Patterns vs. “Wing it”

Are you a “pattern follower” or a “wing it” type of person? I am a 70/30 blend—with the 70% being “wing it”. And sometimes that gets me in trouble!

Many, many quilt patterns are just variations of the classic quilt blocks that have been used since who knows when. The time tested block patterns become the tools in the creative process.

This quilt is simply a nine patch–the most simple of blocks–on point with the addition of striped sashing. This is based on a published pattern by Eric Jackson named The Ruth Quilt but I winged it.

This baby quilt—folded up in my sewing room waiting for me to quilt it–is from fabric my daughter gifted me. No pattern, but I wanted to leave the giraffe print as big as possible to avoid losing the fun design. I also wanted to use just the coordinated prints, which was rare for me to have. I chose to copy a “rail fence” block for the spacer between the giraffe print. I did not alternate the fabrics in the three fabric block because I wanted to save most of the mosaic print for the border. How big to make the border? That depended upon the amount of remaining fabric. Another “winged it” pattern.

Some quilts are the same block over and over.

This beautiful quilt is a variation of the Lemoyne Star block being repeated. No quilt pattern is needed. The block pattern is in books and on tutorials videos.

Baby quilts are often a “no pattern” quilts. The focus is on the color or texture.

But sometimes I do use patterns.

…and I usually love the results!

My fellow members of Quilters at First, also like to “wing it”–

But my co-quilters have created some great quilts following a pattern.

Remember the huge box of quilt fabric and unfinished tops my daughter sent me? We made a quick trip to Virginia over Presidents Holiday and she had found more to send home with me. She gifted me 25 finished blocks of the 100 blocks need for the quilt, True Blue by Carrie Nelson. She also sent all the blues and low volume neutrals she had purchased for the quilt.

She had the pattern’s front cover but had lost the instructions with the measurements. Not a problem, I can just accurately measure one of the finished blocks. The key word being “accurately”. I am blaming the head cold and cough I also brought back from VA; I mis-measured the rectangle pieces. And then I cut forty sets of block pieces. Yesterday when I started sewing the blocks together, I discovered my boo-boo! Really wished I had had a pattern to follow.

Sometimes it is a great feeling to go off on your own creative path, and sometimes a interesting pattern is just the thing. Like a lot of life, it just depends!

*********************************************************

Not many new completed projects by Quilters at First in February but check these out..

More baby bibs…Diane is very creative with her baby bibs, no pattern. They are all quilted with batting to make them extra absorbent. They have Velco fasteners for easy use. The smaller ones are $8 and the larger ones are $10.

She also finished a ” 4th of July- Flag Day- Memorial weekend” table runner. Really red, white and blue is great anytime!

The runner is 13″ x 45″ and machine quilted. The binding is hand sewn. $40 (She used a pattern–she is more of a 95/5 person–95 being “wing it”.)