I went to Amitie again a while back and bought some more pale fabric, bringing my collection for this project to the following:
However, while I was at Amitie, the lovely lady who was serving me pointed out that it would make sense to make up a few HST blocks with the fabrics I have, and then when I go shopping for more fabric I can just bring those blocks, rather than all of the fabric I've bought so far (which is what I have been doing).
Now that is a very sensible idea! However implementing it forces me to make the decision on the size block I'm going to use much earlier than I had anticipated. I had initially thought of 2" blocks, but am worried that the sheer volume of the task would be too daunting for me to complete... To put the numbers into context, this is how many blocks I'd need (ish) at each size:
- 1950 2" blocks
- 429 3" blocks
Here's what the sequence I'm thinking of using would look like with 2" blocks.
What do you think? Should I stick with 2" blocks like I initially thought or increase the size to 3"? (I think bigger than that and you'd loose the integrity of the design).
Also, I currently have less than a third of the total fabric that I will need... and that's if I use all of each cut for the quilt top and forget about the idea of using the same fabrics for a pieced back... maybe i should have bought bigger cuts!! (or should in the future)
So how much piecing do you want to do? It looks like you've got approximately 40 by 60 blocks there. A 2 inch finished quilt with the squares you have is an 80 by 120 quilt. How big are you making the quilt? Do you want to stop the genome somewhere in the middle of your sequence? Are you going to add borders?
ReplyDeleteI would agree that larger than three would give you too little "overall" design, and that way you'd have only about half of the sqauares you have in the digram for a normal sized quilt. How much do you want to sit and figure out?
I just saw the numbers of blocks you posted. Doh. Well, I've never made a quilt with 1950 pieces before, seems daunting. What about a practice swatch of like 10 blocks by 5 blocks in colors you don't really care about and then you can see if you like all the effort in sewing everything down. Then you could have a nice table runner or something and you could get a feeling for the scope of your project.
Gasp!! What an incredible project.
ReplyDeleteIt will be amazing in the end.
How are you quilting it? Tiny blocks means loads of seams. That may influence your decision.
Good luck!
Andi
;-)
Wow, that's going to be a truly awesome quilt!
ReplyDeleteIf you did 3" blocks, would you use the same layout or would some of it get dropped? If 3" means dropping blocks then I think I'd go with 2" ones because I think part of what makes this design stunning is the gradual colour transition, and I think it would loose a bit if there were fewer blocks.
I think the advice about doing some test blocks is a good idea. It'll give you a good idea about whether you'd enjoy the small blocks. Oh and Andi's comment about the seams is very valid. I made a HST quilt recently and didn't think about the seams and the points where all the triangles meet are really bulky and totally not quiltable.
HTH and good luck!
EEK!
ReplyDeleteI am working on a double nine patch quilt and to me, that is daunting with the one inch squares- but WOW! You are brave!!!!
:) I can't wait to see how you manage it- but I agree that I would do a sample first to see if you like it!!!
Best Wishes!