The pattern for this cheerful single bed “Provencal Sampler” quilt is available from my online Shop.
It was designed for two reasons:
Firstly, I wanted to create a project where people could practise using the “Pressing for Perfect Points” techniques that I had devised, starting from simpler blocks such as “Nelson’s Victory” and “Oh Susanna” which included squares as well as half-square triangle units, and progressing to blocks made entirely from half-square triangles such as “Yankee Puzzle” and “Balkan Puzzle” with a greater number of points to master.
Help with the techniques can be found on the Machine-stitched patchwork Techniques pages where there are videos and guidance to help get better quality results.
To download a grid showing the names of all the blocks, click here: Provencal Sampler block layout
Secondly, I wanted to use some wonderful fabric that I had bought on holiday in France. This had elaborate strips of border motifs in the glorious rich yellows and blues typical of Provence. Although I knew that students wouldn’t necessarily be able to find fabric like this in the UK, I always encourage an individual choice of fabric anyway – and hence that the pattern would be written, as usual, specifying only whether a “Dark, Medium or Light” fabric would be required. This is called the value of a fabric, and is far more important than the actual colour when selecting fabric for a project. More guidance about choosing colours successfully can be found in the Colour and Contrast page in the Techniques section.
I selected fifteen blocks with the same general geometry so that they would look balanced, however they were arranged, and indeed whether all fifteen were used.
All were “four-patch” blocks, meaning that they have four rows of four smaller units. All had four-fold rotational symmetry.
The pattern is available for £8 by download from my online Shop.
Other patterns which have the pressing planned for you to get those perfect points include Friendship Star, and Catherine Wheel