halloween block lottery

My quilt guild (CLMQG) is holding a second block lottery in July, and this time we are trying a paint chip challenge in Halloween colors! I selected these paint chips at my local Home Depot to use as our guidelines and made two sample blocks for our June meeting when the block lottery and rules were announced...

I chose these fabrics for my sample blocks...

The color rules state that you must use ONLY the paint chip colors and black and white, so I added these three black prints...

The blocks must measure 12.5" unfinished (12" finished).  I like the clean graphic lines of "Plus" quilts, so I played around with my graph paper and colored pencils to draft one conforming to the 12" size rule.  The block is composed of 2.5" cut squares and 2.5" x 6.5" cut rectangles.  I tested out a couple of color layouts with the graph paper to make sure I liked the look before I started cutting.

I tried a couple of different arrangements of the colors trying to use just the solid fabrics and black prints.  (I couldn't find a yellow solid to match the paint chip, but this print is small enough to pass for a near-solid.)

In this version it seemed like the lights and darks were too clustered...

Here the acid green and yellow are too close together and there is too much orange...

Here is the winning layout.  This is a very easy block to cut and sew - once you've decided on the layout you just sew the pieces into rows and either press all seams to the right in the odd numbered rows and to the left in the even numbered rows, or make it even easier and press all the seams open.  It's not difficult to get accurate sizing on this block because there are no triangles or seams on bias edges.  There also aren't too many seams that need to match between rows.

My second block is called "Rolling Diamond", and I found the pattern and tutorial for making this block at knottygnome crafts. My friend and fellow CLMQG board member Lorrie has also published a tutorial on her website, SewMod Designs.  This block is more difficult to get an accurate size because of the square-in-a-square blocks and those bias seams, so be careful if you make one of these!

I left the obvious Halloween prints out of this block and used just two of the paint chip colors with two black and white prints.  I'm planning to add my "Plus" block to the lottery but keep this Rolling Diamonds block for myself; I really like the look of this block and might make an entire quilt using some additional colors and more black and white prints!

Here's a shot from my new swatch journal (in a future post I'll give you the details on this latest project of mine) that gives all known information about the fabrics I used...

I'll let you know how the block lottery goes and if I won after our July 19th meeting :)

If you would like more information about the specific rules for this lottery or helpful tips on successfully sewing quilt blocks for any swap or lottery, head over to the CLMQG website and read this post.

Happy Halloween sewing in July!!