Rona 14

Dan here ~

Rona 14 top is complete. I think I told you I was working on Rona 15 but we figured out it is really Rona 14.  Carol is already loading it on Lena.

I told you a little bit about how this one came about and if you have been following along I may be repeating a little. While looking through a bin at the storage unit I found the beginnings of a quilt that someone had started. When I showed the blocks to Carol, she said that our youngest daughter, Erin, had started it for a boyfriend that did not last as long as the construction process. She had completed a large stack of 9-Patch blocks and cut matching sized squares to go with them. 

I set out to design around what she had started and see if I could find something to liven it up a bit. I found a couple of decent sized pieces of the red and knew that it would frame the 9-patch blocks nicely. I had always loved that red fabric and I actually think I stashed those chunks in the bin for a later project. This one I guess.

I knew I could use the frame to “correct” the common error made creating 9-patch blocks ~  not being exactly square. Now I needed another block to go with the now framed 9-patch blocks. I had always had my eye on this yellow fabric.

I decided it went great with the red and would brighten up the quilt.

For the other block I decided on a basic Shoofly block. 

I had decided on the yellow and recut the blue squares and leftover strips that Erin had planned on using and made the needed blocks. Then I framed them just like I did with the 9-Patch blocks. 

That brought me to what is sometimes my favorite part of the design process ~ the sashing strips and cornerstones. At this stage of the design build process, I was planning on a sash border. This would put whatever I created for stars around the outside of the quilt and run out into the border to finish the stars. I really like that effect. Unfortunately, the sash border had to be scrapped. There would not have been enough of either the red or the blue to accomplish that. I tweaked my original border size as well to get the top small enough so there is just enough of the red that Carol can use it for binding.

So I turned to my Corner Pop II Tool and began to daydream. The Corner Pop II allows me to pop off a corner of my sashing strip at a 2:1 ratio ~ the same shape as a V-Block side triangle. I knew I did not want that look. I wanted a 2” finished sashing strip. A normal V-Block pop on a 2” sashing would suggest a 2” pop, with that the triangles that would make up my stars would be 2” high and 1” wide or would meet in the center of the sashing. This was what I did not want. I wanted it to look a little wonky.

I decided to pop 3”, this put my triangles at 3” high and 1-1/2” wide. This meant my triangle no longer met in the center of the sashing strip. I would have used a 3-1/2” pop but would not have had sufficient blue fabric. I think the wonky effect would have been greater.

Now I needed cornerstones. I am partial to square-in-a-square units for cornerstones. Quick to make and adds interest to the quilt. I began looking at the still good size pile of 9-Patch blocks Erin had made and I had not needed yet. I quickly saw that I could easily cut four square 2" center squares out of each 9-Patch block and decided to set them with the blue. I liked the red better, but again, not enough fabric.

Now I had my plan of action, I set to work to make all the units I needed. I assembled all the units and this is what I ended up with. I hope you enjoy. 

I always encourage any questions and/or comments. Also let me now if more or less detail is better.

Enjoy your weekend.

Remember, where ever you go, there you are, if I’m supposed to meet you there and you get there first, draw a blue line where we planned to meet. If I get there first, I’ll rub it out.