Some Sampler Ideas for 2015 Lotto Blocks

Posted by Sophie on April 4, 2015 in block lotto community, my sampler | 5 comments

A few people has asked if there will be a sampler quilt design, a QAL or *something* this year and I keep promising to share some thoughts on quilt sampler ideas for this year’s blocks.

As I was enjoying a quiet moment with my morning coffee, I thought that IF only I had started another quilt-along sampler this year, *I* would have been forced to make blocks for myself for a sampler quilt … even if no one else played along. It’s not like I don’t have a plan … but I just haven’t been able to get started.

For those who have liked the blocks so far this year and think they would like to make a sampler quilt, I spent some time this morning drawing some quilt layouts in EQ (and I am just learning, so they are rough) to share.

The first thing to consider is that this year, we will make 8 blocks that have a finished size of 9-inches square and 4 blocks that are 4 1/2 by 18-inch rectangles. Here is a representation of their relative sizes.

I think of these as building blocks that can be combined in many ways. Here are two.

A small sampler (table cover or play quilt) that is 45 inches square (before adding borders), can be made from 2 of each of the 12 blocks plus four 5-inch squares for the corners and borders, if you wanted them.  I added a narrow border in this layout for a quilt that is 49 1/2 inches square.

In this layout, I used different colored blocks to represent the blocks we’ll make in future months.

This layout could also be used to make a quilt using fewer than 12 sampler blocks.  You might choose one square block and one rectangle to make a quilt. Below is an example using three of the blocks we’ve made so far this year.

Can you see how easily this quilt layout can be made larger, if you add the square blocks in 2-block increments (which correspond to one rectangle block in the border).

For example, if you added two more rows of square blocks, with one more rectangle on each side and wider borders, you would have a nice sized throw or single bed-sized quilt.

The blocks this year will work well in a row quilt, which is where I’m likely headed … if I can ever get started.

If you make a quilt where each row is some number of each of the 12 blocks, you will end up with a quilt that is 90-inches long (without borders). The number of each block you make will determine the width of the quilt. 10 each of the squares and 5 each of the rectangles will result in a 90-inch square.

A quilt made from 7 each of the squares and 3 (and a half) of the rectangles would be 63 inches wide (before any borders are added) look something like this.  In my drawing, I added narrow borders for a quilt that is 68 by 95 inches.

Instead of making half an arrow, I added two 4 1/2 inch squares (finished size) between those blocks … for the rest of the rectangle blocks, it will be easy to make a half-block (hint, hint).

In this layout, you could order the blocks in any way of your choosing and you could easily repeat a block you liked to substitute for one you didn’t like so much …

I have doodled one more quilt, a large medallion style that I can try to recreate in EQ7 if anyone thinks they might like to make it.  It has many more of the rectangles than the square blocks and would work well if you had a focus fabric you wanted to feature.