Today we have some building blocks that you can use to plan (play with) new quilt blocks.
A few years back our friend Kimbo from A Girl and A Glue Gun came to one of the classes we were teaching at SNAP. It was a class on making and using half square triangles as well as the versatility of that block. (And really…the half square triangle has to be the most versatile and most often employed quilt block…almost every quilt employs them in one way or another.)
Well, after the class Kimbo went home…and because she is wicked creative came up with a pattern for a wooden frame and wooden triangles that would mimic half square triangles so that she could experiment with half square triangle placement.
(You can check out her awesome post and get all the details about what she made HERE.)
I remember seeing them and thinking they were awesome….now fast forward to last month.
Last month as were were putting together all the items for our Quilt Market display I was walking around Hobby Lobby picking up some last minute decorations. There I saw a package of 4 precut wooden blocks and was like BAM! I could turn them into something similar to Kimbo’s awesome wood cuts!
So I did.
And I love them.
We ended up only using 3 of them on the nightstand of the table in the display but since bringing them home they have been played with quite a bit.
Mostly by my girls who keep designing me quilt blocks to try:
“Take a picture of this one mom. It should be a whole quilt!”
To make these blocks all you need is:
*wooden cubes (You can buy 20 of them for $20 HERE on Amazon)
*acrylic paint (I used 3 different colors)
*painters tape
*a paint brush
Once you have your supplies you are ready to paint. Each cube has 6 sides and I used three colors to paint. So begin by simply painting all 6 sides of your cube solid colors…I did two sides white, two sides black, and two sides gold on each cube.
Let dry.
Next take your painters tape and one of your blocks. Place the tape across the face of one side of your block from corner to corner in a diagonal line. Using a coordinating color of paint from what has already been painted on that side paint in the triangle. Gently pull off the tape before the paint dries. Then let dry.
Repeat that process on three sides of each block.
When you are finished each block will have three solid color sides and three half square triangle sides.
Once you are finished they are ready to be played with!
*Note: I did NOT finish off my blocks with a gloss or a clear top coat which has resulted in them getting scuffed….if you want to finish of each block with a light coat of gloss they scuffing will be drastically decreased!
And one last picture before we go…it’s a fish block…my daughter made it…and she’s pretty proud of it:
