I never make quilts from a pattern. But I found this pattern called Barbed Wire Fence while browsing through a book at a friend’s house and I decided to make it. I think I liked it because it was tricky. The block looks like this:

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It is made by just taking 2.5″ by 4.5″ strips of green and orange. Lay the green down horizontally. Line the orange up vertically on top of the green with right sides together. There is now a 2.5 by 2.5 inch square area where the two strips overlap on the righthand edge of the fabric. Sew from corner to corner so that you can fold down the orange strip and make a straight line. It is hard to explain but super easy to do. Pair two of your new strips with a 2.5 by 6.5 inch center strip and you have your block. When you sew them all together you get this:

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Yes, it changes color! I was going to make the quilt scrappy so I started with green and then cut some red. I decided I liked them better separated into color families. There might be two quilts out of this. But since I can’t follow directions exactly and since making a gazillion of the same block, no matter how simple, will make me insane, I’m making a variation now. I’m going to add a small solid border and then do a braided border around it.