15-17

Here are my Civil War Quiltalong blocks from the last few weeks. #16:



The instructions for this one called for the striped fabric (here, fabric with a grid on it) to be cut into eight pieces (four triangles and four squares), lining up the edge of a stripe with the edge of the ruler so that the stripes would match up when the pieces were sewn together. A few clever quilters decided to cut the square-and-a-triangle in one piece instead, and I followed their lead, saving myself a few seams and preserving the integrity of my grid.

#15:



I initially wasn't sold on the colour choices I made for this block (such doubts are a consequence of picking out fabrics in the semidark while watching a movie in the evening—not interrupting the ambience by turning on a light seemed like a very good idea at the time!). I felt apprehensive when I was sewing on the corner triangles, apprehensive when I was pressing the seam allowances into place from the back, apprehensive as I turned it over to inspect the front. Then I put it beside the other blocks and it was completely fine. All that anxious energy expended for nothing!

The muslin I'm using as the light fabric common to all the blocks that need a light fabric is doing a lot to pull the blocks together, I feel. Even when there's only tiny flashes of it, like the whole four square inches in the block I was worried about.

Last, #17:



This one was very quick to put together (no triangles!). I used nine different blue fabrics from my little collection of blue fabrics and am very pleased with the result.