I’ve been working on this quilt now for four months. Up until recently I have done every block assigned and posted them within days of their completion. I even got ahead of the game with a few blocks. Now, however, I put a stop to that foolishness. and declare my independence. I no longer feel compelled to follow the crowd.

There are a couple of reasons for this. First of all, I needed to prepare work for my stint at the Michener Art Museum, so I went off track to baste up a few blocks to have them on hand for the demo. However, the main reason for my reluctance to follow the crowd is that a block came up which I refused to do. It wasn’t because it was hard. It looked easy. It was because I didn’t want it in my quilt. At that point I realized that I didn’t need to make every block to prove I could make them. I had already proven that when I did Daffodil.

Here is the offending block.

#40 Grandmother

It isn’t an ugly block. It is just not an interesting block. If I had been working with patterned fabrics I might have been able to fussy cut something interesting to go into the basket, but I am doing this quilt in solids, so that option was out. I took one look at this block and something inside me said a loud, “No.”

Choosing not to make this block was a very freeing experience. After declaring my independence I realized that I didn’t need to do every block. My layout would probably require me to make choices among the remaining blocks anyway. Instead of making every block moving forward it would make sense to put some effort into examining the blocks I have made so far, come up with a design scheme, and to give some thought as to how future blocks can flesh out that final design.

I started by sorting my blocks into three categories: all green, all violet, and mixed. What I found is that I have 40 blocks completed, some of which have not yet been featured on the blog. Four of them are green, eight of them are violet, and 28 of them are mixed.

My instincts tell me that I should be making more green blocks. So the next couple of blocks I make will be all green unless they scream for some violet to be included.

After looking at the colors of my blocks I then resorted them into ones I definitely want to incorporate into the final quilt design, and ones that might be better used in testing out a sashing strategy on a smaller sampler piece. Here are the results:

31 blocks made the cut for the final quilt, and nine may get sacrificed for the greater good. Here is a potential layout for the sampler piece. I anticipate the hunter green area to be broken up with some Raisin.

I’ll feature the Daffodil block in the center of the sample. I do not intend to make any more flowers, though that might change. The only reason I made Daffodil was to prove to myself that I could make it. Having made it I now believe I can make any of the blocks if I choose to. So now I can choose not to make any of them that I think will not be a good addition to the final piece.

I have at least four blocks that I have not yet shown, so my next post will be devoted to that task plus any more I create between now and then.