Easy Quilt Patterns

Quilts don't have to be hard to be good quilts. Some of the simplest patterns are wonderful designs.

Here are a few I am hoping to make:

1. X Block or Churn Dash?
An antique top I bought from Cindy Rennels in 2014. At first, I thought it's a Shoo Fly/Churn Dash. Then I thought it's really an X block or Old Italian Block, one of my favorites. It has great fabrics, the first block shows a beautiful blue fabric, a Commemorative of the Centennial--1776-1876:

Centennial Commemorative Fabric

It has only one background fabric and while that's not my normal mode, it really makes all these fabrics stand out. I will make mine just like this:

Detail showing various fabrics

The Top

2. Nine Patch Quilt--how easy can it be? This one is amazing because of the fabric/color placement. It is an Amish quilt, circa 1920. 

This photo has been making the rounds recently when Mary Elizabeth Kinch included it in her Twelve Quilts of Christmas blogs last month. I saved the photo years ago--it is still an appealing quilt to me:

3. Another antique from Julie Silber, this one looks far more complex than it is:

The photo was on a Facebook group for Vintage and Antique quilts and there were several ideas about how the quilt was made. I am eager to give it a try.

4. What could be easier than nine patches? How about one-patches, 3" finished? This antique top was bought from Cindy Rennels and it is only when you see it straight-on that the careful color placement of the patches is apparent: 

I bought it for the fabulous fabric collection it holds. Now I want to replicate it. A few detail shots:

I have made a few simple quilts over the years, most recently My Lifetime
Quilt, 100" x 100", 1.75" half square triangles, 12,800 triangles. In the three years I worked on it, I saw several antique quilts at shows or in photographs that are similar. Easy can still be amazing: