He wanted squares.......

He got squares, sort of.....

Some time ago when talking to DS3 Warwick, he asked if he could have another quilt.  The first one which was a Marti Michell sampler in strong country colours, unfortunately/fortunately went with his ex wife when the marriage was dissolved.  At first I was a little bit miffed, but on the other hand she always liked the quilt and I know it will be looked after.

This one Waz said could it be just 'plain blue and squares'.  Well, how does a quilter make something plain and just squares without looking dull and 'plain'?  After giving this a lot of thought I searched through my stash and found a variety of blues with a fair amount of white quilters muslin.  I told him it would have to be a variety of blues and to look and choose which ones he would like me to use.  There were some beautiful aqua's and violet, but they got tossed!!!  Just plain blue please Mum and not small itty bitty bits.........or that fancy stitching.....

OK.  Thinking cap on - what if I did 9 patch (3" blocks) using the navy blue as the centre blocks and a medium blue in the middle of the outside blocks with the remaining blues alternating with the white on the corners.  Looked good after a trial couple of blocks.  BUT when I had made all the blocks, they just didn't go together when on my design wall.  I should have alternated the white in the middle blocks, but I wasn't going to unpick.  Then a light went off - as they were quite large blocks 9" square - what if again??? I sliced them and turned them into a disappearing 9 patch?  It worked - he still got his squares and plain blues, but I like the effect of how a disappearing 9-patch turned out with a minimum number of colours and those being plain.

There's movement together with a symmetry of a pattern and not just blocks in a row.

I used a varigated blue/grey/white thread to quilt with and cross-hatched through the blocks.

Outcome - he loves it. 

Moral - don't ask a quilter to make something 'plain', it can't be done.