, in-person worship service together for Easter Sunday, followed by Easter dinner with my mom.  I'm so excited; it's like seeing the light at the end of a very long, dark tunnel!  We had to sign up in advance to attend church services due to reduced capacity for social distancing, and we'll get our temperatures checked at the door and wear masks the whole time, but STILL.  😊

My main focus project, Anders' high school graduation kaleidoscope quilt, is still on track, but I'm sure everyone's tired of looking at it right now and it isn't looking much different than the last time I showed it anyway.  I'm just working my way through row by row, sewing corner triangles onto blocks that you've already seen.  So I thought I'd show you something else today -- a client's vintage Economy quilt that is in my queue, awaiting repair.

62 x 80 Vintage Economy Quilt, Awaiting Repair

Don't you love how fresh and MODERN this antique/vintage quilt appears?  Other than its exceptional condition overall for a quilt that's probably 80-90 years old, what strikes me about this particular quilt is how it's a two color, pink and white quilt, but there's a subtle ombre effect from the use of at least three different shades of pink fabric, and the way the quilt maker distributed those three shades of pink in the block layout.  Secondly, what a cool quilting design!  It's similar to Baptist Fan, except that the design reverses direction in the center of the quilt to create a very modern-looking wave effect across the quilt top.  Also. the curved lines of quilting meet up with the rows above and below rather than touching the "fan" to the left as in a traditional Baptist Fan quilting design.  

First New-FO of 2021: Kaleidoscope Grad Quilt for Anders

Alright you guys, I know you've heard me sing this song before, but THIS time I mean it.  THIS is the quilt I'm making for Son-the-Younger's upcoming high school graduation:

77 x 99 Kaleidoscope Quilt in Blues, Greens, and Purple

Some of you are raising your eyebrows at this, recalling my previous announcement about a year ago that I would be making Anders a version of Karen Kay Stone's spectacular Cinco de Mayo quilt for his graduation, but that idea has been abandoned for the following reasons:

1. Graduation is only 5 months away, and I have customer quilt commitments that will demand my attention in addition to my own ongoing projects.
2. While I still love the elaborately foundation paper pieced New York Beauty blocks in Karen's design, I know that all of those seams add up to a stiffness that is fine for a wall display quilt, but not so soft and snuggly to sleep under.
3. It bothered me that the New York Beauty blocks were too similar to the curved flying geese arcs in my older son Lars's high school graduation quilt, and I wanted Anders' quilt to be completely different.
4. Most importantly, I think, is that I just don't want to devote such a significant block of time to recreating a version of someone else's design right now.

So I may (or may not) end up making a quilt like Cinco de Mayo someday, but it's not going to be Anders' graduation quilt.

SANTA SQUIRREL! I Need to Make a Christmas Throw Quilt, and I Need to Do It TODAY!

 

Today is the Drop-Everything-And-Make-It linky party at MMM Quilts, which is the perfect excuse (as if I needed one) to give in to the "squirrel" of an idea that's been chasing me around for the past few days!  I've seen so many cute Christmas quilts over the years, but have never had a strong urge to make a holiday-themed quilt before this year.  Maybe it's the pandemic, maybe it's the adorable snowflake E2E quilting designs that I'm dying to try out with R2D2, who knows -- but the squirrel won't leave me alone until I swap out the year-round throws that grace my sofa for something red, green, and scrappy, full of nostalgic and happy Christmas prints.

I didn't have as many Christmas novelty fabrics in my stash as I thought I did, so I had to trek out to two different quilt shops to come up with this assortment:

Assorted Squirrel Project Fabrics, With Neglected Sampler Blocks as a Backdrop

My mom just finished piecing another scrappy tumbler charity top for me to quilt, using my 4" AccuQuilt GO! Tumbler die.  It looks very similar to this one that I quilted a few weeks ago:

Charity Quilt Made With AccuQuilt 4" Tumbler Die

Isn't it cute?  I'm always surprised how quickly these come together.  It only took me an hour or two to cut out all of the tumblers for this, and my mom had the top sewn together in two days.  I need to make more projects like that, y'all, instead of only making quilts that take 6 months to 7 years to finish.  I went to the quilt shop planning to make a throw quilt just like this one, but with solid red fabric in place of the purple and Christmas prints instead of the juvenile novelty prints.

But when I got to the quilt shop, I was delighted to discover that they had a 6" AccuQuilt Tumbler die.  Bigger tumbler patches means fewer tumblers need to be cut out and fewer seams needed to sew them all together!  

57 x 72 Quilt Design Using 6 inch AccuQuilt Tumbler Die

Using the 6" tumbler die instead of the 4", I can get a 57" x 72" quilt top out of just 78 red tumblers and 78 prints.  Not sure if I'll match my seams as shown above or if I'll go with my mom's staggered layout, which gives a nifty chevron/ricrac effect.  This layout was fastest to draw up in my EQ8 quilt design software, and my primary objective was to quickly calculate how many tumblers I'd need to cut out.  (I won't be doing those partial tumbler slivers along the sides, either -- instead, I'll trim the edges to the narrow point on the final full tumbler).  

