Winged Monkey - April 2015 BOM

Oy! That's a lot of pink. There is practically no contrast in the corners. And the wavy lines go in all different directions. :(

At least the points turned out nicely.

Coat of Arms - March 2015 BOM

I love the contrast on this block, but I am not thrilled with the way the print triangles look. Maybe I should have cut some extras so I could get four that are going in the same direction.

Lessons learned:
1. Be careful about choosing a directional print.
2. As long as you have enough fabric, there's no rule against cutting extra pieces. 
 
For this year's project we are using Template Set L, The 12" Seven-Patch Block Set.

Why is it called Seven-Patch? Seven-Patch quilt blocks are assembled with a grid of seven squares across and seven squares down. Seven-Patch quilt block grids are not usually subdivided to create additional units. A thank-you to Janet Wickell and About.com for this explanation. I couldn't see the seven squares before it was pointed out to me.

There is a lot more information inside this pamphlet, along with ideas for making 7-patch blocks.

Pieces 68, 69 and 71 have sandpaper grippers. Piece 70 has silicone.

I added little grippers to the backs of the templates. I found that they slide around too much without them. I tried silicone grippers and sandpaper grippers. I didn't like the silicone ones. They elevated the template too much, and sometimes the rotary cutter would actually angle in under the template a little bit and I wouldn't get an accurate cut. The sandpaper works very well.

Magnolia Court - February 2015 BOM

I like this square. However, I am disappointed with the lack of contrast between the green squares of watercolor fabric and the green grassy print. My fault for substituting the green print. I was going for color coordination and I lost sight of the importance of contrast.

Changing the subject, here are the color runs that were offered this year:

2015 Color Runs

 From left to right:

• Halloween
• Flannel
• Alaskana (?)
• Batik
• Romantic 

These are the descriptions provided by the quilt shop. Usually they offer four color runs. This year is the first time I have seen them offer flannel.

Lesson learned:
If you are going to substitute a fabric, make sure you pay attention to the contrast with EVERY other fabric.

Turley's Inn - January 2015 BOM

The January block is called Turley's Inn. I googled it to see if it was a traditional block, but I couldn't find anything. So far I really like the colors.

My Turley's Inn Block

I laid out the pieces very carefully so that the grassy lines all went in the same direction. I wish I had remembered to do this in all of the blocks.

2015 BOM - Bordered Rows

I began the 2015 Block of the Month program in January at my local quilt shop. The quilt top for 2015 is called Bordered Rows, and it comes from Marti Michell.  If I had known the  pattern in advance, I might not have signed up to participate in the program this year. But the way BOM works is you don't know what you are going to get. All I knew was the blocks would be set on point and what color runs we could choose from. You only get a block pattern once a month and you don't get the finishing instructions until you are about halfway through the year.

This year's design uses special fabric sold by Marti Michell. It has a complicated striped print as part of the finishing. If you don't use a stripe, you are going to have to think very carefully about what to use to have the quilt come out looking nice.

I think the quilt, as made by Marti Michell, is very UGLY - both the fabrics and the pattern.

Marti Michell's Bordered Rows Quilt

I especially don't like the asymmetrical placement of three rows of chevrons at the bottom vs. two rows at the top. The three rows look awful and detract from the blocks themselves.

To be honest, I didn't really like any of the color runs offered by my quilt shop, either. I ended up choosing a run consisting of watercolor batiks in primary colors. 

There was one multi-color print in the color run - a batik with a black background. I decided to substitute a grassy print with a green background because I was tired of black.

The fabric I didn't use

Autry Square - November 2014 BOM

I do not like this, Wilted-quilt

I do not like this on a train
I do not like this in the rain
I do not like it in the snow
I would not quilt a tic-tac-toe

I will eventually post a photo showing all of the blocks together. It will then become obvious that this square stands out like a sore thumb. Look at the photo of Marti Michell's quilt in 2104 BOM - Secret Garden (January 2014) to get a better idea. Hers is actually not as bad because she has more uniformity of color to tie the blocks together, and the crossbars tie in nicely with the sashing. That will not happen with my quilt top because the sashing is green and dark gray.

Lessons learned:

1) If you don't like a block, why not substitute another block?

2) Over-substitution of fabrics might solve one problem, but can create another problem when the squares don't have enough in common.

Kodiak Star - October 2014 BOM

I made a lot of substitutions this month. I am writing this several months later and can't remember what I was thinking. I assume I didn't like the fabrics in the BOM package. 

As it turns out, I don't like the lack of contrast between the inner star and the inner purple diamond. It is one thing to lay out pieces after they are cut and shuffle them around. It is another thing to be able to visualize the piece before you have cut anything.It is also important to think about how a fabric which seems to be black may give you large light-colored areas when it has been cut.

The July 2015 post shows what the typical instructions for a block look like. They are black and white, and the different fabrics are shown by using different designs, which may not be anything like what you are working with. I think you could get some idea of the finished piece by holding adjacent fabrics next to each other and trying really hard to visualize the finished piece. I was more focused on how the totality of fabrics in the block worked together.

Alternatively, I think if you followed Marti Michell's suggested fabrics consistently you would get a very nice result. That is difficult to do in this BOM program when fabrics are switched out all the time. One month a certain fabric is B, the next month it is D and a new fabric is used as B.

Lessons learned:

Stick with the tones/patterns suggested in the instructions or used in your model (if you are like me).

OR

Spend a lot of time thinking about, visualizing, and holding fabrics next to each other before cutting (if you like to be creative and don't like to follow directions).