Several years back I had a friend that appeared to rely on two patterns; Turning Twenty and Yellow Brick Road.  Knowing her capabilities I was puzzled at why these became her “go to” patterns.  We must have seen a dozen of them at “Show & Tell”.

This year it dawned on me when I looked at my works in progress.  Sometimes we just enjoy the process that a particular pattern provides.  My most enduring pattern crush has been the Stack & Whack.  The first one I did was about 15 years ago.  This lovely Asian fabric was my inspiration. 

The end result was:  The blocks were addictive.

Apparently my enthusiasm was contagious as I was asked to coach a group of women from my guild and because learning is visual and kinetic, did a second. 

The moment I had seen the fabric I couldn’t wait to cut it up.  Alexander Henry can be so much fun.

and the blocks were incredibly entertaining!

The lesson learned with this piece was when using solid black, there is CONSTANT grooming.  Black fabric is like a lint, dust, thread magnet.  Another lesson learned is that when the background of your focus fabric matches the fabric of your background , it will appear that some of your points are not sharp.

This beautiful Kaffe Fassett fabric sang to me as I walked in a quilt shop looking for something else. 

It took a while for me to find the exact piece I wanted to pair with it, and after buying several pieces of yardage, found exactly what I needed in my stash.  The results were wonderful.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have as much yardage of that background as I would have liked to make it bigger, but coming from the stash, there is no telling how old it is.  I backed it with the my second and third choices. 

And again, each block was as much fun as the first!  I was constantly surprised and amused by what this fabric could do.

I was invited to another guild and helped their ladies learn the technique and on my way picked up fabric for more.

Even now, after working the pattern over and over again, every time I walk into a fabric or quilting store, no matter what the reason I may be there for,  I am tempted by fabrics that say, “let’s see what I can do for you”.

So, why?  Maybe it’s the opportunity of creative surprise.  As you cut the fabric, and audition it, the fabric just does wonderful things.  Although I still have a mad crush on this pattern, I see a new infatuation around the corner called “One Block Wonder”…. swoon.

Do you have a pattern crush?