Friday, October 9, 2009

Red and aqua

Don't you just love the color combination of red and aqua on these buttons? Me too. When my friends saw the color combination I was working with, a lot of them said, "Hmmmm, I would never have thought of putting those two colors together." And I might not have either. But to me it says "Hey, we're both retro and modern. And we definitely belong together."

photo from lilfishstudios

If I would have written this earlier, I would have called it "What was I thinking??" or "Someone please stop me." Why? Because I have so many "NEED to be done" things on my quilting list. Instead, I signed up for an on-line red and aqua block exchange. Just because I wanted to. I didn't really have the time. Definitely not a must-do. Nope. Just for fun.

I found info and instructions here and here. I had plenty of red fabric, but I needed a bit more aqua. With fabric stored in nearly every room in our house, was it even remotely possible that I could do this swap without a few pieces of new fabric? What a silly thought...

So after a few purchases, this is what I started with:
The block is called "disappearing nine-patch." First, I cut a lot of 4 1/2 inch squares:

Laid them out so each block had a different fabric combination:


Sewed them together (I made a total of 25 nine-patch blocks):

Then cut them apart into four equal segments:


Now I mail them all off to a block exchange administrator, 100 of these segments. And in about a month I should get 100 back in the mail. (Is this sounding too much like one of those weird chain letter things??)

No, I'm sure I will get 100 in the mail. And when I do, I think I might put them back together like this.
And look at the socks I wore the day I sewed these blocks, and didn't even realize until I was photographing them. To quote my friend, Tanya, "What, doesn't everyone unknowingly match their socks to their quilt project of the day??"

10 comments:

05 08
JHNickodemus said... #

The sock/block combo is the bestest!

The Luedtke Family said... #

Very fanciful, can't help feeling happy looking at those colors! It's like picking cherries on a sunny blue sky day!

Little Spouse in the Old House said... #

This is so funny! I just blogged jessica and told her I wanted turquoise slippers with red trim. Very vintage! Then I got onto your blog and there it is! Great colors. Where do you send those squares and what happens to them? I don't get it. Is this a West coast thing? Janice

Anonymous said... #

Red and aqua - who woulda thunk? They look great together. The disappearing 9patch idea is fun. I bet you can't wait to see what you get back in the mail!! Marj

tooznie said... #

Looking forward to getting your block! Too funny about the socks. I didn't blog my blocks - sorry!

k said... #

I LOVE swirly dot fabric and the cherries on blue background fabric.

They would make a white kitchen so happy.

k said... #

I LOVE swirly dot fabric and the cherries on blue background fabric.

They would make a white kitchen so happy.

Jen @ RamblingRenovators said... #

I love that colour combo. And your socks are pretty snazzy too.

Little Spouse in the Old House said... #

One more thing- I just was one "oh-fransson!"blogsite and there's a cute little red and aqua quilt.

Camille said... #

Red and aqua are the best color combo there is! Love the blocks, and I'm sure the quilt will be just as great. So fun!