Bonfire quiltalong - Tulip Lady Fingers

Since January, I've been making the blocks from Sister Sampler Quilts in the "Bonfire" quiltalong hosted by GenXQuilters. My techniques have improved in the overall sense (cut, measure, sew precisely, measure again and trim to exact measurements) and well as specifically. Last month there was a tutorial for "no waste flying geese" which I treasured. One large square, four small squares, pin sew cut trim press..repeat and then you have four flying geese units and the only waste is a little bit of trimming to make the units uniform and square. Brilliant!

Looking at the January, February, March and April blocks, I've noticed my color selection is all over the map, or should I say the palate? I like using low volume fabric for background (Jan and Feb) but unless you use the same low volume throughout, it's going to glare out against the white background blocks. I may double up and make two sets of each block, which will solve the problem of WHAT to use for backing. I really prefer to use two quilt tops together instead of one quilt top and acres of backing material. (An added benefit, if you donate quilts, is the material fact that there is twice the value - two quilt tops - which gives me a sturdier leg to stand on while arguing the market value of the donated quilt.)

I now abhor instructions to cut one 2" square of white, sew at the edge then trim the edges at a 45 degree angle - because all you're doing is wasting fabric in little driblets all over the place. I even went so far as to throw into the trash one quilting book whose instructions were all about cutting little pieces of white fabric, sewing and cutting at a 45 degree angle and discarding. The quilt looked fun, for sure, but since I still don't have an opinion about sewing those little white squares, let's just say there was no fun left for me after the first 2 pages of making everything with little white squares.

Today I made a "Tulip Lady Fingers" block using the bright white background. The second block in this pattern will be some of the Blueberry Park fabrics (Karen Lewis), and I will photograph the process (which will make me even more disciplined!!) I can't decide which side goes which way.