The Old Italian Block

After finishing up my latest bee blocks, I was ready for a new project, and after perusing my copy of Unconventional & Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar by quilt curator and collector Roderick Kiracofe, I was drawn in by an Old Italian Block quilt top. I had several red solids I wanted to incorporate into one work, and that really was my thought as I began rummaging through my stash for what to put with them. I happened upon a stash of crossweaves, many bits left from a piece made years ago. Little did I know that I would quickly fall in love with the analogous palette I chose.

The Old Italian Block is a quick make, and I followed the excellent tutorial by Barbara Black/@bbquiltmaker. The tutorial makes a 6.5" block, which actually was quite perfect for the quilt layout I had in mind.

So in between real life stuff this week, I've been making more blocks; and finally last night, was ready to cut some solid squares and see if my original plan was going to work. Happily it really really was.

So now I have a dilemma.... to start piecing a pretty traditional layout, or to turn things on their head a bit. Option two would mean making several more blocks and definitely would complicate the trimming later, but I'm thinking it just might be worth the risk. So stay tuned. I've really enjoyed where this fabric journey has taken me so far, and I'm just not sure I want to stop now.