Stack 'N Whack

I've always wanted to do a Stack 'n Whack or Kalidescope block quilt but never knew what type of fabric I wanted to use. I'd seen them done in a variety of fabric patterns - some great, some...well, not so great. Then I saw one done in a deep-toned marbled fabric and fell in love - that was the one I wanted.

And as luck would have it, I actually found the same fabric one day while shopping. I knew what I needed for yardage so bought it. Then, it sat dormant in my stash for oh, about 3 years. Nothing new there either! That's kind of the way stash fabrics work, isn't it?

I did finally get the triangles cut and actually pieced the halves. Since our downstairs bedroom doesn't get much use, I hung a large piece of batting down there and proceeded to put up my half-blocks. I'd read that you really need to give yourself time when doing a stack 'n whack. You know, leave the blocks up and walk away. Come back to the room, rearrange a few blocks, walk away. And repeat that about 100 times. I was on about rearrangement #15 when we decided to redecorate that bedroom. That meant taking down all my little blocks and putting them away. And there they sat in a box for another 2 years. Yesterday, after finishing two quilt tops over the weekend (I'll post pictures later this week), I pulled out my box of stack 'n whack blocks and put them back up. This is most of them. I really like how some of the blocks turned out.

There are others that won't be making it into the final quilt. This one reminds me of googly eyes...

Some remind of rounds of wood..

Some look like tongues of fire lapping out toward the edge of the block.

Some are swirly...

Some are more round...

And some look like stars...

So, now that they're back up, I need to re-start the process of re-arranging. Do I want to have the lighter blocks on one side and gradually darken to the other side? Or would it be better as a random design - like it is now - but maybe use the swirly blocks to create a line that swirls throughout? And what do I do with the woodcut-looking blocks - and those weird googly eye blocks? Do I use them as the filler half-blocks on the outside edge?