Monday, July 13, 2009

One Block Wonder

I am taking a quilting class and am excited about it. There is a type of quilt called a one block wonder that is made from just one fabric and just one shape (equilateral triangle)
Here is my fabric:
























First you find the repeat in the fabric. Then, you tear on the line of the repeat. It's best to have a repeat of 12" or more. Mine is 23", so I'm going to have a fairly large quilt. (Why can't I learn to do "smaller"? I would be done much quicker I think if my quilt weren't so big!) You need six repeats so that you can get six layers. Once you have all of the layers torn, you line them up as perfectly as possible using pins. Next, you cut them into strips, and then triangles.







Now you will have stacks of 6 indentical triangles and you lay them out like hexagons. You really need a design board/wall to make this quilt so that you can arrange the hexagons. Here is my poor-man's version - batting pinned up on the wall with push pins. It works great! (I can also roll it up and take my quilt to class without having to mess up the order of anything.)





The class is just 2 Fridays, but I'm going in today to work on mine a little bit. I have all of my triangles cut, and most of my hexagons sewn. Actually, you lay out the hexagons, but you only sew halves. That way, the quilt can be sewn in rows instead of fiddling with all those inside corners.

I'll keep you posted as I progress.

11 comments:

Marji said...

Love it! What a great idea.

christina said...

Wow what a wonderful way to make a quilt. I am thinking about making one soon.

gwensews said...

Oh--a kalidescope quilt! What fun!

Sherril said...

I think I've heard that called a stack and whack quilt. I love the effect you're getting with that lovely print.

Uta said...

That's a very clever pattern. And such a nice fabric. Your quilt will be gorgeous!

Elaray said...

This is what I find fascinating about quilting! The design possibilities are endless! You're giving me more motivation to keep quilting.

Nancy Winningham said...

stack and Whack is actually a different thing, but very similar in procedure. This is a little more forgiving than stack and whack.

designdreamer said...

Ooooooo love this concept!
Can't wait to see the finished quilt.
Yup, I've heard it referred to as a stack and whack as well.

window dressing said...

Wow, sounds very interesting and I love the pattern of your fabric. I have never heard of that before is this something new or has it been around for a while?

I love to learn new things. Thanks for sharing.

Little Hunting Creek said...

Oh what pretty fabric! It looks like your quilt will be beautiful

cidell said...

I meant to comment ages ago and say what a really cool quilting idea