Anna and G on the Road: Block or Color?

I was checking up on my sister's place and noticed my BIL's had a puzzle laid out in a peculiar way. I laughed out loud! I knew it was him that had laid the puzzle out because his brain just works in a different way. So, the next time they came to Central Oregon I asked him... "What's his process?" He had separated the pieces by shape! Not color! Each sheet of paper has only pieces that were shaped the same...hummm.

I told him one of my favorite activities on The Quilt Show is the puzzle, and this past week I had to piece together the puzzle of Gwen Marston's quilt. But, I mostly piece the puzzles by color.

All of this got me thinking about the quilting process...do you start a quilt because of the pattern or shapes...like I am sure my BIL would do? Or, do you first decide on color, find fabric and then decide on how you want to use them? I am mostly color or fabric driven. Occasionally I will find a pattern and then search for fabric to use but for many years I built my stash by being color driven. It made me wonder...what kind of quilter are you...block or color???

Stay tuned and travel along with us on Quilt Roadies.

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Comments

#11 Pennylm 2019-04-26 05:17

If a puzzle is difficult, as a last resort, I will use shape to sort pieces, but mostly, I am a color person. It is so easy to match colors in most puzzles, but there is always an exception. Some puzzles do not have pieces with similar shapes. When making a quilt, I choose my colors first and go from there.

#10 Brendaintheboro 2019-04-25 02:15

when doing the jigsaws on-line i sort by shape so i didnt find this strange. when quilting i am attracted first by colour though

#9 KaJ 2019-04-24 20:41

I sort by color. If the puzzle has a great deal of the same color, I then separate by top and right side. Innie or outie. Then connect in small groups, then connect into larger groups. I also don’t connect the whole border. So I end up with four big blocks to connect at the end.

#8 TheQuiltedDog 2019-04-24 20:18

Color first, always! I’ll then find a pattern to go with the fabric—and sometimes that takes years!

#7 coliptt 2019-04-24 18:33

If I'm doing an actual puzzle it is by color. The online puzzles, which I love, I sort into 4 shape piles. I sort by the shape of the top and left piece of the puzzle. They fit into four categories easily.

As for quilting . . . it's COLOR all the way! The brighter the better.

#6 Claudia W 2019-04-24 16:05

I'm a color person, although with puzzles, I just pull out the edging pieces and put all the middle pieces aside, then go through them one at a time. I like to linger over the puzzle!

#5 terryb54952 2019-04-24 12:28

I definitely sort puzzles by color, but when it comes to quilting I lean the other way. I usually have a pattern in mind and then search for the colors I need. Perhaps that developed when I first started quilting, and had no significant stash. But now with a larger stash, I've not really changed the way I approach a quilt.

#4 maryBAB 2019-04-24 10:31

I am a color quilter. I buy fabric, hopefully enough, in the colors that excite me and then look for patterns to use. I also use colors to put together a jigsaw puzzle. My hubby does the shape thing and it drives me crazy when he tries to put in a piece and I can clearly tell that the colors don't match....Yes, we work on them together most of the time. He "helps" me with quilts when I lay them out on the floor to work with the design.

#3 Msw 2019-04-24 10:22

Definitely color.

#2 djane 2019-04-24 10:21

I am a block/pattern quilter. I see a block or pattern that I like and then I start thinking of the colours. Interesting post!

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