Fabric Tuesday

Well, my design wall didn't stay empty for long!  

This is the first block for my new quilt tentatively named, "Shiloh" - more on the name soon.  I can't wait to share, since it's a beautiful story!

This block is a traditional 1930's Dogtooth Violet block.  The historian in me really would like to know more about the pattern and how it originated, but there just doesn't seem to be any information out there on the web.  Does anyone know of any good sources?

I'm really enjoying working with Barbara Brackman's line, Lately Arrived from London.  As I mentioned yesterday, this is the first Civil War Reproduction fabric I've ever purchased.  Originally, I toyed around with making a quilt with a classic 19th century block to really showcase the fabric, but I just kept returning to this block.  I'm really pleased with how it's turning out!

When I originally mapped the pattern out in EQ6, I had planned on using two of the lighter background-ish type prints in the line for the sides of the setting triangles ... but then I spent all my fabric allowance for the month on a beautiful fat quarter stack ... so I decided to throw caution to the wind!  I used my go to white-on-white print that I already had on hand.   It's definitely not traditional, but so far I'm loving how the white just makes the dark, Victorian-ish colors pop! 

After struggling with all the triangular points on my Robot Roulette quilt, I decided to give foundation piecing a shot with the setting triangles, and boy, am I in love!  Granted, the fabric waste is much higher with this method of piecing, but man - absolutely perfectly pieced blocks are so worth the waste!!

Ummm ... quick tangent for a minute: has anyone else experienced difficulties with foundation patterns printing from EQ6 in the WRONG SIZE????  After making several test blocks, I just couldn't figure out why my block wasn't working out.  I checked my math several times, because surely the error was my fault ... and not the fancy computer program's fault.

Sure enough, my math was right, thank you very much ... and the foundation pattern printed directly from EQ6 was over 1/4" too small!  Unfortunately, I already printed the foundation pieces for the entire quilt already and had to reprint them in the correct size ... so this pattern will be responsible for the death of not one, but two small trees.  Won't be making that mistake again!

So, now that everything is all worked out - and little man and his Dad are happily enjoying some male bonding time this evening in the front room - I'm off to enjoy a glass of CG Di Arie's Primitivo Block 4 {YUM!}, watch some trash TV, and piece my little heart out!

Be sure to stop by Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story to see all the other awesome projects going on in blogland!