MODA BLOCKHEADS: WEEK #4

Welcome back to Week #4! Looks like so many of you are enjoying this fun sew along and I am loving seeing the progress each week!

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If you would like some more background info on the program, how it works or how we are planning on doing our version this year, please scroll back to the two previous posts for all kinds of info.

This below is our starter palette and we will be adding creams, reds and greens throughout the program so if you have a chance to add in some of your own from your stash… go for it. If you are looking for some more fabrics to mix in, we will offer bundles throughout as we have more fabrics to offer. For example our STITCHED collections should arrive in late April and we will for sure have some fabulous little color bundles to offer then.

We also have a fun option for a BACKING if you are interested in the shop now!

AS A QUICK REMINDER…

We have decided to just use 25 blocks which gives us a bit more flexibility in case we need to skip a week or a particular block doesn’t work with our setting. Our finished quilt will be app. 69″ square. We are working on our fourth 9″ block this week.

BLOCK #4: Spinner by Anne Sutton [of Bunny Hill Designs]

What a fun block to put together and such a descriptive name too.

To get the block directions for this week from Anne… GO HERE.

HOW WE DID OURS

This time around Cynthia and I decided to feature a “lighter” red fabric in the middle flanked by stronger red around. Both of the reds are not Fig Tree but we finished off the block with a few Fig Tree favorites with the cream and green print.

WORKING WITH A LIMITED PALETTE

Something that I had suggested earlier on in the Sew Along is to use a more “limited palette” when working on a scrappy sampler like this one in order to have something that is unifying the whole project. Over the years I have found that doing a sampler with multiple themes and designers and styles makes it a bit tough to have the finished piece feel like a unified whole. In order to help that process, the more limited of a palette you use, the better off the final design will be. A few tips:

• If you love the idea of a two color quilt, do that for sure! Our blockheads from last year was red and cream and it was a beautiful stunning finish! But even a three color quilt, like this palette or red, green and cream, can be wonderful and still limited enough to fight the business of a varied sampler such as Blockheads.
• The trick was in finding enough tones of red so that there was enough variation within the reds themselves. If you use all the same tone or shade of red then you don’t have enough “colors” in the blocks and they start to fall into each other.
• Using a red with a lot of white in the print and then a slightly darker/stronger red with very little white in it, is the easiest way to make it feel like the block is using two different colors. This week’s block is a good example of that.
• Using lots of little cream prints in the backgrounds also adds a lot of personality and movement and interest to a sampler like this one without overwhelming it. Remember to make check to see that your cream prints are not too strong for the main colors!

• The center fabric is from Bonnie & Camille, I don’t know which collection.
• The red wings are from Beautiful Day.
• The little green leaves are fro Pumpkins & Blossoms from Fig Tree.
• The tiny cream and green print is also from Pumpkins & Blossoms and possibly one of my all time favorite background prints I have ever designed. If you don’t already own some… you might want to get some!
• No ivory solid was actually used in this particular block.

SOME MORE SETTING INFO

I will be sharing some more specific setting info late next week!!

I have gotten a lot of questions about this so am just repeating all the setting info here below:

We have gotten a lot of questions about when we will have our setting directions up with cutting instructions so wanted to share with you guys that we won’t be doing that for at least a few weeks. We are going to work on getting at least several of the blocks done and laid out together and we will see how everything is coming together first.

We have FOR SURE decided on the blue chambray as our setting fabric. If you have decided to follow along with us and are using the same fabric [we have gotten some more in HERE], I recommend you either wash or at the very least spray starch the fabric well. Personally I would do both with this fabric. I am not really worried about the other fabrics and will lightly spray starch them before I work with them.

Normally I am not a washer of fabrics but with the chambray/crossweave fabrics I have done that sometimes to make sure I don’t get any bleeding down the road. Wash with color catchers to make sure the fabric is not bleeding. Also wash the fabric on the same temperature that you would potentially wash the quilt on.

We will see you guys next Wednesday with Block #4.

For now, be sure to follow us on INSTAGRAM and join us in our FACEBOOK GROUP for all kinds of Fig Tree fun!

See you soon, Joanna

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Moda Blockheads 4

Introduction
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
(We Skipped Week 14!)
Week 15
Week 16

Week 17

Week 18

Week 19

Week 20

Week 22

Week 23

Week 24