900 and Counting – Quiltmaker Rolls Out A New Issue

Welcome to “Seams Like a Plan”!

If you’re reading this, you are no doubt looking for sneak peeks at the blocks included in Quiltmaker Magazine’s new special issue, 100 Blocks, Volumn 9.

Well, here’s mine:

“Common Thread” by Anne Wiens

It’s called “Common Thread” and is block #900, the last block in this issue, which should be on your newsstand next Tuesday. Of course, if you leave a comment at the end of this post, you could win a copy!

The prototype block is made from all scraps.

I kept a scrappy theme, but changed up the coloring just a bit for three quilt ideas.

The first quilt is pictured in the 100 Blocks designers’ gallery section. A friend gave me a yard of a print featuring cats “helping” in the sewing room. “I saw this and knew you had to have some.” she said. I have the best quilty friends in the world!

“Spools & Bobbins 1” features a center panel of cats “helping” in the sewing room…just like my three do! (2013 Anne Wiens)

You should see the quilting on this piece. I gave it to Tiffany Barcus at Unique Quilting. I told her it had a Victorian vibe to me, and I only had one request…that she quilt a spiderweb in one corner. It’s a common theme in crazy quilts popular in that era. She had carte blanche with the rest of the quilt. She obviously had a lot of fun!

You’ll notice that while the blocks in “Spools & Bobbins 1” have various pinks, the corner diamonds have the same blue and green fabrics.

“Spools & Bobbins 2” by Anne Wiens (2014)

I have to be honest. I don’t love this top as much as I had hoped I would. They say a little yellow goes a long way, and in this quilt, it goes a little too far. If I were doing it over, (I’m not – it doesn’t bother me that much) I’d use the purple diamonds in pace of the gold ones. Then again, I might go back to the original idea of all scraps in those diamonds.

Which brings me to “Spools & Bobbins 3”, which isn’t finished yet, but here’s a block:

Common Thread by Anne Wiens 2014

This block goes back to the scrap diamonds, but instead of an off-white border, uses the same white-on-white for all of the background. All of the blocks in “Spools & Bobbins 3” will have the same teal blue “thread”, and there will be more diamonds in the borders.

This one will be the most contemporary of the three quilts. I’ve toyed with taking it Amish or Modern, using all solid colors and either a black or white background.

Now…for the 100 Blocks, Volume 9 give-away.

Leave a comment below and tell me, how many spools of thread would you guess (you don’t have to count them) do you have in your collection, and what is the most common color?

One winner will be chosen at random at the end of the week.

Thanks for stopping by “Seams Like a Plan.” If you click on the blue “Follow Seams Like a Plan” button at the top of the page, you’ll be notified whenever I publish a new post. It doesn’t happen as often as it should, but there’s usually a block or quilt pattern involved.