Focus on Design: Card Tricks Sep 07

Pat, this is one of my favorite block patterns. It's so easy, and it can be done in so many colorways. i used it last in a sampler quilt in Amish bold colors that were "floated" on a black background. My DD convescated the finished product, so i cant post a picture. I did this in the HST setting, i wasnt aware of the "cheater"pattern then, but would like to try a block using that pattern. Thanks for whipping us in line!! Sometimes we take a tangent to other places...LOL! amy

This is a block that I never felt interested enough to make a whole quilt with. If I see a Card Trick quilt, it's fine, the color/ value combinations can be interesting. But I have no more desire to make one. Roberta in D

"Pat in Virginia" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:LxPJi.12788$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe22.lga...

Ok, now that Roberta has broken the ice.....card trick is one of those blocks that doesn't have much appeal for me. I can't really put my finger on the reason why though. With that said, however, I did enjoy Louise's quilt! Maybe it was because the two color scheme looks more like an interlocking chain than a true card trick block. I do like it. Thanks for speaking up Roberta. I thought I was the only one.......

I love that pattern. I made my son a wedding quilt using that pattern. You can see it if you go to my webshots album under finished quilts.

Hey Pat:

What a wonderful idea, just focusing on quilting. I too thought the card trick pattern was too simple and not my style. Thinking does change.

I needed a simple pattern to make a baby quilt. Something fast. A new grand niece was on the way I didn't know about till the last minute.

I looked at several simple patterns, they didn't appeal to me till I stumbled upon the card tricks. I purchased just enough of the "baby colors" and started making it. I got stuck for the background color and auditioned several. I had recently purchased some medium gray mottled fabric. It fit in perfectly with my baby colors. Once I got the quilt top completed I thought this is not big enough, so I added a

3 inch border, that wasn't enough and looked rather plain. I had enough baby fabric left over that I made 3 inch log cabin blocks that I refer to as rosebuds. I placed them on point at the top and bottom with yet another border of the gray.

Darned if it didn't turn out rather pretty. The new parents were surprised and very happy with the quilt. I asked them if the colors were alright or would they rather I make it in another colorway. Nope, this is what they wanted.

I really enjoyed making it. No "y" seams. NO ripping out time and again. The work flowed so well that I completed the top in one day and machine quilted and bound it the next. It measured about 40 by

2. Sorry no pictures, Amelia is now 3 years old and drags her quilt everywhere. The parents said they were sorry for the rough treatment but I just laughed and said finally someone is using my quilts rather than putting them away in a closet because "they are just to pretty to use".

It's back to work on the queen size DWR I've been working on for almost two years. Now this is a pattern I really dislike.

Kate T. South Mississippi

This is my number one Hug block favourite!! As someone said later in this thread, I doubt I would make a whole quilt of CTs but tend to use it as a challenge for myself to make appropriate hug blocks. (Perhaps, after some xxxx number, I may have got the pressing direction right, but hug quilt assemblers probably disagree!!)

It's always a question of whether you go with four suits or only two. But always a fun thing to play with colours.

Really looking forward to reading everyone's responses.

Card Tricks is a block that I don't dislike, but I don't love it, either. I've made it as a single block in a sampler, but I really don't think I'll ever make an entire quilt of it -- though opinions do change over time. ;)

The first Quilt in a Day pattern I ever tried was a queen-size Card Trick. It was okay, but definitely not my favorite pattern. After I was done with it, I wasn't real happy with my fabric choices, so that may have been a factor. Maybe someday I'll try it again. I think I may be better at fabric selection now. I don't have a digital photo to share.

Julia in MN

I like it for baby quilts too. You can do both bright colors and strong contrasts with it quite easily. It also works really well as a scrappy quilt. Card Trick and Akansas Traveler (and the assorted variations of both) are two of my favs for a fast baby or twin quilt.

NightMist

About half of that album came out really small - about 1.1/2", even in the slideshow.

Sally at the Seaside~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~uk

Boca Jan wrote:

On Mon, 24 Sep 2007 09:09:30 -0500, Pat in Virginia wrote (in article ):

I love card trick. Fun block and pretty easy too! Hmmm. you've got me thinking that it might be time to revisit this one.

