A Pattern Is Just a Place to Begin

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Budding Blossoms: A Visit with Anne Wiens

Today we’re excited to welcome designer Anne Wiens as a guest blogger on Quilty Pleasures! Anne is going to tell us all about her Budding Blossoms medallion quilt that is patterned in our Quilts From Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks Spring ’17 special issue.

Anne was a member of our 2013 Scrap Squad, and we are big fans of her wonderful quilt designs. Be sure to stop by her blog at Seams Like a Plan for more tips and inspiration.

 

My contribution to Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks, Vol. 14 was a block I called Star Route.

QM100 WIEN 300x300 A Pattern Is Just a Place to Begin

Star Route by Anne Wiens

I live in a rural area of northcentral Montana, where many farms and ranches have their mail delivered by independent couriers contracted by the U.S. Postal Service to deliver along “star routes.”  I did a little research into the name Star Route for my blog post celebrating the 100 Blocks issue last fall.

In that post, I also showed one way to use the block in a simple setting to make a colorful quilt in a couple of sizes.

 

For the Spring ’17 issue of Quilts from Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks, I enlarged the 12″ block to 24″, and added four 12″ blocks around it, then finished with a 9″ wide border and cornerstones.

Star Route Quilt Sketch 300x300 A Pattern Is Just a Place to Begin

Star Route quilt sketch by Anne Wiens

My original proposal was to make the quilt in solids … a nod to the Amish-style quilts I have always enjoyed. When the Quiltmaker editors sent me Kathy Deggendorfer’s “Wild by Nature” collection (Maywood Studios), it took me a little by surprise.  I love the whole line, but that’s a lot of pattern and color for one little quilt. Working with Quiltmaker’s editorial team has nudged me (read “shoved me”) out of my comfort zone on a few occasions, and usually with amazing results like this:

 

Budding Blossoms quilt flat 600 A Pattern Is Just a Place to Begin

Budding Blossoms quilt by Anne Wiens

I’ve always considered a pattern just a place to start, so let’s look at a few ways you could tweak Star Route:

Idea 11 300x171 A Pattern Is Just a Place to Begin

Idea 2 300x171 A Pattern Is Just a Place to BeginIdea 3 300x171 A Pattern Is Just a Place to Begin

There are many more possibilities, of course, so don’t be shy. Pull out your scrap bin and play around with different color combinations. You’ll have enough blocks for a sampler quilt before you know it!

To borrow a phrase from an old commercial, never quit asking “what if”.

* * *

Thank you for joining us today, Anne!

If you’d like to make Budding Blossoms and don’t have a copy of our Quilts From Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks Spring ’17 issue, print and digital copies are available in our online store. 

digital pattern is also available for Budding Blossoms.

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