Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks

Welcome, to everyone visiting on the Quiltmaker's 100 Block Road Rally! I'm excited to be part of this tour. But before we get started, let me tell you a little about myself.

I live in St Louis, Missouri with my husband and 5 daughters, ranging in age from 5 to 17. Yeah, it's busy and if I had magical powers, I would put a spell on my house so that it would be self cleaning, but I still make plenty of time to quilt.  I also like helping people learn to quilt. If you are just learning, or want to stretch your skills, you might like my book You Can Quilt! Building Skills for Beginners (and more advanced quilters). If you are more of a visual person, my iquilt.com class, You Can Piece!, might be more up your alley.

What kind of quilts do I like to make? Scrappy all the way! I have rarely, if ever, bought an entire line of fabric, and prefer to mix and match. The scrappier the better!

I have recently started making super scrappy foundation paper pieced half square triangles and I am in love! You can read more about them here. I will be posting a new foundation pattern every Tuesday for the next year if you would like to make them with me. You can find more pictures on my Instagram feed or with the hashtag #yearofscrappytriangles. Like the blocks, but don't know how to paper piece? I've just wrote up a detailed tutorial. You can find it here.

But enough about me, let me tell you a about my block from the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks magazine. Rocky Road is a traditional block. Just a simple grid of 4-patch units and half square triangles. Honestly, a bit boring when you put tons of them together, but look at what you get when you put the blocks on point.

 Much more interesting in my opinion.

The block becomes especially striking when the background of the quilt is changed to black and the on-point blocks are alternated so that the background is broken up. Love!

 This layout is my favorite. With some of the 4-patches oriented horizontally and some vertically a whole new secondary pattern emerges. There are so many options with this little block! You don't have to stick with a traditional grid layout. Get creative!

With the open background, one of these quilts would come together quickly. I timed myself making a block and it took about 40 minutes. You can speed the process, especially if you are making more than one block, by strip piecing the 4-patch units. Easy as pie!

I have a copy of the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks and a 100 Blocks Calendar to give away. Just leave a comment below telling me what some of your favorite books are to be entered to win. I listen to a lot of books on tape and would love to get some new recommendations. I will pick the winners on November 22nd.

Thanks for stopping by!

Giveaway Closed