Genesis of a Quilt, Part 3: Layout and Design

This shows pretty clearly the edge and corner blocks, which are different from the main block design.  The edge blocks are basically half a regular block, and the corner blocks only have a quarter of the regular block.

One thing that doesn't show up too clearly in the layout is the individual patterns of the various fabrics, but that's okay at this step.  What you are seeing is a high-level view of colors and movement, and not a close-up view of the intricate patterns found in the batik fabrics.

There is a nice secondary pattern or two developing in the layout - white diamonds, and colored blocks surrounding them.  Secondary patterns are always fun to find, and make a quilt design more interesting - the eye continues to follow the different patterns and look around and around the quilt.

Now that the blocks are all completed, the next step is to lay them out to make the quilt design.  I used a plastic, flannel-backed tablecloth as my design wall.  My goal is to have different fabrics where the blocks meet, and to have a randomized pattern between the blocks.  

The actual quilt will look a bit different, as the blocks will be surrounded by sashing and posts, but more on that later.

The design wall worked great, except that it was too short.  Also, note to self: if using this particular setup again, be sure to capture the layout immediately.  I left it hanging, went to the store, and came back, and most of the blocks had slipped off the design wall and fallen to the floor.  

Genesis of a Quilt: Making the Quilt Blocks

Here's the stack of all the different HSTs and 2.5" squares for the quilt.Each block takes 2 pairs of different matching HSTs and one 2.5" square, plus 2 other HSTs and one background 2.5" square.

Laying out a block starts with one of the single HSTs in the upper right corner/

Now I'm adding a single 2.5" square with 2 matching HSTs, plus the background 2.5" square.

Here's a complet block laid out and ready for stitching.  The lower right corner consists of a 2.5" block and 2 matching HSTs.  The lower left corner is one of the single HSTs.

At this point, after stitching blocks together, it's important to press the seams open.

Blocks are stitched together two at a time, then pressed open.  I keep them organized in the pattern (or maybe upside down) so that I don't stitch anything wrong.

This is a complete middle row of the block.  You can see the pressed seam on the right, and the soon to be pressed seam on the left. 

All pressed up and ready to go into the final block.

The rows are now stitched and pressed and ready to be assembled.

Here are all three rows ready to assemble.

The complete block from the back...

...and the front.

Another completed block, with different colors.

The quilt will be made of 80 of these blocks, plus some corner and edge blocks.