Designing with Blocks

The quilt designs I share as Virtual Quilter are all designed using blocks.

Some of the blocks are very simple, some are more complex, but they are just square blocks.

The thing I have come to learn by playing with these blocks is that for a set of blocks to work together to grow into a large project file the block selection needs to have a variety of blocks.

One of the series I introduced had just three blocks to work with.

Most series have twelve or more blocks … many more possibilities, much more fun to play with.

When selecting blocks to use I look for certain characteristics.

First up, one or more blocks which are pretty full on … with one of the darker contrast fabrics dominating the block, not a lot of background.

One or more with a lighter centre …

and one or more with just a little blob of contrast in the middle of the block.

The exact amount of contrast on each of the three blocks shown can vary, but basically I would look for small, medium and large amounts of contrast in my selection of blocks.

The blobs of contrast can also be on point, and in various sizes.

They can also be circles, but by now you should be getting the drift!

The next desirable characteristic I look for is lines in the form of diagonal and straight crosses.

They can be heavy as above, or light.

Why not a variation with both?

That is probably on the list of optional extras, and there are a few others I might add too.

These are ones I think are just fun to have, just in case I want to partially fill a space.

The one above would create partial links with adjacent blocks.

NB

The contrast areas of the blocks can be in several colours and several shades of those colours.

Contrast can be reversed in all blocks, or just some.