Hi friends!
This week in the Exploring the Basics blog series, I am chatting about a very basic quilt block: the Five Patch Chain Quilt Block!
This past month on Instagram, 7 other designers and I each explored the block and tried to reimagine it in a new way. Some of us went modern, some of us added curves and I added my favorite units- Half Square Triangles!
The Five Patch Chain Quilt Block
Let’s start with the basic block.
The block is set in a 5 grid pattern and this version has squares and rectangles.
Chain blocks are very popular as then can really add interest to a quilt design- either as the main block in a quilt or as a secondary block to form a chain around the other blocks. I went searching my patterns to see if I had any with chain blocks; the blocks in my pattern Jelly Roll Jumble are chain style blocks.
My Variation
For my variation of the block, I started by making it all into squares.
Next, I made some of the squares into HSTs.
I added more HST units and another background color.
I played with color just tweaking a bit from the stock color in EQ.
Quilt with One Block
Here is a quilt using the one reimagined Five Patch Chain quilt block.
Not my favorite. So I added alternating plain squares.
Adding a Second Five Patch Chain Quilt Block
I decided I needed 2 blocks.
And when the blocks were put together into a quilt, this is what they looked like!
I played with color and this was my plan for my quilt.
Picking Fabric
I added another challenge to this project; I decided I could only use fabrics in my stash and I wanted to use solids or tone on tones.
Hmmm… I didn’t have anything that matched my quilt plan so…
I ended up with these Toscana fabrics from Northcott that were leftover from other projects I had done.
Here is one block.
Here is the other block.
And here is what the quilt will look like when it is done!
I went away on vacation for 10 days this month so all the sewing did not get done! But it will be a charity quilt so it will get done when I have time!
What colors would you make this quilt in?
Next week, Tammy and I are back with the A Quilter’s Alphabet series and we will explore the letter W!
happy quilting!
Kate