I made this 20.5 inch (finished) Castle Wall quilt block back in December 2014. I thought it was a good block for a little collection of Valentine fabrics. There's a lot of Y seams in it and I found it difficult to make but thought I'd challenge myself to make 12 blocks. Well, I didn't make any more blocks until
...February 2018. Then I made two more blocks and...
...I have not made any more since. This month the theme in my sewing space is Hearts and Flowers so I thought I would get these blocks out and decide once and for all what to do with them and move this UFO forward.
The link to the free tutorial I used in 2014 is now broken but I did print off the directions and templates way back when it was working. I reviewed the directions again and decided that I still would love to have a Valentine Castle Wall quilt BUT I don't want to make any more of these blocks with all those Y seams BUT I do want to use my little cache of Valentine fabrics.
So, I searched for a similar and easier to make block and found a Dutch Rose (aka Swoon) block. And I found several different ways to make it without Y seams.
Yesterday I tried the tutorial at Double Nickel Quilts for a 16 inch finished Dutch Rose block. I like it well enough but not with my Valentine fabrics because a lot of them are directional and larger prints so they don't look quite right in this block. I am going to try the Dutch Rose with my garden rose prints instead.
So now I guess the plan is:
1. Make a simple quilt of 9 inch squares alternating with 9 inch Nine Patches in order to use some of the directional and big prints.
2. Use the Castle Wall and that Dutch Rose block as the centers for some lap or wheelchair quilts. I did consider making a table runner but I do already have a Valentine table runner and placemats. I also considered using one as a cushion cover and that still might happen.
And sew on...
