On Point Quilt design combining 3 sizes of Inklingo Mariner’s Whirl blocks – original quilt design by Annika Kornelis
I explored different ways to combine the three available sizes of Inklingo Mariner’s Whirl Blocks (12 inch [30,5 cm.]; 16 inch [40,6 cm.] and 20 inch [50,8 cm.]) in one quilt design.
The quilt above measures about 102 inches square! [2,59 metre], but you can combine these three sizes in smaller quilts.
I used several ‘EQ tricks’ to be able to combine different sizes of blocks, but I have not nearly exhausted the box of tricks! I only used three ways to put several sizes of blocks in one quilt design:
- Using blocks and sashings with corner stone, creating space for 2 different block sizes;
- Enlarging smaller blocks with a frame, to create the desired size to fit them in a grid for a larger block size;
- Put different sized blocks on different layers of the quilt worktable.
Options I did not even use are:
- The ‘create quilt from block’ feature. You can use a block from the library or draft your own desired quilt layout as a block. This only works with blocks consisting of squares and rectangles.
- Placing the blocks in a custom quilt layout. A custom quilt layout allows you to place random size blocks anywhere you like, collage style, even stretched and angled, and jumbled on top of each other.
In the quilt above I set the block size at 20, and a sashing size of 16 inches, creating space for 16 inch corner stones to put Mariner’s Whirl blocks in.
Screen capture of EQ8, showing the settings to create the quilt layout used above.
Using a sashing to put blocks in the corner stones is probably the easiest and most common way to combine different sized blocks. And of course you can also make your sashing wider than your blocks.
In some of the designs in this post I enlarged 12 or 16 inch Mariner’s Whirl blocks in EQ, by putting a frame around them, so I can still use the fixed size Inklingo shapes to piece blocks with a larger finished size.
EQ makes enlarging blocks this way super easy. No need to redraft the base block! Under ‘New block’, you will find the ‘create serendipity’ tab. You can either choose ‘frame block’ or ‘merge blocks’. I chose the latter, to be sure I have the right sized frame. I draft that myself, instead of using the standard frames on offer. All you have to do is draft a block with the desired frame, just four straight lines.
In this example I drafted a 20 inch block with only a 2 inch frame around an empty center square. The square offers room to place a 16 inch Mariner’s Whirl block inside. You can do this by using the ‘Merge blocks’ feature, under the ‘Create serendipity tab’, under Block Tools.
Same quilt as above, showing lines of the sashings and fabric frames around enlarged blocks.
Of course the 16 inch sashing makes this quilt very large. So I also combined different sizes of blocks right next to each other.
3 sizes of Inklingo Mariners Whirl blocks in an on point set without sashings – original quilt design by Annika Kornelis
The quilt above, without sashings, measures 57 inches square [145 cm.]. You can see I set block size to 20 inches, and enlarged the 16 and 12 inch blocks with frames, to fit in this layout.
You can save space if you don’t use all of the fabric frames, and put different sized blocks right next to each other. Of course it is easy to do that in actual piecing, but you need to know how to do that in EQ.
3 Sizes of Inklingo Mariner’s Whirl Blocks in an on point setting, closer together – original quilt design by Annika Kornelis
This quilt ends up 51 inches square [130 cm.]. I set block size to 16 inches, and added 2 inch sashings. I put the (partial) 20 inch blocks in the center and the corners on layer 2 of the quilt, so they cover the sashings of layer 1.
So, that is another trick to combine different sized blocks in one design in EQ. Just take one or more blocks out of the fixed grid that is in layer 1, and put them in any size and any place you like on layer 2.
If parts of your blocks stick outside the edge of the quilt, you can clip them to the edge of your quilt center or to the outside edge of your border. I did that with the four corner blocks on layer 2.
Variation of the quilt design above, using a 12 inch block in the center instead of a 20 inch block – original quilt design by Annika Kornelis.
While designing, I ran into several minor EQ8 issues! The wonderful people from Electric Quilt are working on it. Just so you know, if you try to recreate some of the ideas in this post, and run into trouble, rest assured, it is not you.
My advice, skip the playing in EQ8 for now, and just start playing with Inklingo Mariner’s Whirl blocks in fabric! :-)
XXX Annika
Stof Genoeg 