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Block of the Week – Block 8

Welcome back to block of the week! We’re onto block 8 so only one more block pattern after this one. If you’re new to my block of the week posts, here’s a link to last week’s post and from there you can work your way back to week 1.

I have named this week’s block Diamond Star because of the diamond pattern surrounding the center star that emerges when the block is pieced together. This block is a little more involved than last week’s block, but the units that make it up are all ones you have made before, like flying geese and HSTs. Since this block is one that has interesting movement, I thought I would review some tips on secondary design. Time to get started!

Block of the Week – Block 8

I made this block in two different backgrounds again. You can choose to do it that way or just make it with the background you prefer. Here’s Diamond Star:

Find the free instructions for this block here: 2026 BOW Block 8.

Now here is the same block with the dark background:

Tip of the Week

Now on to the tip of the week. Secondary design. Have you ever looked at a quilt or a quilt block and saw more than one design emerge? That’s secondary design. Sometimes it’s intentional and sometimes the designer just gets lucky and two blocks they decide to place next to each other combine to make another design.

My block above has interesting movement with the diamond design. If you put several of these blocks together, here’s the look you would get:

See how the diamond portion of the blocks create an interesting crisscross pattern? That’s the easy way to create secondary design with this block.

Look what happens when I change some color placement in the block. First, here’s the block:

Look at how the block changes just by moving where your colors are in the block. They’re the same colors by just in different places. Now here’s a quilt with them:

Now the diamond design is more prominent. Cool! Now look what happens when I add another element to the block. On each corner, I add a stitch & flip corner:

Now here is the modified block in a quilt:

The stitch & flip corner on the blocks creates another design that looks like another star block.

Other Ways to Create Secondary Design:

 Tip 1: The most common way is with two distinct blocks in a quilt. Generally, you choose one block with movement and one block that is more static. I did that with my Strips & Stars quilt. Here are the blocks:

The star block on the left has a different kind of movement than the log cabin block in the center. When you put those two blocks together in a quilt, alternating between them and flipping every other the log cabin block in the rows, you get a unique, dark stripe design that runs diagonally. Here’s the full quilt:

Also, where the star blocks touch, the checkerboard corners create another secondary design crisscrossing across the quilt. I love these types of blocks that create several secondary designs.

Tip 2: Create that secondary design with sashing. You can do this with one block quilts. The sashing will build off an element in the blocks of the quilt or it will just create a design all on it’s own. Here’s those examples side by side:

For the quilt on the left, Open Windows, there is a stitch and flip corner on two sides of the block that, when combined with the sashing and cornerstones, creates a monkey wrench design. For the quilt on the right, Summer Bouquets, the stars are created solely within the sashing.

Tip 3: Use the border for secondary design. This can be quiet like the quilt on the left or more prominent like the quilt on the right.

For Homestead Trail on the left, there is a subtle nine-patch in the sashing that continues into the border to create a frame. For Twilight Desert on the right, the border is created with flying geese with multi-colored centers for an creative, colorful border.

Fun times, huh?

Quilt Block History

Here’s a bit of history on the block that influenced mine. I saw this block, Dutch Rose, and like it immediately. I simplified the outer portion so it created the “diamond” shape. Here are the two blocks side by side:

I removed some of the intricate piecing in the 4 corners to make my block simpler to piece and to create the diamond design.

The Dutch Rose is a block design from the 19th century. Some other  names it’s known by are Carpenter’s Wheel, Carpenter’s Star and Double Star. The design is based on intricate mosaic patchwork designs brought over to America by Dutch and English settlers. They eventually simplified some of the designs to arrive at the Dutch Rose block.

This design was re-named “Pennsylvania Dutch Rose” during the 1930s quilting revival by  Nancy Cabot for the Chicago Tribune who was also using an alias for her needlecraft columns, just like Nancy Page from last week. This editor’s name was Loretta Leitner Rising. Her column began in 1932 and readers could receive a full pattern and instructions for  five cents by sending in a self-addressed envelope into the newspaper. She only participated in this column until 1938 but stayed with the newspaper writing under her own name. Like the Nancy Page columnist, she often gave new names to traditional blocks to appeal to the quilters of the day.

So that’s it for this week and I’ll see you next week for the last block.

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

Two Block Quilts – Definitely Not Boring!

Last week, I covered one block quilts and the things you can to to make them exciting. This week, I will move on to two or more block quilts. There are ways to create interesting quilts when the blocks you choose mesh is a way that reveals new designs. That can be done with color or elements of the blocks themselves. So let’s get into it!

Two Block Quilts and Secondary Design

One of my favorite thing to do is to pick out two different blocks and look at how those blocks will create a unique design when they are paired into quilt block rows. Sometimes they create the design when joined in straight rows and sometimes they look better when they are joined into rows with the blocks on point.

