Miscellany

The Bumble Beans Basics Miscellany challenge blocks are due tomorrow, so I thought I'd go ahead and post my entry. Twelve challengers were given 8 letter sized cuts of Julia Rothman's Miscellany collection from Cloud 9 Fabrics to design and create a unique block.

After seeing Beth's posts about her card trick blocks, I've decided to call my design "coin trick." My design features 4 overlapping circles instead of squares.

Between my practice block (with fishbones) and my entry block (with candy trees), I used all 8 Miscellany prints.

I pieced the blocks on the machine in four sections. Each section had a circle and two of the border strips to make a complete edge. I pieced the sections in pairs, then combined the two halves to finish the block. All the seams are curved, but there are no y-seams. The photo above shows the final seam pinned and ready to sew.

I think these two blocks would work great together in a larger quilt. I wanted to use all the prints in the challenge block, but the circles would pop more if the  borders were a light solid or a small dot.

I played around with some mock-ups this morning.

Without sashing I like how the edge pieces come together in the block corners to form crosses.

With the addition of gray sashing the blocks appear to have more depth.

But I think this block really shines on point. The tension between the diagonal force of the sashing and the vertical repeat of the coins creates a sense of movement and energy.