August!

Hi everyone! 

I can’t believe that it’s the end of our quilting bee! It’s been such a great experience for me and really helped my sewing to come along so thank you all!

 

My quilt is to adorn the bed in the master bedroom which we have recently re-decorated. It is a king bed hence why the block is a less of a block and more of a panel!

It is a chevron block and I took the instructions from the Applique Today blog and you can find them here.

 

I have sent you 15 patterned rectangles and 32 cream squares. Please could you add one 6.5” x 3.5” patterned rectangle of your choice in a similar colourway (aqua/blue/navy/duck egg) so that there is a little bit of each of you in your block!

 

The finished block should look something like this (please feel free to arrange the colours how you like them)

With the remaining half square triangles I would be grateful if you could sew them into small squares like this

Have fun!

July Block

You may need sunglasses for this block!

(Please use scant seams for this block!)

 I love the summer and these fabrics will remind me of summer days even if it is dull outside.

I love the look of string quilts and thought I would like to make my block a string one, but found this Tutorial from 2 more seconds and  this tutorial from Missouri Quilt Co (they explain it so much better than me) and loved them.
 I am a big fan of Amy Butler and I had a Soul Blossoms jelly roll, in bright colours, so decided to use this.  It's big and bright and I love how it looks together.

Sew 5  x 2.5" strips together in any order

Cut  into 2 squares measuring 10.5"

Lay them, right sides together, on top of each other, one with strips horizontal and one with strips vertical.

Stitch around all 4 sides leaving no gap.

Cut 2 diagonal lines from corner to corner to make 4 triangles, open and press.

Press and sew together the 4 squares to form a larger square.

Press and then attach 3.5" borders of solid white to all sides.

I can square off the blocks after you return them to me.

Ta dah!  You are finished.

I think it might be better to press seams open, I pressed to one side but some of the seams are a little bulky because of my pressing direction (possibly, I dont know!).

Hope you enjoy my July block.

Stephanie x

June: a garden quilt

Fabric

Cut 4x 3.5" squares of fabric A (green centre squares)

Cut 8x 3.5" squares of fabric B ( blue with orange flowers) cut squares in half into triangles

Cut 4x(1.5 x5") in beige spotty

Cut 4x 1.5" squares in green spotty

Cut 4x(1.5 x5") in red spotty 

Directions

Sew 4 triangles of fabric B onto 1 square of fabric A, opposite triangles first

Square of into a 5" square

Repeat this 3 more times

Join 2 squares with a beige strip between and repeat

Sew a green square in between 2 beige rectangles

Sew all 3 rows together

Sew one of the red squares between 2 red strips and repeat adding a the last green square onto the end of one of these strips

Use these strips to make an L shape around the final block

Hope you enjoyed making this block, I have to say that I found it somewhere as a free pattern and lost the link so if anyone recognises it or finds the link please let me know and I will add it immediately.

Springing into May

This morning Emma is leading the bee and we are making X and + blocks with some fabulous Anna Maria Horner Field Study fabric.

All seams are to be pressed open, 1/4" seams and no need to trim block before returning. Shot cotton to be used on corners of X's and the ends of the pluses will sent a strip.

Here is a placement guide:

There is a wonderful tutorial at Bad Skirt for making up the block! 

Note: since the blocks have been cut at 5.5x6.5 might be worth picking out fabric for centre plus first.

Looks like loads of fun!

April!

Our block for April is here!

The April block is from the wonderful Gina!

The block is called Arkansas Crossroad:

Gina is really excited about getting all the blocks back. Here is the site for one example of directions

http://www.quilterscache.com/A/ArkansasCrossRoadsBlock.html

Hope this looks like fun - sorry for posting so late, so many things to get done last week!

March block!

Hi all, things have got on top of me recently so sincere apologies about the delay in posting my block info, also the fabric was out in the post yesterday so Brits may have received it already and US ladies in a week or so!

So, in your package will be:

8 x solids/plain squares
1 x patterned/fussy cut square
Some scraps

The block I have chosen is a wonky star block!

I have included a small amount of scraps but was hoping you would all add a little of your own fabric scraps that co-ordinate too.

Last week my daughter Rosie turned one, seeing as we initially didn't know if she'd ever reach her first birthday I feel truly blessed, so this quilt will be her special birthday quilt! (To add to her increasing stash of quilts heh!)

I'm sure you probably all know how to make a wonky star block but here is a link

http://owensolivia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/wonky-star-block-tutorial.html?m=1

Block size will be 12" finished and all seams 1/4"

Now here's a cheeky request, if you have any spare fabric after completing the block I would love to receive a 6" finished star block of any design of your choice to work into my borders and pieced backing!

I hope I've covered everything! Please feel free to contact me on twitter, here or at kellyemowen@hotmail.com

Oh and here is my finished block!

Enjoy! Kellye xxx

January's Block - Part 2!

The first part of the Twin Peaks block involved letting go and do crazy patch piecing.