I think the key to get a new design to emerge is to chose one block with a distinct directional pattern that, when pieced into a quilt top, will cause the viewer’s eye to see the secondary design. If both blocks have distinct directional patterns, you can actually achieve more than one secondary design. Block layouts and background fabric colors can also play into the design.

Straight Rows: One of the most common two block quilts is combining a pieced block like a star or a churn dash block, a block with a more “static” design, with a checkerboard type block that has a bit more movement to it. Here’s the two blocks in my quilt, Prairie Sky:

When the blocks are joined in a straight row, alternating block setting you can see a crisscross pattern emerge created by the checkerboard block (above, right).

On-Point Rows: Just like on-point settings created a different look for one block quilts, it can do the same for two block quilts. Here are two blocks, a churn dash block and a checkerboard block, that appear in my next quilt example:

Here’s how those blocks look in my Country Dance quilt in an on point setting.

Here, the checkerboard blocks in an on-point setting will create a grid instead of the crisscross design in the Prairie Sky quilt above.

Additional Interesting Design Elements:

Now here is a two block quilt that creates more that one secondary design: Strips & Stars has the blocks pieced together in straight rows to create the secondary design. Here are the blocks:

The star block with the checkerboards has movement in all directions that the log cabin block does not. Look what happens when you put them together though:

Notice that the star blocks with the most movement create a secondary “crisscross” design across the quilt. But in addition, the log cabin blocks, even though there’s no movement in the blocks themselves, create another design when the whole quilt is pieced: 3 diagonal stripes across the quilt.

Here’s a unique two block quilt with a pieced block and an appliqué block that create a secondary design in two ways. Here are the blocks:

And now here’s what they look like in my quilt, High Prairie Blooms. There is an additional style of an appliqué block included in this quilt so it’s technically a 3 block quilt:

Notice how there are two elements that make a secondary design here. One is the obvious crisscross pattern that develops from the appliqué blocks. But also there is a design that emerges where two appliqué and two pieced blocks meet.

Secondary Design and Color

Secondary design can be created with color in one of the blocks in a two block quilt. The Strips & Stars pattern above is sort of an example, but here are a few more with simple second blocks that create a background design.

In the three photos below, I have created a diagonal “stripe” by using two different colors in the pieced half-square triangle square blocks that are the second block in the quilt:

On these last two quilts, I used the technique from above on larger sized lap quilts. The background stripes can be more subtle when the two fabrics chosen are very close in shade, like Liberty Star Shine on the left. You can also make the stripe more prominent by using fabrics with shades not as close, like in Butterfly Garden on the right.

So that’s my lesson on two block quilts and secondary design. I hope that you learned something new and will look at quilts a different way when you’re at the next quilt show. Leave a comment or ask a question below and you will be entered into a drawing for my quilt pattern, Sun Catcher:

The drawing will be on Monday, November 3rd.**We have a winner! Congrats, Betsy!***

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

One Block Quilts – Not Boring!

One thing I’ve noticed about myself as a scrap quilter is that I can take one block and turn it into an interesting quilt using a lot of colorful fabrics in my stash.  Also, by choosing interesting block layouts and quilt blocks that create secondary design when joined into rows, these quilts can be beautiful and not boring. First I’ll cover a bit of terminology and quilt block history, then we’ll dive in!

The Original “One Block” Quilts 

These quilts were pre-mid 19th century. They were referred to as medallion quilts because there was a central design or block, surrounded by a border of either pieced blocks or appliqué.

I have a few quilt patterns I designed to mimic that early style where I used one block as a central focus and bordered it with pieced borders and some appliqué.

On the left is Star Gazing from my book, Blooming Patchwork and on the right is my pattern, Rail Fence Blooms. Both central blocks are scrappy to add more interest.

Here’s a current pattern that is not scrappy but this one is still interesting as a one block quilt. 

By surrounding the large snowflake block in Snow Days with appliqué and an interesting border, it adds more interest as opposed to just having the snowflake block with a plain border.

The block style quilts that we know today began to emerge later in the 19th century. The earliest block style quilts were friendship or album quilts usually made for someone leaving a community to move west. Friends and family being left behind would sign the blocks as a remembrance for the traveler. These were mostly simple pieced blocks, all the same style with an area where a name could be signed.

Secondary Design Defined

When you look at a quilt and you not only see the block designs but you see another design emerge as you step back, that’s secondary design. Sometimes it’s intentional… and sometimes the designer just gets lucky when blocks have an element that creates a design when the quilt top is pieced. For me, I like to try to intentionally create it.

There are several ways to achieve this. It can be done in one block quilts, where the elements of the block create a new design when several of them are joined into a quilt top. This is what I’ll talk about this week. In two or more block quilts, joining different blocks into rows can cause a new design to appear where those blocks meet. You can also add a sashing between blocks to create a new design or play with a scrappy background so the secondary design emerges behind the blocks. I’ll talk about those next week.

One Block Quilts and Secondary Design

Option One: The first way to achieve secondary design with one block quilts is to create secondary design within the blocks themselves. Here’s an example of how this works. 

