It is Row 7 today, in my series of posts on the progress of my Nearly Insane Quilt, based on a 19th century quilt by Salinda Rupp... I have now less than 20 blocks to finish! The blocks are all set on point, with 7 and 6 blocks in the alternating rows.
The blocks are 6″ square and except for a few, foundation paper pieced by me. I drafted all the patterns for FPP on the free Quilt Assistant software, based on patterns in Liz Lois’s book, which contains only line drawings of the finished blocks.
Most of the fabric used is Summer Breeze 3 (with a fat quarter bundle of matching solids) by Moda Fabrics, and the Dutch Garden 2 Collection by Boundless Fabric. I also used a couple FQs in blues and greens plus a jelly roll of yellows I had in my stash.
Nearly Insane Block 40
Number of pieces: 29
Level of Difficulty: Easy. This is one block where I made some changes from Salinda’s original block, adding those diagonal strips in the corner pieces. Now I wish I hadn’t.
Technique: Foundation paper pieced (FPP)
Nearly Insane Block 41
Number of pieces: 31
Level of Difficulty: Moderate. This basket block was another which would have been easier to English paper piece or even machine piece with nesting seams. But it gave me a great opportunity to use up that pretty soft blue, lage floral for the background. All in all, a very pretty block!
Technique: Foundation paper pieced with handle of the basket appliqued.
Nearly Insane Block 42
Number of pieces: 120
Level of Difficulty: Difficult…hmm…moderate? 120 pieces in a 6″ x 6″ block and so many points! I love this particular block and have made it into an 18″x 18″ cushion cover too!
Technique: Foundation Paper Piecing
Nearly Insane Block 43
Number of pieces: 88 pieces
Level of Difficulty: Difficult, as a lone star block is. So many y-seams and then the 8 seams meeting at a point in the centre…I tried (unsuccessfully) fussy cutting the strips for the diamond pieces, succeeding only in the centre.
(Arguably) the prettiest block in the quilt!
Technique: Strip pieced the eight bigger diamonds and then machine pieced them together. Also machine pieced the 4 corners and the triangles to the star.
Nearly Insane Block 44
Number of pieces: 84
Level of Difficulty: Truly insane block! With four 8-point stars and 32 y-seams! And to add to my woes, I kept losing the pieces, despite doing my best to keep track of them.
Technique: Foundation paper pieced the centre strips and English paper pieced the stars.
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 45
Number of pieces:44
Level of Difficulty: Moderate, because of the huge(!) 1″ pieces.
Technique: Foundation paper pieced (FPP) and machine pieced.
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 46
Number of pieces:37
Level of Difficulty: Easy–another log cabin block, this time with a star in the centre! (Compare with Block 11 and Block 76)
Technique: Regular machine piecing
Would you say this was the prettiest row so far? In case you have not seen my earlier updates, click the links for each row below:
Row 1 ( Blocks 1 to 7)
Row 2 (Blocks 8 to 13)
Row 3 (Blocks 14 to 20, with a couple missing)
Row 4 (Blocks 21 to 26)
Row 5 (Blocks 27 to 33)
Row 6 (Blocks 34 to 39)
Breaking News! The Foundation Paper-Piecing Patterns for the blocks of the Salinda Rupp Nearly Insane Quilt are now available on my store!
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