How Now Brown ... Snail

I've been making the snail's trail blocks for my lotto block samplers and thinking about the color brown.

These are the four blocks I made for the scrap-happy graduated sampler.


I used warmer shades of brown because I plan to place these four blocks in the upper right corner of the layout.

Once the blocks were surrounded with some red and orange rectangles cut from my scraps to give me an idea of how it might look, they seem to warm up a little bit more.

I've seen a few comments from quilters who don't care for brown or don't have much in their stash. In my scrap quilts, brown often masquerades as yellow, orange or red when I need a "dark" in those colors to make a scrappy block pattern work.  If you look at my scrappy Broken Dishes quilt (still unquilted), you might not see brown ... but it is there–in those red, orange and yellow blocks. 

For the Old MacDonald's Mystery Sampler, the color cue for the Snail's Trail blocks is "ground cover."

I decided to aim for palette that suggests a southwest landscape–restricted by what I can find in my stash–and made these sandy-sager colored blocks.

These blocks will be spread across the bottom of the quilt.

Information about both samplers can be found on the Block Lotto site on this page:

2016 Quilt-Along

I am joining the linky party for the Rainbow Scraps Challenge Scrap Happy Saturday.

Chocolate Snails (Trails) on my Wall

Combine the designated color for this month's  Rainbow Scraps Challenge and the February Block Lotto choice and, in my mind, I keep thinking Chocolate covered Snails (Trails). Ugh.

They look better than they sound ...

For the Block Lotto this month, we've expanded the second color beyond the RSC accent color of pink to include pastels and low volume prints in any color.

After I went outside and took a blocks in the wild photo of my blocks for the block pattern, they went back on the wall, in an on-point orientation (I was curious).

Here are my blocks as cover girls ... and a link to the block pattern.

Snails Trail - Quilt Block Pattern

I realized when I was outside taking photos ... I don't think I've seen a snail since moving to New Mexico. Maybe they don't like the dry climate?

In addition to directions for rotary cutting and traditionally piecing the 6 inch block, the pattern includes an introduction to paper foundation piecing, a foundation pattern and step-by-step directions for using that technique for making the block.

It's probably because this is the first block I paper pieced, that I think it's a good place to start. This little wall hanging is my fist quilt. It was made from four 4-inch blocks, made from two cotton prints re-claimed from shirts and a bit of white-on-white suggested by another student in class. I hadn't YET committed to quilting or started a stash.

(I am sure I must have a better photo of this little quilt ... but this sad little photo is the one I found).

The quilt teacher that day also pointed out that the same foundation can be used to make a completely different block by replacing the 4-patch with a square and using a different fabric placement.

I think the "new block" variation would be a great pattern to use for scraps. Square-in-a-square-in-a-square-in-a-square?

I am joining the lists for Monday Making on Live Laugh Quilt and for Design Wall Monday on Patchwork Times.