42 Plus 3 - Steps 3 & 4

 It's a new year!  

Whilst it is a new year, some things have not changed.  

We are all spending more time at home and are looking to our creative outlets to pass the time and assist with our mental health.  I have often been told, you need to go down to your studio and play.  You may recognize the agitation or vibration that you can actually feel.  For me, when it really gets bad, the migraines also start.

After a few hours, my studio the agitation is gone and the migraine has started to subside.  

As we all retreat to our quilting spaces, it's time to continue progress on my complementary project, 42 Plus 3.  I recently finished steps 3 and 4 and my pattern testers have completed their edits.  

Today I'm sharing a couple of insights about how color can completely change a block.  Once you complete step 3 you may have noticed that you can assemble the large blocks one of two ways.  By simply changing up what side of the completed smaller blocks meet up in the center the design can entirely change.  Simply changing up the orientation of the Fabric 1 and 2 sides of the block the quilt will be very different.  This is best illustrated through photos.  

One of my pattern testers, Pat decided to only make 8 blocks and make 2 smaller table toppers as opposed to the larger quilt.  Her choice was influenced by her jelly roll only having 40 strips instead of 42 and some challenges in finding fabrics for the remaining 5 strips.  

Out of a challenge a new learning opportunity was born.  

Here is Pat's first layout of her large blocks.  This was Pat's initial thought was the layout with the black center star and partial stars on the perimeter of her table topper.

Pat will be adding a black border to this topper to finish it off.  

Now, switch it up!  No change in the blocks themselves, just a rotation of the blocks such that the center star and partial stars are now the pale pink fabric.  

What a difference!

For this topper, Pat will be adding a 3 1/2" cut pink border all around the blocks.  The stripped sections will then appear to float on the pink borders.

So, depending upon your available fabrics, you can always choose to change the color of your borders for a completely different look.  Pat's table toppers will finish at 42 1/2" square.

Here is the link for the pattern for steps 1 through 4:

42 Plus 3 Steps 1 to 4