Texas Two-Step: Blocks Grouped in Sets of Four

 

QUOTE FROM MY FRIDGE:

We may never have the choices we would have if we were writing the script, but we always have choices.

Often when I visit a quilt guild a member will bring a quilt they have made using one of my books or started in one of my workshops.  Ann Rice brought this wonderful quilt to the Beaumont meeting.  I was delighted.  This is the first time I had seen the blocks made in identical sets of four.  Great flying geese border!!!

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Shown below are four identical Texas Two-Step blocks arranged as they are in the quilt above.

Texas Two Step Four Block

Texas Two-Step Medallion

QUOTE FROM MY FRIDGE:

The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.  George Bernard Shaw

Texas Two-Step: Square Dance

Kathi Babcock

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Kathi used the Texas Two-Step block to create this incredible quilt. The center section appears to be on point but is actually a straight set. It is the diagonal line in the block that creates the illusion. The triangle units that extend into the inner border are partial blocks.

Texas Two-Step Stepping Out

QUOTE FROM MY FRIDGE:

The secret to success is to love what you do and stick to it.  Dilbert

 Stepping Out

Sarah Sissenwein-Norris

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Sara said “I really enjoyed that setting and the block. I love scrap quilts and I love how so many ugly fabrics turned into something special.”  This quilt was started in one of my classes.  I love the set Sara chose.

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Texas Two-Step Block

The key to making a very scrappy quilt is to sort the fabrics by value.  If I can’t decide if it is light or dark I don’t use it.  I am well known for saying, “No large beige or white spots in a mostly dark fabric.”

Texas Two-Step with Diagonal Set

QUOTE FROM MY FRIDGE:

Growing old is mandatory.  Growing up is optional.  Laughing at yourself is therapeutic.

Carolyn Lopez took the Texas Two-Step lap quilt class the very first time I taught it at a Quilt Guild of Greater Houston retreat. The block has a diagonal line which makes many different settings possible. Carolyn managed to come up with a set I had not seen. I was delighted.  This quilt is an example of what I call “related fabrics” which in this case is Civil War reproductions with a common background.

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Texas Two-Step Block

Texas Two-Step block with reproduction fabrics and a common background.

Texas Two-Step Scrappy King

QUOTE FROM MY FRIDGE;

The key to happiness is to love who you are not who others want you to be.  Dilbert

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One of the great things about scrap quilts is that you don’t run out of fabric. This means the size of the quilt can be determined after the project is started. Karen Guerra began this quilt in my Texas Two-Step lap quilt class at Festival in 2008. She just kept making blocks until she had this wonderful king size quilt.

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Scrappy Texas Two-Step Block

Texas Two-Step — Brights for Lillian

When I was driving from Houston to Atlanta for the birth of my first grandchild, Lillian, I stopped at quilt stores along the way.  I bought fat quarters of what I call “children’s brights”.  It is so much more fun to shop if you have a project in mind.

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With this quilt I used a common background that was darker than the “children’s brights.”  I had an adorable dark blue airplane fabric that was not used  because there was not enough contrast between it and the background.

The blocks are 8″.  The squares in the blocks have a finished size of 2″.  To make a pieced border fit I find it best to base the border math on the math used in the  quilt.  I made a 2″ black inner border, a pieced border of 2″ squares and then an outer black border.  The fabric does not show in the photo but it is a polka dot with many bright colors on the black.

The Texas Two-Step block is shown below.  The block has a diagonal line which makes many sets possible.

Texas Two-Step Brights

 

 

 

Texas Two-Step – On point framed with purple

My husband set up my blog and choose one of my Texas Two-Step Quilts for the first post.  I love scrap quilts.  The pattern in scrap quilts is determined by differences in value.  For this quilt my Friday Bee chose a “light” common background to be used with medium/dark reproduction prints.

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Texas Two-Step Quilt  On-point set framed with purple.

Texas Two-Step Block

Texas Two-Step Block

Once the blocks were made and put in a straight set on the design wall the quilt was boring.   Setting the blocks on-point and framing them with purple saved this quilt.  Mary Ellen Hopkins said “Purple goes with everything”.  I am a believer!!!