Notice that on the left, the center is a black square and the corner HSTs are multi-colored while the star points are one uniform color. It makes the 8 pointed star more prominent. And also the black portion of the block makes another unique design. 

The block on the right is the same block, but the corner HSTs are just two colors, the center and large star points are blue and the smaller star point is green. This turns the prominent star design into a double friendship star that looks like it’s spinning (at least to me!). Putting these two blocks together will create an interesting quilt.

Options Two: Choosing a block for your one block quilt with an interesting design element that creates movement across the quilt top. Here’s a block that does that:

It’s a combination of a star with some strips and stitch & flip corners to complete it. Now here is the quilt, Star Struck, that I made with this block:

When I joined the blocks, I turned them so the stitch & flip corners alternated in which direction they pointed in each row. But if you look at the block columns in the quilt, the corners point in the same direction. Those stitch & flip corners create an illusion of flying geese “flying” across the quilt.

Option Three: This is a really subtle form of secondary design. All the blocks are the same and so is the movement within the blocks, but if you stand back, you can see a secondary design emerge. I’ll use my quilt, Star Wheels, as an example. Here’s the block:

Here’s the quilt, on the left, and the area of it I circled, on the right.

The black elements of the blocks create a connecting grid when they are joined. But you have to look really closely to see another interesting design emerge. Look at the interesting design in that circled area. That something that often emerges when you stand back and look at what you think is a uniform, one block quilt.

Here’s a few other examples of one block quilts that do some interesting things because of colors or an internal element. First up is Scrappy North Stars:

By alternating the block colors between cool and warm colors, different block elements become more prominent. This is another form of secondary design that may not be uniform but still causes your eye to travel around the quilt. Here’s a close up of some of these blocks:

Notice how in some blocks, the center star radiating out is more prominent based on the colors used, where some blocks, the outer ring is more prominent.

Last example is a uniform element added. In one of my newest quilts, Sun Catcher, I added a black “frame” around the star in the block. When the blocks are joined into a quilt top, a crisscross pattern emerges.

That’s it for this week. I hope this post gives you a little insight into one block quilts and some of the fun you can  have with them. Next week I’ll continue with two block quilts and some other tips.

Let me know what you think in the comments and I’ll enter you into a drawing for my pattern, Sun Catcher (above).

That drawing will be on Monday, November 3rd so you have two weeks to enter! **We have a winner! Congrats, Betsy!***

Happy Quilting
Deanne

Creating Secondary Design – There’s Many Ways!

What is Secondary Design?

When you look at a quilt and you not only see the block designs but you see another design emerge as you step back, that’s secondary design. Sometimes it’s intentional… and sometimes you just get lucky and two blocks you decide to place next to each other make another design. I like to design these types of quilts because it adds another level of interest.

There are several ways to achieve this. It can be done in one block quilts, where the elements of the block create a new design when several of them are joined into a quilt top. In quilts with two or more block styles, joining different blocks into rows can cause a new design to appear where those blocks meet. Then there’s adding a sashing between blocks to create a new design or playing with fabric so a secondary design emerges behind the blocks.

Let’s talk about each.

One Block Quilt Secondary Design

Here’s one of my quilts, Basket Weave Stars, that is constructed using one style of block. First, here is the block that makes up the quilt:

The block is made  up of a simple center star with radiating “rays” in scrappy colors. Here is the whole quilt with the blocks joined.

As you can see, a interesting crisscross weaving design appears almost like it’s behind the stars pushing them to the forefront.

The key is to choose a block that has an element that, when joined with the other blocks, will create another design. Here are two blocks below. Which do you think would do better creating a secondary design in a one block quilt?

They’re both star blocks and both will create a secondary design, but the one on the right has elements that stretch more obviously to the edges of the block that will help create a more prominent one.

They both have a crisscross design emerge and a “secret” star design emerge, but it’s more subtle on the left and more prominent on the right.

Secondary Design – Two Block Quilts

Two block quilts are the most common and usually the easiest way to create a secondary design. Often, these quilts will have a checkerboard design block as one of the blocks. Then, whether the blocks are on-point or set straight, there is a fun checkerboard design that runs through the quilt. Here are two examples. The one on the left is straight set blocks and the one on the right is on-point set blocks.

Both quilts have a secondary design created by the checkerboard blocks. In Prairie Sky on the left the blocks create a diagonal design. In Country Dance on the right, the blocks are all set on-point so the checkerboard blocks create a grid design.

Now here’s secondary design with two different blocks, neither of which is a plain checkerboard.

When you put them together in Strips & Stars, look at what designs emerge. There’s actually two!

The log cabin blocks make diagonal stripes across the quilt while the checkerboards in the star block makes a crisscross design.

In this next example, neither of the blocks have any kind of checkerboard design at all and look at the design that emerges. Here’s the blocks:

Now  here’s the quilt, Starlit Path:

There a unique crisscross design that emerges where the blocks meet.

