Aunt Blanche's blocks

 

A while back grandma gave me some blocks that Aunt Blanche had put together at some point.  I had no idea what to do with them.  There wasn't enough to make a quilt from, so I thought about a table runner.  That didn't seem to work either so there they sat for a very long time.

I pulled them out again earlier this year, probably after watching too many Youtube quilt videos, and decided to use the free version of PreQuilt to help me figure out what to do with the blocks.  After some messing around I came up with a layout that made a small lap size quilt.  The layout used the nine similar blocks and a lot of negative space.  And I had just the right Liberty fabric I'd picked up from the usual place when they were having a sale.  With so few pieces, this was the quickest and lightest quilt I had put together in a while.  So I took the opportunity to piece it on the antique Singer.

There were three other blocks in the collection, but they were very different in size and style.  I trimmed or added borders to make the three the same size, and used them in the backing.  The main fabric was a travel theme, which I thought Aunt Blanche would have liked.

The quilting was kept simple, with the walking foot used to add rows of lines across the quilt, in keeping with the design.  I started with rows around two inches apart, then put more lines in between so the rows were around one inch apart, then half an inch.  I had originally considered doing even more, but at that point the quilt seemed complete.  Time for binding then.  I auditioned a few blues I had in the stash, but none looked quite right or was big enough in size.  After looking at the other colours in the quilt, I found a black with white dots in the stash which would do the trick and save me from having to go shopping. 

I like how this little one turned out.  While I don't always follow the pattern when making a quilt, there is usually a pattern to follow if I need.  It was also good to finally use up some blocks which had been sitting there for much too long.  

Yes, I have already started on the next quilt.  One I have been wanting to do for ages and using a jelly roll I received for my birthday one year.