Every once in a while, you find a block that is easy and beautiful. Where did it come from? Is it an old block that just came to light? My new favorite block was found on Laura Kate’s blog Daily Fiber. Tracing it back, it was on Quilting Gail’s blog. Quilting Gail said that Barbara G. Harper was the designer. All three sites are worth a look. There is no name for the block that I could see so I named it the Baby Potato Chip block. That block came from Lea Louise. The Baby Potato Chip is one round of the Potato Chip Block with modifications. Inspiration comes from others that are far away and yet are a sisterhood of quilters.

I wanted to make a purple quilt. The Baby Potato Chip would be perfect. It could be made in eight units. I gathered eight different fabrics. six are purple and the other two are blue. There are 64 blocks, so each fabric was used for the center eight times. The second color was different than the center.

This is the Baby Potato Chip block. The center is 4 1/2″ by 4 1/2″. The surrounding rows are 2 1/2″ wide.

The purples, blues and black are dark so it needed a very light fabric for the sashing. I chose a white on white. Each block had a different orientation. They were sewn together in units of four with the colored pieces of the block toward the center.

The units of four were sewn together in units of four which made 1/4 of the quilt.

A 4 1/2″ black border was added to finish the quilt. It is 90″ by 90″ A very big quilt but could be made smaller by eliminating a row of four horizontally and vertically.

There is another version of a quilt made with this block in the above blogs. It is on the diagonal. At some time, I will make it. This block is so easy and fun to make. I’m sure that I’ll have another new favorite block in the future.

There are decisions to be made. Should I make another Baby Potato Chip block quilt. Should I quilt one of the community quilts. Should I finish a ufo top. I did organize the mile a minute basket the other night. There’s lots of ideas in there. This is where I need to make a list and see which one comes to the top.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

I need some placemats. The mini guild that meets at my house has grown to seven and I don’t have that many placemats that are the same. I need to make at least eight.

I had been cutting my leftover scraps into 2 1/2 inch by 4 1/2-inch pieces. They were for a future Potato Chip quilt. I had enough to make the placemats with the potato chip block.

Years ago, Woman’s Day magazine had a log cabin quilt pattern that sewed a seam and flipped the fabric over. The sewing was done on a batting and backing. It quilted the block as you sewed the logs. The potato chip block is sewn like a log cabin, and I thought that it could be made the same way.

I pressed the three pieces in half horizontally and vertically to make sure it was centered. The backing is at least 2 1/2 inches larger on all sides than the batting.

Rectangles were added to the top and bottom. they were pressed away from the center.

Two rectangles were sewn end to end and then sewn to both sides of the piece. Then they were flipped and pressed.

The first row was light fabrics. The next row was darker fabrics. Two rectangles were sewn end to end and then sewn to the top and bottom of the piece. They were sewn, flipped and pressed.

The next row was another dark row. Three rectangles were sewn end to end. The strip was sewn to both sides of the piece, flipped and pressed.

Another Three strips were sewn together end to end and sewn on the top and bottom, flipped and pressed.

The backing was trimmed to 2 inches all around. It was pressed to the front. One inch was pressed under. The corners were mitered. Then it was topstitched to make a binding. The yellow line is the light hitting the binding, not a flange. That might be a possibility if I make more.

Now I have eight coordinating placemats.

The Trip Around The World is finished.

It took one hour to cut the batting and backing. Thirty minutes to place it on the basting frame. Six hours to baste. I was watching TV while basting so it probably would have been less time if I didn’t look up from time to time. Seven hours to quilt. I quilted with an even foot. Forty-five minutes to trim the edges. One hour to cut and sew the binding. Then another four hours to tack down the binding. Again, while watching TV. Adding in the ten- and one-half hours before, it makes a total of thirty hours and forty-five minutes. It was a simple quilt.

I like an easy quilt that looks complicated.

Have a great day and happy quilting.