The first time I heard of a Tetris quilt was when Melissa of Happy Quilting posted a Tetris quilt along back in June. I really like to play Tetris, and I instantly fell in love with the idea of making a quilt that looked like a Tetris game. I didn’t like the way the quilts were done in the quilt along because they don’t end up looking like an actual game of Tetris, but it was enough to get my wheels turning.
I spent some time thinking of ways to make a Tetris quilt, and I spent some time finding pictures of Tetris quilts. The quilts I saw all used one fabric for each of the tetriminos, and they ended up looking flat and boring. I still liked the idea, but the pictures I was seeing made me think it was best left as an idea.
Fast forward to yesterday. I was looking through last week’s finish it up Friday linkup by Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts, and I stumbled on this post by Lisa of Pieces of Cotton. She was linking up to share her own version of a Tetris quilt:
used by permission
I really like this quilt. A lot. Maybe even two lots. I love the way the quarter square triangles add so much dimension to the quilt. As soon as I saw Lisa’s quilt, I knew that this was what I had been waiting for. I called Ben over to look at the picture, and his eyes got huge. He immediately decided that we needed to make one. He even volunteered to do the cutting.
Naturally, my mind has been spinning with ideas to make a Tetris quilt of my own all day. Ben and I agreed that we should keep all of the tetriminos whole so that the design would be clear. Since I want the quilt to be realistic, I needed to make sure that every row had at least one blank spot. After all, in a game of Tetris, if you fill a row, that row goes away. I originally wanted to keep the grid true to form, but a Tetris grid is 10 by 20, and that makes for an awkwardly sized quilt. I thought I might include a holding queue or write something like ‘EST 1984’ up one side to widen it out, but I ultimately decided I would rather fudge the dimensions and have the whole quilt be the Tetris board. After a few hours of sketching, this is what I came up with:
The grid is 15 by 18. I’m planning to make the blocks finish at 4″ square, so the quilt top will be 60″ by 72″. I’m thinking that I probably won’t add any borders to it. I’m planning to use two shades of grey in a checkerboard pattern for the background. The shades will be close enough that the pattern will be subtle, but it will add a bit of movement to the quilt.
Amid This Moment 
I like your idea of two shades of gray for some dimension in the background. I tried to do dense, straight-line quilting in the gray areas to mimic a computer screen, but it was just too hard for me to keep a straight line across all 84 inches. I look forward to seeing your finished product!
I certainly couldn’t tell that your lines weren’t straight. When I saw them, it did make me think of a computer screen, so you definitely accomplished that goal. 🙂 Thanks for the encouragement!
Oh, I picked those lines out & went with the grid you see. I’m not sure I’ve ever quilted a whole quilt from beginning to end without picking out multiples lines of quilting. I never seem to get it right on the first try:)
Ahh… That makes much more sense. I had to pick out some quilting on the table runner I’m working on. I can’t say that I ever want to repeat the experience, but I know I’ll probably get to many times in the coming years. Hopefully it will at least get a little easier as my quilting becomes more consistent.
Wow! Lisa’s version is very inspiring, isn’t it?
It’s so inspiring! I have to keep reminding myself that I need to finish the quilts I already have started before I tackle another one.