Happy Spring! A Quilt Block a Day Tutorial

It's Spring! Not that you'd know it in Colorado -- low of 14F and 22F currently, with snow on the ground.

But, as Shelley wrote, "if Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"

With the advent of Spring comes a new "Quilt Block a Day." Did you keep up with making 90 nine-patch blocks during Winter? I hope so, because you need them to make the Spring BaD!

We're going to convert our nine-patch blocks to Farmer's Daughter blocks. Yes, I'm a farmer's daughter. I grew up on a dairy farm. Maybe that's why I wake up at 4 am every day?

Here is the completed Farmer's Daughter block:

To make it, start with the nine-patch block, tutorial here.

I'm making my Farmer's Daughter quilt using scrappy reds and background tone-on-tone prints. Of course, you can make your's using other colors, or three colors. Or really, really scrappy, with each element a different fabric!

To make the block, first you'll need eight half-square triangles. For a 90-block quilt, that's 720 HSTs. Don't panic, we'll only need eight each day. Cut a stack of HSTs and use them as your Leaders and Enders while sewing other things.

1. Place a 2½" strip of colored fabric right sides together with a 2½" strip of background fabric.

2. Use the EZ-Angle ruler to cut HSTs across the two strips. Then sew on the diagonal seam and press toward the dark fabric. 

3. Lay out the eight HSTs, eight background squares, and the nine-patch block to form the Farmer's Daughter block:

4. Sew two HSTs and one background square together to form the short side of the FD block:

5. Press toward the center background square.   This segment will be sewn to the side of the nine-patch block where the background square seam is pressed toward the dark squares:

6. Although I rarely use pins, in this case, pins will ensure your vertical seams match. Stitch with the HSTs on top, so you can stitch right across the "X" of the seam on the HST:

7. Press toward the nine-patch block:

8. Next, sew three background squares alternating with two HSTs to form the long side of the block.

9. Press each seam toward the outside background square. "nestle" the seams and stitch:

10. Press this seam toward the nine-patch:

 11.  A final pressing, and there's your Farmer's Daughter block!
 

 One down, 89 to go!


From the desk of your

Summer "A Quilt Block a Day" Tutorial: Shoo-Fly

Actually, I think this block should be called shoo-miller moth! We've had a heavy infestation of the annoying (but non-biting) miller moths in Colorado this summer.

Because it's summer in the northern hemisphere, I chose a super-easy block to make each day. The Shoo-Fly block is made up of half-square triangles and plain squares, set in a 9-patch design. Can't get much easier than that!

Again, because I know quilters do things besides quilt in the summer (like mow the lawn, maybe?), don't worry if you don't get a block made every day. Maybe you will make a smaller quilt, a table runner, a wall hanging -- or even just a mug rug!

I've included dimensions for several sizes of Shoo-Fly block. Also, an idea of what size quilt you'll have if you make each size block.

Here is a tutorial for the basic block that will finish at 12."

Supplies and Cutting

For each block, cut:

• (2) 5.5" squares of colored fabric
• (2) 5.5" squares of background fabric
• (4) 4.5" squares of background fabric
• (1) 4.5" square of colored fabric

Make Four HSTs

1. Draw a diagonal line across the wrong side of each 5.5" background square.
2. Place one 5.5" background square right sides together with one 5.5" colored fabric square.
3. Stitch a scant 1/4" on either side of the drawn line.
4. Cut on the drawn line.
5. Press toward the darker fabric.
6. Square up the HST to measure 4.5"

Assemble Block

Lay out the pieces to look like this:

I sew the block together in columns; that is, flip the center piece on top of the left-hand piece of the top row and sew. Without cutting the thread, flip the center piece of the center row on top of the center piece of the left-hand row and sew. Again, without cutting the thread, flip the center piece of the bottom row on top of the left-hand piece of the bottom row and sew.

Now cut the thread and repeat to add the right-hand column pieces. 

Press the seam on the top and bottom row toward the center square. Press the seams on the center row toward the outside background squares.

Sew the horizontal seams, being sure to nestle the seams against each other to ensure a nice sharp point. Press the center horizontal seams toward the outside. The important thing in pressing is to have two seams toward the center and two toward the outside, so when you sew all your blocks together they "nestle" easily.

