NATIONAL QUILT MUSEUM * BLOCK OF THE MONTH

N.Q.M. B.O.M. ROUND 3 - Block 2

Like I said before, as if I don’t already have enough projects going, I’ve decided to take part in the block of the month program that is being hosted by the National Quilt Museum on Facebook. Here is my finished block for the second part of the block of the month program. I am not a pictorial quilter by nature so I was not super excited about this block at first but I finally wrapped my mind around it and this is the result.

Another aspect of this block that didn’t align with me was that I was put off by the free cutting of curves and trying to blindly match them back together again. My background is in dressmaking and we rely heavily upon notches or hash marks that we use to match up seams. If one does not accurately match a curved seam line you end up with pleats and wrinkles as many of you have experience. After giving it some thought I decided to create this block using techniques that I was comfortable with and felt we're more technically accurate. It's in my nature to pay attention to the details.

The first thing I did was break out some paper and draft a square that was 14 in. I then used the golden ratio to decide where the horizon would be. After that I again applied the golden ratio to find the shoreline. If you've never worked with the golden ratio I recommend that you spend afternoon googling it and learning about how it can improve the visual impact of your art work. 

Then I broke out my flexible ruler. I used to do a lot of pattern making when I made clothes and I invested in a curve ruler to help me with drafting a sleeve that matched the armhole of a bodice. I started with a curved line in the sky to create the illusion of hazy horizon line clearing out to the broader sky. The location for this line was also found using the golden ratio. For the rest of the curved lines in the water I used the same curve that I used in the sky but flipped it and rotated it each time so that it was a new iteration of the original curve. 

Next I drafted the shoreline and the layers of the beach by giving the ruler a gentle tug so that the curved line used along the shoreline and the beach would be a gentler version of the same curve used in the water and the sky. This acts as a repeat on a theme which helps to increase the visual impact of the design. When I was done I drew registration marks at the peaks and valleys and halfway between those on all the curves. I then used my flexible ruler to trace off patterns of these same curves and add a quarter inch seam allowance at the same time because the ruler is quarter inch wide. 

For my palette I fished through my stash of hand dyed fabrics that I had created and I utilized a couple of my focus fabrics to keep the theme consistent. Here is my selection of fabrics. 

I used each pattern piece to cut the fabrics for this block. As I did I used transfer paper to mark the seam line and the registration marks on the wrong side of the fabric. Having visible seam lines was helpful so that when I pinned the fabrics together I was able to take a very small bite of fabric right on the seam line. This helps to achieve accuracy when sewing the two curves together. It's very effective for avoiding pleats.

After piecing the whole thing together I hung it on a wall and looked at it and tried to decide what I wanted to add to the scene. I decided that I didn't want anything added to the scene because I thought that the curved lines along with the circle for the moon/sun looked like an abstract interpretation of the beach. And then use my walking foot to add echo quilting to enhance the piece. I'm very happy with how my block turned out. 

 I'm looking forward to seeing what block is next in the for this block of the month quilt. I'm having a lot of fun!