Scrappy Rectangle Block [Technique]

The March Block Lotto for the NYC Metro Modern Quilters Guild is another scrap buster.  

What's a Block Lotto?

You make any number of blocks of the designated design, hand over your blocks at the next guild meeting and you are given one entry in the raffle draw for each block you've made.  

I got carried away making this month's scrap buster - I've made up six blocks and you can't even tell I've taken anything from my scrap boxes.  I was pleased to use up some charm squares from a charm swap I took part in a few years ago.  I wasn't that thrilled with the charms I received - they weren't all good quality, some had been pre-washed and the prints weren't to my taste - it taught me to be more selective about the swaps I join and to read the rules carefully and ask questions beforehand, it was a good lesson learnt. 

So, while I was making the blocks I was also thinking how great a quilt could look using this block made up from a chosen fabric collection or solids, not just with scraps.  I enjoyed trialling layout options too, though I couldn't develop them much with only six blocks.

This block is very quick to make and such a simple technique you can easily play around with the number of strips and also the dimensions to create larger or smaller blocks.

Here are some photos I took along the way.

Scrappy Rectangles Block [Technique]

8" x 8" (unfinished) / 7-1/2" x 7-1/2" (finished)

I made things even more simple by chain piecing enough strips for the six blocks.

A finished Scrappy Rectangle Block.

Using my six blocks, I've played around with these three design layouts but there has to be potential for far more when you're working with a greater number of blocks.

I like the larger rectangles that are created along the horizontal centre line of this third layout.

In the end, I couldn't resist playing around with the block design layout some more in EQ7, sometimes changing the strip orientation within the blocks and rotating the blocks within the quilt top. 

  

They're all created as solids, apart from the last one, it's Lotta Jansdotter's Hemma collection for Windham Fabrics.  The first four remind me of Fair Isle knitting and make my fingers itch to grab some needles and be creative with wool!

Quite possibly the Lotta version is my favourite, which one is yours?

Scrappy Rectangles Block [Technique]

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