BLOG: Controlled Chaos

Here’s block #15 in the Controlled Chaos Quilt!

What You’ll Need

• 48  two-inch squares in color A (shown in pink)
• 52 two-inch squares in color B (shown in green)

Instructions

Use 1/4″ seam allowances for all sewing.

Press all the seams. I’m pressing mine open for this quilt. I think it will make things simpler in the end.

Arrange your squares according to the diagram below.

For this block I sewed things up in rows. The top and bottom rows are identical, as are rows 2 and 9, rows 3 and 7, etc. Knowing that can help you sew them up in batches.

Then sew those rows into one fabulous block. 🙂

That’s 15 blocks done – just 5 more to go!

I love how it’s coming together! And I feel like I’m so close to finishing!

Click here for all the Controlled Chaos posts.

Happy piecing!

Best,
Wendi

I had to take a bit of a break from the Controlled Chaos quilt over the holidays and into this spring – but I’m ready to finish this baby!

Here’s block #14 in the Controlled Chaos Quilt!

What You’ll Need

• 48  two-inch squares in color A (shown in aqua)
• 52 two-inch squares in color B (shown in magenta)

Instructions

Use 1/4″ seam allowances for all sewing.

Press all the seams. I’m pressing mine open for this quilt. I think it will make things simpler in the end.

Arrange your squares according to the diagram below.

For this block I sewed things up in rows. The top and bottom rows are identical, as are rows 2 and 9, rows 3 and 7, etc. Knowing that can help you sew them up in batches.

Then sew those rows into one fabulous block. 🙂

That’s 14 blocks done – just 6 more to go!

I think I’m going to go with grey sashing between the blocks. I like the way it sets off each one as its own little composition. Plus – I’m heartily sick of matching up seams. 🙂

Click here for all the Controlled Chaos posts.

Happy piecing!

Best,
Wendi

I realized that I didn’t have much diagonal action in the quilt yet, so I’m correcting that with the next few blocks.

Here’s block #13 in the Controlled Chaos Quilt!

What You’ll Need

• 48  two-inch squares in color A (shown in purple)
• 52 two-inch squares in color B (shown in yellow)

Instructions

Use 1/4″ seam allowances for all sewing.

Press all the seams. I’m pressing mine open for this quilt. I think it will make things simpler in the end.

Arrange your squares according to the diagram below.

For this block I sewed things up in rows. First we’ll sew some groups of like colors together. . .

1. Sew up 12 sets of three purple squares.

2. Sew up 14 sets of three yellow squares.

3. Sew up 4 pairs of two purple squares.

4. Sew up 4 pairs of two yellow squares.

Use the diagram above to sew those groups into rows.

Then sew those rows into one fabulous block. 🙂

That’s 13 blocks done – just 7 more to go!

I still haven’t decided whether I’ll use sashing between the blocks or not. If I do it will be in a nice slate grey. If I d0 use sashing it’ll be 310 seams I don’t have to match up – a major plus in my book. 🙂

Click here for all the Controlled Chaos posts.

Happy piecing!

Best,
Wendi

Here’s block #11 in the Controlled Chaos Quilt! This one is super simple and easy.

What You’ll Need

• 40  two-inch squares in color A (shown in purple)
• 60 two-inch squares in color B (shown in pale blue)

Instructions

Use 1/4″ seam allowances for all sewing.

Press all the seams. I’m pressing mine open for this quilt. I think it will make things simpler in the end.

Arrange your squares according to the diagram below.

Super easy. Sew the blocks into columns, then sew the columns together into a beautiful stripy block.

Here’s what my eleven blocks look like so far.

Click here for all the Controlled Chaos posts.

Happy piecing!

Best,
Wendi

 

Here’s block #10 in the Controlled Chaos Quilt!

What You’ll Need

• 52  two-inch squares in color A (shown in purple)
• 48 two-inch squares in color B (shown in pink)

Instructions

Use 1/4″ seam allowances for all sewing.

Press all the seams. I’m pressing mine open for this quilt. I think it will make things simpler in the end.

