CATCH AS YOU CAN

Quilt Notes: CATCH AS YOU CAN derives from the saying, CATCH AS CATCH CAN, that is, using whatever methods or materials are available, for instance, scrap bag piecing. The idea is also expressed in wrestling, meaning "no holds barred." So you can break the rules a little on this block, maybe mixing print fabric and solid in the background space, where it ought to be one way or the other. An interesting method is to use a print that already has a workable background color and then carry that through, as if it were all one. The geometry of this design is simply gorgeous, even as a line drawing (see left). It is illustrated in Maggie Malone's 1001 PATCHWORK DESIGNS, published 1982, and again in her latest 5,500 QUILT BLOCK DESIGNS (2005), but not included in any of the other large compendiums, and so possibly original to her. See a list of recommended quilt design books here. For more designs with unusually interesting titles, see HAZY DAZY and DANCING CUBES, also (IN) NARCISSUS MOTIF and DOODLE-A-QUILT.