LET’S PRETEND…

Imagine that, unlike me, you want to make a project—sew squares together and arrive at something useful. Our imaginary project involves weaving “Companion Squares” that, when combined, contribute to a “Bigger Picture.” (The terms “Companion Squares” and “Bigger Picture” will be used throughout this article to describe the type of squares referred to—see photo caption.)

Example of a “Bigger Picture” made by combining “Companion Squares.” (Squares woven and photo by Bonnie Visser; used with permission. Pattern design by Suzanne Eakin.)

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It’s helpful to know which corner is which when reading my blog posts because I often refer to corners and sides of the loom (or squares).

This information is also useful when it comes to joining your squares.

Please note: Corner 1 (cr1) and Corner 4 are usually interchangeable. There may be times when it matters that your squares are right side up (meaning cr1 at the bottom left), so please take care!

Have to say, this one didn’t turn out as I’d hoped. (It’s been redesigned and needs to be rewoven.) In its defense, I designed it on graph paper–long before I began designing with charts on the computer–using the palest pencil imaginable. It was hard to see the diagram to transfer it to digital media, so I can only imagine (because I can’t remember) how difficult it must have been to design. Apparently I had no trouble following my nearly imperceptible graphite marks because I wove what I wrote. Nevertheless, while transcribing the pattern I decided to make some improvements (untested at this point, but I’m certain they’re improvements).

Before I could transfer the semi-visible drawing to the computer, I thought I’d better get a look at the original so I could know what I was trying to copy. Here’s a rough sketch of what Road to Tennessee looked like in my quilt block book.

Road to Tennessee sketch

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I’ve been putting off writing this one because I thought I already had. Unlike the method in Part 5, I actually like this one a lot and have found it quite useful. For patterns that have a lot of O3s combined with U3s—particularly those with the U3/O3, O3/U3 star motif—this is a great warping configuration. (You can also use L1/2-4 for such patterns, but L1&2/3&4 will usually look better). I plan to post several new patterns soon that will show examples using this warping method (see Lattice Borders and variations for examples).

Lattice Borders variation 1—this method is the tidier method

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