Sampler Quilt 2011 - Week 3 - Churn Dash

A classic block, the Churn Dash uses half square triangles, squares and two-patch squares. Use a background fabric and an accent fabric for your block.

A Churn Dash calculator  is available for different size and number of blocks for your own project.

Other Friendship block layouts

You can use the Friendship block as the basis for a watercolor quit layout. I'm working on one using 256 - 2" squares and half square triangle units. Fusible grid interfacing will make layout and sewing easier plus once you get it laid out the way you want it, fuse the squares to interfacing and you won't have to worry about something or someone rearranging your them.

Sampler Quilt 2011 - Week 2 - Friendship

This week is the "Friendship" block, not to be confused with the "Friendship Star" block. You'll need 5 different fabrics including background and accent fabric if you're doing like me. The instructions for the half square triangle (HST) can be done either with squares or strips. To cut triangles from strips, you'll need a half square triangle ruler or a template.


A Friendship calculator is available for different sizes, number and methods of blocks for your own project.

Show and Tell

Here is the Christmas Tree Skirt I started working on this season. As you can see I didn't get it done for 2010, but it'll be ready for 2011.


It uses 9 fabrics, 5 reds and 4 greens. The 45° diamonds are strip pieced, so it went together fairly quickly and the set in triangles weren't much different than making baskets. I did learn that when sewing set in squares, you just do one side at a time - don't bother to try and turn everything with needle down.


I look forward to making a pattern for this tree skirt and also a table top quilt size.


Jeanne

Bright Hopes - Other layouts

The Bright Hopes block can be used for more than simply a block in a quilt. Break the block pieces up into smaller squares and you can have a scrappy watercolor style quilt with large blocks.

Sampler Quilt 2011 - Week 1 - Bright Hopes

For 48 weeks a new 6" block will be posted each Friday or Saturday to make a throw sized sampler quilt. There will be 1" sashing with complimentary cornerstones and quilt will measure about 43" X 57" before borders. In choosing the fabric for the blocks, I'm going to use a consistent background fabric and 1 accent fabric for each block. Allow about 1/2 yd of both fabrics for all the blocks.

Old Windmill quilt block

I've just finished the latest quilt block calculator - Old Windmill - which is entirely half square triangle units. You have the option of making the units with squares or using a right triangle ruler to cut them from strips. Once I learned how to use the right triangle rulers, I was hooked. You no longer have to figure out the weird seam allowances - just add 1/2 inch, cut a strip and cut out triangles.

Things I learned about quilting

Quilters are probably always learning of new ways to do things, at least new to them and here are some things I've learned that have helped me tons...


Sandwiching and quilting: A guest on Alex Anderson's Simply Quilts (whose name escapes me now) showed how to sandwich a quilt smoothing the seams, borders and blocks square, pushing excess to middle. The quilting will take up the slack and your quilt will be square, and hang better.

Quilt block calculators

Block calculators up and running...

1. Jewel Box: block, quilt
2. Ribbon Star: block, quilt
3. Four Square ^New!: block, quilt, potholders
4. Dancing Pinwheel (a.k.a.Trailing Star, Mosaic, Mosaic #1, Old Poinsetta and Spinning Stars: block
5. Balkan Puzzle: block, quilt
6. Half Square Triangles: block
7. Four Patch: block
8. Starflower: block
9. Ohio Star: block
10. Quarter Square Triangle: block
11. Clay's Choice ^New!: block
12. Jacob's Ladder ^New!: block
13. Nine Patch: block
14. Nine to Four: block
15. Eight Point Design ^New!: block

While doing research on the history of different quilt blocks, I found a website (Hart Cottage Quilts) that shows some copies of quilting publications from the early 1900's. It's fun to look up these things and actually see old documents and I hope to find more.

Have a Great Day!

Jeanne

Back to making quilt block pattern calculators

I've recently started to create quilt block pattern calculators again. They can be found at www.myquiltgenie.com.


I started making them in 2008 mostly for myself to resize quilt blocks and layouts and have the instructions be changed accordingly. I can't tell you how many times I've had to re-figure the math on a quilt I'd let set too long.


The calculators are block and quilt layout specific so you don't have to do much more than choose a finished size and how many blocks you want to make. Once done you don't even have to remember how to put the blocks together or in the case of quilt layouts, figure out how much border, backing, backing and binding you'll need to finish.


Happy Quilting
Jeanne