Design Wall Monday::One Thing Leads to Another

I spent a frustrating Saturday morning dealing with real life stuff and nearly all of Saturday afternoon at the computer.  At first I was looking for a mystery quilt pattern I could use for the guild--not too hard for beginners but with something of interest for more experienced quilters.  Then I got a little sidetracked as it's so easy to do when hunting around on the 'net.

One of the quilts on my bucket list is called Album, or Chimney Sweep, or Chicago Pavements, depending on the source or the coloring.  I just happen to have a jelly roll of Barbara Brackman's Civil War Homefront which would be perfect for this. Clicking around on the 'net yielded dozens of variations of this block.  Bonnie Hunter did a scrappy one based on an antique quilt she saw.  Mereth at Pages from Me did one with a paisley coloring scheme.  She even has cutting and sewing directions for the block on her blog.

With a few more clicks I found myself at what surely must be one of the best sites for antique quilts, the International Quilt Study Center and Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Not only do they have a fantastic collection of quilts viewable online but they have several interactive features which make it easy to lose hours browsing through their collection.  Which I did. 

And there I found yet another block pattern to fall in love with.  It's one I'd never seen before, and I finally found a name for it after searching through Jinny Beyer's great book Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns. It's called Sunshine or Spring Has Come, depending on the source or variation. I don't know what it is with me, but I like to know the names and histories (if possible) of the blocks I work on.

So yesterday I booted up my ancient copy of EQ5 and drafted patterns for both of the blocks.

Purely as an exercise to see if the rotary cutting measurements were in fact accurate, you understand, I cut out fabric for the sunshine block and started to put it together.

And that's why I have a completely new project up on the design wall today. 

You can check out what others have on their design walls today by visiting Judy L's Patchwork Times blog.  Thanks again, Judy, for hosting this!