Secondary Design – Created with Sashing

The next way to create a secondary design is with a sashing, generally with cornerstones. In this first example, with my quilt Posey Patch, I used a sashing with cornerstones and also did stitch and flip corners on the sashing strip’s ends. When everything is joined together, stars emerge.

The second way to create a design is to have the quilt sashing “play” with an element of a block in the quilt. In my quilt, Open Windows, there is a stitch and flip corner on two sides of the blocks, that work to create a monkey wrench design when the blocks and sashing are joined.

Also notice the circle pattern created because of how the blocks are turned alternating in different directions.

Secondary Design – Playing with Fabrics

Finally, a surprising way to create a subtle secondary design is with a block’s or the quilt’s background fabrics, not just block design. It can either be easily noticeable or very subtle. In the three photos below, the diagonal “stripe” created by using two different colors in a half-square triangle square block. From left to right, it goes from bold to subtle. Using a plain block like this in two different colors is an easy way to make a diagonal design using color.

I did the same thing on a larger scale on these two lap size quilts:

On the left in Liberty Star Shine,  there are two shades of red that are very close that create a really subtle stripe down the quilt. In Butterfly Garden on the right, the stripe is more noticeable because there’s more contrast in the alternating block fabrics.

That’s my study in secondary design. Let me know if you have other combinations you can think of that would make an interesting design emerge. I hope you enjoyed this and I’ll see you next week!

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

Secondary Design & How to Create It – Part Two

Last week’s blog covered secondary design that can be created within quilt blocks and with one block quilts. This week, I will cover three other interesting ways to create secondary design: two block quilts, with sashing and also with background fabric. You can use one of these options or combine them to create a unique secondary design. Let’s get started!

Secondary Design – Two Block Option

One of the easiest ways (I think) to create secondary design is with two different blocks alternated in a quilt top. The key to get a new design to emerge is to chose one block with a distinct directional pattern that, when pieced into a quilt top, will cause the viewer’s eye to see the secondary design. Sometimes they create the design when joined in straight rows and sometimes they look better when they are joined into rows with the blocks on point. Here’s some examples.

First up, Strips & Stars has the blocks pieced together in straight rows to create the secondary design. Here are the blocks:

The star block with the checkerboards has movement in all directions that the log cabin block does not. Look what happens when you put them together though:

Notice that the star blocks with the most movement create a secondary “crisscross” design across the quilt. But in addition, the log cabin blocks create another design: 3 diagonal stripes.

Here’s an example of a two block, secondary design with blocks set on-point in my quilt, Country Dance:

Here’s the blocks that make up this quilt:

Putting these two blocks together in an on-point setting gives you an interesting grid design instead of a design that crisscrosses across the quilt top.

My final example of secondary design with two blocks is combining a pieced block and an appliqué block with an element of each of the block styles that creates the design. Here are the two blocks:

Here’s the quilt, High Prairie Blooms:

Notice how there are two elements that make a secondary design here. One is the obvious crisscross pattern that develops from the appliqué blocks. But also there is a design that emerges where two appliqué and two pieced blocks meet (circled area in photo below).

Secondary Design – Sashing

Creating secondary design with sashing can happen in two ways, within the sashing itself and with the sashing pieces creating a design when next to the blocks. The first option is shown in Posey Patch:

By using a cornerstone and stitch & flip corners on the sashing strips, a star is created between the blocks of the quilt.

The second option is where the sashing interacts with an element of the quilt blocks that make up the quilt.  In my quilt, Open Windows, there is a stitch and flip corner on two sides of the blocks, that work to create a monkey wrench design when the blocks and sashing, with cornerstones, are joined.

Secondary Design – Background Blocks

This has similarities to the two block secondary design in a way. You can create a secondary design that is probably the easiest with your quilt’s background blocks. I consider blocks to be background blocks if they are very simple and are used more as a background rather than the focus of the quilt. The most common one I use is the half-square triangle (HST) square/block.

In the three photos below, I have created a diagonal “stripe” by using two different colors in the pieced half-square triangle square blocks that are used for the simple background blocks.

On these last two quilts, I used the technique from above on larger sized lap quilts. The background stripes are more subtle here because I chose two fabrics very close in shade Like Liberty Star Shine on the left. You can also make the stripe more prominent by using fabrics with shades not as close, like in Butterfly Garden on the right.

So that’s all for my two week tutorial on secondary design. Now you can have fun when creating your own quilts. Leave a comment or ask a question below and I will enter you into a drawing for my Star Wheels quilt pattern.

The drawing will be on Monday, February 3rd. **We have a winner! Congrats, Dolores Elaine Meendering!***

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

2024 Block of the Week – Block 8

Welcome to block 8 of my Block of the Week sew along! I hope you are having fun with me and learning some things. At the end, you’ll have some lovely blocks to make a sampler lap quilt or maybe use them in other ways. If you are just joining us, here is the link to last week’s blog for block 7, which will lead you to the previous blog posts and blocks. Or, you can just go to the blog page on my website and page through the posts. All the BOW posts are in order there. Now on to this week’s block and tip of the week!

