About that Faux Braid

   I lovingly snitched Sharon's photo of her faux braid quilt last week.....which is made from Quarter Log Cabin blocks.  She did a very good tutorial on her construction method , which can be found here, at Sew We Quilt a couple of years ago.  I suggest you click over and print it out or at least read it to understand the simple changes she made.
 A little update:  Sharon of Vroomans Quilts re-posted her tutorial , so we can easily find it!  Thanks.


   A traditional braid, or friendship braid, or French Braid have an inherent problem, namely dealing with bias edges. This faux braid takes care of that...no bias, just one block to work with.  The key or secret that Sharon found is in the color placement!  Read that as working with value, and you know you have my attention.
  I promised to share a few ideas---from my list of about 30 ideas, so here they are.

•     A two color quilt.  Maybe blue and white, or a green and white quilt.
•     Sunset color:  red, gold, purple against a very pale blue as the light side.
•     A modern quilt:  use yellow and grey prints and a simple white as the light.
•    For a little girl:  Pink prints and very light green as the light.
•    Ocean waves:  colors of sea glass--blues, and greens and teal----with  white as the light.
•    Midnight moon:  dark blues and a silvery grey/white for the light.
•     Desert sands:  Rust, brown, and turquoise and teal with sandy tan for the light.
•    Coffee break:  brown, and mocha prints with creamy tones for the light.
•    Autumn leaves:  gold and rust and greens and browns with tan for the light.
•    Floral garden:   floral prints on lighter background with creamy white and tan for the lights.

Here's a quick assortment of fabrics I pulled from the closet that would be a great fall theme quilt in the

 red /gold tones.  

  Think of all those fall tone batiks.....they would be perfectly happy in this design.

A second quick selection I found.  These are 4 fabrics from the Willow line by McKenna Ryan  from a few years back.  Why am I still saving them?  I think they would be perfect for this quilt design.  I like that the background of the prints has darker and lighter areas that will blend into the beige/tan light.

Matter of fact....I think I will be cutting into them for this!

  Second idea.....this faux braid creates a diagonal layout.  That diagonal design would lend itself well to some applique in the light areas!  If you are doing a fall quilt.....how about some leaves appliqued there?  And ocean theme could have sea shells appliqued in some of the light areas.  Or no applique, and plan some special quilting on the diagonal.  

   Third idea.....if you don't want the diagonal layout, just put the blocks on point.  That will give you vertical rows of light and dark area.  And idea two would still apply.
   A simple block with lots of design possibilities.  Just what I love to play with and see what happens.  

  So as for me....I have some cutting to do, just as soon as I am passed the next batch of company....out come the florals and the Willow fabrics!   I plan on cutting and working on two different ones--probably lap size, just to see what happens.    Happy stitching.