Blocks

Wonky Quilt Bee – June

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted. I’m still trying to recover from the last two weeks of school and the ramifications (i.e.: stress) of teaching a 1/2 combo class next year. I’ve been spending time planning for next year, which is not what I’d intended to do during the summer. I’m hoping that the time I put in now will make the beginning of the year smoother. I’ve been able to figure out quite a bit, but I feel I still have so far to go!

I have been doing some quilting and knitting and I intend to start posting more. For now, two blocks for the Wonky Quilt Bee for June. I finished the blocks today, a day late. They’re wonky chevron blocks using this tutorial.

The blocks were a bit frustrating to put together. The middle panel was easy, but getting the side panels to be the right size was challenging. I ended up redoing them three different times and by the fourth, decided to sew on another strip rather than redo it.

The sewing was a lot of back and forth cutting, ironing, sewing, etc. I don’t mind some of that, but this was on the verge of being to much. I felt like it wasted a lot of fabric, especially since I had to redo the side panels so often.

Admittedly, it’s probably the perfect block to use in a quilting bee. At the month’s end, you have enough blocks to make a whole quilt without having to make them all yourself.

I can’t wait to see how the whole quilt turns out!

May Bee Blocks

I managed to finish all of my bee blocks for May well before the end of the month. It helps when two boys nap at the same time!

The first set, for the Sew Modern Bee, I forgot to photograph. Although I’ve found time to sew and mail packages, I haven’t always remembered to take photos! Luckily, the queen been photographed them when she received the package. Rather than repost her photos, I’ll link you over to the flickr pages. Block 1 and block 2. The blocks are Garden Fence, from this tutorial. They were super easy to make, especially since all the fabric was already cut for us!

The second set of blocks were for the Wonky Quilt Bee. For this month, the queen bee asked for large bear paws.

The blocks were fun to make and again, super easy.

This is the last month for one bee and next month is the last for the other. We are continuing the Wonky Quilt Bee, but turning it into a Traveling Quilt Bee. I’m super excited to be working on the traveling quilts. I just need to start thinking about my own colors and ideas for my quilt!

Wonky Quilt Bee – March – Polaroid Blocks

Still no baby. Liam was two weeks late, so I didn’t really expect this baby to come early, although I kept hoping that he would. I keep telling myself ____ days left, max (emphasis on the word max).

My lack of blogging is mainly an effect of my exhaustion. When I have time to blog (Liam’s nap time), my brain is usually too tired to sit and write. And, so I’m writing during a bout of insomnia when the words are rolling through my head and keeping me awake. Perfect timing, right?

Anyway, instead of blogging, I’ve been using my time to finish up a few projects, one of them being the blocks for the March Wonky Quilt Bee. March was Jacey’s month and she requested Polaroid blocks using this tutorial.

They were super easy to make and once I got into the groove, it went even faster. The most difficult part was finding enough subjects that were small for the Polaroids. I had to repeat a few fabrics with different subjects highlighted, so color schemes are somewhat similar.

I have plenty of other projects to post about in the coming days, so hopefully I’ll start getting them down on the blog.

Sew Modern Bee

Yesterday was a productive day. Not only did I finish the blocks for the 3×6 Bee, I also finished one block for the Sew Modern Bee. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough fabric to finish two blocks.

This is, in appearance, a complex block, but really took no time at all to put together. It was the perfect block for me to be able to complete before the deadline. The directions are posted here, in case you’re interested.

Now, if I could only be as productive all the time. I’d be able to make a quilt a week!

4 x 5 Bee

I managed to get my blocks made and sent out for the 4 x 5 bee. I was only one day late (needed a Saturday to get to the post office).

These blocks were a challenge to make. Once I got the pattern down, they weren’t complicated, just time consuming. Right now, time is something I don’t have in abundance. I blogged about the paper piecing process here. Once I got the process down, each block probably took about 1.5 hours to complete. However, with a toddler, that becomes little spurts of time here and there.

I still have the 3 x 6 bee blocks to finish as well as two other September bees to start and finish. I’m a bit behind. How do moms manage full-time work and a toddler at home?

A whole lotta piecing

This is another block for a fellow bee member from the Around the World Bee.

The particular block was quite intense to make. It is comprised of a lot of small HSTs sewn together in different directions. I finally figure out the pattern of the blocks and it went a bit quicker.

Unfortunately, the block came out 1/4″ bigger than it was supposed to. I have no idea why. I trimmed as I went and used a 1/4″ seam. I haven’t checked the math (ie: calculated it all), and I’m not sure I really want to. It’s a lot of math.

I really like the block, all the neat corners, and the flow of squares out from the center.

I have one more block to make, but we’ll see if I end up doing it. Because it came out a bit bigger, I’m not sure the bee member will want me to complete the second one. I have all the pieces cut, so we’ll see.

Wonky Quilting Bee

I joined a few quilting bees on Fickr that should keep me busy for a while. One of them is the Wonky Quilt Bee. The person who had April asked for a spiral log-cabin block. The center block was cut as a pentagon and each side spiraled out from there.

The first one turned out a little square in the end, but still has the spiral effect in the middle. The second is a little lopsided, but I like the effect.

I have to say that I love the fabric she chose. I’ve not been a big purple fan, but the combination of purple and orange and pink works perfectly. I find that the more I quilt, the more I’m branching out into different color combinations that I wouldn’t normally choose. I’m having fun experimenting with color.

[3 x 6] Bee Block Star – Tutorial

For the last block, I decided to photograph the entire process and write up a little tutorial on how I constructed it. I’m not sure what kind of star block it is, maybe an inverted star, or something? If you know, feel free to pass along the name of it. It was inspired by this block. I simply figured out the measurements for a 12.5″ block. I’ve had a thing for triangles lately.

This particular block was the most difficult to construct color-wise. One of my bee partners asked for a rainbow. Initially, I thought it would be the easiest as I could just go to my stash and grab some of each color. Then I got to thinking about how to arrange the colors. At first, I was thinking of just going in a rainbow, you know, Roy G. Biv. But, I realized that the block is not linear and the colors would get jumbled up.

I had an epiphany in the shower (don’t the best ideas come in the shower or when your driving and can’t write things down!). I’d been contemplating making a value quilt with HST. I could use the same principal here with color value and the parts of the star. Each diamond shape would be cool colors and each corner would be warm colors. And, there you have it. It only took a couple weeks to come up with that one.

Onto the tutorial (click on images to make them larger):

Inverted Star Block

Block measures 12.5″ square when finished

Materials

White fabric

Print fabric

Sorry there’s no amounts. I just kinda winged it. You can use scraps for this block. Your fabrics fabric scraps need to be at least 3 x 3″.

Cutting

Cut from the white:

(1) 4.5 x 4.5″ square

(4) 2.5 x 2.5″ squares

(12) 3 x 3″ squares – cut these in half on the diagonal to make 24 triangles

Cut from the print fabric:

(4) 2.5 x 2.5″ squares (not pictured)

(12) 3 x 3″ squares – cut these in half on the diagonal to make 24 triangles

Arranging

Place the 4.5 x 4.5″ white square in the center. Place the (4) 2.5 x 2.5″ prints on each corner. Place two print triangles next to each 2.5 x 2.5″ square so that the hypotenuse (long edge) is pointing away from the square. Create a diamond on each side of the larger white square using four triangles. Be sure that the right angles are in the center of the diamond. You do not need to fill in with the white triangles or small white squares, as long as you have a design board has a white background. If it doesn’t you may want to put them in just to get an idea of the “white space.”

Take a picture. I used my phone for all my arrangement shots, except this one, as I just needed a reference picture for arrangement purposes.

Sewing & Trimming

Sew a white triangle to each print triangle on the hypotenuse with a 1/4″ seam. Press seams open. I press my seams open, so that’s what you’ll see. If you prefer to press them to the side, that’s okay, too.

Trim each half square triangle. First, align the diagonal line of the rule to the center line. Be sure that the measurements on the opposite sides are more than 2.5″. Trim off the edges.

Turn the square 180º and line up the center line again. Align it so that the square is 2.5″. Trim. Repeat for all your HSTs. This will take a little while, but be worth the extra effort to make your blocks square. I passed the time by doing it while watching a T.V. show.

Using the photograph, rearrange your block. This time, include the 2.5″ and 4.5″ white squares. You’ll notice that, except for the large white center square, each section has four small 2.5″ squares.

Sew a 2.5″ square to a square next to it. Align the diagonal seams, if applicable. Be sure to choose squares next to one another within the same section, not in adjacent sections. Iron seams open.

You now have two rectangles. Look at the photograph you took of the arrangement. Pin each rectangle to it’s corresponding rectangle and sew. Iron seams open.

You now have 9 squares. Trim your squares to 4.5″ square. Align the ruler on the center seam and measure out 2.25″. Trim. Rotate the square. Measure and trim each side, measuring from the center seam. If you’ve been sewing a 1/4″ seam, you should only be trimming slivers of fabric, if any.

Pin and sew your squares together in rows then sew the rows together to complete your block. Be sure to iron each seam before sewing the rows together.

The block is divided into thirds. To trim your bock, align your ruler along the first 1/3 and trim to 4.25″. Repeat on each side. Each side should be 4.25″ from that seam, making the block 12.5″ square.

Comment or email if you have questions. I’d be happy to answer any. If you decide to make the block, comment and link to your blog or let me know how it went. I’m always looking for new inspiration!