Saturday, May 11, 2013

Shades of Gray Update

I've been surrounded by green and gray! My quilt will have 120 blocks in it; each block now looks like this:

Are you wondering what the heck I'm doing? It's not just a green corner on each block; instead, I'm doing Cathedral Window-style corners. So I've folded each 3-1/2" green square diagonally in half and then basted the raw edges to a corner of a gray square.

My shortcut? Since I cut the green squares in pairs from a strip, I kept them doubled up and pressed two squares on the diagonal at a time. Not as sharp of a fold line, sure, but not a problem and definitely a time saver!

I like my original diagonal layout, but I played with a few others as well--you never know what you might end up liking!

Here's the original (though all the blocks are done now; apparently I just didn't take a photo?)


A (blurry) flying geese layout:
I was thinking if I did this one that I'd put green strips between each column of geese.

And a two-block layout:

I am now folding back the green folded edge and topstitching it on each block. I contemplated waiting to do that until after I'd assembled the quilt but ultimately decided against it because I didn't want to deal with the starts and stops. I'm just being cognizant of where each curve ends so it doesn't get cut off in the seam allowance when I join the blocks. We'll see how it works...

Oh, and my mom, who participated in the Shades of Gray swap as well, is using this same technique with teal solids. I'll share photos of hers as well--it'll be fun to see a different color scheme!


5 comments:

  1. ooh - more choices - now I don't know which to do! Love them all!

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  2. I like them all, but I think I like the last one best. (Today anyway, I might change my mind tomorrow) ;-)

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  3. Oh, that's beautiful! I love the idea of doing the cathedral windows. Very clever!

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  4. Ellie, I'm really loving your idea to stitch a corner in green. Do you mind if I use that idea for a quilt I want to make. Something simple, not seriously complicated! In purples and greens on an ivory background, inspired by magnolias? I'm thinking I'd set them up in a radiating diamond pattern, with flying geese on the edges. Let me know.

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    1. Oh please do! I certainly can't claim the idea as my own anyway. I'd love to see the quilt when you finish it, too.

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