Block of the Week

Block 8:

This block is called Crosswinds. Find the instructions for this block here: 2024 BOW Block 8.

A Bit of Block History

This is a variation of the traditional block, Swing in the Center, below:

See the similarities? I came up with the variation, Crosswinds, on my own with just a few changes. However I’ve seen the same variation in some antique quilts, but was unable to find out what they called the block or who created that variation. See? That’s what happened with the pioneer women out west in the 19th century. They “created” a block others may have also “created” and then gave it a unique name.

Ladies’ Art Company (LAC), established in 1889, became the first in the late 19th century to publish quilt patterns. The St. Louis company was the most prolific quilt pattern publisher. They were also one of the first mail order pattern companies. One of their most popular series of patterns were alphabet blocks. They stopped publishing patterns in the 1970s, although C &T Publishing has the Quilt Block Tool that includes many of their blocks.

The Swing in the Center block was first published in 1897 by LAC. Other names for this block are Mrs. Roosevelt’s Favorite (Clara Stone, 1906), Swinging in the Center, (Nancy Cabot, 1934) and Roman Pavement (Nancy Cabot, 1938). For my block, I simply changed the center unit square to a full square without the stitch & flip corners and then took the center unit of Swing in the Center and repeated those for the corner units.

Tip of the Week – Secondary Design

This is one of my favorite things in creating quilts. I like to create a block design that then creates a secondary design when the blocks are assembled into a quilt. One way you can create secondary design using just one type of block. I did this with my quilt Star Struck.

The corner stitch & flip sections of the star block creates a look of flying geese “flying” across the quilt top when the blocks are pieced together into a quilt.

You can also create secondary design by using two different blocks in a quilt. These blocks below are from my Strips & Stars quilt:

Now here’s the quilt that they are in. Notice how the blocks combine to make two directional designs.

The nine patch star blocks create a crisscross design and the log cabin blocks create a one-way diagonal stripe through three areas of the quilt. Your eye keeps moving around the quilt which is the purpose of a secondary design.

There are other ways to create secondary design, but I will save that for a future blog posting. You can also create a secondary design within this block, believe it or not. Here is the option (right) next to the original block.

By changing the fabric color on the four inner flying geese units, the “star” design now appears in the center of the block. Fun! 

Now make it scrappy, but keep the black center:

Really fun!

So that’s it for this week. I hope you enjoy making this block. This would be a fun block to duplicate and make a whole quilt. Leave a comment or ask a question in the comments below and be entered into the drawing for this fat quarter pack:

The drawing will be the week after this sew along ends. Good luck and see you next week for the last block!

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

Tips for Secondary Design in Quilting

The fun of putting one type of block, two different blocks, or interesting sashing into a quilt design is the secondary designs that emerge. Even a two-tone design to background blocks, as I call them, can create it. Have you ever looked at a quilt close up and see one design, then stand way back and see other designs? That’s secondary design. Sometimes it even happens by accident. I call that quilting serendipity! So let’s talk about secondary design and all the ways to accomplish it.

Secondary Design – One Block Quilts

Choosing a block for a quilt that has certain units can lead to secondary design. It can be subtle if the quilt block you have chosen is one that doesn’t have many pieces or much movement to it. Or you can choose a block specifically for the design effect it will have when joined with the other blocks to make the quilt top. This type of secondary design does not include any borders or sashing to create it. Here’s two blocks:

The block on the left in my Paper Chain quilt has some movement, but if you compare it to the block on the right its a bit more subtle. The block on the right from Crisscross Cabin Blooms has obvious, one direction movement. This block gives you some more interesting secondary design.

First with the Paper Chain block, which is built on a simple 9-patch grid, there are two designs you can see emerge when the blocks are joined:

In the left photo you can see where the blocks meet, another design emerges where it looks like a completely different block (circled). In the photo on the right, the circled area shows a more subtle circular design appears as you stand back and view the whole quilt.

With the block from Crisscross Cabin Blooms, it’s a lot easier to pick out the secondary design. First, you can rotate the blocks different ways for a different look:

On the left, you can achieve a “crisscross” design by alternating the direction of every other block in the quilt as you piece it. On the right, you can achieve an over all diagonal design all the way across the quilt top by piecing the blocks in all the same direction. Here’s my quilt on the right, where I used the first option, and a drawing of how the quilt would look like using the second option:

Secondary Design – Two Block Quilts

I find it easier to create secondary design with quilts that have two different quilt block designs. To do this, I generally choose one block that has movement in specific directions and pair it with a block that is a bit more static. The most common is pairing a checkerboard block with another block like a star or churn dash. Here are my two quilts below, Prairie Sky and Country Dance, that illustrate it.

