Hive 11 - August Block Tutorial

What is your name?  I'm Laura West Kong. 

@laurawestkong on Instagram, Pinterest, and Flickr. (How original, right?) 

I also have a blog, Adventures of a Quilting Diva, and two other quilty websites, Laura West Kong, info about my quilt teaching, and 2 Cute Quilts, my {relatively} new pattern company.

Where do you live? Tell us about your family (Spouse, kids, grandkids, pets, etc.)  I live in sunny Southern California with my husband, daughter, and cat. 

None of them appreciate having their picture taken, but Mocha (the cat) doesn't complain as loudly as the other two. As you can see, Mocha is a pretty decent quilt assistant.

Tell us about how you got interested in quilting. I've always loved the graphic, artistic nature of quilts. All quilts, from free-form Gee's Bend quilts to geometric Amish quilts, and everything in between, intrigue me. Once I got over my fear of moving needles, I never looked back.

How do you organize your fabric stash? (Picture appreciated)  Lucky you! You get to see my stash in "Honest Craft Room" mode. I keep larger cuts here in my fabric wall, fat quarters fit nicely in a re-purposed CD storage unit, scraps in plastic bins, and that lovely stack on my sewing table in the front of the picture is fabric I've recently used that is waiting to be put away. 

It's on my to-do list to make 12" x 12" mini quilt "curtains" to hang in front of all the fabric cubbies to prevent fading and decorate my studio.

Who is/are your favorite fabric designers?  First and foremost I love bright color! But Japanese quilters have taught me to appreciate the beautiful subtleties of taupe, and modern quilters have taught me to appreciate gray's unique charms.

Some of my favorites include Kaffe Fassett, Phillip Jacobs, Echino, Daiwabo, Souleiado (they make French Provencal prints. My one and only Souleiado pictured at left. Unfortunately Souleiado no longer sells fabric by the yard.), batiks and hand-dyeds, crisp, graphic tone-on-tone prints, polka dots, black and white, especially text prints. 

Fabric is my paint, so I need a wide variety to bring the quilts from my imagination to life! I'm not afraid to mix fabrics that traditionally "don't go" with each other.

What is one thing you have learned that you wish you knew when you first started quilting?  What a blast quilting is! If I knew how much fun it was to make quilts, I would have started a lot earlier.

What is your favorite sewing/quilting tool and why should we all go out and buy it?  My fiberglass non-stick ironing sheet. It's great for assembling multi-piece fusible applique projects, pressing fabrics with glitter or foil, protecting your ironing board, and all the messy things just peel or wash right off, 

Who is your favorite fictional character and why? (Could be from a book, movie, TV show, etc.)  That would have to be Captain Jean-Luc Picard, because he knows how to "make it sew". Jean-Luc and other Star Trek characters make the best company for hand sewing bindings and English paper piecing.

I couldn't decide which block to choose (they're all so wonderful!), so I designed my own, a fun scrappy arrow block, perfect for modern fabrics! I also designed a few Scrappy Arrow variations to make the final layout more interesting. Stay tuned in to my blog, Scrappy Arrow variations coming soon to a computer or tablet screen near you...

Block Tutorial
Scrappy Arrow

unfinished 6-1/2" x 18-1/2" (finished 6" x 12")
All seam allowances are a scant 1/4".

Cut the following from a scrappy assortment of bright colors (graphic tone-on-tone prints, a few multi-color prints to mix things up, and solids) and whites (solids, white-on-whites, black & white or gray & white prints that are mostly white, and a few very low volume prints).

4″ x 4″ squares
One each from 2 different color fabrics
One each from 2 different white fabrics

3″ x 3″ squares
One each from 2 different color fabrics
One each from 2 different white fabrics

2-1/2″ x 1-1/2″ rectangles
Two each from the same white fabrics as the 3″ x 3″ squares

1-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ rectangles
One each from 8 different color fabrics

2-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ rectangles
One each from 4 different white fabrics

1) Draw a 45° diagonal line from corner to corner on the wrong side of each of the white 4″ x 4″ and 3″ x 3″ squares as shown above left.

2) Place a 4″ x 4″ color square and a 4″ x 4″ white square right sides together. Sew a scant 1/4″ away from each side of the drawn diagonal line as shown above left. Repeat for the remaining pairs of 4″ x 4″ and 3″ x 3″ color and white squares.