I haven't decided on the backing fabric yet, although I do have a couple of appropriately Christmasy fabrics in sufficient quantity in my stash.  I'd almost like to back it with a minky cuddle fleece to make it extra warm and snuggly, but that would mean another trip to the store...

Oh, and here's another DREAMI project that I stopped everything to make earlier this month, the one I MEANT to be sharing for today's linky:

My Notorious R.B.G. version of Preeti's International Sisters Block

Once I got the idea in my head to make a "Notorious R.B.G." version of Preeti's International Sisters block, I was helpless to resist!  First, I drafted a foundation paper piecing pattern in EQ8 to change the head wrap of the International Sisters block into Justice Ginsburg's no-nonsense, swept-back hairstyle and the crown that she wears in all of the memes.  The solid black, skin tone, brown hair, metallic gold crown, and floral background fabrics were all pulled from the stash, but I had to hunt down the perfect fabrics to appliqué for her glasses and her dissent collar on the Internet and then wait ever so (im)patiently for them to arrive.  It was a fun little diversion, for sure!  The glasses, collar and "jade" earrings are all hand stitched needle turn appliqué.  If you want to read more about that one, check out this post.  

And that's all you get from me today!  We started putting up Christmas decorations yesterday so there are boxes and debris from that strewn all over the house, and a few gifts that I've ordered have already started to arrived and are wrapped and ready to stick under the tree as soon as I locate the tree skirt.  This year more than ever, the song that's stuck on repeat in my brain is "We Need a Little Christmas" from Auntie Mame!

Rosalind Russell as Auntie Mame

In addition to Sandra's DREAMI linky, I'm also linking up with the following weekly linky parties:

SATURDAY

UFO Busting at Tish in Wonderland

SUNDAY

Frédérique at Quilting Patchwork Appliqué

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

MONDAY

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts  

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

My AQS QAL "Letter Home" Continues, Complicated With Some English Paper Piecing

I'm making some headway with my baby boy quilt NewFO!   I haven't cut out the four Wasabi (greenish yellow) QSTs yet, but I'm almost done piecing the rest of the blocks for this "quick and easy" project.

Piecing is in Progress!

I changed my mind about foundation paper piecing my center monogram block, too.  I just could not abide with those extra seams that I would have in the center of my "C" if I did FPP, so this block will be my second ever attempt at English paper piecing (EPP).  

FPP Version, with Extra Seams in the Middle of the "C"

Same Block, EPP Version, Cleaner Look with Fewer Seams

I really prefer the cleaner look of the second version with fewer seams, and I think it's worth fiddling around with hand stitching just this one block in order to get the look I want.  (Both of these blocks are in my EQ8 Block Library, by the way, under Alphabets.  I don't remember whether they were in the original Block Library that came with the software or if they were part of the BlockBase add on).  There's nothing in the software that says that the first block is supposed to be foundation paper pieced and the second block should be English paper pieced; that's just my own assessment of which method in my "quilter's tool box" would yield the best results for each version.

A NewFO: Welcome Home, Baby

You guys, I started a new project yesterday!  I'm so excited!

42 x 42 Welcome Home, Baby, based on AQS Letter Home QAL

A few weeks ago, I shared in this post how I was playing around with resizing and recoloring the AQS Letter Home quilt along.  The original quilt from AQS finishes at 60" x 60" and you can find the free pattern and instructions for that here.  

AQS Coloring and Block Construction

Although I love the AQS design, unnecessary seams in blocks are a huge pet peeve of mine.  Why would they add a seam down the middle of a flying geese unit to turn it into two half square triangle units?!  I removed those seams, scaled the blocks down so my quilt would end up baby quilt sized, and customized the color palette.  Then, because I like to personalize quilts for little ones, I swapped out the plain square at the center of my quilt and will be replacing it with this 8" paper pieced "C" monogram block:

So far, I've prewashed and preshrunk all of my Kona Solid fabrics in HOT water, ironed them, and cut out all the pieces.  I even started piecing some of the 8" HST units (although I cut one of them twice and it's still too small, so I think I'm going to have to do that one over...)

This morning I printed out my foundation paper piecing patterns from EQ8 for the center monogram block.  This quilt is intended for the baby brother of my butterfly clam shell quilt recipient, and the new baby's due date is October 1st.  I need to get a move on!  

I'm linking up today's post with the following favorite linky parties:

SATURDAY

·       UFO Busting at Tish in Wonderland

SUNDAY

·       Frédérique at Quilting Patchwork Appliqué

·       Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

·       Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts

MONDAY

·       Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts  

·       Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Using EQ8 with Pinterest to Create a Quilt Palette: AQS Letter Home, 5 Baby Quilt Options

AQS Letter Home Quilt, Original Colorway

Have you seen the AQS Letter Home QAL?  This one-block quilt caught my eye as I was hunting for quick but interesting baby quilt ideas.  Although the QAL (quilt-along) instructions are for a 60" x 60" finished quilt, this easily becomes a 42" x 42" quilt by shrinking the block size to 8" and adding a 2" border.  I do like the original AQS colorway (shown above), but since I was resizing the quilt in my EQ8 quilt design software anyway I thought I'd experiment with some alternative color palettes to see if I can come up with something I like even better.

