Bridges...Setting it up!

Constructing the bridge blocks for the quilt was the easy part for me. Like I said in the previous post, they flowed out. I actually made 8 bridge blocks. I ended up using five in the quilt. The three I eliminated all have curved sections. They didn't seem to fit with the starkness of the straight lines in the other blocks.

The blocks stayed on the design wall for over a month.  The arrangement of the blocks was a challenge.  The blocks are large and so the options for the layout were a bit limited.

I tried hard not to overcomplicate this quilt.  I played with the setting multiple times.  Sorry, I didn't take many pictures of that part of the process.  Many of my quilting friends asked and encouraged me to add color to the quilt.  I listened and I toyed with adding touches of color and also prints.  I also played with using different background fabrics, but in the end I went for only the grey and cream.  I wanted to keep it simple and didn't want anything to distract from the blocks.  I actually had the blocks set one way and took them apart and started over.

I ended up drawing a center line and placing the bridge blocks so they alternated on either side of that imaginary line.  It was almost as if the blocks created a "bridge" between the right and left sides of the quilt.  I guess I could say that it symbolizes building a bridge from my old life to the new one, but that's getting way to deep.  Again, I tried to keep it simple, graphic and stark.  I think that's the mantra for this quilt.

This is the final setting and as you can see a hint of what was to come next...the quilting!
I picked up the quilt today from my friend Sheryl who was in town to enjoy the city and see a quilt of hers at the DuSable Museum. (The guy in the picture is our limo driver, George!)  More on Sheryl, her quilt, and the museum later.

I will tell you I was blown away when I saw the quilt.  More on that in another post too!
Right now my task with the quilt is to get it in the tub, wash out the marks and get it blocked and ready for binding.  I have some decisions to make about the binding too.

PS...For all the folks who emailed and asked...the storage cubes I use for my fabrics were purchased at Costco a couple of years ago.  I've seen them off and on over the years...Target has something like them, but with wire instead of plastic.  I like them because they're inexpensive and flexible.  They can be put together in lots of configurations.