Quick Quilt Series 2021 – Help us pick a design layout

Scroll to bottom of page to vote

Until the pandemic robbed us all of everything from easily accessible toilet paper to dearly loved ones, I took my monthly Bunco game with friends for granted. (Haven’t heard of Bunco? It’s a simple dice game where you roll for a specific number during multiple rounds and total up your points as a team, trying to reach 23 points before everyone else does.) But really, it’s just an excuse for 12 friends to hang out together for a couple of hours and enjoy drinks and dessert!

We’ve been playing this silly game together every month for over 25 years, until 2020 broke up the band. I really miss our face-to-face time where we shared lots of laughter, tears, and love while rattling dice on a card table. Not everyone in the group actively posts to social media, so without our monthly gabfest to keep up with each other, sometimes I hear about a friend’s big news a little late – like a grandbaby coming soon.

I’ve made it my mission to welcome each new baby born into our Bunco family with a quilt, but I usually have a bit more time than a couple of weeks. If you’ve found yourself in a similar pickle with needing a quilt on short notice, then bookmark this post – because we’re starting another “Quick Quilt Top Series” with one easy “Y block” as the star.

I’m astounded by how many designs can be created with just one block.

So many, in fact, that just like our half-square triangle and drunkard’s path blocks from previous Quick Quilt Top series, we need your help by voting for your favorite from the design options at the bottom of this post. Then I’ll create some quilting designs for the layout with the most votes and we’ll have you pick your favorite again.

Once we know the winning quilting design, I’ll put the quilt together, quilt it, and then we’ll give it away to one lucky person at the end. If you’re the winner, you’ll have one finished quilt in the wings for your next unsuspecting deadline (or you can just keep it for yourself!)

The Half-square triangle and drunkard’s path blocks featured in our first two series have only two patches. The “Y block” introduces a third patch that can create striking secondary designs, depending on block placement. All the designs below use the same block and same color placement; rotating it clockwise or counterclockwise creates dozens of layout options. Imagine the possibilities if you flip-flopped the colors in the smaller triangles for half the blocks.

My head hurts just thinking about all the options! Let’s keep it simple – after all, this is supposed to be quick! I’ve chosen some bright spring colors to get us all out of the weary, bleary winter and pandemic doldrums.

Scroll to the bottom of this post to vote for your favorite design layout. Voting closes February 26 at 4 p.m. Central Time.

Design 1

Design 2

Design 3

Design 4

Design 5

Design 6

Design 7

Design 8

Design 9

Design 10

Voting is now closed

In the next blog post in this series (published on March 9), we’ll take the design with the most votes and create a variety of quilting designs for you to choose from. Finally, we’ll quilt the project with the quilting design that gets the most votes, and then give the quilt away to one lucky winner—along with some cool APQS bling!