The Mod-Mod Quilt-Along Begins Today

Do quilters in the blogiverse NEED another Quilt-a-Long?  Probably not.  

But because I know some quilters like to follow-along with the Block Lotto, but don't necessarily want to make blocks in colors of my choosing or participate in the lotto drawing, I designed a series of quilts made from this year's lotto blocks–in 6 sizes, from a 42 inch square to a 105 inch square king size bed quilt. Anyone can sample the block patterns for the Block Lotto this year and a make a quilt, as small or large as they like.

FYI for the block lotto community, this is a repost of information I have already shared there–intended for my followers here who might like to join along.  

After a self-indulgent year of mostly figurative blocks for the Block Lotto in 2013,  this year we’ll be making blocks with a strong geometric feel in three (finished) sizes:

7 inch square
7 by 14 inch rectangle
14 inch square

I promised a change for the lotto blocks this year and guaranteed no basket blocks, nor houses, nor dogs,  nor cats, nor hearts.  One thing will remain the same, though.  As always, the lotto block patterns will be made using a variety of techniques, perhaps presenting an opportunity to try something new or perfect a technique that you haven’t used much.

These black boxes show the relative sizes of the blocks we’ll be making, they look something like this.

Looking at these shapes, you might start thinking, as I did, how they could easily be combined into 21-inch square units in a number of ways.  All three sizes could combine in a layout like this (including January’s Double Chevron):

If you start thinking about multiples of 21-inch square modules, like I have, you can see how you could build sampler quilts in a range of sizes:

• Small (42-inch square) – 4 modules arranged 2-by-2
• Crib (42 by 63-inch rectangle)  - 6 modules arranged 2 (wide) by 3 (high)
• Throw (63 inch square) – 9 modules arranged 3-by-3
• Twin (63 by 84-inch rectangle) – 12 modules arranged 3 (wide) by 4 (high)
• Full/Queen (84-inch square) – 16 modules arranged 4 by 4
• King (105 inch square) – 25 modules arranged  5 by 5

With these ideas in mind, I have created a random-ish layout using this year’s blocks in a straight setting with no sashing or borders, using the lotto blocks to build 21-inch square modules.

Because of the MODular approach and the MODern look of our geometric blocks this year, I’m calling this effort the Mod-Mod Quilt-along.

Each month, mid-month, I’ll tell you how many of the current month’s block you’ll need to make each of the above quilt sizes and show you where they will appear in your quilt.

I plan to make two quilts and sharing my progress:

• A rainbow-colored throw using the color of the month from the rainbow scrap challenge (a sort of mystery quilt for me)
• A full/queen using a more controlled color palette with a common white-on-white (WOW) background

Fabric Estimates

If you are using a common background fabric, here’s my generous suggestion for how much you’ll need (keep in mind that I haven’t written all the block patterns yet):

• Small (42-inch square) – 1 1/2 yards
• Crib (42 by 63-inch rectangle)  - 2 1/4 yards
• Throw (63 inch square) –3 1/4 yards
• Twin (63 by 84-inch rectangle) – 4 1/2 yards
• Full/Queen (84-inch square) – 6 yards
• King (105 inch square) – 9 1/4 yards

January’s Double Chevron Blocks

You can download the Double Chevron Block Pattern from my Free Block Patterns page.

Here are the blocks I've made for my Throw (made as part of the rainbow scrap challenge).

Here’s how many of these blocks you’ll need this month, for each of the 6 quilts:

	Small	Crib	Throw	Twin	F/Q	King
Double Chevron Blocks	1	2	3	4	6	8

Small Sampler

If you are making the small sampler quilt, you’ll make one Double chevron block for it. Your quilt layout looks like this (so far–these will get more interesting in future months)

Crib

The Crib size quilt include 2 Double Chevron blocks, in the 6-module layout on the left.

Throw

In the square Throw, three modules are added to the layout and one more Double Chevron block for a total of 3 needed for this quilt.

As you can probably begin to see, these modules (and quilt layouts) are nested.  The smallest size becomes part of the crib size, which is part of the throw, which is part of the twin size, which is part of the full/queen size, which is nested within the king size.  This means you can start small and decide to make a bigger quilt or … start out super ambitious and decide to make a smaller one.

Twin

For the Twin size, you’ll need 4 Double Chevron blocks.

Here’s where they will be in that quilt, constructed from 12 modules.

 Full/Queen

You’ll need 2 more Double Chevrons–a total of 6–for the Full/Queen quilt.  Here are the 16 modules for that quilt.

King

And for the super-ambitious, make 8 Double Chevron blocks.  Here’s the 25 modules for that 105-inch square quilt.

The Badge

If you would like to add the badge at the top of this post to your blog, here's the HTML code you need:

<a href="http://www.blocklotto.com" target="_blank" > <center> <img src="http://www.blocklotto.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/ModModBadge.jpg" width="150" height="150" border="0" alt="Join me in the Mod Mod Quilt Along">

This help post on the Block Lotto will step you through how you add a badge to your blog, if you need a reminder.

If there is interest in playing along with me and make a sampler of some size of your own, I'll set up ways for us to share: Flickr group, link parties, etc.  Let me know.