Maureen

Don't think I've ever done this one. I'll put the design in the list of for the Country Quilt that is "in the works".

MUST , gotta, no doubt about it, get back to DD's Plane Quilt.AFTER the Butterfly Studio's NEW Window is replaced tomorrow. Studio is a bit in disarray--sewing isn't possible until the window is done. DD was here last night and LIKES the way the Planes are set out....now to get the background going. Know how she wants it done. ((NO more excuses))

Butterfly (her last one is beyond tatters. She also liked her Raggedy Ann/Andy dolls :)

Card trick is one of my beginning quilters favorites( I teach a 101 class that does one block, then 102 is a 3 block sampler tablerunner) When I first taught the 102 class I let them choose from nine different blocks, but over and over again......they always want to do card trick! So now it is part of 102 and the 3 block selection... it is so dimensional, if they follow the light- dark -medium reccomendations of the class instructions..... I use it because it gives them practice in cutting triangles, working with biased edge pieces, and another excercise in perfecting pressing and that pesky 1/4 seam allowance. And then it LOOKs so good....so complicated yet really simple when broken down into its components. By the way I love the rectangle and square version you linked to Pat ...Thanks.

Here's the actual quilt I made from my instructions:

fun part of this one was the quilting: I did outlines of red hearts and diamonds, black clubs and spades... Card tricks isn't my favourite, but it's great fun to make if you're looking for something that looks complicated but is really very simple: I can piece a single-bed sized quilt from two different batches of stripsets in an afternoon, and it looks like I worked for days.

OTOH, McCalls [I think?, or it may have been Quilt Magazine] had a recent article where they did the traditional version of Cardtricks and used Border prints....quite spectacular!

This block doesn't seem to be made very often anymore. Card Tricks is visually simple and calm, and today's quilters prefer making busy, complicated looking quilts. There is a secondary pattern when the blocks are set side by side, but it isn't a very inspiring one. The block design loses some of it's visual appeal when set on point, and that is the setting most often used in current commercial patterns and by today's quilter. Also the theme of the block is easily thought of as quaint, old fashioned, and out-dated in this era of flashy computer based games.

Several quilters here have commented that it is a simple block to make and they prefer to sew something more challenging. But the actual construction is not any easier than any other block made of triangles, and those same quilters enjoy the challenge of other blocks made of triangles. So, perhaps those ladies are confusing simple looking with simple to make.

I don't think Card Tricks is a simple block at all. I think it is deceptively simple looking, thus under-appreciated. The real key to this block being spectacular or blah is in the fabrics chosen to be used, and in the exact order they are used. New quilters haven't formed the proper eye for values, print, and color play to make a great Card Tricks block so they can only make blah blocks at best, and then they are irritated when they haven't produced blocks that are absolutely stunning, so they never make a second one. Meanwhile advanced quilters see what appears to be a simple block and ignore it in favor of stitching something more splashy looking.

Card Tricks--a grand illusion or quiet elegance in a deceptively simple design. Debra in VA See my quilts at

I love the card trick block but always seem to have a hard time choosing the "4th " color to use. I checked the HGTV site and liked the striped fabric that D. Speckman used. It really added pizzazz !

I didn't really have anything specific to say on this topic at first; but, having read the replies and looked at the pictures, I'm beginning to think that this is one of those blocks which is better on its own. So, it looks great in a sampler - or, in our case, as a Hug block - but not so good when with repeated with other blocks of the same design. . In message , Pat in Virginia writes

When this thread came up, I didn't respond because I'm not very interested in the Card Trick block. But then I received someone's fabric, in the latest Your Pick Swap round, and I just knew that this fabric needed to be made into a Card Trick block. I've just been reading everyone's replies and checking out the links. I sure wish there was a way to keep the "cards" more whole instead of chopped up into triangles. In the end I printed out the Quilter's Cache one, to use in the next couple of days. So, good timing Pat!

-- Jo in Scotland