Jan Patek Quilts: Blockheads? Moda Blockheads?

Yes, Yes, Yes!

Most of you who follow my work know that I don't usually do small quilts.

For instance this is Over the Meadow and its 82 x 98.

At the moment its available as a McCalls Quilt Along;. If you want information on the quilt you can click here.

While I love making bedsize quilts, lately I've really been taken with smaller quilts. This is the backside of a Table Stand quilt "Moonlight Serenade" and it's made of four 6" blocks. ( The front has a snowman, the birdhouse and bird.)

And the 6" blocks are what brings me to my latest love - a quilt made mostly of 6" blocks.

Carrie Nelson has done a great job of describing what the Blockheads are and what we're doing in the latest Moda Blog. To quote her

"Blockhead. noun block·head \ˈbläk-ˌhed\ A quilter who likes to make a wide variety of quilt blocks, who probably collects books filled with quilt blocks, who has lots of random quilt blocks but still wants to make more.

Does that sound like you?

I know five Blockheads. They share a common bond in that they all love traditional and Reproduction fabric – they like to joke that they’re on the “dark side” of quilting. Last Fall, they put their heads together and decided to create a Block of the Week – BOW – made with 6″ blocks. They would each design eight blocks, swap the blocks and then share them with everybody else. There will be forty-eight blocks with one posted every week starting in March.

The blocks will be available as free downloads."

So...................... I've been making 6 " blocks along with some help from a friend Amy Gertz.

And I'm designing a quilt in my head to use them and I'm getting pretty excited about it.

Here are my fellow Blockheads

Lynne Hagmeier
Betsy Chutchian.
Jo Morton.
Lisa Bongean.
& Carrie Nelson

And here's what I've decided to do with the blocks.

I'm going to design a medallion quilt - kind of.

The center block will be 18 or 24" with borders and the 6" blocks will surround it.

Lynne also asked me to design some 3" x 12" sashing strips with appliqué and they'll be in there to keep the quilt from being too "all in a row". You'll also be able to download them at some time.

Anyway, my 6" appliqué blocks will be made of vintage Jan Patek fabric with some current fabrics mixed in and I will have a Fabric pack of those available just before the blocks start being posted in March.

The blocks Lynne designed will be made of her Thistle Farms fabric, Betsy's will be made of her Rachel Remembered, Lisa's of her Liberty Gatherings, Jo's of her Reflections line and Carrie's will be made of my Coral Bells line. So when you shop pay attention to Fat Quarters and Fat 1/8 of those lines. And Shops a good stock of Layer Cakes would be a great idea. (These are Layer Cakes rolled up)