Zigs & Zags: One Block Wonder

Aren't one block wonder quilts great? It's always fascinating to see how one square design, with varying fabric placement and orientation, can create a complex quilt pattern. Wendy Sheppard's Zigs & Zags quilt, featured in the spring issue of Quilter's World, does just that, and even better, does it in colors that pop and sparkle! She used the rainbow array of prints from the Caryl's Feather collection to create a unique chevron design. Wendy talked about her Zigs & Zags design, both below on our blog and again on her blog.

"Zigs & Zags" by Wendy Sheppard;
featured in Quilter's World Spring 2015

Why do Caryl’s Feather fabrics work so well for this design?  

I think it's the colors in the fabric group that makes the final look of the quilt.  There are just so many colors to play with.  This is also the same group of fabrics with which I had designed Star Struck that won Benartex's 2015 Fan Favorite March Madness Award.  I love that these fabrics have such movement about them in the feather plume prints.

How did you pick your palette?

From the very beginning, I knew it was going to be colorful quilt.  I wanted to include as many fabrics as I could because I love all of them - it was hard to settle on just one or two colors.  So the easy way out was just to include as many colors as I could in the quilt design.

Tell us about the design—why did you vary from the zig zag pattern?

I love one block wonder quilts.  The quilt center is made up of just one block, colored and oriented differently.  I decided to give the usual chevron quilt a little twist by orienting the red and orange blocks to make them to look like squares set on point for a bit of unexpected visual effect.

Can you talk about your border choices?

There is such a concentration of colors in the quilt center.  I wanted to introduce a bit more white in the border to balance things out a bit.  The flying geese units worked out really well in the outer border because I was able to have the white and bits of colors here and there to round things out.

Any tips for making the blocks?

The block is actually quite straightforward to construct - just make sure the 1/4" seam allowances are there, then everything should come out right.

Tell us about the machine quilting.

Machine quilting is confined within the geometric makeup of the blocks.  Straight lines, mixed in with swirly tails are quilted in the chevrons.

What do you like best about this quilt?

For me it's how all the colors come together to make the quilt look so richly colorful!

Click here to see the Caryl's Feather collection.

Click here to read Wendy's post about the Zigs & Zags quilt.

Click here to find Quilter's World.

p.s. Inspired by these beautifully vibrant colors? Come back tomorrow to learn about our next blog hop, starting Monday, featuring the gorgeous Burlap Brights!