Test Blocks

Laurie made a comment that she finds it hard to cut into batiks. And if it weren't for her comment - I probably would have stuck that great pile of batiks Susan sent to me on my shelf - to "age" and be pulled out occassionally for fabric petting. Oh the possibilities of uncut fabric! But then again, with Laurie's "warning" fresh in my mind I decided that I must cut right into that fabric and get the "hard" part over with! Ta-Da!!!

One thing about batiks - many have great designs... so I didn't exactly want to start out by cutting those fabrics down into strips for the strip bins - to be used "someday". Nope, I wanted to find a pattern that would showcase their beauty, where I could use them ALL and have a nice project to work on here and there (believe me, here and there does add up!) . Keep in mind - the fabric sizes varied - a few fat quarters, and a bunch of long strips anywhere from 4.5" - 9" by the width of the fabric. Hummm, what to do? What to do?

I've been wanting to make some heart blocks and just so happened to have the cutting directions for 2 different heart blocks on my table. So, last night I made "test" blocks of each size just to see how they made up. 8" and 6" finished. I like to make a test block or 2 before cutting all my fabrics up - sometimes I really don't like how a test block goes together. One block - no harm done, right? Quick lesson. Not s0 if you cut enough fabric for an entire quilt and then learn you don't really like working on a particular block. A test block is well worth the little bit of extra effort!!! DH and I both liked the 6" best - and the 6" block makes much better use of the fabric seeing that it is just 3.5" X 6.5" batik bricks with no other pieces to cut (other than background), doesn't "cut" up the batik design with seams and is an easy block! And, since 2 different heart halfs are joined together - it won't matter that each fabric yielded a different number of bricks - it is a mix and match type block. With a bit of careful cutting - altogether I managed to get enough bricks to make 67 of those 6" heart blocks!!! The background will be a pale solid yellow I have on hand.

Did you notice the "bonus triangle squares in the test block photo? The 6" block gives me those itty bitty tiny 1" squares - I won't make anymore of those because honestly - I think they are too small to justify the thread usage! But - the block also gives me a larger, more usable unit as well (the medium sized one). The largest one is from the 8" block.

And look there - I have a great little collection of new scraps from cutting the bricks. Little scraps mind you - I used almost every bit of the fabric in cutting the bricks. Still - enough scraps to include in a bars quilt or string stars, or postage stamp, or, or, or??? I love scraps! Not sure when these heart blocks will be done, but the hard part is over, right? Pattern selected and fabrics cut. Yippee!!!