The blocks in Prairie Sky (left) are pieced in straight rows so the checkerboard blocks create a diagonal crisscross design across the quilt. The blocks in Country Dance (right) are pieced in diagonal, on-point rows so the checkerboard blocks create a grid look. If the Country Dance blocks were joined in straight rows like Prairie Sky, the checkerboard blocks would create the diagonal crisscross design as well.

Secondary Design – Created with Sashing

The next way to create a secondary design is with a sashing. In this first example, with my quilt Posey Patch, I used a sashing with cornerstones and also did stitch and flip corners on the sashing strip’s ends. When everything is joined together, stars emerge to frame the blocks.

The second way to create a design is to have the quilt sashing “play” with an element of a block in the quilt. In my quilt, Open Windows, there is a stitch and flip corner on two sides of the blocks, that work to create a monkey wrench design when the blocks and sashing, with cornerstones, are joined.

Secondary Design – Background Blocks

This has similarities to the two block secondary design in a way. You can create a secondary design that is probably the easiest with your quilt’s background blocks. I consider blocks to be background blocks if they are very simple and are used more as a background rather than the focus of the quilt. The most common one I use is the half-square triangle (HST) square/block.

In the three photos below, I have created a diagonal “stripe” by using two different colors in the pieced half-square triangle square blocks that are used for the simple background blocks.

The runner on the end is a bit more subtle than the one in the center because I used two shades of tan. The table topper on the left is more bold since I used a tan print and a blue print to create the background for my blocks.

On these last two quilts, I used the technique from above on larger sized lap quilts. The background stripes are more subtle here because I chose two fabrics very close in shade Like Liberty Star Shine on the left. You can also make the stripe more prominent by using fabrics with shades not as close, like in Butterfly Garden on the right.

That’s it for my tip lesson on creating secondary design… or at least recognizing it where it exists. Next time you go to a quilt show, see how much secondary design you can pick out in the displayed quilts. It’s a lot of fun!

Want to win a pattern for my quilt, Posey Patch? Leave a comment or ask a question below. Drawing will be on Monday, 5/27. Good luck!  **We have a winner! Congrats, Lynn!**

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

Scrap Quilts – Chaotic or Not?

As many of you know, I love scrap quilting. Scrap quilts allow you to use a large variety of fabrics and also put colors together that you wouldn’t otherwise. That’s the fun. However, I like to add some continuity to my scrap quilts so they are not so chaotic. That’s what I will talk about this week along with some tips how I build a stash. If you read my posts in January on color and contrast in fabrics and auditioning fabrics, you will see how all of this fits together in scrap quilting. Let’s get started!

Organizing the Chaos

A scrap quilt can look like a riot of color and very unorganized. I like to tame these quilts by adding one or two elements that calm them down a bit, for lack of a better term. There are several ways to tame these quilts so I will share the tips here.

Tip #1: Use one block design for the whole quilt. I do this in my quilt, Scrappy North Stars.

Here’s a close up of one of the rows:

Same block, but in different color combinations. If this quilt was made up of 30 different blocks in a riot of colors, that would definitely be a lot more chaos. So that’s the key. Pick one block and make them from several different color combos… and you have a scrap quilt that’s a little ordered.

Tip #2: Finish off the quilt with a uniform border to contain the chaos, even frame it. Using Scrappy North Stars from above, see how adding the plain black border strip in between the blocks and the pieced piano key border adds a bit of order?

Here’s another example that’s a little different. My quilt, Seaside Cottage, is made up of a lot of scrappy nine-patch blocks in the center. The pieced star border adds a bit of uniformity. Even thought the star blocks are in various colors, the blocks themselves are a little “quieter” than the scrappy nine-patches.

Tip #3: Add a uniform element within the quilt that also serves to create a secondary design. In my quilt, Follow the Stars, I added some black squares into the blocks that help to create a secondary design.

Here’s the whole quilt to show how the design created by the black parts of the blocks adds another element to this otherwise simple log cabin quilt.

When you have a stabilizing element like the black in these blocks, you can then position those blocks in other directions to create other secondary designs within the quilt. This will calm the quilt by giving the viewer’s eye a pattern to follow.

Here’s a smaller version of adding a stabilizing unit. I added stars in one color to these table runners.

In Loop-d-Loop, the dark stars calm the “chaos” of the multi-colored blocks.

Unplanned Scrappy

The quilts above are in the category of a planned scrap quilt. You’re planning the type of blocks, or choosing a border, or picking a uniform color or element to incorporate. Now lets look at some of what I call “unplanned” scrap quilts. These are quilts where I did not choose the color scheme prior to making the blocks. I just sat in from of a bin of strips and scraps and made each block.

However, I still worked in a stabilizing element by choosing a uniform color to work into each block, even if it was a different fabric print. The result was a riot of color, created by all the different colors n each block, and a secondary design the tones down the quilt.

