Maxine Rosenthal - One-Block Wonder Panel Quilts: New Ideas; One-of-a-Kind Hexagon Blocks

Publisher: Amy Barrett-Daffin

Creative Director: Gailen Runge

Acquisitions Editor: Roxane Cerda

Managing Editor: Liz Aneloski

Editor: Karla Menaugh

Technical Editor: Linda Johnson

Cover/Book Designer: April Mostek

Production Coordinator: Tim Manibusan

Production Editor: Alice Mace Nakanishi

Photo Assistant: Lauren Herberg

Photography by Estefany Gonzalez of C&T Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted

Published by C&T Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 1456, Lafayette, CA 94549

Dedication

To all of you who have enjoyed playing with kaleidoscopes. I feel honored to have added to peoples play.
Maxine Rosenthal

To Maxine, for asking me to write with her. It is an honor. To my husband, children, and grandchildren. I love you.
Nancy Miller

INTRODUCTION

One-Block Wonders are the ultimate mystery quilt. You choose your fabric, but you never know exactly what you will have to work with until the hexagons are cut and pieced. Using a panel is no different, except you know what one element of the design looks likethe panel.

NANCY SAYS:

Have you ever participated in a mystery quilt event? You are provided a supply list of fabrics, often with suggestions on color, contrast, size, and type of print, but you dont know what the final quilt will look like. Generally, you are given the dimensions of the quilt. Instructions are given one step at a time, from cutting to piecing, and the resulting quilt is a surprise.

You amass the needed fabrics and follow the cutting and piecing directions. I have made the mistake of deciding I wouldnt use good fabric on something I might not like, thinking that if I like the pattern, I will make another with fabric I like better. The resulting quilt design is beautiful, but I dont like the overall quilt because of my fabric choice. While I might have loved the quilt done in fabrics I really liked, Ive found that I generally dont make the same quilt pattern twice. My point being, choose a panel that speaks to you. If the panel meets the criteria we discuss in Chapters 1 and 2, go for it! While you may like the quilt you make from a fabric you dont love (and Im willing to bet you will), dive in, buy the fabric you love, and you will love your One-Block Wonder (OBW) panel quilt even more.

For that matter, buy the whole bolt! You could use the same panel over and over and by moving the cutting lines slightly, get a different quilt each time. I have yet to cut up fabric for a One-Block Wonder quiltpanels or otherwiseand been disappointed with the results. It is an amazing and powerful quilting method.

This is not a pattern that looks the same each time. Even using the same fabric again produces different quilts. It can become a burst of color originating from the center or a spiral, or a wash going from light to dark. The possibilities are truly endless.

If youve never made a One-Block Wonder quilt, dont worryyou can do this! This book will provide you with all the information you will need to be successfulthe process may be somewhat of a mysterybut youll be successful!

MAXINE SAYS:

Panelsthose lovely scenes printed across the full width of fabricare perfect for making a One-Block Wonder quilt. Start as usualstack and pin six repeats of the fabric together and cut strips, then triangles. Since you have six repeats of each triangle, you can sew the matching triangles together to create a hexagon that looks like a kaleidoscope, as explained in Chapter 3: Cutting and Piecing Hexagons. The array of kaleidoscopes that are possible are limited only by the colors and designs in the original panel, and the ways you can set them together are fascinating and fun to design.

In One-Block Wonder panel quilts, you have the added pleasure and design challenge of using part or all the original panel on the front of the quilt. You decide. It boggles the mind to see that all the hexagons have come from just one fabric.

The first panel quilt I made was, in our opinion, not worth writing about. But the second was much better.

In fact, this might be precisely what this book is aboutnot getting it right the first time, but persevering, nonetheless. You didnt learn to swim in a day, so why should this be any different? Is it because we are adults that we think it should be perfect the first time? We learn something with every quilt we make. For that matter, every time we bake those cookies, we might just add a new ingredient, streamline something, or change the shape.

So many people give up after the first try. That is what nieces and nephews are for. Let them take those half-baked ideas off to college and abuse them. Think of it as euphoric recall and you will laugh every time you think of how much you have learned, how far you have traveled, and how fierce you are to try something you never knew you could.

Getting out of your comfort zone is good for the brain. It establishes new pathways. That is what keeps you young. Getting new synapses to fire off in new ways is electric! Who knew quilting would provide one more benefit?

This was my first One-Block Wonder made from a panel, which you can see in the center of the quilt. I feel it is too obvious where the panel ends. There is little or no blending of hexagons. Perhaps I should have appliqud more hexagons to the panel. But as a first attempt, not bad. I love how far I have moved from there.

My First Quilt, 53 41, pieced and quilted by Maxine Rosenthal

Panel fabric: Orchid Shadows designed by Dover Hill Studios for Benartex

Chapter 1

WHAT IS A PANEL?

Websters dictionary defines a panel as a distinct portion, section, or division, but they most likely were talking about building construction materials. That definition can easily be applied to fabric. The easy answer is that it is a picture, generally with a frame, on a piece of fabric. Most often it is a complete preprinted design, selvage to selvage, containing an identifiable scene or design.

While quilt panels have been around for a very long time, there has been a recent surge in the availability and variety of panels. Many of the new panels take advantage of new laser-printing technology and are extremely detailed. Lets look at some examples.

Some panels are made up of a single image.

Panel fabric: Artisan Spirit Dreamscapes by Ira Kennedy for Northcott

The above panel section is a portion of a larger grouping of three pictures. The quilt shop had separated the pictures into individual panels so that people would not have to buy the entire set. It worked out just perfectly from our point of view.

We particularly like having a dark background around the subject. It makes the colors pop and adds a certain richness to the quilt.