TheUnfussyQuilt

The Unfussy Quilt

Earlier in the process of sashing together blocks, I was just picking out fabrics for the cornerstones when it was time to sash each block. There was no master plan, other than to tie together two diagonally adjacent blocks in the same colorway with a matching cornerstone between them.

My readers know that I change my mind about what fabric to use for each block 2.7 times on average. The main advantage of winging it like this is that I don’t have to update my design on the Dear Jane software every single time I change my mind.

But then I got a bee in my bonnet and decided I should choose all the cornerstone fabrics ahead of time, so I could make sure to have a pleasing arrangement across the entire quilt.

So, I went through and painstakingly updated each cornerstone square in the Dear Jane software with my chosen fabrics … and then my computer rebooted unexpectedly and I lost all the placements. Maybe that was a sign that I should just choose them as I go.

All the indecision about what fabric to use for each cornerstone, as well as the indecision about fussy cutting on the previous block, reminded me of an antique quilt I recently acquired.

My friend Judi’s neighbor was getting rid of some antique quilts that had been made by her relatives. No, I don’t understand why she would do this, but her loss is my gain. I’m now the new faithful custodian of a beautiful quilt full of triangles, made (the neighbor estimates) in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s. Aside from a few small stains, it is in excellent shape for a century-old fabric creation.

The reason I bring up this quilt is that, as you can see from this closeup, the quilter used many different fabrics in a totally random way, not even all the same color within a single block, directional prints that were certainly not fussy cut … some of the individual triangle patches even look like they were made from two different colors of fabric stitched together!

TheUnfussyQuilt-Near

And yet, viewed from just a little farther away, all those random, multi-colored, unfussy-cut pieces work together to make a beautiful unfussy whole:

TheUnfussyQuilt-Far

I can only hope my scrappy Dear Jane will achieve the same effect.

4 thoughts on “The Unfussy Quilt

  1. At least you’re using a constant background fabric. I’m doing scrappy for both the light and darks and am hoping it’ll all play well together. Your blocks are beautiful

    1. Yes, and thankfully it looks like I will have enough of that constant background fabric! There was some concern in the early days. :)
      I’m betting your version is going to look great – just using fabrics with consistent values (light and dark) will really pull it together, even if the colors aren’t all exactly the same.

    1. I agree – the variety (in color, value, pattern, etc.) keeps your eyes moving around the quilt to see what other delightful fabric surprises you can discover. :)

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