Monday, January 19, 2015

Black and White DWM

It's Monday, a start of a new week and I am having a little quilter's ADD. . . I have started a new project, I'll share a bit about this process in a moment. . . I watched Cindy Needham's Craftsy class yesterday on whole cloth quilts. . . Oh MY! I need to make another WCQ. . . I started watching this class and could not stop! I'm not kidding. I took Cindy's other class (Design It, Quilt It), loved it. I don't know why but I could watch Cindy FMQ all.day.long. My only complaint about the class? Cindy didn't FMQ enough ;) I just had to share that. It is taking all of the restraint I have to set everything aside and start a WCQ. . . but I'm not going to do that. . . yet ;)

On to my new project. I have always wanted to make a black and white quilt. I lurve lurve lurve text fabrics. . . so first I pulled these fabrics:
Most of these came from a low volume fat quarter bundle. . . I don't remember where I got it. . . BUT Pink Castle has a Word Up bundle of 10 different text prints right now and they are all black on white. I might need another bundle:)
These are various cuts. . . some from bundles, some from an awesome fat quarter sale at Thousands of Bolts
So now I have my fabrics pulled. . . what to do with them?? I made the mistake of taking a little skip around the internet doing an image search for black and white quilts. . . Why do I do these things to myself??? I had a pattern picked out for this quilt (prior to the search). . . even bought the fabric (none of which is in the photos above. . . LOL). It was this quilt. Then I saw this quilt on Vicki's blog. . . I even bought the book and the ruler. . . And then I did the image search. . . UGH! I saw lots of black and white star quilts - love. Lots of black and white HSTs - love. Wonky block black and white quilts. . . darn it, loved those too!! Yeah, going to have to make more than one. . . But what to do with this one and these fabrics???

Here's how my thought process went (I'll spare you the details, this is the abbreviated version haha): I love HSTs. . . I love how various text prints look when they are used as backgrounds of blocks. My solution? I'm going to sew the black on white fabrics into nine patch blocks. Then I'm going to sew the white on black fabrics into nine patches. AND THEN. . . I'm going to cut those 9 patches on the diagonal and sew them into half white/half black HSTs! What's the final layout going to be? IDK (I Don't Know). . . I'm going to make the blocks. Then I'm going to play :)

Here's where I am:
Here are the black on white fabrics cut into 4"x16" strips. Once I had them cut, I randomly placed them into piles of three strips to be sewn together.
Here they are all sewn together. I chain pieced these. It went quick :) we like that!
And ironed. It was at this point that I realized. . . I am going to be 8 blocks short. . . :( and no more fabric. . . The good thing about ultimately needing 4" squares out of fat quarters? BEST use of a FQ... The bad thing? No leftovers for those of us who are mathematically challenged and when they divide 56 by 2 they get 24. . . They will remain nameless ;)
I am in the process of cutting these into 4" strips. Then I will mix them up again and sew them into 9 patches. I think I might make those other 8 blocks by using the Kaufman Spot On fabric . . . solid instead of cutting a 9 patch in half. . . I'll play with that once I get the blocks finished and start playing on the design wall.

Today on the agenda is to get the back on white 9 patches done. The white on black fabric prepped, cut and hopefully sewn together so I can sew the 9 patches tomorrow. . . and maybe even get the HSTs sewn together. . . I can't wait to start playing with the layout! :) 

I'm also prepping fabric for another project. This one is pattern testing so I won't be sharing much about it. . . yet :) And I will be trying to resist that overwhelming urge to start a whole cloth quilt.... SO tempting!!

Linking up with Design Wall Monday and Let's Bee Social. If you haven't been, check out these great linky parties for a major dose of inspiration :)

Until Next time, keep on quilting!!
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25 comments:

  1. OMG, I am drooling over your fabrics

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  2. Love your fabrics and I'm intrigued by your design. Looking forward to seeing it and your whole cloth quilt when you get to it!

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  3. Those fabrics are to die for!! I love all the low volume prints.

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  4. I love the idea of pieced HSTs; I can't wait to see them come together! :)

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  5. I love your fabrics!! What an amazing selection!!!

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  6. Lovely fabrics Judy. You've managed to collect a lot of texts, and the geometric prints will give a nice contrast. I'm looking forward to seeing how this goes.

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  7. I love black and white quilts. This looks like so much fun. I have always been intrigued by this method. Will you loose points when you make the big HST 9-patches?

    P.S. Even those of us who love quilty math make mistakes like that.

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  8. Our fabric collecting habits are aligning here Judy... I've been up to pretty much the same thing with low volume fabrics. No plans for mine yet. I Love the direction you are heading and will be eager to see what you do!

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  9. Love your fabrics! So many worded ones. You must have been collecting them for a long time.
    Hugs

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  10. Oh my goodness! if these are just your black & white fabrics, you must have an enormous stash!!!
    Looking forward to the next step, as always.

    If you measure once and cut twice, you just end up with more scraps...YAY!!! Speaking from experience :-)

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  11. I have collected black, white and gray fabrics for years! I have such a stash! I need to do something with them! Your quilt is going to be stunning!

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  12. Sounds like you still will have lots of black and white to do one like mine!! Thanks for the shout out ;-) I know I still have tons of black and white so I'll be anxious to see what you come up with in the end.

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  13. Oh I love all your fabrics! I really need to build up more of a LV stash. I've cut into the ones I have and now it makes me sad they aren't full pieces LOL.

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  14. You have a great selection of b/w fabrics. I especially like all those writing prints...esp. the ledger. Have fun working with these great fabrics.

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  15. Cannot wait to see what this will grow up to be! Funny, the next quilt on my to-do list is sewing a bunch of 3" squares together, already cut, (16-patches, perhaps), cutting them in half on the diagonal and piecing them with either a solid or a half of another light pieced block...I love all that you can do with a basic HST block whether it's log-cabin style or HST, or pieced...to much fun. That, or alternate with Irish Chain blocks...and you think YOU have quilt ADD!!

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  16. What's better than words on fabric? Music on fabric! Love your fabric selections, can't wait to see how this turns out.

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  17. I love your fabric selections for this quilt! I am really looking forward to seeing this project develop!

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  18. Your freshly pressed black on white strips look great. Can't wait to see your progress on this. You have some fabulous ideas!

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  19. I'm anxious to see what you make! I just bought the Word Up bundle which I love! I can't wait to figure out a project to make with it!

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  20. yay, looking forward to see the next stage :)

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  21. Ha, you sound excited! That creative stage is the fun part, when all the possibilities still exist. I haven't had any finishes lately, but I have a few projects on the go right now too! Some are at a standstill while I wait for fabric or the next lesson, can't wait to actually work on them.

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  22. This is going to awesome! I love all those fabrics you pulled :)

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  23. Hola! I just returned and had to comment on how much I love your fabrics and know it will be amazing!

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  24. Hola! I just returned and had to comment on how much I love your fabrics and know it will be amazing!

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  25. Love the fabrics you pulled, and I too get into way too much trouble when I search quilts...which i part of the reason my to do list is so long.

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