Sapphire Stars--Clue 2

I have finished the second clue of Kevin the Quilter's Sapphire Stars Mystery.



Here is a picture of a sampling of Clue 1 and Clue 2--I look forward to seeing what comes next!

As you can see, mine is Ruby Stars rather than Sapphire!

Thanks, Kevin, for the fun.

I'm linking with Fiber Tuesday 121 at The Quilting Room with Mel.

Holiday Family 2015--Finished Quilt

I finished the nine-patch for the family my department adopts for the holidays. My first blog post about it is here: Holiday Family 2015 Project



It is a simple nine-patch pattern with a large, nine-patch pieced back.

66" x 84"

Pieced Back

Detail of Fabrics

Assembly was fast--I made strip sets of threes:

Subcut into blocks:

Then sewed them together.

My helper is keeping an eye on the quality of the work.

I pieced the back to echo the nine-patch on the front and did a diagonal quilting pattern. Bound with black, the quilt is done.



This is a very traditional quilt, but, I think, an attractive one suitable for a family.


I'm linking to The Quilting Room with Mel: Fiber Tuesday 33.

Warm Wishes For A Football Fan

My husband asked for a quilt for watching football this season. I decided to go with the Warm Wishes pattern. You can find the link to download this free pattern here:Warm Wishes

This is a very simple and very adaptable pattern. It is made up of only two blocks: a rail fence (block made with strips) and a plain block of your focus fabric. I say it is adaptable because you can make the blocks any size, so if you have a focus fabric with a large pattern, you can use it without cutting it up too much.

To begin, decide what size you want for the blocks. You will make the rail fence blocks first. They are made of three strips. I made mine with two 2.5" gold strips and one 3.5" burgundy strip.

You can use three different colors if you like. Make the strip sets all the same (the colors in the same order), so that when you put them together, you get the interesting "frame" effect. You can also vary the widths if you want to emphasize particular fabrics.



Making the strip sets is easy; simply sew the strips of fabric together on the long side to create a pieced strip of fabric. Press your strip set and measure the width. Mine was 7.5", so I sub-cut the strip sets at that same measurement to create square blocks. Your sub-cuts will depend upon the width of your strip set--if you have used wider strips, your set might be 9" wide--in this case, you would sub-cut your strip set into 9" pieces. The key is that you want square blocks after cutting.



Using this same measurement, you can now cut your focus fabric into squares that will be the same size as the rail fence (three strip) blocks. I cut mine at 7.5".



Putting the blocks together is easy. Each horizontal row will alternate a focus fabric square and a rail fence square. As you look at the photo below, notice that the rail fence blocks change orientation with each horizontal row. In this example, Row 1 has horizontal rail fence blocks; row 2 has vertical ones. This creates a "frame" around some of the focus fabric blocks.

I used more of the team fabric for the backing, and I used a black binding to set off the colors.

Ready for kickoff!

Autumn Path

Autumn Path Quilt


I love Autumn (She says as she sweats through summer!), so I also love autumn fabrics. I decided to put some together into a quilt using Bonnie Hunter's "Bricks and Stepping Stones" pattern.

Bonnie's pattern can be found here: Bricks and Stepping Stones

Not long after I started the quilt, Missouri Star Quilt Company did a video tutorial on a very similar quilt: Four-Patch Frenzy

My quilt is a different scale than either of these, but the end result is much the same. Here is how I did it.


Choose Your Fabrics

I had several fabrics to choose from--too many, in fact!

I knew I wanted to make the four patches out of constant colors to tie everything together. I chose the reddish brown and the creme that you can see here in the center of the picture.

The brown background leaf print at the top was one I had several yards of, so I chose it for the backing.


While all the prints had colors that coordinated, they seemed to divide themselves:

Brighter and not exclusively leaves

Darker and all leaves except the paisley

I liked the look of the darker group better, so I chose to go with that set.




Making the Four-Patches

Since the four patches were to be all the same, I was able to put them together using strip sets.

First, I cut 2.5" strips of the darker color.

Then I repeated the process with the creme color.

