While working through a series of quilt blocks chosen from Nancy Martin’s Perpetual Calendar, I am exploring basic quilt design. Although graph paper and pencil works well to draft these blocks, Electric Quilt makes drafting and designing so easy to do.
This week, I’ve chosen to explore the Four Knaves quilt block.
Four Knaves is drafted from a 4 x 4 grid.
If you have BlockBase, it is number 1197.
I like to start by seeing what the Four Knaves quilt block looks like set side by side in a simple straight set with borders.
Then I’ll try sashing and cornerstones:
I like to introduce alternate blocks, in this case the Basic 4X block:
Alternate blocks will sometimes give a secondary design element. I rotated some of the Basic 4X blocks, and I can see a star surrounding the center block in the above quilt design. If I look at it another way, I can see the Four Knaves resting on a light background, or a square in a square effect.
This is where value comes into play. It will make a big difference where the light, medium and dark values are placed as they can emphasize the aspects of the design that I choose to show off. I’d play with value and color more before I’d sew up this design.
Next, I’d like to see the Four Knaves blocks placed on point:
And, again, with sashing and cornerstones:
This time, I’ve chosen to set the Four Knaves quilt blocks with an alternate block…the Snowball block.
Lots of space there to introduce some great quilting designs!
LC's Cottage 