I was asked to submit a 12” square quilted block for the Coburg Quilt Show Block Challenge that was held this past July (2018) in Coburg, OR. Sew Steady was the major sponsor for this show and having recently been invited to be one of their Brand Ambassadors, I jumped in.
I love using the Westalee Design Spin-e-Fex templates as pantographs. (aka continuous line designs). The mini size would be perfect, but boring if horizontal. I decided to make the design go from corner to corner and switch up the sizes between 1 ½” and 2 ½”. This involved math; you know that geometry class you took in high school. Initially my plan was to fill in the empty triangle space created with the 1st part of the design with more Spin-e-Fex patterns. Then I looked at the block and thought it would be too busy and the original design, quilted in variegated threads, would get lost. Now I needed a design that would fit in a triangular space and not compete with the beautiful flowery design I had stitched out. Thread that matched the fabric would help and I have templates, Flying Bell Curve Triangles from the London Collection, that are the right shape. I played around with my stitching line discs and before I knew it, I had the solution.
I’ve never been to Coburg and have no idea what kind of flowers grow there, let alone know about flowers in general. My block looks like flowers, flowers probably grow in the Pacific Northwest in summertime, so I went with name “Coburg Blooms.” My goal was to create a block that wasn’t super complicated, but still looked good; not win awards. I am happy to report success on both counts.
I hope you like it and if you try this block, I would love to hear about your success.
I used the Mini Spin-E-Fex #8, but any in the line will work.
For the Flying Bell Curve Triangles, I used sizes 2”-5”.
Marked my block with an 8pt. Cross Hair Square.
The first one I did on cream. Next I tried Orange. Which is your favorite?
