Windham Wednesdays and My Gingham Quilt Update

It's been a few weeks since I shared my gingham blocks. I decided to go bigger and added an extra vertical and horizontal row of blocks so that this could be a nice lap sized quilt. I'm using the blender collection of Bedrock by Windham Fabrics.

Remember the blocks? You can see my cutting and piecing on my April 24 post.

Sets of 3 different 9 Patch blocks using white

I had initially made these using the cream:

Sets of 3 different 9 Patch blocks using cream

When I began to put these together, I realized that I could combine the two sets to make a larger quilt. No kidding! You honestly can't tell the difference, can you? I shot this picture outside on my deck. We've had days and days of rain, so this was the only semi-dry spot. Will get another one soon.

Here's the quilt and you tell me where the cream and where the white blocks are! Of course, it doesn't help that you can see through the top.

Gingham quilt top: 6 x 6 blocks. 50" x 50"

I also realized that my approach to making gingham from squares of fabric was TORTURED! I don't know why my eye saw 9 Patch blocks, but I did. But on a closer look, all you need to do is alternate the Black-Gray-and White (B-G-W) in two different horizontal rows and it would be MUCH easier.

Here is my approach in a digital file (for a 5 x 5 block center):

And just looking at the blocks:

My approach to making gingham

So, the EASY way to approach this (rather than my blocks) is to make two horizontal rows:

• Black-Gray-Black-Gray, etc.
• Gray-White-Gray-White, etc.

Make them as long as you wish. I used 2-1/2" squares. Just strip piece 2-1/2" strips. Get it?!

This goes to show you that even though I've been doing this (pattern designing and writing) for 27 years, I can have blind spots and take the long way to a very easy project.

I hope to quilt this soon (I've had a very busy travel schedule in April and May). I pieced a backing for this. Now to cut batting and get it under my HQ Sweet 16. I'm going to use gray thread.