Welcome to the start of the second AHIQ invitational. We were thrilled that so many people chose to join in with the first one and enjoyed the experience of seeing how others interpreted the theme and of learning from what was shared on the link-ups each month.
The thing I found the hardest when I started my first challenge piece was the feeling that I had to stick to something close to a traditional Chinese Coins quilt. That traditional block felt like a constraint that blocked my creativity and I had to get past that in order to progress. If you read my posts you may remember that one of my 'a-ha' moments, which enabled me to get over myself was when I saw this post by Barbara Brackman. It reminded me that I could tinker around with things and seemed to point out (gently and politely) that the limitations I was struggling with were chiefly in my head. On a more practical level it resulted in the addition of pinwheels.
While I worked I kept mulling over the quilts she shared in that post,which I had found very appealing. That thought process has resulted in this quarter's challenge which is to make a piece of work that combines/incorporates two blocks. Hopefully this is a challenge that builds on the previous one; you could choose to carry on working with coin-style units if you wanted, and for this reason many of the images we have collected use either striped fabric or pieced strips as one part of their design. However, please also feel to branch out in a completely new direction if that's what floats your boat.
In fact, there are a number of different ways in which this might work, so here are some examples. (Where I've shared an image rather than a link,you can click on the picture and it should take you back to the original post).
Alternate two blocks
Barbara Brackman's examples include strips alternating with 9 patches, with pinwheels, with Shoo Fly blocks and with Single Wedding ring blocks. And here's a couple of other examples where the two blocks alternate in a pretty straightforward way.
This quilt alternates Square in a Square with stripes@ traditional, simple but striking.
Choose two blocks but play around with how you use them
This fabulous quilt, from around 1890 uses pieced strips as the main component, but combines them with HSTs and hours glass blocks
And moving a bit more up-to-date, Malka Dubrawsky used striped fabric to surround her stripy square blocks and Margaret (margaret-pw on instagram)
produced this lovely,muted combination of stripy squares and star blocks.
Use strip pieced blocks as a background for another design
Abandon all restraint
Of course, you might end up with something far removed from traditional versions of your two blocks.
There are plenty of examples of this freer approach amongst African-American quilters. Here's a small selection, all from the Souls Grown Deep website.
Of course, since this is an improv challenge you could head in any direction with it. You could create your own blocks/units rather than using traditional ones. You could begin with an idea for using two blocks and end up with a quilt that uses 3 or 4, or where only one remains by the end of the process - there are no rules, just a starting point.
If you want more ideas, Ann and I have put together a Pinterest board with lots of gorgeous inspiration, covering everything from modern quilts to Welsh antiques to African textiles. In fact, even if you don't need the ideas, it's worth a look!
So if you are joining in,and we hope you are, let's get started and meet up back here on next month's AHIQ link up where we can share where we are, what we've discovered, and any questions/thoughts that have come up.
If you are an Instagrammer, you can tag your photos with the hashtags #AHIQ2017Invitational and #AHIQtwoblocks so everyone can find them more easily on social media.