3) Cut along the drawn line on all four sewn fabric pairs. Press seam allowances open or towards color triangles as desired. You’ll end up with 4 large (about 3-5/8″ x 3-5/8″) and 4 small (about 2-5/8″ x 2-5/8″) half square triangles (HSTs).

4) Trim large HSTs to 3-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ and small HSTs to 2-1/2″ x 2-1/2″ as shown above right.

5) Arrange and sew a matching 2-1/2″ x 1-1/2″ white rectangle to each of the 2-1/2″ x 2-1/2″ HSTs as shown above left. The 2-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ units should be mirror images of each other. Press seam allowances open.

6) Arrange and sew a color 1-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ rectangle to each of the four Step 5 units as shown above right. The units should now be 3-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ and each will have a different configuration. The top two will become part of the arrow point and the bottom two will become part of the arrow tail. Press the arrow point units (top two) open and the arrow tails (bottom two) towards the color rectangle. (Less bulk this way. I often press seam allowances whichever way they want to go, rather than rigidly sticking to one method.)

7) Arrange and sew one of the remaining four 1-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ color rectangles to one of the 2-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ white rectangles to make a 3-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ unit as shown above, top left. Press seam allowances open. Repeat with the remaining three color and white rectangles.

8) Arrange all 12 units into an arrow and sew the left and right units together as shown above, top right to make six rows, 6-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ each. Press seam allowances open or to alternating sides as desired.

9) Sew rows one and two together, three and four together, and five and six together to make three 6-1/2″ x 6-1/2″ units as shown above, bottom left. Press seam allowances open or to one side as you or the blocks desire.

10) Sew the top, middle, and bottom units together as shown above, bottom right to complete the Scrappy Arrow block. Press seam allowances open. It should now be 6-1/2″ x 18-1/2″.

Thanks so much! Can't wait to see the blocks you make!

Hive Five August Post

I'm Nancy Zimmerman, and I live in Northern Virginia with my husband and nearly four year old little boy. My husband, Brad, and I are both teachers in Fairfax County; he is a middle school band director and I teach third grade.

Needless to say, we enjoy every minute of our summer vacations, especially since our son, Andy, came along!  Lately we've been spending most of our time at either our neighborhood pool or our neighborhood playground.  And now that I think about it, we need to get a picture of all three of us this summer too!

I have my mom to thank for introducing me to my favorite hobby.  Thanks to her, our home is filled with so many beautiful wall hangings and lap quilts.  Her most recent gift to us is a set of 12 mini applique quilts, one for each month!  They are charming!

Mom's mini July quilt in our foyer 

My mom taught me how to quilt about 10 years ago, and over the years we have spent hours either together or on the phone talking about fabric, measurements, patterns, or our next projects.  I have always treasured that time with her, and I haven't yet finished a project without asking for her advice or suggestions!

We have a guest bedroom that long ago became less a guest bedroom and much more a sewing room!  It all started when my dad made this fantastic board to hang supplies, and then the next thing I knew fabric just took over the room.  Last summer, I took off the closet doors and sorted my stash in a bookshelf.  And over our last Spring Break, my husband hung these great hanging shelves, which naturally are filled with baskets of quilting notions and supplies.

The notions board my dad made next to my design wall...

My sewing corner in the guest/sewing room

Brad hung these shelves for me!

One thing that has vastly improved my quilting is the internet!  When I started quilting, I relied on books and my mom.  Now, if I want to learn a new technique or wonder about a new tool (and Mom isn't home :), I can check the internet for videos or tutorials.  I've also discovered modern designers and modern quilting fabrics because of the internet.  I've met great friends, Sarah and Jansen, who have great modern tastes in fabric, and I just love all the choices we have online and in local quilt shops!  Currently, my favorite prints are whimsical prints like those of Aneela Hooey and Riley Blake, and I also love Thimble Blossoms and Lizzy House.  Recently, I started a lap quilt for Brad with Road 15 (I just adore those little houses and those text prints), and I just finished a Nook cover with Kate Spain's Sunnyside fabrics.

My most recent finish - a lap quilt in Noteworthy by Moda

Okay, so my block choice is my absolute favorite block.  It's a traditional churn dash with a modern twist!  I have always wanted a churn dash quilt but have never made one!

Churn Dash Fabric Color:  greens, green to greenish blues, or teals (no neons please)
Background Fabric: neutrals, low volume prints, except bright whites or bright white on whites. Text prints welcome!
*Please have the middle square be the same as the background neutral fabric.