Size Variations

To make a 6" finished block, I used a 2.5" strip of dark and a 2.5" strip of light fabric, place right sides together and cut the HSTs using the Easy Angle ruler. 

The great thing about the Easy Angle ruler is that you use strips of the same size you want your HST. 

Use a very scant  1/4"  seam to stitch along the diagonal cut and your HST will come out close to perfect!

I still like to square mine up just a bit to be sure they will be exactly the right size. Use either a regular ruler or the Bloc_Loc square up ruler.

This is all the trimmings I had from four 2.5" HSTs!

Shoo-Fly is one of the easiest blocks to re-size. As long as your HSTs square up to the same exact size as your plain squares, you can make them any size you like.

From left to right, these blocks are 12"; 9"; and 6" finished size.

Remember, you are the boss of your quilt! You decide if you want the darker fabrics to be all the same:

Or the center square to be different:

Or all the HSTs the same and the backgrounds different:

Or all the HSTs and all the backgrounds different (this is very useful if you have a boatload of leftover 3.5" low-volume squares from your Spring BaD):

My inspiration for the Shoo-Fly block came from a mama said sew pattern, "Give Me Liberty," designed by Tara Rebman of tinkerfrog. I bought my pattern in a kit from mama said sew in Ft. Collins, but Tara's pattern is available on Craftsy as a PDF here. I re-sized the blocks to make more efficient use of the Liberty of London Lifestyle fat quarters, so my blocks will finish at 15." Consider making a few of your blocks as negatives:

How Many Blocks Do I Need for a Quilt?

 Setting                Number of Blocks                      6”                            9”                          12”

9X10                                    90                       54 X 60                  81 X 90                108 X 120

5 X 6                                    30                          15”                      75 X 90

8 X 8                                    64                           10"                      80 X 80

I used the All-in-One Quilters Reference Tool to determine the quilt sizes for various sized blocks.

may the long time sun, 
shine upon you,
all love surround you,
and the pure light within you,
guide your way on.

From the desk of your

June UFO Parade

I know of no quilter who doesn't have at least one UFO -- Un-Finished Object. Those of use who have many are striving to finish 12 UFO in 2014. Click here to see how you can play along!

First, the UFO number for July:

My #10 UFO is another Thangles Buck-a-Block project. And I know it's not going to be finished this month, because the DH and I are going on vacation. Good thing those UFOs don't cost anything to keep, huh?

I did finish my May UFO, my Farmer's Wife quilt. I'm waiting to share a photo until it comes back from the long-arm quilter.

However, 52 Quilts followers sent in some incredible finishes for May!

Heather send in her May finish the first week, so she could go on to work on her garden -- "another UFO!"

Read all about it on Heather's blog, Peachy Pages.

One of our newer "finishers," Katie, is going great guns. She tells me this quilt was "started in 1996 by my quilt group the Winters Dam Quilters. I assembled the squares and appliquéd the leaves in each corner. It is all hand quilted. It took me 9 months to hand quilt, working an average of two hours per day."

I have to show you this close-up of Katie's hand quilting:

And look, she used Susie's Magic Binding!

Gorgeous, Katie! I'd love to see this one in person! Maybe while we're on vacation in Idaho?

Ohmygoodness, just look at this beauty by Debra B!

Here's a closeup:

And here is the "back story," in Deb's own words:

My UFO is entitled Dipped in Chocolate and it is by Button Stitch Designs. The blocks are made up of 1.25" strips and then made into 4-patches. The total 4-patch size is 2", if you can believe that. You then put four 4-patches together with a 1.25" sashing between the 4-patches. This then makes a 4.5" block. I have 840 4-patches in this quilt. It is 14 x 15 blocks in size. The total size of this quilt was to be 65 3/4 x 74 3/4 with borders. Mine turned out to be 75 x 84 - I was having such a good time I didn't know when to stop.

Wow! Debra says she has been making large quilts since the first of the year, and thinks it is time for some stitchery work or applique. I agree, Deb!

Donna gets the prize for the cutest photo this month -- here is her grandson with the pillow Donna made him for his birthday:

How fun is that?  Donna writes:

My grandson has been crawling up onto his pillow to go to sleep in his crib. But it was a normal sized bed pillow so he was pretty scrunched up. So for his 2^nd birthday this week, I made him a 24” x 24” pillow with monkey fabric and leftover batting/stuffing.