Arrange your squares according to the diagram below.

For this block I sewed things up in chunks in order to keep the edges of each color perfectly straight, even if my seams weren’t lined up perfectly.

We’re going to sew the whole thing into three fat rows, but we’re going to sew some parts of those rows into chunks first.

1. Sew up the four purple 3×3 squares and 1 purple 4×4 square.

2. Sew up four pink 3×4 rectangles.

Arrange those chunks as you see below.

Now sew all those chunks into rows.

Finally – sew all those rows into one fabulous block. 🙂

Here’s what my ten blocks look like so far. It’s half of my quilt!

Click here for all the Controlled Chaos posts.

Happy piecing!

Best,
Wendi

Here’s block #9 in the Controlled Chaos Quilt!

What You’ll Need

• 34  two-inch squares in color A (shown in orange)
• 66 two-inch squares in color B (shown in aqua)

Instructions

Use 1/4″ seam allowances for all sewing.

Press all the seams. I’m pressing mine open for this quilt. I think it will make things simpler in the end.

Arrange your squares according to the diagram below.

For this block I sewed things up a little differently in order to keep the edges of my chunks of color perfectly straight, even if my seams weren’t lined up perfectly.

We’re going to sew the whole thing into three fat rwos, but we’re going to sew some parts of those rows into chunks first.

1. Sew up the two orange 3×3 squares and 1 orange 4×4 square.

2. Sew up two aqua 3×7 rectangles and two aqua 3×4 rectangles.

Arrange those chunks as you see below.

Now sew all those chunks into rows.

Finally – sew all those rows into one fabulous block. 🙂

Here’s what my nine blocks look like so far. . .

Eleven blocks to go!

Click here for all the Controlled Chaos posts.

Happy piecing!

Best,
Wendi

Here’s block #8 in the Controlled Chaos Quilt!

What You’ll Need

• 36  two-inch squares in color A (shown in yellow)
• 64 two-inch squares in color B (shown in green)

Instructions

Use 1/4″ seam allowances for all sewing.

Press all the seams. I’m pressing mine open for this quilt. I think it will make things simpler in the end.

Arrange your squares according to the diagram below.

For this block I sewed things up a little differently – mainly to keep the edges of my yellow squares perfectly straight, even if my seams weren’t lined up perfectly.

We’re going to sew the whole things into columns, but we’re going to sew some parts of those columns into chunks first.

1. Sew up the four all-green columns.

2. Sew the middle two all-green columns together.

3. Sew all the yellow squares into their 3×3 blocks.

4. Sew eight 1×3 green rectangles.

5. Sew four of the 1×3 green rectangles into two 2×3 green rectangles.

Arrange everything as you see below.

Now sew all those chunks into columns.

Finally – sew all those columns into one fabulous block. 🙂

Here’s what my eight blocks look like so far. . .

Twelve blocks to go!

Click here for all the Controlled Chaos posts.

Happy stitching!

Best,
Wendi

I was out of my studio last week so I didn’t get a block made, but I’m back this week with a brand new color. Yellow! This is its first appearance in the quilt and I definitely like it paired with the blue. (It’s crazy how many blue scraps I have. . .)

Ready to make block #6?

What You’ll Need

• 70  two-inch squares in color A (shown in blue)
• 30 two-inch squares in color B (shown in yellow)

Instructions

Use 1/4″ seam allowances for all sewing.

Arrange your squares according to the diagram below and sew them together into columns.

(I know usually I saw rows here, but this block will be easier worked in columns. That way you have two types – some that alternate blue and yellow and some that are all blue.)

Press all the seams. I’m pressing mine open for this quilt. I think it will make things simpler in the end.

Sew the columns together to make the finished block.

Here’s the exploded view. . .

Here’s what my six blocks look like so far. . .

Love! By next week’s post I’ll decide what the finished size of my quilt will be. I’m thinking about hand-quilting mine. Crazy, right?

Click here for all the Controlled Chaos posts.

Happy piecing!

Best,
Wendi