Sweetwater Hometown

I have to admit to being a complete layer cake addict. Usually, a layer cake is 42 ten inch squares of fabric from a fabric line, encompassing the complete collection. It's such a great way to get your hands on the whole line of fabric without having to pay a fortune, and personally I find layer cakes easier to use than jelly rolls. Right now I think I've got about 8 of them waiting to be turned into something fabulous. I bought a Sweetwater Hometown layer cake quite some time ago. It's a gorgeous, contempory line, and I love the story behind it told on their blog here.

I was having a bit of a guilty moment over all my layer cakes, and I decided to try some random improvised blocks. I've added some solid grey, blue and cream to help stretch the layer cake.

I've got quite a few more blocks to make, but they are a great easy thing to just run up after dinner. Basically, I stack two squares together (say, a red and a cream) and rotary cut each side so I'm left with a rectangle in the centre, then change over the centres so that the red centre is with the four cream side strips. Then I randomly add a piece of one of my solids, and sew it all together again, perhaps cutting off some of the patterned fabric in the process. These offcuts I then add into another block. It's all very random and fun!

Obviously, all my blocks are different sizes so I'm not sure how they are going to go together. Perhaps I'll make four large blocks the same size with all of them, then add wide sashing? Or perhaps I'll sew them all together and whatever odd shape the end up I could sew into the centre of a larger background (like a medallion quilt)? I'm not going to worry about the finished quilt for now, I'm having too much fun making these blocks!