quilt block – Monday Morning Designs

Isn’t it interesting how colors can make all the difference? Recently my son asked me to make him a mini quilt for his music room. He requested the Dutch Rose block, and for a few good reasons…he liked the center star along with how the formation around it looks ‘folded’ and of course, the block has timeless style! I couldn’t agree more.

8042_pattern_img-1

A while back I made a zippered pillow cover using the Dutch Rose block knowing that the block itself is traditional. I think the soft colors I used in my pillow accented that fact, but for this mini-quilt I wanted a modern, updated look. Masculine, too.

Overall, I find that one of the most fun parts of quilting is choosing fabrics. Sometimes I have very specific ideas, other times I forage through my (limited) stash trying to find what looks good. For this project, I knew to avoid any pastels, pinks and purples. I had just finished a quilt using Sun Print 2018 by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics and I knew my son would like the rich, deep colors in the collection plus I had plenty leftover. After much deliberation, I narrowed it down to four hoping the combination would work.

I used Kona Cotton White for an extra pop and I quilted it with my go-to pattern, crosshatch, spacing lines 1 ½” apart, using Aurifil cotton 50wt 2024 (White).

IMGP8723

I’ve been stitching that a lot lately, and it never gets old. And I feel the color combination worked—I love it and my son was happy with it, too. I’m tempted to use these colors in a triangle quilt!

In the end, I think I achieved my goal of giving this block a mod update just by using bold, modern colors.

IMGP8713

:.,bcxz

Same block, but what a different feel you get from the colors and fabrics you choose… because that’s what it’s all about, right?

The month of May always brings out patriotism here in the US, with Memorial Day kicking off the summer season then Flag Day and the Fourth of July not too far behind. Right now I have two quilts in the making, a Christmas gift and a new pattern of mine, and I could use a break from larger projects so I set out to find something patriotic that I could finish quickly using left over fabrics.

I usually don’t sew with blue (I don’t know why, I just don’t seem to choose it) but since I made my Americana Stars & Four Patches quilt last year, I had enough blue fabric for something small. Same with red, I don’t use it a lot, but I had some on hand from previous projects plus I got a small fat quarter bundle freebie with some lovely reds included. 🙂

After quite a bit of searching, I decided on a free flag tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew. While she made a lovely pillow, I wanted something for my sewing room door so I added a light blue border and made mine a mini quilt.

For the star and stripes, I used a white low volume fabric with handwriting that reminded me of old-fashioned handwritten letters and historic signatures; I thought it was fitting for a flag. It’s kind of difficult to see it unless it’s close up…

IMGP7937 IMGP7939

Before I began quilting, I did some ‘thread painting’—my quilting tip that consists of laying out thread on a project to help decide on a quilting pattern. To read more about it, click here. I do tend to gravitate toward crosshatch quilting, especially on rectangular blocks because the end results are diamonds, and I love the look! So yes, I went with crosshatch quilting, yet again.

When basting a mini quilt, I always use my flower straight pins instead of actual quilting pins. Reasons being: they’re easier to put in and take out, they’re nice and sharp and long, and they seem flatter than other pins.

IMGP7979

I used my guide for quilting accuracy and it gave me very precise results!

I was happy to have had enough red and white striped fabric for this project, left over from a Christmas tree skirt. And of course, striped binding is always a favorite.

And speaking of binding…how lucky was I to get this tiny stripe to align when I finished off my binding? Absolutely pure luck! Doubt that ever happens again. 🙂

For the back, I had this very appropriate fabric from my Stars & Four Patches quilt. As far as backing goes, it’s easy to match up prints, especially on a small project. I have more information on this topic on my Matching Fabric Patterns blog post.

And…here’s the finished project!

I love everything about this mini—it’s cute, a great size for my sewing room door and I can get it out to enjoy several times a year. Lastly, it was a small but significant scrap buster!

IMGP8000