Monday, February 8, 2016

Rail Fence Happenings

Yesterday, I promised to talk about rail fences today, so here I am!

The reason that the Cultural Fusion rail fence became sidetracked was because it needed more blocks to make the layout.  And I have misplaced the book, and because I had forgotten the size I had cut the strips to make the block.  Even if I looked for and found the book, it might not have matter, because I'm pretty sure I had altered the size.

It turns out that it was a simple matter of measuring the parts of a block that was already made and I was good to go!

The purple fabric was already out, so I must have chosen it for this quilt, and the B&W fabric was in my scrap box and in just the right amount. It was used in my improv quilt using one of Sherri Lynn's scores.

I have been sewing together all of the leftover rails end to end and I added the leftover rails of these blocks to the chain. I kept the values the same throughout the chain - all the darks in one row the lights in the other.  Since the leftovers were done, I considered different options.  It is a little hard to show since the rails were in one long chain.


 Alternating light and dark.


Alternating two rows of lights and two rows of darks. I like this better because it better emphasizes the darks and lights.


Courthouse square or log cabin  While this method intrigues me, I had already used it for the Elephant improv so I decided not to make another one of those.

I cut the pieces to one size and sewed them together. While I did reject some combinations because I didn't want big blobs of one color or fabric in any one section of the quilt, for the most part, I just combined them as I picked them up.  I think this is how the Mile a Minute quilt is created.

Here's the finished top.

The whole time I was making it, I expected it to be horizontal. But the seam allowances took quite a bit of the length, and now it is wider than it is long when you look at it this way.


I like the little raindrop or teardrop that wound up in this piece.

This is the same picture turned vertically so you don't have to turn your head.

5 comments:

Julierose said...

this quilt is so vibrant and lovely, Shasta....I love the colors hugs, Julierose

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

That is pretty neat! Leftover quilts are always fun.

Kaja said...

I like the scrappy look a lot, and your reds/oranges work really nicely with the blacks and very light fabrics. It has a lovely feel to it.

June D said...

Lovely. Your colors and fabrics are really nice. But what happened to the rail fence blocks? : )

Allie-oops Designs said...

Love love love the quilt!