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GemState 04-29-2013 04:51 AM

Jan, what do you mean by the 'two bells' blocks?

Tartan 04-29-2013 08:03 AM

If you don't put sashing between quilt blocks they often make a secondary pattern. If you go through the blocks from www.quilterscache.com quilt blocks galore you should find some that will work. There are several quilt pattern with changing the colour placement that will work. I am thinking the Storm At Sea pattern that forms a heart that was posted on QB under Two Hearts Connecting?

Prism99 04-29-2013 08:39 AM

Found this tip:
http://myquiltgenie.blogspot.com/201...lt-blocks.html

QuiltnNan 04-29-2013 08:54 AM

this one is pretty and easy, too http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...ml#post6033065

EasyPeezy 04-29-2013 08:57 AM

I was looking at my Nine Patch Snowball quilt last night and thought there's a secondary design in it.
Here's a good example of what I mean.
http://karenwaterbury.blogspot.ca/20...-teaching.html

Jan in VA 04-29-2013 09:41 AM

4 Attachment(s)
"Two bells" was the name Mary Ellen Hopkins gave it when you saw that a design or block or other trick in quilting that could make your quilt even more interesting; more than just setting it with the same block repeated over and over or set it together with sashings. (I don't think she ever made a quilt that was sashed?!) She meant that a single block did not have to be the 'finished' idea for a quilt.....use it as the vehicle to make the design even better.

These below were 'borrowed' from Quilterscache.com, put into the Paint program on my computer and merely rotated different ways. You could do the same with photocopies.

Jan in VA

rootyr 04-29-2013 01:52 PM

TY all so much for your suggestions. I will truly find one to do. TY again!

patchsamkim 04-29-2013 04:50 PM

Pepper Cory published a book called Cross Patch Quilts that used alternating blocks, and secondary patterns happened.

twinkie 04-30-2013 02:44 AM

It is interesting to read the responses to this challenge.

JulieR 04-30-2013 04:02 AM


Originally Posted by Jan in VA (Post 6032813)
Here is a neat trick to finding a block with this trait. If it has unmatching diagonal corners it will make a secondary pattern......for instance, maple leaf, attic windows, rolling star, Jacob's ladder, fox and geese, crosses and losses, buckeye beauty, Hays corner.

You can also use a folding mirror aligned along two adjoining sides of a block to see how it will appear when set adjacent to the same block. You can buy these now at some quilt stores or in catalogs like Clothilde, but I made mine for MUCH cheaper by buying a small piece of mirrored glass from a hardware store and having them cut it in half. I bound the edges with duct tape and used that to also make it hinge in the middle. I've had this folding mirror for 25 years, through 10 moves.

Thanks to Mary Ellen Hopkins for teaching this method to find the "two bells" blocks for that "graduate school look" in my quilts.:)

Jan in VA

Very cool, Jan. Thanks!


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