Although I have thousands of images of quilts on my Pinterest boards, those are not my go-to boards for color inspiration.  Instead, I go to my Favorite Color Combinations board, where I've pinned everything from illustration art to interior design photos -- any image I come across with great color combinations that catch my eye gets pined to this board.

In the photo above, I have my EQ8 quilt design software open on the left side of my screen, and a browser window open to my Favorite Color Combinations Pinterest board open on the right hand side.  

I've set my Default Fabric Palette in EQ8 to contain all of the colors of Kona Solid fabrics, so I'm designing with actual fabric right out of the gate rather than just coloring a quilt and then having to find fabric matches afterwards.  With an image on the right side of my screen to use as a visual reference, I can try on all sorts of different color palettes until I find one that I like for my quilt.  Here's the inspiration photo I was using to pull a color palette for version of this quilt seen in the previous photo:

New Blocks and New Names: Nanu, Nanu? Or Mork and Mindy's Retro Building Blocks?

 Good morning and happy Sunday!  Today marks the beginning of the last week of this weird "summer break" for my family.  My husband hasn't traveled overnight for work since March, all of the usual summer activities were canceled, and yet here we are, preparing for Back to School once again.  Dr. Seuss needs to write us a new book, "How the Grinch Stole Summer Vacation!"  We have Anders' 17th birthday coming up this Thursday (with no party), then Lars gets moved back into his dorm at Appalachian State University next Sunday, and then classes begin for both of them a week from tomorrow.  Anders' senior year high school classes will be completely online "until further notice," and 3/5 of Lars's sophomore Fall semester courses will be online as well, with two small seminar classes meeting in person with social distancing.  It feels as though we're all Whos Down in Whoville, making the best of things after the Coronavirus Grinch tried to steal all our joy!

Okay, I know you guys came here for the quilting!  I've finished two more blocks for my Moda Modern Building Blocks sampler.  This block finishes at 6" in the original Moda quilt, but mine is 5":

And this next block is 12" in the Moda pattern, but mine finishes at 10":

I have one more block that I'm in the middle of cutting and prepping for foundation paper piecing, and piecing this one will be on my To Do list for the upcoming week:

Once that block is completed, there is only one more 15" block left to make for this quilt, so I went ahead and printed up a (rough) rotary cutting chart and foundation paper piecing templates for this block as well.  This is the second block I'm planning to piece this week:

But while I had this quilt project open in EQ8 today, I did some additional revising, changing the borders (again) and swapping out a lot of the 5" blocks.  After piecing that little yellow and black one the other day, I decided that some of the smallest blocks I was planning to make have too many pieces.  Not too many pieces in that I would not be able to piece them, but too many pieces for the scale to look right with the bigger blocks, and too many pieces for me to have enough room to quilt anything interesting on them, and too many pieces to get this quilt finished and on my son's bed before he leaves home to start his own family...  (This is for the son who's about to turn 17).  

This should finish at about 91 1/2" x 101 1/2", or Queen size with a 12" drop (with 10% factored in for quilting takeup and shrinkage).  As you can see, I also revised the borders again, tweaking the width of the border stripes to balance the interior of the quilt better, removing the skinny black borders because, again -- just because I can make something more difficult does not automatically make it better.  And I added little HSTs in the corners, too.  My color palette for this quilt is circa 1980 and my rainbow borders remind me of the suspenders that Robin Williams wore on Mork & Mindy.   I think I'm done tweaking the design of this quilt now, but everything is subject to change until it's finished. 

I miss Robin Williams.  :-(

By the way, Anders is not a fan of the working title "Beware the Ishmaelites" that I'd given his quilt, so now I'm thinking "Mork & Mindy's 'Eighties Building Blocks" or maybe just "Nanu, Nanu!"  But my husband doesn't like THAT name -- he says I'm "dating myself."  Since when did the non-quilters in my family become so opinionated about what I name my quilts?!  Maybe I should just name them all "Here's Your Dumb Quilt No. 1," "Here's Your Dumb Quilt No. 2," "Here's Your Dumb Quilt No.3,"...

This is the original Moda Modern Building Blocks sampler that I started out with:

I've now swapped out 20 of the 48 original blocks, and I redrafted several of the blocks that I kept to remove unnecessary seams that were only there to simplify construction.  I recolored everything with my vintage '80s palette, using Kona Solids.  However, it's still unmistakably a version of the Moda Modern Building Blocks sampler.  I love the mix of different block sizes in the layout and the way that repetition of shapes, block elements, and colors makes the different sized blocks relate to one another.  It's been interesting to play with this design, which is probably why I keep monkeying with it every time I open the project in my software!

Are you a machine quilter, either long arm or domestic machine?  Remember to link up here on Tuesday for the Long Arm Learning linky party!

I'm linking up today's post with:

SUNDAY

·       Frédérique at Quilting Patchwork Appliqué

·       Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

MONDAY

·       Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts  

·       Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

·       BOMs Away Katie Mae Quilts  

TUESDAY

·       Colour and Inspiration Tuesday at Clever Chameleon