Block #6 - Stashbuster's Ugly Sunshine BOM quilt

We are at block #6.  That is 2/3 of the way done.  If you are playing along, pat yourself on the back. Your over the half way point and heading to the finish line.  Way to go!

This next block is a pretty star.  I like the fact that it is different than the others.  

For my version, I again disregarded the light and dark.  I went with colour placement instead.  I did the star in what has become my main two fabrics, the blue and green, and I found a spot for each of the other fabric colours.

I think it is a cheerful block.  I think that has more to do with the fabric chooses.  This block could also look romantic if your using the more subdued colours or the soft pastels.  What ever your choices, if you are being consistent in each of your blocks, by now you are probable seeing how well the blocks are meshing.  Even though they are all different they still match and go together.

So, what are you going to do with this one?  Go ahead, play around with it.

Block #5 - Stashbuster's Ugly Sunshine BOM quilt

We are now on block #5.  This block consists of eight flying geese, four half square triangles and a square in a square. My apologies for the error on the draft picture, I just realized I forgot the centre section. Please refer to my coloured picture for the details, as I am unable to correct it at this time.  This is a simple enough block, but could be a bit of a challenge for a beginner.  Just take your time and pay attention to your 1/4" seam allowance.

On this block I went with the dominant colours as green and blue, again.  I just like how they like good together.  The two colours compliment each other.  I added a small dose of the purple and orange and finished it off with the yellow and main fabric.

Looking at the picture just now, I realize a completely different way to colour this block.  I am seeing the first flying geese close to the centre as another square in a square.  You could do those points all the same fabric to emphasize them, instead of the double flying geese.

Any which way you do it, it is your choice.  Experiment with lights and darks or colours.

Block #4 - Stashbuster's Ugly Sunshine BOM quilt

This next block is pretty.  There are so many pieces which means there are so many ways you can do the block.  It was amazing what came out of the group of Stashbusters. They were all so different, not only from colours and the different materials people used, but also the placement of dark and light.  Some of the blocks you had to look twice to see that it was in fact the same block.

For me, I decided to break it down to colour.  I was liking the emphases on the blue and green, so I continued that here.  In some spots I disregarded the light and dark placement, just to get the right proportion of my coloured fabrics into the block.  Because my main fabric is the darkest, where ever I put it is where the block will stand out the most.  In my case the outer chevrons.  

So now it's your turn.  What are you going to do?

Block #3 - Stashbuster's Ugly Sunshine BOM quilt

Block number three is five squares across by five squares down. Or you could treat it like a 4-patch with sashing in between.  Colour options are many and depending on were you choose to place your dark fabric, it could change the look of the block.

In my case in the end, I disregarded the light and dark parts of the block and went with colour.  I started out with all the light sections in my yellow fabric.  I was going to do one of my colours each for each of the corners.  But that seemed to break up the block.  I felt it was disconnected. So I decided to bring the block together with unifying the corner blocks with the blue and green only.  That left the centre cross and middle square for my other two colours.  I automatically put the purple fabric in the cross squares to make that stand out and the orange in the middle.

Throughout all this time of playing with my bits and pieces, I had forgotten to use my main fabric.  Where to put it...where to put it....hmmm.  The problem was that I liked the block the way it was.  But, I was determined to follow the rules.  Initially it didn't come to me, because I was stuck on the diagram and the placement of the dark and light sections.  Later, I thought to myself that I really only had a couple of places to put the main fabric.  In the light sections either in the middle parts or the outer parts.  I went with the inner parts.  However, that caused me to have to rearrange the purple and orange, as I felt the the middle was too dark in comparison to the rest of the block.

In the end I liked this new version more than my initial layout.  Which goes to show you that good things can come out of dilemmas of challenges.  You just have to be open enough to try different things.  That would go for things in life as well.  My block looks different than the diagram above, just by changing where the lights and darks go.  So, take your time and let the process evolve.  Try this and that.  When you have the right layout for your own fabrics the block will speak to you.  Have some fun!

