Border Blocks - They are Not Just for Borders

During September many Tech Know Quilter members too a class on Border Blocks. 

They quickly discovered that these blocks are not just for borders -- but can be incorporated into the center of the quilt as well. 

​For the blog tutorial this week, I decided to share an example of this.  So you too can learn a bit about the power of these amazing blocks.

I also discuss how I converted a couple of the EQ blocks to be much more piecing friendly for those of us who love working with Deb Tucker's Studio 180 Design tools.

Playing with Border Blocks

The quilt I am sharing with you was designed by Mary Groesbeck.  Mary is a talented designer who does all her quilt designing using Electric Quilt 8.  You can check out some of her published patterns on her website.

Block Source

There are four different EQ border blocks that are the starting point for this quilt.  

Two of the blocks are from the Border Block Library in EQ8.  You can find them under 09 Border Blocks>Curved.

​The other two were found in the Auto-Borders under Border Styles - Miscellaneous.  You can access the auto borders on the Quilt Worktable.

Border Blocks>Curved in the EQ8 Block Library

Border Style Miscellaneous Under Auto Borders

Block Modifications

For this quilt, we could just use the blocks in a custom set quilt layout.  But, I decided to do some modifications.  This allowed me to set the blocks in a Horizontal layout.

Modification #1 - Serendipity Shrink and Flip

When using Serendipity with a block that includes an arc, it is considered complex.  As a result you cannot modify these blocks. 

​But it is super simple and you are able to adjust coloring of the block.

​
Modification #2 - Shrink and Flip (without using Serendipity).

This is a few more steps -- but the block is not considered "complex".  It can there be modified.

Modification #3 - Remake Blocks to be Tool Friendly (with no Inset Seams). 

For these blocks, I decided to use Deb Tucker's Split Rects tool which makes pieced rectangles where the units have a two to one ratio between the block width and height. 

You could also use Deb Tucker's Corner Beam tool for the lower right corner section. 

If you don't have the rulers, these would be super simple to foundation piece.  Particularly after removing those inset seams.

Border Blocks Quilt

Here is the final quilt from the video along with an alternate coloration.

Grooves and Drunkards Path Borders Quilt

Grooves and Drunkard Path Alternate Coloration

After the video was done, I began wondering what would happen if I used the Grooves blocks in the quilt center (with variations) and the Drunkards Path blocks in the border.  

​Here is what I came up with.

Grooves and Drunkards Path Border Blocks Switched

Alternate Border Blocks Playtime Quilt

I also decided to try the technique with a different set of Border blocks. 

​For  the alternate quilt, I used Picket Corner 2 and Picket Border 2 from the Picket category under Border Blocks and the Spring Flowers Border and Spring Flowers Corner  under Auto Borders Miscellaneous.

I then experimented with switching the center blocks with those in the border spaces.  Which I actually preferred. 

Picket and Spring Flower Border Blocks Option 1

Picket and Spring Flower Border Blocks Option 2

Now it's your turn to play.  Share your designs (along with the border blocks you chose to work with) in the Learning EQ Facebook group.

Learning EQ Facebook Group Border Blocks Playtime Post

Tech Know Quilters Month-End Show

At the end of each month, Tech Know Quilter members are challenged to apply what they learned during the month. 

Here are their submissions for September. 

​From the comments you may notice that most did not just share the projects from the class -- but took the concepts and designed their own quilts.  I think they did an awesome job.

Mary Groesbeck I studied Autoborders with the Masters class this month. We learned that some of the blocks need a little modification. So modify-a-little I did. And this throw appeared.

Edith Craig My class this month was Master Border Blocks. I used a layout from the layout library and manipulated several kinds of border blocks and corner blocks to become stand-alone blocks. It is fascinating how flexible the auto-border blocks become and how varied their uses can be. This was a very interesting class and had infinite possibilities.

Curryanne Hostetler This was what I did. My creation is with Auto borders tried on my own

Julie Pedersen I took the Masters borders class this month. Here is quilt. I used a block turned quilt and added some borders to it using blocks from the lesson.

Roxanna Khoury This was from Lesson 5 of Masters Border Blocks, Split Sunflower and Rainbow Curved Borders. I really liked the design and may be one I actually make.

Terry McCaskey I really enjoyed the Autoborders projects in Masters this month. Learning how to convert a pre-formulated EQ8 quilt design into "pieceable" blocks was very interesting and useful for extending design ideas in the future. Thanks Kari.

Henriette Koks-Oosterveer First month of TKQ and learned a lot.

Julie Payne Smith I was in the Borders class for September. I put Prairie Points on a previous class quilt. I also added some motif/applique and text touches of my own.

Fran Heisey My class was Master Border Blocks this month. I never realized you could do so much with border blocks. In a number of lessons Kari redrafted blocks to make sewing the quilt easier. In the past I would often change my design because EQ was forcing me to design something that would be hard to piece - in the future, I will just redraft the blocks. In this quilt I redrafted a block so design elements would flow into the border.

Rachel Chandler Hello, I took the very first Fabric Collections Class this month. Oh the things I learned! Thank you so much Kari for the wonderful, easy to follow instruction. I took the final quilt and randomized until I found an idea I liked, then played with it for a bit and found some secondary patterns I liked, then colored and randomized to fabrics. This is my final version.

Send me a note if you would like to join these amazing quilters and designers.

Learn More About Tech Know Quilters

Happy quilting.

​Kari

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