Tuesday Tool: 4-Patches

One of the block Parties I belong to at Ruth's Stitchery is making Lori Holt's "Quilty Fun" row quilt this year.

 I'm making mine with American Jane's Potluck from Moda: 

With two rows finished, I am in love with this quilt!

I'll get on to the tutorial in a minute, but first I want to show you something exciting:

This quilt is "Hope Takes Flight," designed by my friend Melissa, who blogs at We Shall Sew. The pattern will be available free from Robert Kaufman in March. I used Mellie's technique to make the butterfly row for my Quilty Fun. It is just the most clever technique I've ever seen -- be sure to watch for the free pattern!

The next row is four patches. Lori has an unusual method to make scrappy four-patches, but I have to admit I prefer my Crosscut 4-Patch Square in a Square ruler from Jodi Barrows.

Here is the link to my tutorial for using this ruler.

When I'm making lots of four-patches that are the same, I like to layer the two pieced strips, then cut. Like this:

The place the ruler so the center line matches up with the seam and cut:

A good trick to remember when piecing is to have the seam facing away from you and on the top layer. That way, the seam is forced to "nestle" and will be perfectly aligned.

 

To make the block lie flat, make a "mini" four-patch on the seam side of the block.. like this:

1. After stitching the both two-patches together into a four-patch, look at the seam you just stitched.
2. Where the two seams intersect, there are three or four stitches to the end of the seam perpendicular to the one you just sewed. Pick out those stitches to the seam line that crosses them.
3. Now place the four-patch on the ironing board seam-side up and "wiggle" the center with your finger. It will open up and you can press it flat on the wrong side.  

Extra credit if your nail polish matches your fabric!

From the desk of your

Monday BOM Day

This week's BOM is no ordinary Block of the Month.

Rather than four rows of three blocks, this one is put together in seemingly random parts. It's "Sample This!" from A Quilter's Dream.

I made another quilt from the same designer last Fall and found the pattern challenging. Sample This! is definitely not for the beginning quilter, nor for the faint-of-heart. It somewhat reminds me of European knitting patterns -- it assumes the person making the project knows a lot about quilting! Lucky for those of us making this quilt as a Block Party at Ruth's Stitchery, Cathy sews each step ahead of us and has lots of good tricks to make things easier.

The hardest part of this pattern is determining what fabric goes where. Cathy recommended using a large piece of cardboard to arrange the eight fabrics needed in the first section of the quilt.

The "focus fabric" is used in each section:

I cut only one fabric at a time, so I could keep each with its assigned number:

I also made labels for each of the half-square triangle combinations:

Then arranged each section on my cardboard:

It took four hours to make these two sections! Whew!

 

And I am making the same quilt from two colorways, so I have the same two sections ahead of me!

Linking up to BOMs Away at What a Hoot.

Come back tomorrow for a tutorial on making lots and lots of four-patches!


From the desk of your

Sunday is for Scraps -- and Football!

Big day in the States. Two football playoff games: one with the local team, one with the hometown team.

I live in Colorado:

But my heart is in Seattle!

In the meanwhile, I'm working on my Celtic Solstice mystery.

You know, those colors match my nails today!

Linking up to Kim's Big Quilting Adventure Scrap Basket Sunday.

I have something completely new on the design wall for tomorrow! 
I hope you'll come back and see.

From the desk of your

Saturday Stash: A Cautionary Tale

Online buying is safe, easy, and well . . . easy.

Know what this is? It's a photo of a fat quarter bundle of the entire Lizzie House "Catnap" collection, newly available. Placed "on hold" as soon as I saw it advertised.

And this? Yes, it's a second bundle of the same line.

Now, I love love love Lizzie House fabrics. Enough to buy two bundles of the same collection? Not really. I  forgot I'd placed it "on reserve," and when I saw the collection at another online shop, I pounced. Imagine my surprise when two! bundles arrived, a day apart. 

To their credit, Pink Castle Fabrics agreed to take one bundle in return. But they charge a 10% restock fee, and of course, I'd have to pay the return shipping. All that plus the original shipping cost would wind up being more than $20. So I'm keeping both, maybe someday it will be one of those $250 per fat quarter fabrics and I can buy a plane ticket to Hawai'i!

And this? 

This is what happens when a quilter decides she want to make this quilt:

from this book:

and realizes she owns almost no "low volume" prints. So she buys a fat quarter of nearly every low volume print in every quilt shop she visits during an all-day road trip to pick up a quilt from Wolf Creek Quilting.

Safe, easy, and . . . . dangerous!

BTW, just wait 'til you see what I have to give away next weekend for the "Grow Your Blog" hop!
From the desk of your

What's Wrong With This Picture

Has this ever happened to you? You get a quilt top all finished, pressed, hung to photograph -- and notice "hey, something is wrong."