I found a fantastic tutorial at A Quilting Life here. I love her directions, and I hope you find them as easy as I did.  The block finishes at 12 and 1/2 inches.

Thank you in advance for making this block for me!

My example 

Hive 8 - August Block Tutorial

What is your name?

My name is Helen Lyman

Where do you live?

I just bought a house in the “country” better known as Paeonian Springs, VA. From my bedroom window, I can see the Blue Ridge Mountains. Paeonian Springs is a very small town located 3 miles West of Leesburg VA or about 40 miles from Washington, DC. My new address is: 40601 Hurley Lane, Paeonian Springs, VA 20129.

Tell us about your family (Spouse, kids, grandkids, pets, etc.)

I live with my soul mate – Rich. I have two sons, Ryan and Andrew. Ryan just graduated from UVA and Andrew is a sophomore at Longwood University. We just adopted two dogs from the FOHA rescue shelter – Forest, a three year old Bloodhound and Josh, an eleven month old Anatolian Shepard. We also have Ginger the cat. I absolutely love the country living and my two new additions.

By profession I am a CFO (Chief Financial Officer) in real estate development. Basically that means I’m in charge of counting the money. My office is located in Georgetown which is quite a contrast to Paeonian Springs.

Tell us about how you got interested in quilting.

As a high school student, I made a lot of my clothes. Quilting was a progression from those days. Due to raising a family and working, I got away from the quilting world for several years. I recently just started making quilts again.

How do you organize your fabric stash? (Picture appreciated)

Did I mention that I just moved. Currently my whole sewing room is in boxes. This is a picture of where my fabric will go someday……

Who is/are your favorite fabric designers?

Probably Michael Miller and Jenny Beyer

What is one thing you have learned that you wish you knew when you first started quilting?

Take classes. Quilting techniques are always changing. Classes are essential to keeping the creative juices flowing and learning new techniques.

What is your favorite sewing/quilting tool and why should we all go out and buy it?

Rulers – the right ruler makes life so much easier.

Who is your favorite fictional character and why? (Could be from a book, movie, TV show, etc.)

My favorite fictional character (writer) is Dr. Suess and my favorite book is Oh, The Places You Will Go. In a very simple way, it describes most of life’s situations. Yesterday, I was waiting for a contractor to finish some work and I thought to myself I’m in the “waiting place”.

The Block

Now for the Tutorial – I picked a square block with a heart shape. The only color requirement is that the heart be made of a dark color and the background made of a light color. There are a lot of ways to make this block but I think this is the easiest. All strips are sewn with a quarter inch seam allowance. Since there is no top or bottom to the strips, the seams just need to be pressed in one direction. The strips can then be “locked” together when sewn. Of course if you prefer to press your seams open it’s fine with me. The block laid out to be sewn should look something like this:

To get the heart shape, you sew blocks to make strips then sew the strips together. For example, Stripe 1 consists of sewing the following blocks : 2.5 inch light block, 2.5 inch dark block, 6.5 inch light block, 2.5 inch dark block and a 2.5 inch light block. The remaining strips are sewn as shown:

2.5 Inch Light	2.5 Inch Dark		6.5 Inch Light		2.5 Inch Dark	2.5 Inch Light
	6.5 Inch Dark		2.5 Inch Light		6.5 Inch Dark
			14.5 Inch Dark
			14.5 Inch Dark
2.5 Inch Light			10.5 Inch Dark			2.5 Inch Light
	4.5 Inch Light		6.5 Inch Dark			4.5 Inch  Light
	6.5 Inch Light		2.5 Inch Dark		6.5 Inch Light

Stripe 1: 2.5 Inch Light, 2.5 Inch Dark, 6.5 Inch Light, 2.5 Inch Dark, 2.5 Inch Light
Stripe 2: 6.5 Inch Dark, 2.5 Inch Light, 6.5 Inch Dark
Stripe 3:14.5 Inch Dark
Stripe 4: 14.5 Inch Dark
Stripe 5: 2.5 Inch Light, 10.5 Inch Dark, 2.5 Inch Light
Stripe 6: 4.5 Inch Light, 6.5 Inch Dark, 4.5 Inch Light
Stripe 7: 6.5 Inch Light, 2.5 Inch Dark, 6.5 Inch Light

Stripes Needed:

Dark Colored Fabric
Length	Width	Number Needed
14.5 inches	2.5 inches	2
10.5 inches	2.5 inches	1
6.5 inches	2.5 inches	3
2.5 inches	2.5 inches	3
Light Colored Fabric
6.5 inches	2.5 inches	3
4.5 inches	2.5 inches	2
2.5 inches	2.5 inches	5
	Total	19

Once you have all the stripes then sew the strips together in order 1-7. You are done.

