The mini modern quilt group that I belong to had such a great response to the charity quilt that we made for the local veterans that we decided we'd make another one. This time we chose Amy Ellis' River Log Cabin Quilt that was published in Missouri Quilt Company's ModBLOCK magazine. Just as before, each of us will make a block using our scraps in monochromatic color schemes with a neutral. We chose black as this quilt's neutral so that will give it a big pop. It's so exciting and I can't wait to see what we end up with. My first block's color is white. This is what I came up with.
Other than twirling the center seam allowance, I channeled Darth Vader and pressed to the dark side. Ha ha, I know, that joke is getting very old now. The whites are very subtle but should add interest when you look closely at the quilt.
Once each of the four mini blocks were sewn, I starched and pressed each one. Boy, was there a difference by doing that. Just look at the before and afters. It really emphasizes how flat a block can get if you just use starch. I used Faultless Heavy starch because that's what I have in the house. I used Mary Ellen's Best Press (unscented) to press the fabrics before cutting them out.
Did you notice the difference? I almost didn't want to sew them together since they looked so cute as four separate mini blocks.
Luckily my bobbin thread decided to run out just as I stitched the last 1/4" of the last seam for the fourth mini block. That gave me a minute to enjoy them as the bobbin winder did its magic.
Now to figure out what color my next one should be. Our group is meeting in two weeks so we'll see what we've all come up with then. The last one was quilted by Susan so I'm hoping that I can quilt this one. I already have some ideas of what I'd like to do and part of it is to use a colorful variegated thread for the solid black sections. Oooh, that's going to be so fun.
