Big and Bold

Last year during Quilt Quest I picked up stacks and stacks of fat quarters. 

When I got to Cottonseed Glory in Annapolis I found a bin full of Kaffe Fassett prints and knew at least a dozen were going home with me.  There are some others in here, but the main point was I wanted big, bold prints.  I grabbed three different solids to coordinate:  navy, medium and light blue.

I drafted the pattern and set to trimming my fabrics.  I made a couple mistakes along the way, but still ended up with more than enough to make the required 42 blocks (12" x 12" finished).  My mistakes were mostly absorbed by the border squares, the little stack of 3.5" squares on the left.

I put my stacks on my small cutting mat and took the lot to the sewing machine.  Each block has the same four solid blocks with different prints opposite.

I lined up a single row of blocks so I could get an early idea of what I was looking at.  The final layout will be 6 blocks wide by 7 blocks long.  I just don't have the space to lay out all the blocks in my sewing room. 

The solids will be matched up, creating this staggered shape through the mixed up prints.  I did get all six columns sewn together tonight.  Getting them sewn into a whole will have to wait.

 

I ran out of room to put the last row on the right side.  I'm trying not to worry too much about the placement and just let this one be happy the way it wants to be.  Sometimes, I think I force things.  

The best part about this?  I get to try out my Fantastico and Omni threads from Superior Threads when it comes time to quilt it.