Hi friends,
Melinda here!
It's an exciting week! This week, we're officially kicking off our Lucy Boston Block of the Month here at The Cotton Patch! If you're like me and this quilt has been on your bucket list, I hope you'll join me on this journey. I’m really excited about this one, because we’re starting something that’s been on my list for a long time, the Lucy Boston, Patchwork of the Crosses quilt.
And for me, it’s been sitting in the “someday” category for a while now. I've decided that now is the time to start the journey, and I’d love for you to come along with me.
I’m going to be honest with you, this is not a quick project. This is a many-month, take-your-time, enjoy-the-process kind of quilt. And that’s exactly what makes it so special. English Paper Piecing is meant to be slow. It’s meant to be something you pick up, put down, take with you, and come back to again and again. Slow down. Take your time. Enjoy it.
One of the things I love most about the Lucy Boston quilt is how much room there is for creativity. Even though the block structure is consistent, it’s made up of honeycomb shapes arranged in a specific layout and the way you choose your fabrics completely changes the look.You can keep things very controlled and symmetrical, or you can mix and match and create something that feels totally unique.
Personally, I like to give myself a few guidelines when I start something like this. For this project, I worked within some constraints by limiting how many fabrics I used in each section, just to help guide my decisions and keep things cohesive. But that’s just how my brain works. You might approach it completely differently, and that’s the beauty of it. There’s no one right way.
I also tend to start with one fabric I really love, and then build everything else around it. From there, it becomes a bit of a puzzle to figure out what works together, what creates contrast, and what draws your eye in. And, as we go through this series, I’ll be sharing more about how I find motifs within fabrics and how I decide what to highlight. Because just like with focus cutting, once you start working this way, you really do begin to see fabric differently. You’ll notice things you didn’t before. Little details, shapes, and patterns that suddenly become the star of the show.
I’ll also be using a few go-to tools throughout, my plexiglass template (with that extra 3/8" seam allowance), an air erase marker, and a few other helpers to make things easier as we get into more detailed work. Check out my EPP for Beginners blog post for the complete list.
And just a heads up, there will be some “Swiss cheesing” of fabric happening. If you’ve ever done focus cutting, you know what I mean. You’ll cut out your shapes and suddenly your fabric has holes all over it. Totally normal! And I promise, you’ll still find ways to use those leftover pieces later on.
If you’re new to this, or if you need a refresher on basting, stitching, or focus cutting, I’d definitely recommend watching my English Paper Piecing Basics videos on YouTube. My latest videos build on all of that.
But more than anything, I want this to feel approachable. You don’t have to have it all figured out before you start. You don’t need the “perfect” fabrics. You just need a starting point. And that's why our curated Lucy Boston fabric bundles are a great place to begin.
I’m really looking forward to working through this quilt slowly, sharing what I learn along the way, and seeing how it evolves over time. So, to that point, this week, I have two new videos to share with you! The first is an introduction to how the Lucy Boston block works, and in the second, I go in depth on how I used focus cutting and the fabrics in our first Lucy Boston Fabric Bundle to make the 4 blocks pictured above.
I hope you'll join me on this journey and I’d love to see what you create!
Happy stitching,
Melinda 🧵
P.S. If you need the Lucy Boston, Patchwork of the Crosses printable layout to help plan your blocks, you can get it HERE!