No, it's not that the top edge is missing -- that's folded over the deck railing so I could take the photo.

It's the flying geese in the outside border. The background and colored prints are reversed! I can't believe I got the quilt top completely finished without noticing this mistake!

Sigh.

This is the 2012 Fat Quarter Shop "Designer Mystery BOM" quilt. It's made from Bonnie & Camille's "Vintage Modern" fabric, a collection I loved so much I bought the entire fat quarter bundle. And made four extra blocks so the quilt would be big enough for my queen sized-bed.

Guess it's not really finished, huh?

Linking up to TGIFF, hosted this week by Julie at That's Sew Julie.

As well as "Can I Get a Whoop Whoop" at Confessions of a Fabric Addict:

And with Richard and Tanya at Link-a-Finish Friday:

\

"Designer Mystery" is my first UFO finish for 2014 -- I promise I'll have those flying geese flying by February 1. Are you working on your UFO #7?


From the desk of your

WIP Wednesday: Wiley Way

It's time for the first WIP Wednesday 2014 -- something completely new, I even had to buy fabric (gasp) for it!

I'm sure I shared before that I make a quilt for each of my Mother's great-grandchildren when they turn 12 The next "turning-12" is a big Chicago Bears fan, so his quilt is navy blue and orange.

The pattern is from two Colorado designers, Sassafras Lane Designs. Their designs are named for various streets where they have lived over the years. Wiley Way has a distinctly modern bent, which I thought perfect for Max.

I love this design! It looks tricky, but it's actually really simple!

I'm using various oranges from my stash. The background is Northcott Colorworks Premium Solids in Navy from Ruth's Stitchery. They carry the entire line of this lovely, higherqualitythanKonaCotton fabric.

I'm surprised at how fast it is going together -- I just bought the background fabric on Monday. It would be finished if I hadn't alternated working on this with working on my January UFO project, the 2012 Designer Mystery quilt from Fat Quarter Shop. [Really, I cannot do the 2014 Mystery BOM, I don't have room on my BOMs Away board. I cannot do the 2014 Mystery BOM, I don't have room on my BOMs Away board. I cannot do the 2014 Mystery BOM, I don't have room on my BOMs Away board.]

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

I'm driving to Denver this morning to pick up my "Main Street" quilt from the Wiley Designer and long-armer, Kristy. I am so excited!

From the desk of your

BOMs Away in 2014

I'm such a sucker for Blocks of the Month I tell myself, "It's only ONE block, you can do that!" Then I wind up with eight sets of blocks and no quilts. And another seven BOMs for the new year!

I will say my "BOM Board" helps keep me motivated to finish each block every month. I love making that check mark!

Last week, I posted a photo of my "BOMs Away!" board on Facebook with the bottom line empty. A Scrap Squad buddy teased me that I had room for one more BOM -- so I added "Hats for Sailors." Now when I'm tempted to take up yet another Block of the Month program, I can remind myself "there is no room for it on the board!"

The only carryover program from last year is Jackie Robinson's "3D Sampler." It's an incredible program, and Jackie's directions are excellent. But each little block finishes at 4", so the pieces are tiny tiny tiny!

This is the third "Patchwork Party" program I've joined. This year, all the pieces are laser cut. So the blocks go together in minutes!

Sonya at Ruth's Stitchery is hosting a "First Thursday" mystery this year. It's one of those "if you finish your blocks and bring them back, the next month is free" programs. So it's important that one remembers why she went into the shop on the First Thursday and doesn't wander around then leave without picking up the next month's block.  Ahem.

The Wednesday morning block party at Ruth's is working on this Stephanie Prescott design in 2014. Anna Marie at Quilter's Stash in Windsor made their sample and reports the biggest challenge is deciding what fabrics go where.

My biggest challenge was deciding which colorway to use. So I bought them both -- decisions are so overrated!

Here is my "just for fun" BOM. It's Lori Holt's "Quilty Fun" and I am using American Jane's "Potluck" fabrics 

The Wednesday evening group is using Marti Michell's  newest set of templates and her book "5 is Fabulous."

But I fell in love with her new fabric line and the quilt made with it: "Bordered Rows." Aren't I lucky that our neighboring shop down the road in Pueblo, Stitcher's Garden, is hosting it as a BOM?

I already have another of PatchAbilities' mini quilt programs in progress, but couldn't  (or didn't!) resist their new one. The quilts finish at 12" X 32" and are perfect as door hangers. Each month's kit includes a metal door hanger "topper."

I read on another blogger's post today that she is including a tab for BOMs at the top of the page. What a good idea! Now you can watch my progress each month -- and I hope, cheer me on!

I have my first BOM UFO quilt from last year put together except the last border. It will be Friday's "TGIFF" post.

From the desk of your