Block #2 - Stashbuster's Ugly Sunshine BOM quilt

I guess I should tell you that my post may say block #2, however I do not know which order the blocks were in.  It has been a long time since I did this and it was all online.  Once I printing up the pattern and made the block, I discarded the paper.

This next block was fairly easy.  If you break it down it is actually the one block repeated four times.  When you decide your colour placement you have many choices.  I saw some use the main fabric in the dark sections and their yellow for the light, some others treated the four sections differently and I believe I even saw someone do hers completely scrappy with all different darks in the dark sections and all different lights in the light sections.  The variety was very nice.

Now it's your turn.  What do you want to do with this block.

For me, this is what I decided to do.  My additional rule for myself was to incorporate each fabric I had into each block.  You don't have to do this, but I just wanted to.

As I had four coloured fabrics outside of my main fabric and the yellow, I decided to break my large block into four sections.  One section designated for each colour.  I wasn't very creative on this block.  The only change I did was the lights down the centre of the block.  I turned it into dark in order to get my main fabric into the block.

I have to tell you though that even though I love scrappy quilts, during the time that I was making these BOM blocks back in 2009, I was still controlling my scrappy quilts.  My brain needed the organization of everything in order and it its place.  Since this time I have learned to ease up some.

I will leave you with that.  Hope you decide to join in and make your own quilt.

Block #1 - Stashbuster's Ugly Sunshine BOM quilt

This was my first block that I chose from the Stahbuster's Ugly Sunshine BOM challenge.  Unfortunately, I do not have a copy of both blocks that were offered each month.  For that you will need to become a member of the Yahoo Stashbuster's group.  They are quite a group. Very motivating.  Everyone rooting each other on.  Check them out and decide for yourself.

The draft of this block was pretty much what you got given, in grey and white shading.  That was good and bad.  Good because you were not persuaded by a specific layout.  You had to chose what colours you wanted to put where.  For some people it is difficult to see past the colours if they are provided to you.  Unfortunately, this can also a bad thing, because some people find it difficult to see the potential of a black and white drawing.

All I have to say to this is, use your imagination.  It is not a contest.  Your goal is to make a block, using the fabric that you have, that is pleasing to your own eyes.  I order for it to all coordinate in a whole quilt, I would suggest that you find a place to put each of your colours in each and every block.  Even if it only plays a small roll.  The placement and amount of any particular colour may vary from each block, but try and put each colour somewhere in each block.

The first thing you will want to do is take the drawing above and decide whether you want to do it with two fabrics plus your yellow or if you want to do it multi coloured.  If you plan to do it two fabrics the layout is pretty much set out for you, but you can still vary it up.  If instead you want to do it multi coloured, take away the shading and start from scratch.  Decide if the same shapes will have the same colours or not.  The choses are many.  This is where you can take your time and play.

This is how my block turned out.  Do you like it?

When I look at a draft, I try to think of what parts of the block that I would like to stand out.  For those spots I will either use a dark or a bright fabric, to draw the eye.  In this block what stands out the most for me is first the star in the middle that like more like a pinwheel, because the second fabric I chose blends I a little with the yellow background.  And secondly is the blue box that surrounds the star.

Your block my be different. Play around with it.  Place your colours in different spots and see what arrangement works best for you fabric.  The placement of light and dark fabrics has a huge impact on how you block will look.  Don't worry though, if you don't like the fist one, just make another.  You can always use the rejected block somewhere else.

Most of all, the thing to remember is to let go and have some fun.

Intro to the Stashbuster's Ugly Sunshine BOM mystery quilt

Work has been crazy these days and it doesn't look like it will be letting up any time soon.  I haven't been able to do much quilting and I hate not being able to post something for you my readers.  My apologies for stretching these posts out, but one has to do what one has to do.  I will try and make it interesting for you.

While I was racking my brain trying to figure out what I can post about, I remembered that I didn't show you the quilt tops that I have, that are just waiting their turn to be quilted.  For the most part they are still not quilted because they currently do not have a purpose or I haven't figured out yet how I want to quilt them.

