Quilts We’ve Made: Tumbling Blocks

We love the three dimensional aspect of tumbling blocks.  This quilt was made in 2006 for my son’s graduation and it needed to look manly.  No overt florals or pinks, so it was a heck of a time investment finding enough geometric prints in other colors, and in three contrasting values.  

This was made so long ago that the ladies in my quilt guilt assured me this pattern could only be done by hand.  I was determined to do it by machine, so all the diamonds were cut using a handmade 60 degree plastic template.  All the pieces were arranged by color and value and then sewn together my machine.  I marked each intersecting corner at 1/4″ and then stitched to that exact point, much the same way we do grandmother’s flower garden by machine.

For the finish, I cut border pieces to finish the straight edge and then added a small additional border.  This makes the blocks kind of float in a group.  The backing fabric (not shown) is a spaceship flannel print, so it was quilted with variegated thread in geometric circles and stars to mimic the backing fabric.

There are so many fun geometric fabrics available now that this would be really fun to do again.  There are also rulers and other things to make this easier than it used to be.  In the old days, my quilt guild was amazed to see this pattern didn’t have to be done by hand. All of my son’s friends want this quilt, and they tell me that their mothers don’t love them nearly this much.  We would like to do another one with really modern solids, basics, and metallics.  Stay tuned and we’ll share our progress.