When he saw all his birthday gifts, he went right over to the pile and grabbed the pillow first saying ‘Pillow!” I refuse to believe he chose that one first because it was the only unwrapped one.

 Hey, Sandi, I think I have this same quilt in my UFO bin:

As you might remember, Sandi's quilt names begin with the letter "K." She had help naming this one:

My sister Karen came up with Koliding Krosses as a name.  Seems appropriate for this design by Cheryl Malkowski (www.cherylmalkowski.com) called Earth and Sea.  It was a free pattern provided by Timeless Treasures in 2009 to introduce new Tonga Batiks.
Here is a link for those who want to see more about Koliding Krosses: 
kwiltnkats: Sunday Stash Report, May 18, 2014

I'm going to look for that one, Sandi, the finished project is inspiring!

Oh man, here is another project that I've also started! Kerry finished her Scrappy Trip Around the World:

This quilt was started in a workshop with Bonnie Hunter a couple of years ago and your UFO challenge was the perfect opportunity to “get it done” The pattern is Scrappy Trip Around the World and is a free pattern on Bonnie’s website. It uses up a lot of 2.5” strips and was made from many leftovers from other projects. Red is my favorite color, so that became the border!

Here is the link to my blog: http://www.kerrysquilting.com/2014/05/sunday-stash-report_18.html

Kerry, I love it!

Doesn't Gill's finish just make you jealous? 

Here's the story, and why it makes me want to vacation with Gill:

This one feels great to finish! I started this wall hanging last year on holiday in France. It is for our hallway and is a picture of the lighthouse and beach huts/cafés/restaurants that are about 100 metres from the campsite we visit every year. There are some small appliqué embellishments to represent some of the different food outlets, and the bench we like to sit on to eat our ice creams! It is very densely hand quilted - every hut in a different design - I almost began to regret starting off on that road, feeling that I had bitten off more than I could chew! However, sitting in the French sunshine again this year on holiday, I finally finished it. I cleared the beach towels off the washing line behind our caravan to take the photo!

Gill, it's stunning -- and it just looks like the perfect holiday!

Here's a pattern I bet a lot of us have started -- but not yet finished!  It's "Twisting Twenty," made by Betsy:

It's from the "Turning Twenty" book. Betsy says the blocks are really fast to make, and great way to use up scraps. Something for "Sunday is for Scraps," Betsy!

Mary finished a charity quilt made from orphan "improv" blocks. So cute!

For charity quilts, I like Mary's machine-stitched binding:

More details on Mary's blog ZippyQuilts.

Noela is getting ready for the holiday season with her "Cabin in the Woods" table topper:

She writes:

I started this about 2 years ago when i joined an online shop for  Xmas in July. This was a pattern provided by one of the designers Janelle Wind. I have always loved log cabin blocks as my first foray into quilting was learning how to make a log cabin quilt. I’m really happy with the quilting and feel at last I am getting much better at it.

Your quilting looks great, Noela -- and I love this block design!

Donna slipped in a second finish at the last minute. She writes "A table runner using a small jelly roll I got on sale at JoAnn’s. All the fabric is of natural looking material resembling stone like marble and slate."

Donna, my DH would love the colors in this one!

We have a new finisher this month! Christine sent a photo of her "Shortcake" made with Fig Tree & Co.'s "California Girl." I love this fabric line -- in fact, I made the same quilt with the same fabric a few years ago!

Here's a "glamour shot" that shows off the fabric better:

Twelve finishes! Let's see who the Random Number Generator chooses to win the prize this month:

I love it! #12 is our newest finisher, Christine! I've sent you an email asking for your postal address, Christine, and your prize will be in the mail as soon as I receive your address.

Oops, here is a last-minute entry! Elisa writes:

I chose a smaller project since we were on vacation for 2 weeks. This came back from the long-arm quilter just in time for me to finish for this month's challenge. I ran out of binding fabric (I'd originally planned to bind it in the same orange as the front blocks), and had to "sub" in these cute fish. Sometimes mistakes are a good thing!  And because fish don't always go with the flow, one binding strip is attached so that group is swimming against the tide.

So cute, Elisa!

Happy Rabbit Rabbit Day!

From the desk of your