I know it’s that time of year when everyone is traveling so get the block to me when you can. 

Please note that I have a new address, please check the hive address sheet for the updated one.

Thanks so much.

Helen

Hive 3 - August Block Tutorial

Hola, Hive 3!

What is your name? My name is Sarah Nunes and I blog at Berry Barn Designs.

Where do you live? Currently living in Portland, Maine, but originally from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. We travel there frequently, so we still really consider it "home." 

Tell us about your family.... My husband is in the Army; we’ve been married for seven years and have lived in eight places! We’re in Maine now and then next year we’re moving to Kansas. I used to teach middle school, but currently work from home. I've been piecing and quilting on my domestic machine, but recently purchased a longarm and plan to begin offering custom longarm quilting this winter. We have two daughters, ages 3 and 5, and we’re a waiting family hoping to welcome our next child soon through adoption.

Tell us about how you got interested in quilting.... My mom has sewn and quilted my entire life. As a child, I despised wearing the dorky things she created for me and railed against the idea of ever needing to be very domestic… fast forward to adulthood and the realization that I’m a good cook, decent baker, and have a knack for quilting and crafting. My own kids now wear things I’ve created for them (though hopefully while looking slightly less dorky ; ) If it wasn’t for the recent surge of modern quilting fabrics and layouts, though, I’m not sure I would’ve gotten as excited about jumping back in after a long hiatus. Until all things color and scrappy exploded, I wasn’t as enthused about quilting as I am now!

How do you organize your fabric stash? I rainbowtize! Actually, I rainbowtize anything and everything I can – my closet, my kids’ closets, the linen closet, all my crafting supplies. But most of the time there are a lot of piles of still-need-to-be-put-away and gonna-get-to-it-any-day-now*.

*Disclaimer: The accompanying photo was taken six months ago when I had just super-duper reorganized my then much smaller stash, and therefore may or may not honestly portray the current state of affairs.

Who is/are your favorite fabric designers? The two designers that I consistently find myself unintentionally picking up fabric from, admiring, and then not surprisingly finding the names of on the selvage are Dear Stella and Alexander Henry. I also love Art Gallery, Joel Dewberry, Riley Blake, Sarah Jane, Sweetwater and Tula Pink. I tend to like bright, geometric and polka dots for me and colorful/whimsical for my kids.

What is one thing you have learned that you wish you knew when you first started quilting? To square up my blocks as I go - never used to, but I've learned my lesson and love the improvement!

What is your favorite sewing/quilting tool and why should we all go out and buy it? Q-Tools Sewing Edge strips for achieving a great scant 1/4". There are lots of similar work arounds (sticky notes, layered painter's tape, etc) but I like the length of these, the opacity when I don't want to take them off while doing a quick in between project, and that they can be repositioned and reused. 

Who is your favorite fictional character and why? I honestly don't know. This, "who is your hero?" and "who would you have dinner with if you could invite two people?" are the three interview questions that cause my mind to go blank. I've had seven months to prepare and I'm still not even going to venture an "in my top ten." But I'll give you some other fun facts: I love to hike, I wish I owned a bike, and I have a bad habit of reading dystopian novels and then getting depressed because I have zero life skills for living in a Mad Max-ian futurescape. I'm not much of a hand quilter, so without electricity, how will I sew stuff?! And I don't think bartering adorable doll quilts is going to glean me very much water or food. (Can you tell I just finished Edan Lepucki's Colbert-bumped California?)  

On to the block... I usually don't pair these colors. We're pretty patriotic at heart thanks to a rich family heritage of military service, but I have avoided actually decorating our house with any Americana, save for the holiday door hanger on the 4th of July. But then I asked my husband if he liked any of the possibilities I had pinned on my idea board, since I planned to use it as a family quilt for our living room couch and ventured he might have an opinion. And he did: limit the color palette down from rainbow like I had envisioned, and include red and blue. Seeing as he liked the same light/dark HST block as much as I did, and wanted red and blue in there, I figured I might as well just bow to the patriotic undercurrent and go red, white and blue.

