Design Wall Monday 1/4/2021

There is a new quilt along happening, hosted by Corinne and Cecile at the Cocopatch website, and I am very tempted to join in. This year their theme is curves. One of the reasons that I'm thinking about participating is because I bought this pattern a few months ago, and it seems like the perfect choice for the QAL.

Blue Onion pattern by Karla Alexander of Saginaw Street Quilts

Karla Alexander, designer of this pattern, is known for her "Stack the Deck" books and patterns, and this pattern is made using that technique. The blocks are made by stacking several different fabrics together, making the curved cuts, then rearranging the order of the pieces to mix them together. 

I started out by making some smaller sample pieces with a single curve in each block, just to see how I liked the piecing. These blocks were made from 6" squares.

Those were okay to piece, so I moved ahead to the main event. There is a Creative Grids ruler available for cutting the curves, but it costs more than $40! Fortunately, the pattern includes directions for cutting without the ruler, and that is what I did. Here is my first group of blocks.

Well, that's not really what I was going for. I was hoping to make a quilt with a gradation of colors, but I'm not sure this is the right approach. It might work better if I cut multiple sets of pieces and mix more fabrics together in each block. This set of five blocks all contain the same six fabrics, and a wider variety might help. Back to the drawing board for me!

The schedule for Corinne and Cecile's QAL of Curves is January through May. The challenge requires that you make at least 16 blocks, and every block must contain a curve. If you are interested in joining them, you can find out more info at Cocopatch.

Linking up with:
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA