I have been the Virtual Quilter since September, 2008. For the first couple of months it seemed so easy, because I had quite a few project files which would never see the light of day without a blog with a title like Virtual Quilter.

However, a few months down the track and I started to panic … there weren’t near as many designs I wanted to share as I thought … not when I was sharing one every day!

I started a new project file, called it EQ Dozen, selected a dozen blocks from the Electric Quilt block library, added fabrics from the Electric Quilt fabric library, and started playing. Well, that is the short story!

I am going to let you in on a little secret … I didn’t select just 12 blocks.

I selected more like 30 or forty blocks, added some fabrics and started playing.

Over a period of a week or so I had a project file containing over 100 quilt designs just by moving those blocks around creating symmetrical designs. I left the file for a few days and let it mature … when I opened it up again, I deleted most of the designs, and reduced the blocks to the 12 which worked best in the few designs which were left. A few more hours of playing, more deleted designs, and modified of one of the blocks. Then I sorted the designs so that it wasn’t a succession of quilts with just a minor change or two.

I have given visitors to the blog a look at 60 designs, and still have over 100 that no one but me has seen.

Here at Electric Quilt headquarters I am going to show you the progression from a bit of idle play to being ready to launch a new series of designs. The uncut version. I will then have the basis of a series which could almost be never ending.

While I have been tapping away at the keyboard I have had EQ open in another window, and have selected the blocks I have shown above, though why I selected that banana I don’t know! (It was about lunch time is my only excuse!)

Now, while I go find some fabric you can go and have a look at what I look for in selecting blocks which usually make it into the final mix for a series of my virtual quilt designs.

Which ones of the above selections would you keep to reduce this lot to a Quilter’s Dozen? I am going to delete that banana to start with!

A Virtual Quilter Challenge
Select some blocks for your own series. I will be back someday in the not too distant future to make a virtual sampler and add fabrics. I am hoping some of you will show me yours too!

(By the way, a Quilter’s Dozen in my virtual world is any number I choose! You can choose your own definition of dozen too.)