Having Fun With This Block!!

I put a 2 inch border all the way around on the quilts I have done with this pattern!  After auditioning a number of colors, I decided I liked the blue best and I had a ton of it!  

I really like this block as there are very very few seams that you need to pin to match and it has lots of opportunity for efficiency.  Many people ask me how I get so much done.  Besides the fact that I do very little housework, I am always trying to figure out a more efficient way to make anything -- from cooking to sewing!!  For instance, I pin my stack and whacks together at night watching tv.  I was on the phone today with a friend and I pinned my strips into groups of five so that I could quickly sew them together.  I always make strip sets if I can for any scrap quilt.  You would never see me just sewing 2 2in patches together  I work in volumes so I would put two strips together, sew the whole thing and then cut 2 in wide strips,  Of course, to make it interesting you have to piece many of these before cutting.  

This block is about the most random I have ever done in a scrap quilt.  I am much more likely to do about half the scrap quilt pretty randomly (I still look at the two pieces that I am putting together so I get some variety but not compulsive about it).  However, I always will put all the blocks on a design wall and decide what I have too much of or too little of and will compensate accordingly.  I also take some trouble to audition the blocks on the design wall before sewing together also  With these quilts, I did very little of this.  I just put strip sets together, trying to get value differences in pieces right next to each other.  I didn't test blocks on the design wall for fabric placement. I only put the blocks up when all finished to see that the fabrics that really caught your eye were not right next to each other.  

This is quilt number 2 which is the same -- 9 12 inch blocks and a 2 inch border making it 40 x 40 more or less!

This is quilt number 3 which contains 12 blocks and measures about 40 x 53 inches.

The  neat thing about this block is that you can make it any number of sizes.  If you make the strips 3 1/2 inches wide, you cut the sections into 6 1/2 inch wide strips.  This results in an 18 inch size block. If you go smaller and use 2 inch strips, you cut the sections 3 1/2 inches wide.  This results in a 9 in finished block.  1 1/2 inch strips makes a 6 inch block etc.  Just have to cut different lengths. 

I played around a lot in Electric Quilt with different colorations for a mostly yellow quilt.  I was going to do darker pieces where the light ones are in this quilt but no color looked right so am going with a stark white which won't take your attention away from the subtleties in the yellow.  There are far fewer values with which to work when limiting your palette  to yellow and orange.  I may try adding some browns to quilts on another day!!  Having fun with yellows for now.