Evolution of a quilt block

I've been a bit under the weather this week and very busy with work so no time spent at the sewing machine.  Rather I've been buried under a quilt on the sofa in the evenings catching up on Vikings on the telly and playing with a block from The Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns by Jinny Beyer

This block is identified as Bachelor's puzzle from around 1931.  Tiled it makes a lovely pattern like this:

When I first drafted it into my Mac I started with no colour and deliberately didn't look at the coloured version to see where it would take me and just playing with it.

 Then I turned it on point and got this:

 which looks like way too much work and I think I'd cry making so many of these all the same.  Scrappy blocks might be an option!

Looking at the original again though I thought maybe fussy cut paper pieced blocks would be nice in this setting.

So I went back a step and came up with this design:

16 fussy cut squares might have been too much in the centre so I removed 3 and centered the last one.  Using 4" fussy squares this would be a really nice 40" baby quilt.  I'm thinking I might just do this with the Christmas swap squares!

So last night, feeling like staying by the fire and not going into the kitchen where my sewing machinve lives I revisited this and made the squares solids and came up my final version of Bachelors puzzle a-la- Ruth 2013! I'm calling it Bachelors Walk.

 

I like both colourways but am leaning towards the darker 4 colour option.   I think it would look really good in Amy Butler fabric designs too.  Tiled they look like this

 and adding in a few more colours

So I'm going to call this done now and stick with this as my final design!  Shopping for the right colour fabrics for this one will be fun.  I might just have to splash out and buy a Kona colour card!

So what do you think? Original or final result?

Beyond the block

I think I'm addicted to Craftsy!  I've signed up for a few free and a few paid courses on their website and Designing Modern Quilts by Weeks Ringle is one of my favourites.  One of the concepts of this course is Beyond the block.  It involves looking at a design concept as a whole first and then breaking it into smaller units to construct rather than repeating blocks to make a pattern . 

One of the thoughts I had in my head the whole time I was watching this specific lesson was "stars".  Weeks had a quilt with very specific curved shapes in it called Tankini and I guess it inspired the giant red star in the foreground.  I had an idea of the colours I wanted, rich oranges, yellows and reds against a navy blue background so I started playing with shapes and graduated colours in this Photo and came up with the the design in the image above.

I have no idea how to make this, no clue at all.  Week's suggestion is to make a mini version first to test the design.  I know I want insert circles rather than applique and probably should use graduated dyed fabric and I know the curves, dimensions and placement are super important or the design won't work the way I want it.  I know quite a bit but not how to start so I'm winging it!

In order to make my mini version I ordered this beautiful Kona solids fabric bundle from Cindy at Fluffy Sheep Quilting (it's called sunrise!) and I'm going to print my design 1:1 A2 size and get out the ruler and calculator.  Wish me luck!