Friday, February 25, 2011

Happy Quilting Quilt-A-Long Corner Instructions

I have to apologize for getting this post up so late.  I meant to post it earlier this morning but it has been one of those mornings :)  And then when I got to it I had a near panic attack because I thought all the yardage was off.  After 20 minutes, I saw where I was making the mental error, double checked the yardage in all the sizes and realized everything was still good. (although, some of you might have a 1/4" extra, sorry :)   Whoo, that was scary!!

So, here it is . . the next step in the Happy Quilting Quilt-A-Long.  I will give everyone a bit of time to get this step done as it is a bit labor intensive :)  Don't forget to post your pictures on flickr of your progress, it is so fun to see how everyone is doing :)


We'll start today with cutting out our "corner" pieces, we have been referring to them as Sashing pieces so far.  The chart below will let you know how many strips you need to cut and how many squares from those strips depending on the size quilt you are making.  It is there for reference :)



Start by grabbing your piece of yardage that you will be using for sashing.  Line it up along the 0 horizontal line on your mat.  make sure that it is aligned all along the bottom line.  Now go ahead and cut a nice straight edge to work with.  I like to cut along the 35" line on my mat :)


Now, from your nice straight edge, count over 13" inches on your mat.  Lay your ruler along the horizontal line making sure to match up along the top and the bottom of the mat.  Count again and make sure you have 13".  Always best to measure twice and cut once :)  Once you are lined up cut along the edge of your ruler.


You now have a 13" strip.  I cut one strip at a time because of how wide they are.  So go ahead and set your remaining yardage aside for a minute.  Now we are going to be working horizontally.  Measure up 6 1/2" inches from the folded bottom. (13" when unfolded) Align your ruler along the horizontal 6 1/2" line.  Now I know what your saying, I don't have a 6 1/2" line :)  No worries, see the next picture.


To cut along a horizontal 1/2" line simply align the 1/2" line on your ruler along the inch line.  In our case the 6" line.  This makes the edge of your ruler along the desired 1/2" line, in our case the 6 1/2" line.  Make sure to align this along both right and left side of your strip and then cut along the 6 1/2" line edge.


Now, without moving your fabric, measure up 13".  This will put you on the 19 1/2" line.  Once again, line up your ruler the same way you did in the last step.  When you are all lined up, cut along the horizontal edge.


Lastly, and this is just personal preference, I like to have my scraps ready to use so I quickly trim off the selvage so that my excess scrap piece at the top is selvage free :)  Now go ahead and repeat cutting your 13" strips and squares for as many as you need.  (see the reference chart :)  Make sure to press your squares that were along the fold line.


So, now you are ready to cut your squares.  This will be just like when we sliced the 16 patch blocks.  Align your ruler diagonal across the block.  Make sure to intersect both corners.  Cut along the edge of your ruler.


Now, without moving your block, align your ruler along the opposite diagonal.  Once again, make sure to intersect both corners.  Once aligned, cut along the edge of your ruler.


You will end up with 4 triangles out of each squares.  Continue cutting all of your squares in this manner.  Once they are all cut you can set your triangles aside.


Okay, so those charms that you set aside, go ahead and grab them now.  Now it's time for a little marking.  Go ahead and grab a pen.  Align your ruler diagonal from corner to opposite corner on the wrong side of a charm square.  Draw a line.


Now, measure over 1/2" from your drawn line.  Align the 1/2" mark on your ruler along the first drawn line.  When aligned, go ahead and draw a second line.

Side note ***  This  step is not part of the quilt but keeps from having useless scraps.  I like my scraps to have a purpose.  So if you feel the same way about your scraps, mark this second line, if you don't care about having extra leftovers, go ahead and ignore it.  (You can see further down for a better idea of how your scraps will be used in the end.)


Your charm square should look like this.  Go ahead and repeat this process for all of your charm squares.


Once you are all marked you are ready to start pinning.  So grab your sashing triangles, your marked charm squares and your pins :)


Align your charm square on top of your sashing triangle with right sides together as shown below.  Make sure that the second drawn line is on top of the first. (not below).


Pin your two pieces together.  I like to put 1 pin in the top and 2 in the bottom.  You want them to be marginally close to the line but also far enough away that you can sew along the line without having to remove the pins as you go.  Continue this process with all of your triangles and charms.


Now you are ready to sew.  Begin by feeding your first set through your machine.  You will be sewing directly on the first drawn line (the one from corner to corner.)  Continue to chain stitch all of your sets.  When completed clip the threads between your sets.


Now you are ready to sew the second line.  This is just like the first.  You will feed the first piece through sewing directly on that line.  Then continue to chain stitch all of your pieces, sewing directly on that line.    (Once again, if you are not worrying about the scraps, you can just skip this step.)


Once all your pieces are sewn go ahead and clip the threads between pieces.  Now, we are going to go ahead and cut between those 2 sewn lines.  I just use my scissors as these are seams on the back and I am not worried about them being perfect.  but you are welcome to use a ruler and mat to give a perfect 1/4" seam.  (if you didn't use the second line you probably want to do that so your scrappy triangles are cut straight.)


So now you have two pieces like this.  All that is left is a little pressing :)


This time, I don't press open.  There is not so much a worry of bulk out here so I like to press away from the sashing and towards the print :)  Do this for both pieces.