Finished Crazy Block

Finished Twin Peak block - 4 rounds

The second part involves using the crazy block as the center of a modified log cabin. Each person will get instructions with their fabric, so check to see how many rounds you'll need to do. The below instructions are for four rounds. Photos are on Flickr in the order of the instructions. I have included additional notes with the pictures; I did run into some problems, but no ripping of seams was involved and I really like the way the final block turned out. :)
A few learnings:

1. You can trim the crazy block to be shorter and/or thinner.


2. The more drastic the angle, the more fabric you'll need for the last round and the harder it will be to keep to a 1" finished log for each round.


3. The crazy block does not need to be centered or angled in a certain way. If you want to put it in the upper left hand corner, go for it!


4. There's no need to rip seams. If one of the fabric strips is too short for a round, make it longer by piecing in left over crazy piecing. If there's a "hole" in the last round because there's not enough solid fabric, use left over crazy piecing or left over solid.


5. If you get stuck, take a deep breath, a sip of your favorite beverage, and turn the block upside down or sideways. Use the design wall to see how the WIP block looks at different angles and consider trimming more fabric off the block to make room for the next round...and remember you cannot make a mistake on this one!  


6. Break the rules if you have to.

Have fun & Happy Quilting!
Karen
Directions for part 2:
The
width of the logs should be at least 1.5” wide at their narrowest
point. The piece from part 1 does NOT need to be centered in the square,
so each log can be a different width.

On a design wall, make a rectangle 24” wide x 31.5” high using masking or painter’s tape.

Using
the background fabric, make three rounds of logs. The most important
thing to remember is to check that the log will extend a little bit past
the piece it’s sewn to for the entire width of the log.

Take
some time to consider how long the finished round will be, since the
WOF is only 40” or so. This is especially important with the cream
fabric, since you’ll need to do two rounds with it.

Round 1: Cream fabric, seams should be pressed away from the crazy pieced center.

Top
Log: The first strip should along the top of the block. Make it a few
inches longer than the width of the piece it will be sewn to. Sew to
crazy center, then trim the edges of the log to match the edges of the
crazy center.

Side
Log: This is the same as the top, but the log will be longer. “Wonk”
this log - be sure the length takes into account the angle, so that when
it’s trimmed, it will extend all the way to the top and bottom of the
piece.

Bottom Log: Same as the Top Log, but can be thinner or wider. Again, trim the ends to match the width of the piece it’s sewn to.

Last
Log: This will be the longest log and should be “wonked.” This can be
thinner or wider than the other logs and can be at a different angle
than the Side Log.  If you don’t have a piece long enough, you can
connect to shorter pieces with a leftover crazy piece (press seams away
from the crazy piecing).

Round 2: Orange or Grey Fabric

Repeat the same steps as for Round 1.

Round 3: Orange or Grey Fabric (if you used orange in round 2, use Grey for Round 3 and vice versa)

Repeat the same steps as for Round 2.

Round 4: Cream

Before
you start cutting - Figure out how long and wide your strips will need
to be by placing the WIP inside the rectangle you have on your design
wall. REMEMBER: The last log in this round will need to be at least
31.5” long, so figure out how wide this should be before cutting the
fabric.

Repeat the same steps as for Round 3.

The finished block should now be 24” wide and 31.5” high.

January's Block: Log Cabin

Hello, Ladies! Fabric and instructions are in the mail.

I've been reading and re-reading the modern quilting books I've collected in 2012 for the past month. So many beautiful quilts, with many modern ideas, so it was hard to choose.  Quilting Modern by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pederson (Link to Book on Amazon.com) is the inspiration for this quilt, which combines crazy patch piecing and a modified log cabin. This is only my second modern quilt, so I'm very excited to try something new!

This quilt is called "Twin Peaks," because I've been watching Twin Peaks while putting these directions together AND because they're both crazy. There are two techniques that are new to me in this block - crazy piecing and wonky log cabin. Both require letting go of exact measurements and embracing what works.

The thing I like most about this quilt is there are no seams to match in the blocks!

I'll be sending the strips of fabric needed to make the center and the "log" fabric. I will also send specific instructions regarding the size of the centers, since each one will be a little bit different. There will be left over fabric; feel free to keep it for a small project or send it back to me.

I will also post photos to flickr in the order of the block build. If you have any questions, please shoot me an email or post a question. Have fun!

Directions:

Unless otherwise noted, all seams at 1/4" and seams should be pressed open.
Link to Flickr (AGQB Flickr)

Center of log cabin block (crazy patchwork):

Making the crazy center:

On a design wall or cutting mat, make a 10" x 20" or 10"x 17.5" rectangle using masking tape. I used a piece of muslin cut to the correct size.

Sew two strips of fabric together (there should be at least 10 strips in your fabric pack).

From each set, cut into smaller pieces, with cuts at least 1.5" apart and with varying sizes degrees of slanting. The larger these pieces are, the larger the patches will be in the center. I also found it easier to offset seams with larger pieces.

First cuts from all strip sets.

Connect the two piece patches together, offsetting the seams. Trim the seams to 1/4" and press open.

Beginning joins....

Middle Joins

Finished Crazy Center

Continue to connect pieces together until the piece covers the rectangle made on the design wall. Trim to the size noted in your fabric pack instructions.

Note: Don't be afraid to cut the pieces that have already been pieced. The trim may be large enough to use as additional pieces to complete the crazy center.

I will post part 2: Log Cabin tomorrow.

Happy Quilting!

Karen