Basket weave quilt - lessons learned (ing!)

Spent much of the weekend working on the woven quilt. After the first row or so this quilt comes together pretty quickly...very surprised.

Now that I am halfway through these are what I've learned about this pattern.

Fabric selection: I decided to use up scraps from my 1-1/2 inch basket but this is a "controlled" scrappy pattern. The trio of strips consistently has a red (mine go from dark pink or purple, through reds, to a couple of orange-y) then a medium value and then a light. The strip is oriented consistently through the quilt which gives it the "weave." The squares need to contrast with the weave. I used black but sort of wish I had gone with dark brown...oh well. I did do a test block using a light in the background and found it worked well as long as you replaced the last strip with a dark instead of light.

Piecing: I made a pile of three-strip sets. I am halfway through and the pile is gone. This quilt uses a lot of strips. Back to the basket for me! I am sewing this on my featherweight since I can control this machine to the individual stitch. That is important since on the areas that are going to have the block set in I need to stop 1/4 of an inch from the edge...too much and there may end up with gaps in the stitching but too little and the next seam has not place to set.

Pins mark 1/4 inch start and stop point

I am pressing towards the strip sets. This didn't come naturally...my first few rows I tried to force it towards the dark block but quickly found when it came to setting the next row of blocks in they were easier to set if the seam went the other way. Also the dark fabric falls a bit further back this way and the "basket weave" is more pronounced....

I started piecing this from the upper left corner and and going across. This quilt is constructed row by row instead of block by block.

There are two different types of rows...the square and weave and then one that is just weave.

Weave row

Once that rhythm gets going it goes together quickly!

There are a few tricky places at the edges. I found it works best for me if I cut those strips a bit long and then pin the strip on from the black square out. Need to get some photos of this....

Also, I feel like this needs a border. The original doesn't have one but I am a border sort of quilter...tried a few ideas but not wild about any of them....yet!