Virtual Challenge for February 2021

Welcome to this months challenge, which is about using sashing not just to frame each and every block, but to be a big part of the overall design of a quilt.

Open a new project file, select a straight setting of 5 x 5 12inch blocks with a 1 inch sashing.

Add a strong contrast colour to the sashing squares, and the light background colour to the rest.

Select a mixture of blocks and start designing. Use a light background fabric in all the blocks, pieced or applique.

When you have a design you like,  recolour some of the sashing strips to create outline borders for individual blocks, or to highlight groups of blocks.

I have learned more about designs for quilts by playing with an idea, and seeing how it might look.

The hardest part of learning about design, and about using Electric Quilt, is finding the time, or making the time, to play with the program. The more you play with any new tool, from a needle and thread, to a long arm machine, the more you learn about the tool, and as you get more comfortable with the tool you can experiment with new ways to use that tool.

If the tool is completely new to you, somehow make the time to practice, so that when you have just a small amount of time you can just get on with designing, not trying to work out how to do something.