I don't know it's official name, so I'm calling this block American HSTs. We'll be using a scrappy mix of bright, medium/cooler red and blue prints along with solid white or low volume white (feel free to include low volume with bits of red, blue or grey) to create an incomplete 12.5" block**. Anything goes as far as prints/solids, but I want to omit tones that feel country/primitive or read tan/beige rather than white. The picture below shows a bunch of suggestions for each color that I pulled from my stash. In addition to the picture here, I've also put together a Pinterest board with more examples that you can reference. If you don't have enough of any of these in your stash, please let me know and I will happily send you some asap in order to keep with the hues requested - as you can see, I have plenty on hand! 

I'm going to keep the tutorial simple because I'm confident we all know how to make wonderful HSTs : ) If you do want a refresher or tips on squaring off as you go, here's a great HST tutorial from Karen at Sew Many Ways that includes trimming with a square ruler, and here's another great HST tutorial from Amy Smart at Diary of a Quilter that includes trimming with a right square triangle ruler made for that specific purpose. Both tutorials are for creating two-at-a-time HSTs, which is perfect for saving a little time but still getting a lot of fabrics into the block so it stays scrappy.

Directions:

What you'll need to create the incomplete 12.5" block**:

• (8) 4" squares of red & blue (doesn't have to be 4 of each - a little more of one or the other is fine)
• (8) 4" squares of white/low volume

1. Pair (8) sets of 4" squares either red & white or blue & white and sew together following the two-at-a-time HST method from one of the above tutorial links to create (16) 3.5" squares.

2. Please square off and press to the dark side. 

3. Sew resulting (16) 3.5" squares together to create (4) 6.5" squares similar to the dark/light pattern example below. You can mix red and blue however you want as long as it alternates in diagonal stripes of dark/light.

4. Please square off and press to the dark side as you go.

And... stop! **If the four pieces were joined, they'd create a 12.5" finished block, but you can send them to me separately so I can mix them up with everyone else's to get the scrappiest look possible.

Thank you so much for your help! I'm really looking forward to having a bright, cozy quilt for us to all snuggle under on family movie nights,

and the fact it'll be patriotic is a bonus in light of my husband's career.

P.S. I know this month will be busy for most with enjoying the end of summer and possibly getting kids off to school - no worries about last minute blocks because I'm not on a deadline to finish this one : )

~ Sarah

Hive 2 - August Block Tutorial

Hi there Hive Two Mates!

My name is Jansen de Roxas (alittlesweetbee on Instagram).

** Apologies to any English/Grammar fanatics out there.  I type in run-on sentences, use way too many commas, and abuse the hyphen.

I live in Northern Virginia, just outside of Washington DC in a messy townhouse with my main crush- my husband, Jeremy, and our crazy, two year old daughter, Nora.  We have dog named Sammy that loves to eat people food.  We just celebrated our seven year wedding anniversary on July 12, holy smokes y'all. I am from a tiny one stoplight town in Oklahoma. I lucked out and met my husband in OK during his first assignment at Tinker AFB as an Air Force JAG.  We married and lived in California for two years and then landed here in DC where we have been for five years now.  We are going on assignment number FIVE in DC! This city has been a great exercise in patience and understanding.  So. Much. Traffic.  Read above, we had ONE stoplight.

White House Easter Egg Roll - 2014

Quilt on the White House lawn!

Nora's hand-stitched baby quilt

Sea Glass Pinwheels and an exercise in FMQ circles

A 40th Anniversary quilt for my in-laws

I grew up in a crafty family of all sorts.  Most of the women in my family were sewists.  My great-grandmothers on both sides were hand quilters and passed along some beautiful, yet well loved quilts to me and my brothers.  I distinctly remember staying home from school with the chicken pox when I was little.  I was so itchy and the only relief I had was wrapping up in one of my great-grandma's quilts.  It was heavy and yet light, and was somehow cool all the time.   That quilt now rests on my guest bed - I swear, I washed the pox off it....

My Great-Grandmother's Quilt

My Aunt taught me to sew when I was in elementary school. She made me my first custom quilt for my room.  It was all calico fabrics with cows at pasture - so many cows.  It was the most beautiful quilt I had ever seen.  (It's back home with Momma or I'd show a picture!)  I separated myself from sewing over the years. I didn't even know I wanted to rejoin the craft until my husband surprised me with a sewing machine for Christmas before one of his deployments.  My sister-in-law was pregnant with my first niece and I decided I would make her a quilt.  With no actual quilting experience I jumped right in and started cutting.  It was a disaster.  I broke every rule in the book.  I had no plan, cut fabric on the bias, didn't know about squaring up, didn't actually have a plan to piece the blocks, quilted a black and white quilt using neon green thread and subsequently ripped out that quilting more times than I could count.  I won't even tell you about how I attached the binding.  It was hilarious.  In the end, I still ended up with a finished baby quilt.  I just asked my sister-in-law not to wash it, ever.

