Monday, November 13, 2017

Propeller Block Layouts

I handed out propeller block instructions to my bee mates at guild on Saturday (see Friday's post below) and someone asked me how I plan to lay the blocks out. I'm thinking of staggering them with some negative space in between. This way the darks will create strong diagonal movement.

Here's how this layout would work going both directions (the center would be a pale background similar to the other backgrounds). There would be lots of partial seams if I use this layout.

Or I could stagger them in vertical columns, which still gives me diagonal movement but also creates some interesting shapes in the negative space. No partial seams here, just columns. 

As long as I stay away from a plain boring straight setting, I think I'll like whatever I come up with. I'll figure it out when I get the blocks back from my friends and see how many I have/need and what size it comes out to. This will be a donation quilt and my plan is for it to be suitable for an older boy. 



5 comments:

  1. What a great lesson on possible layouts for this block. (And I just noticed full instructions on the previous post. Boys seem to given short stick when it comes to making quilts. I mostly make boy quilts for the NICU I support. Looking forward to seeing this come together.

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  2. It's a great block design that lets you play with how to arrange it as much as this one. It will be fun to see the blocks come in and the options you explore and layout you use.

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  3. You've got some very fun potential layouts for those blocks.

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  4. I've never seen that block before, but I really love it! Each layout has its merits. The one that would require all of the partial seams is my favorite, for three reasons: 1. It leaves more negative space for quilting, 2. You don't see many quilts made with partial seams anymore, so that layout instantly makes your quilt that much more special and unique, and 3. That layout makes the propeller blocks look like fighter jets in formation, like a WWII documentary showing our planes zooming into the sky to defend freedom...

    But I am known to complicate everything, and rarely finish anything as a result, so feel free to disregard my opinions! :-)

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  5. I really like the negative shapes in that last layout! Great block :)

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