To make a strip set, sew one dark strip to one light strip down one long side (right sides together.

Before pressing the strip set open, sub-cut it into 2.5" pieces.

Press these units open with the seams toward the darker fabric.

You will now sew these together to form a four patch. Because of the direction you have pressed, your center seams should nest snugly together. Pinning the centers can help you keep your seams aligned.

Please ignore the "working hands" manicure!

Press the seam of your four patch. In this case, the pressing direction doesn't matter.

Your finished four-patch unit will look like this, and it should measure 4.5" square.

Repeat...

...and repeat.

My quilt measures 68" x 68" and required 75 four-patch squares.





Cutting the Bricks

The larger portion of the block (the Brick) in my quilt was cut at 4.5" x 8.5". I tried to get approximately the same number of bricks from each autumn leaf fabric, so I could have a good mix in the quilt. I needed 75 of these for my quilt.




Making the Block

Each block of this quilt requires one four-patch and one brick. (These are rectangular rather than square blocks.)



Sew one four-patch to the end of one brick. Take care to always keep your four patches facing the same direction--this will create the mini-chains in your finished quilt.

You can chain piece these--feeding one block in after the other without cutting the threads between them. This can save time and thread. Here is a set of chain pieced blocks.

These can then be clipped apart. I have a handy little gadget for this (I chain piece a lot!) called The Cutting Gizmo. The slot on the top holds a razor blade, so you just pull the thread between units down on it, and it cuts. I like it because I have both hands to handle the fabric units instead of needing one for scissors. This is purely a nice-to-have thing--certainly not a necessity.

The Cutting Gizmo

I am not affiliated with the company that makes or sells these.

After you have completed your blocks, press the seams toward the bricks.

This is your completed block.

Lay Out and Sew Your Rows Together


The layout of this quilt is simple: one four-patch up, one four-patch down.

The next row is the same.

My quilt took five rows of fifteen blocks each.

Finishing the Quilt

You may choose to add borders if you wish.

I quilted mine with a straight line 4" grid--nothing fancy.

I chose the binding from among the leaf fabrics I had left over--a scrappy binding would work, too.



Here are some pictures of my finished quilt.

Notice the mini-chains I mentioned earlier. All my four-patches have the creme color in the upper left corner, so the chains appear. (I could have used the darker color there for the same effect--all that matters is that all the four-patches are oriented the same way.)

This is a pattern that goes together easily, and it would be suitable for many types of fabrics--maybe Christmas prints, or a baby quilt, or a patriotic theme...

Churn Dash and Greek Cross Blocks

I just finished a quilt using two very traditional blocks; the Churn Dash and the Greek Cross:

The two blocks, though they look quite different, complement each other well. One of the reasons for this may be because they are the very same block!



To make this block in the size I did, you will need two 5" squares in a light print, and two 5" squares in a dark print for the half square triangles (HSTs) [If you make them as I did here]:  Half Square Triangles

You will need one 2.5" x 18" strip (a little longer than 18"to be on the safe side) of the darker fabric and the same of the lighter fabric.

Your center will be a 4.5" square.




Make 4 HSTs with the 5" squares.

Sew your 18" strips together along the long side. Press the seam toward the darker fabric, then subcut your strip into 4.5" pieces.

Cut your 4.5" square.

Here are the components of your block:

Because of the way I stacked these, it is hard to see that the center group of squares are made up of two rectangles. Look at the picture below to see them more clearly.

The color placement of these components will determine whether you are making a Churn Dash block or a Greek Cross block.

The Churn Dash:

The Greek Cross:

Note that the the only difference between these two blocks is the color placement of the HSTs.



Sew your squares together in rows: top, middle, bottom. A bit hard to see, but press your top and bottom row seams towards the center block and your center row seams away from the center, so your seams will nest and will meet neatly when you sew the rows together into your block.

Sew the rows together to make a nine patch block.



Here are the two blocks side by side: the red/cream is the Churn Dash and the blue/cream is the Greek Cross.

Two blocks that look very different, but they are made of exactly the same components!