I've decided to share this quilt with you, but beware, this quilt will be shown to you through numerous posts.  This quilt was a block of the month (BOM) type quilt.  I, as well as many Stashbuster's members, started this BOM challenge back in Feb/2009.  Yes, it was a long time ago, but after finishing the blocks, it took me some time to figure out the layout that I wanted to set the blocks in.  My top is now done.

The whole process was certainly something different than what I was used to, but I enjoyed the defined rules/parameters and the creative side that stretched my comfort zone and had me thinking outside the box. I really had fun doing it.

The name of the quilt is kind of misleading.  There was nothing "ugly" about any of the quilts that came out of this challenge.  The challenge was started by a moderator to do a few things.  One, was to use up you stash, hence the group name "Stashbusters".  Two, was to be creative in a group all across Canada with everyone doing the same thing, but different.  Three, was to make a charity quilt and spread some cheer to someone in need, hence the word "sunshine" in the title.  Four, was to challenge use to go outside the box, by using a piece of fabric that you may not have used, because you either think it is "ugly" or you find it difficult to use ii in an actual quilt.

For me it was using something that I found difficult to use in a quilt.  You needed to have approx. 1-2 meters and you needed to use it in each block. This was my fabric. It kind of looks like a stained glass panel with the black pains holding the stain glass together.

No matter how often I tried to put this fabric in a quilt, it just didn't fit.  Often it stood out too much comparison to the other fabrics.  It just didn't play nicely.

The second rule for the blocks was that you had to have yellow in each block.  Yellow represented the "sunshine" in the title. You could use different yellows in each block if you wished or one yellow throughout.  I chose this one yellow to go in all of my blocks.  It's a bit pale and helps to tone things down a little.

From there you were on your own to pick a couple of coordinating fabrics to go with your primary "ugly" fabric.  The third rule was that all the fabrics had to come from your stash.  You were not allowed to purchase any fabric to make these blocks.  Again, this was the purpose of the group called Stashbusters.

As this was to be a give away quilt, I decided to make it cheerful.  I pulled fabric from my stash that had the colours in the main fabric.  This first one I think was the last fabric I chose, just to file in the gap of the others.  It was a bit more of a medium fabric.  It was a deeper yellow with lots of orange and bits of pink.

In the main fabric it has the theme if rainbow colours.  There is orange, yellow, blue, green and purple, all with a black background.  I chose this next fabric because of it's purplish background that matches the purple in the main fabric and it has some of the orange and yellow with a bit of green.

I chose this blue.  It is difficult to see but this blue has shading that goes from light to darker all across the fabric.  You can notice it more in the individual blocks.

Lastly, I chose this green.  Another bright colour.  These fabrics by themselves do not stand out as being wow fabric, but they do end up going very well together.  So much so, that I was surprised to see the blocks come together.  I really got interested and looked forward to seeing the next block of the month.

The way that it went was that the moderator of this challenge would each month send out two blocks to choose from, one was sometimes easier than the other for different skill levels or sometimes she may have chosen an appliqué block for those that wanted to learn different things.  You had to chose one of the blocks and make it.  Each block had to have your theme fabric and yellow in it.  But what you did with the block was for you to use your imagination.

The blocks all measured 12".  In the end, by October you would have nine completed blocks.  That is where it ended.  From there, everyone had to put the blocks together, however they chose.  Let me tell you, that many beautiful quilts came out of this challenge and not any two were alike.

So.....stay tuned.  I will show you in the following days which blocks I chose to do and how I chose my colour placement.  I will even make a draft of each block, just in case you would like to do one of your own.  It won't be a block of the month, but you can still play with it and use your own fabrics.  Maybe even get others involve so that you can all have some fun.

FYI.  All of the blocks used are part of the public domain.  There are no copy writes being broken in the making of these posts.  Feel free to share with your friends any or all parts of the blocks.