Batik Rectangles (aka scrap vortex)

Here is a little background on my struggles making my ‘Batik Rectangles’ quilt. I started off with a great idea to make a quilt similar Judy Turner’s Checkerboard quilt.

I had 48 batik fabrics that I had used for my ‘Uneven Nine Patch’ quilt and decided they would work great. I cut up bunches of 2×3-1/2″ rectangles and started putting together into pairs. Well, I found that I had more med/dark than dark and more med/light than light so I wasn’t going to get the contrast needed to do the design. Talked with the girls at the quilt group meeting and they suggested to just go ahead. They said that even without the high contrast it would look great. So…I kept sewing. Later, I decided that I REALLY wanted to see the contrast so off I go to my local quilt shop in search of one dark and one light batik. I would use them as block sashing and hopefully give it the same look as my inspiration (except that it wouldn’t be scrappy). Yahoo…successful trip. Found a dark blue and a light cream batik. Excellent.

Now I needed to get the blocks on the wall so I can decide which ones will get the dark block sashing vs the light. Took awhile to get the blocks where I wanted them (forever moving them around..nothing new). Even with 48 fabrics some of the little rectangles were close to each other. Oh well. As I was looking at them I start to think that I really like them the way there are. Do I really need the block sashing?

This is my version of a ‘scrap vortex’ quilt. Sometimes it’s okay to change your mind on the design – you might even surprise yourself with the results.