Two years later, we did another birthday block swap. Again a 9" block. So I signed up, and again asked for red and cream. I think I got 11 or 13. Still not enough.
This year, the Chocolate Chicks, another small group that I belong to, is doing a Churn Dash Stash Buster. You know where I am going with this, yes, I asked for red and cream! Surely I would have enough blocks to make this quilt! I received 21 8" blocks (well, it should have been an even #, but that is all I could find, so either someone made me 1, or 3, or I lost one!)
Working with EQ7, I tried a variety of designs mixing the first two blocks. But I never really liked the look. I decided to just let each of the different swaps sing in their own groupings!
I LOVE the secondary design that this block creates! Sixteen different quilters, sixteen different ideas of red and cream. But what harmony they created when they came together!
I had to make a few more of the double dutch nine patches for the second round. No problem, as I had plenty of reds and creams in my stash. I decided onpoint would give more interest. I used a red Moda Marbles for the setting triangles. A cream batik from my stash was used for the filler border.
Now, to handle the next border. To make it totally with the churn dash blocks would require 32, and I didn't feel like making 11 more. I decided to separate them with 6X8" rectangles of red and cream. That nicely framed the blocks and let them sing. I chose to do an hourglass unit for the corners also to frame the churn dash blocks.
On to that final border! I had to make a field trip to Sew Sassy, my local quilt shop, to buy more of that red! I didn't want to just put a plain border on it, but didn't want anything too fussy, either. Borrowing from a trick that Debbie Caffrey showed us when she taught at our guild this spring, I put a 1" cream inset into the final red border. Just the right touch, I think!
So that is how I put together a huge quilt (I think it is 96" square) in just 4 days!