The other fun thing about an unplanned scrap quilt is to put colors together that you would not ordinarily pair up. Actually in any scrap quilt I think you can do this. Here’s an example of some unusual combinations in some of my quilts:

Don’t be afraid to pair colors together, like the light blue and the red in the star block on the left. These are colors you may not put together in a three or four color quilt, but in a scrap quilt you can get away with the combination. The viewer’s eye will be busy! 

Building a Stash

Something I like to cover when I speak at guilds is how to build a stash to allow you to create scrap quilts. There’s a few ways to build a stash if you haven’t already started one.

Option #1: Every time you are cutting out a quilt project, cut up the leftover fabric instead of just stacking it in a pile on a shelf. If you pre-cut it into smaller pieces or strips, you’ll have fabrics in lots of colors to start a scrap quilt.

Option #2: When you shop for fabric, shop pre-cuts. Most stores have fat quarters, 10″ pre-cuts and 2 1/2″ strips for sale. You can stock up and sort them by color when you get home. Then you’re ready to dive in to make a scrap quilt.

Option #3: Making my own pre-cuts of all sizes and strips cut from a piece of fabric and stored is how I build a stash. I like to shop at the quilt store and buy1 yard cuts of fabric in a variety of color prints and then cut them up into the different sizes. Here’s my mini video on how I do that.

Once everything is cut and sorted by size and color, I store them in tubs like those below. This way when it’s time to make blocks for a scrap quilt, I can pull out the tubs and have a selection of fabrics in the sizes and colors I want.

So that’s it for this week. I hope you enjoyed some of my processes for making my scrap quilts. I hope you try a scrap quilt if you haven’t already. I bet you’ll love it. Start with a pattern for a quilt that only uses one block design, then make those blocks from several different color combinations. You will be surprised how fun it is!

Leave a comment or ask questions below. I’ll enter you into a drawing for my Scrappy North Stars Pattern. The drawing will be on Monday, March 18th. Good luck! **We have a winner! Congrats, Kathy Willis!**

Happy Quilting
Deanne

Elements for Designing Quilts – Two Block Quilts

Last week’s post concentrated on one block quilts and how to make them interesting by playing with color, adding sashing, etc. If you missed reading it, here it is: Blog Post 12-4-23. This week I’m moving on to two block quilts. Some of the same elements that were used for one block quilts can be used with these, but there are also more options since you have two block designs to work with. Let’s have some fun with this!

A Little Quilt History

Continuing on with some quilt block history from last week, the block style quilts that came into fashion in the 19th century were not only one block quilts. Often quilts contained two unique block designs that alternated in rows that made up the quilt top. Then you also have the sampler style quilts. Those were made up of blocks that were each unique. Here’s an example of a few small samplers that I have made.

These were just wall hanging size but sampler quilts can also be large quilts.

Sampler quilts served as a resource over the years for quilters when they wanted to find a certain block pattern. It’s theorized that women passed quilt design patterns around this way, by having a large sample of patterns sewn into one quilt. It’s also been suggested that this was a way that quilters of that time practiced their quilt making. They would hone their skills by piecing a new block design or inventing one of their own. Today, we have block books to page through to look for designs. Perhaps these quilts were their block books!

Want to make you own sampler quilt for fun? As you are making blocks for different projects you are working on, make an extra block. Eventually, you will have a collection of blocks that are all different. You can put them together and make a sampler!

Two Block Quilts & Secondary Design

One of my favorite thing to do is to pick out two different blocks and look at how those blocks will create a unique design when they are paired into quilt block rows. Sometimes they create the design when joined in straight rows and sometimes they look better when they are joined into rows with the blocks on point. I’ll show examples of both coming up.

Straight Rows: One of the most common two block quilts is combining a pieced block like a star or a churn dash block, a block with a more “static” design, with a checkerboard type block that has a bit more movement to it. Here’s the two blocks in my quilt, Prairie Sky:

Notice how when these blocks are joined into a quilt top, the checkerboard blocks create a diagonal crisscross design across the quilt.

On-Point Rows: Just like on-point settings created a different look for one block quilts, it can do the same for two block quilts. Here are two blocks, a churn dash block and a checkerboard block, that appear in my next quilt example:

Here’s how those blocks look in my Country Dance quilt in an on point setting.

Compare the look of this quilt with the Prairie Sky quilt above. Instead of the checkerboard blocks making a diagonal crisscross, those same blocks here on-point make a grid design. See how layout creates different secondary designs?

For Fun!

Just for fun, you can make your two block quilts combining a piece block with an appliqué block. And you can still create a secondary design that way. Here are two of the blocks:

And now here’s what they look like in my quilt, High Prairie Blooms. There is an additional style of an appliqué block included in this quilt so it’s technically a 3 block quilt:

Notice how there are two elements that make a secondary design here. One is the obvious crisscross pattern that develops from the appliqué blocks. But also there is a design that emerges where two appliqué and two pieced blocks meet.

