I am a little bit unhappy with this block. I think I should have sewn the stripes not horizontally but vertically. It would have made the triangles look less like little pyramids, I believe. But well, after 99 blocks I get a little bit “whatevery”—only a little bit. But I still have time to consider and might do it over again.
Buzzard’s Roost
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
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I’ve always wondered about this block since the first time I flicked through Laurie Hird’s book and set eyes on it. I think I may safely say that this is the block I looked at and thought about longest.
What do I see in this pattern? Why is the basic idea symmetrical but then not followed throughout? Where is the hidden logic behind the arrangement of colours? Is it only to be found when joining several of these blocks? Thus creating stars like in Periwinkle? But even that is not true. So where is the sense?
Frankly: It completely eludes me. The block’s name might certainly refer to the second World’s Fair held in Chicago in 1934/35. But this brings no light to the odd appearance of this block. And since I couldn’t make out any sense in the fabric arrangement I simply refused to follow it. I saw many examples on the web of quilters who followed the pattern, but I saw as well many who didn’t.
When playing with the fabrics I realised that there are many different ways to arrange them, each time ending up with a completely different block. Amazing! I finally settled on this design, very clear and “modern”, I fancy, and thus almost the entire opposite of Laurie’s makeup.
Century of Progress
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
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When I started this big project called Farmer’s Wife, I didn’t plan to post about it only, and not have any other quilt themes besides. But as it turned out, not until 93 posts later, I am finally able to write about another project, my first finished quilt for this year.
It’s another sampler—indeed! And I call it Dreaming in 3D
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
I stumbled upon Teresa’s tutorial for this textured quilt sampler at her blog mypatchwork.wordpress.com. At first, I thought I would sew along two or three of these very fun squares. But I soon got hooked and wanted to do every single one of the 25 patterns. I never smocked fabric before, or sewed tucks in so many variations, and I learned so much during the process. I extremely enjoyed making these squares.
20 of them made it in my quilt. Against my usual practice, I machine quilted it, using a polychromatic sewing cotton my sister once gave me.
You might enjoy looking at each square in detail.
Centred tucks with bow ties
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
Cluster tucks
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
Cross pin tucks
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
Cross shirring
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
Diamond pin tucks
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
Diamond smocking
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
Double controlled pleats
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
Double controlled pleats with ripple effect
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
Gathered double edged ruffles
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
Gathared stip
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
Lattice smocking
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
Lotus flower smocking
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
Lozenge smocking
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
Pin tucks
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
Prairie points pinwheel
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
Puff gathering (my favourite)
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
Smocked tucks
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
Star gathering
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
Undulating tucks
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
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Checkerboard
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
In this block, Laurie used the same prints for the squares opposing each other, diagonally, vertically and horizontally. Only the centre square has no twin. But I was glad to have a block to show off as many different prints as possible, so I didn’t stick to her example. Postage Stamp is the only other block I remember so far where I could do this.
I love to look at a block and go over the prints in my mind, remembering where I bought this fabric, or borrowed that one, how long I’ve had this one, or that I am now run out of that one—or best—remember the quilt I bought especially this fabric for, or the dress out of which I cut that square.
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Traditionally, Churn Dash is done in two different colours. But since I have already done Wrench in two colours, I thought I could give this one more distinction by using three.
If you do the background triangles at the corners in a different print than the rest of the background, you can create a secondary pattern when doing a quilt with churn dash blocks only.
Another very pretty alternative is to do the centre square in the same print as the inner triangles. But then you loose the ring-like look and thus the link to the block’s name.
Churn Dash
© 2013 by Heike Scharmann
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