MidAtlantic Mod Sewing Retreat 2014

After I had Nora I joined a local Mom's group.  I connected with another mom, Sarah, over our mutual love and fear of quilting.  Free motion quilting was SCARY! We started having sewing dates with another local quilt friend, Nancy.  (Both ladies are in this Bee, too!)  They took the scary out of quilting and we have had a blast creating together.  I finally learned to consult the internet for some assistance with my quilting and never really looked back.  I still tend to approach my projects with the same reckless abandon.  I have a hard time following patterns or instructions.  I usually get to the right place in the end.

My fabric stash has multiplied like bunnies somehow.... I swear I didn't buy all those fat quarters. I love using this old shoe organizer to sort my FQs by color. It helps me when I am looking for a specific shade or print.  Plus, it looks like CANDY!  I recently acquired the ikea bookcase from my daughter's room.  I have my projects bundled in stacks along with my larger cuts of fabric folded together.  I have a list of quilt requests a mile long- so I buy fabrics well in advance of the projects.  My husband has asked for a Tetris quilt so I took that as an opportunity to buy that lovely collection of Kona solids!  Swoon.

I also have a stack of WIP quilts waiting for various steps of completion.  Why is it so hard to finish those?!

Fabric hoarding Fabric is what drew me into quilting. I love a good fun, playful print.  I have a soft spot for novelty fabrics.  I love novelty designers like Heather Ross, Aneela Hoey, Sarah Jane, Alexander Henry and Marissa of Creative Thursday.  For most of my quilts I love anything with a bold geometric print.  I like bright, modern, clean lines..  My favorite designers would have to be Michael Miller, Carolyn Friedlander, Kate Spain, Joel Dewberry, Lizzy House (Pearl bracelets!), and Amy Butler. Lately, I have fallen in love with anything and everything by Art Gallery Fabrics.  Those cottons feel like butter and sew so beautifully.



When I look back at my first project I have to laugh. I would have to say that learning about all of the steps you do BEFORE you sew would have saved me some serious headaches.  I wish I had known how much easier quilts came together when you cut properly, iron, and square up!  And let's not forget the magic of nested seams.

My favorite quilting tools would be my  rotary cutter and starch.  I can't believe I cut whole quilts using scissors before getting my rotary cutter.  I like to switch back and forth between Flatter (that stuff smells ah-mazing) and Best Press.  Both tools have improved my accuracy in quilting.

If I were a fictional character I would be Elaine Benes from Seinfeld.  Everything about her cracks me up.  The hair, the fantastic wardrobe, the dancing, the dating, the blind confidence.  I am also a huge VEEP fan.  Maybe I just love Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Enough about me!  Let's SEW!

My little brother, Jacob, is a Firefighter and just graduated from Paramedic school.  He has been quietly and patiently asking me for a quilt for a while now.  I'll do anything for this kid, so let's make him a quilt! He loves my quilt from my great-grandmother (aka- the Chicken Pox quilt).  I'd like to make him a modern variation of the string quilt.  I searched the interwebs and found this great Warm/Cool String block tutorial from Melanie of Texas Freckles.  I even managed to follow along!

Graduation day!  My brothers- Jacob and Turner

Jacob and my Nora

As this quilt is for my 20-something brother I would ask that you limit the feminine prints.  I think adding in some softer colors in the pastel family will help give some good depth to the bold colors.  I love the idea of dividing the fabrics up into Warm and Cool colors so let's stick with that plan.  I also added in some more neutral fabrics, like some low volume with colors, grays, and black/white combos.  I'll leave it up to you and your specific fabric choices to determine if the neutrals belong more with the Warm or Cool colors.  I am ok with a little novelty fabric added in as well.  Let's just try to avoid anything too girly or baby.  I look forward to seeing all the fun, bright colors you choose for these blocks!  Have fun!

As mentioned at the end of the linked tutorial you are welcome to leave the block as four individual units when you send it to me.  If you prefer to sew the units into a block that will be great, too!  I want to make this quilt super scrappy so either will work great.  Happy sewing!

matched the vertical warm with the horizontal cool and vice versa

four finished 9" units waiting to be mixed with yours!