It’s a fun detail that I carried out into the pieced border as you can see from the full quilt above.

Finally, you can take two very simple blocks, put them together and get some simple secondary designs. Here are two blocks from my Liberty Square quilt:

These simple blocks put together in rows where they alternate make this quilt:

Where the blocks meet, a simple 4-patch design emerges. Also, diagonally, the plain blocks make a diagonal chain design.

So that’s it for this week. Try your hand at pairing blocks together to see if an interesting design will emerge. You can usually tell by just putting pictures of two different blocks side by side. It’s a lot of fun to play with design!

Leave a comment or ask questions below and be entered into a drawing for a Liberty Square pattern! The drawing will be on Monday, December 18th. Good luck! **We have a winner! Congrats, Brenda Tucker!**

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

Quilt Block Settings – Achieving Secondary Design

Last week, I covered tips on on-point settings for your quilt blocks and how this technique creates a whole new look. This week, I will cover several different ways you can create a secondary design within your quilt. Secondary design is generally planned, but sometimes you can be surprised when you stand back to look at your quilt and another pattern emerges! So let’s get started.

What is Secondary Design?

When you look at a quilt and you not only see the block designs but you see another design emerge as you step back, that’s secondary design. Sometimes it’s intentional… and sometimes you just get lucky and two blocks you decide to place next to each other make another design. I like to design these types of quilts because it adds another level of interest.

There are several ways to achieve this. It can be done in one block quilts, where the elements of the block create a new design when several of them are joined into a quilt top. In two or more block quilts, joining different blocks into rows can cause a new design to appear where those blocks meet. Then there’s adding a sashing between blocks to create a new design or playing with a scrappy background so the secondary design emerges behind the blocks.

Let’s talk about each.

Secondary Design – One Block Quilts

My pattern, Paper Chain, is made up of this one block:

It’s a simple block based on a 9-patch grid. Now when I join several of these blocks into rows to make the quilt you can see another pattern emerge where the corners of 4 blocks meet (circled area):

Now, when you look at the full quilt, you an see even more secondary designs appear.

In the photo on the left, the circled area shows an octagon shape that emerges. The circled area on right shows squares created by the tan print and color print centers of the blocks that create a checkerboard background. See if you can pick out some other designs that emerge. Did I know these designs would emerge when I made the quilt? Nope! 

So above is the designs that emerge when you place blocks together. What about a design that emerges when you change colors within a block? That’s another way to bring forth a secondary design. Look at these two blocks below:

These are actually the same block. But by moving the colors into different parts, different designs emerge within the block. On the left, the star is more prominent along with the monkey wrench design created by the black sections. On the right, a friendship star emerges by changing where the blue fabric is placed.

Secondary Design – Two Block Quilts

Two block quilts are the most common and usually the easiest way to create a secondary design. Often, these quilts will have a checkerboard design block as one of the blocks. Then, whether the blocks are on point or set straight, there is a fun checkerboard design that runs through the quilt.

In Prairie Sky quilt on the left, the blocks are straight pieced making the checkerboard blocks create a crisscross design. The quilt on the right, Country Dance, has the blocks set on point making the checkerboard blocks create a grid pattern.

You can also take two completely different blocks, neither one being a checkerboard design, and create a fun design. I did this in my quilt, Starlit Path. Here’s the two blocks that make up that quilt:

Now look at the whole quilt. Look at the neat crisscrossing design that emerges where the blocks meet.

Secondary Design – Created with Sashing

The next way to create a secondary design is with a sashing, generally with cornerstones. In this first example, with my quilt Posey Patch, I used a sashing with cornerstones and also did stitch and flip corners on the sashing strip’s ends. When everything is joined together, stars emerge.

The second way to create a design is to have the quilt sashing “play” with an element of a block in the quilt. In my quilt, Open Windows, there is a stitch and flip corner on two sides of the blocks, that work to create a monkey wrench design when the blocks and sashing are joined.

Secondary Design – Background Fabrics

A surprising way to create a subtle secondary design is with your quilt’s background. It can either be easily noticeable or very subtle. In the three photos below, the diagonal “stripe” created by using two different colors is fairly noticeable.

The runner in the center is a bit more subtle because I used two shades of tan. The table topper on the left is more bold since I used a tan print and a blue print to create the background for my blocks.

Now, these two larger quilts have a more subtle stripe because I used the same color fabrics, just in different shades:

The stripe in the patriotic quilt on the left is a little more subtle because the red fabrics I used were very close in shade. For the quilt on the right, I chose grey fabrics that were a little further apart in shade.

So, that’s secondary design! It’s a lot of fun and not really difficult to achieve. Leave a comment or ask questions below and I will draw a name to will win my pattern for Liberty Star Shine, the patriotic quilt above. The drawing will be on Monday, August 14th. Good luck! **We have a winner! Congrats, Judy in Mo!**

Happy Quilting!
Deanne