Taking a Quilt Detour - Willoughby Quilt

Isn't motivation a funny thing? When I started this Good Things are Coming quilt above, I had all intentions of finishing it with 16 blocks - a beautiful queen size quilt. But as I got closer to finishing 9 blocks (throw size) the idea of a queen sized quilt started to feel, well, BIG. 

Lots of quilters I know only make bed sized quilts. Are you one of them? I'm not. I've actually come from the opposite end. I used to make mini quilts and baby quilts - not because I thought they were a useful size, but because I used to make blocks until I didn't want to anymore, and then I sewed them together and called it finished. That all just happened to occur when a quilt made it to around 30" square. I've changed this habit mostly since running a business. I make a plan first, start on the pattern and organise the EPP kit often before I even start stitching. I've been influenced by what sells well and how many paper pieces fit in our standard A5 gift box and that means most of my quilts are now around 55-60". 

Last year, mostly because I couldn't decide which blocks to leave out, I made a queen sized sampler quilt called Red Sky at Night, and then perhaps on a roll, perhaps just because the blocks were so big and fun and easy, my Good Things are Coming Quilt above included a queen sized option in the pattern. 

Last year, as part of the Good Things are Coming launch, I made a single block into a cushion, and liked it so much I didn't want to stop there. And, as is perhaps a common error when it comes to appetite, I dove into another queen sized version, assuming my enjoyment of the block and motivation to finish the quilt would stay as buoyant as it was at the beginning.

A couple of weeks ago, I finished quilting my blue and white Red Sky at Night, overlapping my sewing time with the quilt blocks at the top of this post, and my motivation for making yet another queen sized quilt ran low. I decided to stop at 9 blocks and enjoy being done. 

Of course that left me with 7 partially made blocks and a whole lot of prepared shapes leftover. What's a quilter going to do?

Now, this is the part where I think motivation is completely weird. I decided to make the leftover stars into oversized Willoughby blocks (Willoughby is my 8 pointed star quilt made from blocks like the ones below, but stitched from smaller, 2" shapes). I had enough stars and prepared diamonds to make 14 stars. Before digging through my stash for more fabric, I unbasted all the leftover houses, and giddily discovered that I could, with very minimal waste, cut a diamond and a triangle from the shape. I reused the paper pieces from my finished Good Things are Coming blocks and basted them.

Why on earth did I have more motivation to make a spontaneous detour rather than continue stitching already prepared blocks, stitching that is the exact same action as the stitching I needed to do here? I don't really know how motivation works, but I'm guessing it has something to do with play. My detour was completely free of commitment, deadlines, and though all of the steps were the same, familiar process, there was an element of the unknown. I was curious to make the quilt to see how it would turn out.

I now had 21 stars. I wondered about making 36 blocks, giving me a finished quilt of 57” square - a very respectable lap quilt size. But when I checked in with Motivation, she wasn’t that keen, so we negotiated down to 25. A 48” square quilt will make a nice gift for a baby or one of my kid’s friend’s birthdays. 

A 16-block Good Things are Coming EPP kit gives you enough diamonds and triangles for 32 stars. If you're keen to reuse papers to make a quilt like I have, a 30 block, 5x6 layout will make the most of them. 

I like to reuse my paper shapes once - glueing a different side the second time around. After a second use, the papers are in good shape, but I find the glue build up frustrating when removing the next lot of papers after stitching. If you'd like to reuse your Good Things are Coming kit to make a 36-block quilt, you can cut more diamonds and triangles from the printable templates in the PDF pattern. If you've bailed from your 16 block plan like I did, you can make a bunch of stars, set aside the papers that have just been used once, and use them again to make more.

Shape Requirements: The Good Things are Coming 16-block EPP kit has 265 diamonds and 384 small triangles in it. I used a total of 192 diamonds and 300 triangles to make 25 blocks. A 30-block quilt needs 240 diamonds and 360 triangles. A 36-block quilt needs 288 diamonds and 432 triangles.

Background Fabric: I used about 1 1/4 yds of background fabric for this 25-block size. You need 1 2/3 yds for 30 blocks and 3yds for 36.

Block Size: These blocks have been trimmed to approximately 10", and finish at 9 1/2", but rather than trimming to a set size, I just lined up my ruler with the points and trimmed a 1/4" seam allowance.

Finished Size: A 25-block version finishes at about 48" square in a 5x5 block layout. A 30-block version finishes at about 48" x 57" in a 5x6 block layout. A 36-block version finishes at about 57" square in a 6x6 block layout.

Backing and Binding: A 25-block and 30-block quilt would need about 3 1/4 yards of backing fabric. A 36-block quilt would need about 4 yards of backing fabric. Both quilts would need a minimum of 1/2 yard for binding.

You can detailed instructions on how to make the Willoughby blocks in the PDF pattern here.

Well, I've stitched, pressed, trimmed, laid out 25 blocks, and my motivation, pleased with all her effort, has now dusted her hands off and moved onto something else. Why, oh why, doesn't she stick around till the end?? Last week I wrote some helpful tips for wooing motivation through the end stages of a quilt. I think I'll use those and bribe myself with chocolate. :)

I really enjoyed making my original queen sized Good Things are Coming Quilt (below) and I enjoyed letting myself take a detour this time. Find the kits to both Good Things are Coming and Willoughby below and make your own lovely stars in whatever form motivation draws you to!