Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Comfort blocks - Building Blocks Tuesday

I made some comfort blocks last week.  What are those you ask?  Well, they are blocks made with the intention of putting them together into a quilt to comfort someone.  I had two opportunities arise last week.

The first call out for blocks came from the guild in the local mountains that I am a member of.  We had two members in need, so Jan designed these little mugs or "cups of comfort" for us to make.

Cups of Comfort Blocks

I just love how cheerful these cups are.  They are bound to lift some spirits, and I love how crazy you can get with the fabrics if you want to.

Next up, Daisy from Lazy Daisy Quilts asked some of her followers on Twitter to make a block or two for a fellow podcaster in need.  She asked for Scrapitude blocks in soft and soothing colors.  Scrapitude is a free mystery quilt that Sandy from Quilting for the Rest of Us was involved in.  You can still access it on her blog if you are interested.

scrapitute block for Frances

I wasn't participating in Scrapitude, but I made a block for Daisy's drive.  I actually found it a little difficult.  Not so much in the construction of the block, but in the fabric choices.  I haven't really done "scrappy" before and I found it difficult.  I suppose if I was making 20 blocks with scraps, it would be different, but for one block I kept second guessing myself.  To get through it, I had to keep reminding myself that the whole quilt would be scrappy, so my choices didn't really matter too much.

Daisy asked for soft and soothing, so I pulled a bunch of blues and greens, then I noticed nearly everyone was doing more of a "spring" color palate, so I changed some things around.  I also had a lot of trouble coming up with enough "lights and whites" to fill out the block.  I tend to use solid white for most of my quilts and Daisy was hoping for more of a scrappy look.  About the only light colored scraps I had were left over from my Red, White and Blue New York Beauty Blocks, and I barely had enough to complete one block!  Yes, I could have cut into some of my yardage, but for one block?  I just couldn't do it.

Do you ever make comfort blocks?

So, what blocks have you been working on?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.


Quilter in the Closet

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page in your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading!

Jen


3 comments:

  1. Isn't it funny how hard scrappy can be!

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  2. will you be posting the mug pattern? It's so sweet. Our group makes a lot of comfort quilts for hospice patients and these would be so nice.

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  3. That star does look complicated! I'll stick to my. 9 patches : I have linked xx

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