Orphan Blocks

I quite often say that I am a quiltmaker, not a quilter.  If a person makes tents, he is called a tentmaker, not a tenter. One of my friends gave me this pin today.  I will wear it proudly and state that I am a quiltmaker.

 

 

I’ve gathered together all of the orphan blocks that I could find.  I’m sure that there are more around somewhere.  One of my goals this year is to put these blocks into quilts and not have them just laying around.  If I do that this year and finish some of the UFOs that are already pieced, my quilts in progress will diminish.

A very long time ago I won the blocks of the month at a Guild that I used to belong to.  As I remember, it was a stormy, snowy night and not many members showed up.  There were only six blocks including mine.  The theme was sunflowers.  The blocks have been in a baggie ever since. When I decided to put them together this week, I found the date 1994 on one of the blocks.  These are really old blocks.

It is hard to put six blocks into a quilt.  The blocks were slightly different sizes.  One was dark.  They did have the same sunflower theme.

I decided on a nine patch format.  Some of the blocks would be in a straight set and some in a diagonal set.  Frames were added to each block and then the blocks were all trimmed to the same size.

The diagonal blocks had triangles added to each corner.  The straight set had sashing added.  The fabric colors were chosen so that when the piece is quilted, the frames would blend in.

The center block had the dark background,  It is a 3-D block.  The sunflower petals are elongated prairie points.  The leaves are two sided and attached by the vein stitching,  It has two sashing borders.  One is a light yellow and the outside border matches the fabric on the blocks that butt up to it. It is a straight set.

 

One of the side blocks has pieced small squares for the center with prairie points around it.  The stem and leaves are appliqued. It is on point and has triangles at the four corners.

 

 

The other side block is appliqued. It is on point and has triangles at the four corners.

 

 

The top block is a star.  The pale yellow fabric between the star sides  is gathered at the base. It is on point and has triangles at the four corners.

 

 

The bottom block is a Dresden plate. It is on point and has triangles at the four corners.

 

 

That left one block and four corners to fill. That was the block that I had made.  I cut the Dresden Plate block into four pieces and framed it.  Then I added strips to make a log cabin that was the same size as the other blocks.

 

After the nine pieces were sewn together, I added a single gold frame.  This wall hanging is different, but after all these years the blocks are finally ready to be quilted.

 

 

 

 

When you make a block, you can add to it or you could cut it up.  It is your block and you can do what you want with it.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

 

Have a great dayt