Now, just clip your little tail ends on your HST and wham. You have your corner piece ready and a cute left-over HST ready for a matching project :)  Repeat this process with all of your triangle sets :)


As most of you know, the possibilities are limitless of what you can do with HST's.  Depending on the size of your project, you can use the leftover HST's to make a pillow, a smaller blanket, a wall hanging, etc, etc, etc. Here is a flickr group dedicated to HST's.  It will help to give you a few ideas of what to do with those scrappy pieces, and I will be giving a few ideas as well when we get closer to the end :)

So that is it for today :) Have fun this weekend and  Happy Quilting!!!
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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

WIP Wednesday

Alright, It's that time again.  To take stock of what I am in the middle of and what I have planned for the next few months. It is always nice to stop and see how many balls you are actually juggling :)

Of course, my largest work in progress is the continuation of the Happy Quilting Quilt-A-Long.  We are about 1/2 way through now and have so many fun people participating.  My blocks look like this right now.  There is still time to join if you are interested.  The easiest way to read up on what's going on is under the Quilt-A-Long tab at the top of this blog.  It is right under the second P in Happy in the banner :)


I also got my Mono-Cramatic quilt started this last week.  This is the one for Project Modern which is also going to be a gift for my brother and his wife.  It took me 3 + hours to cut out the pieces for this quilt.   Because of the nature of the design, I could only cut it one row at a time, and there are 24 rows.  Happy to be done with that.


I also started on the first few rows.  I know you don't know what it is going to look like but I can say, I am super excited about how it is turning out so far :)  (how is that for a teaser :)


I also am continuing along with half of the quilting community with Block-A-Palooza.  I got all caught up last week only to get back behind yesterday.  Le sigh :)  Ah well, I kind of like doing a lot of blocks at a time so I think the plan is to get behind a bit again and then catch up all at once.


Okay, so that just about covers the actual things I am currently sewing.  As far as things pushed down the line

I never got to making my Valentines table runner from my Holiday Charm pack, catch-up needed.
I also need to make some table runners for my Sister-In-Law as a trade for her marvelous crocheted slippers
And then there is my ABC, Log Cabin quilt that I have only made 1 of the 28 blocks needed.
And I am always keeping busy "Baking"  I just have to squeeze them in between the other projects.

And Lastly, what is taking up all of my current quilting time (and adding to the list of catch-up's above) . . . We are preparing to sell our house.  It will go on the market in the next few weeks :)  And while we don't have any major projects to get it ready, just cleaning and touch-ups, it still takes me away from what I really want to be doing.  Ah well, I will miss it after we move.  It is our first house and we have been very happy here :)

And that about sums it up :)  I am linking this up to Lee's super fun blog, Freshly Pieced

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Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Happy Quilting Quilt-A-Long Disappearing 16 Patch Instructions

Okay, so you have all heard of the Disappearing 9 patch right??  Well this is my version of a Disappearing 16 Patch.  This is going to be fun!!!  So, first off, See below to see how many Disappearing 16 Patch Blocks you will be making.  (Note . . .If your block number is an odd number you will have 2 triangle pieces left over when finished :)


So, let's get started.  Grab your first 16 patch block that you made in the last step.  Lay it out on your mat.  Don't worry to much about lining it up, it doesn't matter.  Now, if you have a yard stick it will probally be easier to use.  Unfortunately, I don't own one.  Crazy, I know.  If you don't have a yard stick use your long ruler and another ruler lined up together.  Lay your ruler diagonally across your entire block.  You want to try and make sure that your ruler is intersecting each of the corners.  Make sure to really smooth your corners out, they will want to creep in on you :)  Once you are all lined up, go ahead and cut along the diagonal.  


Now don't move your fabric.  Go ahead and pick up your rulers or yardstick and align them along the opposite diagonal.  Once again, make sure to intersect all of your points and to smooth out your corners.  Honestly, a lot of times your points will be all lined up and then you will find the edge doesn't line up.  Most often it just needs to be smoothed out.  Once you are all lined up go ahead and slice along the diagonal.


Now you can go ahead and pull your 4 parts apart.  You will end up with 1 - 2 of these little scrap pieces hanging out either under your square or poking out.  Go ahead and cut them off.  This will help to reduce bulk making them easier to piece in future steps.


So out of each 16 Patch Block you will end up with 4 wonderful, adorable, easy to make, triangles :)


Continue this process until all of your 16 patch blocks have been cut.  You will have a fun little pile of triangles.


Now, back to more random piecing fun!!!  Go ahead and grab 2 triangles and line them up as follows.  Once again, you are trying to keep it random so don't stress to much about what lines up where.  Just try to avoid having the exact same blocks across from each other :)


Lay your top triangle onto your bottom triangle with right sides together.  Once again we are going to pin just like you did your 16 patch blocks.  Pin your seams first, making sure they match up.  Then pin your edges.  If you have any bubbles smooth them out with your finger and then put in a vertical pin :)  Continue to pin your blocks until you have done the required amount of sets.  (Once again, remember, if you are required to have an odd number of blocks you will have 2 leftover triangles)


Now it is on to sewing.  Once again, sew a 1/4" seam along your pinned edge.  Make sure to remove pins as you go and to double check your seams that they are laying flat by running your finger underneath the seam right before you sew across it.  Continue to chain stitch all of your Disappearing 16 Patch Blocks.


Go ahead and clip your threads between your sets.  Now, just like before, we are going to press the new center seam open.  Yes, you will have some little overhangs at the edges, we will deal with them shortly :)


Now, this step is not necessary but only takes a second and I like to do it to reduce bulk. Along the corners of the inner squares there will be a small triangle that is "hanging out".  (The little red plaid one)  I like to clip these out in all four of the corners.  Once again, not necessary, it just reduces bulk.


Lastly, turn over your block over.  You will have 4 little triangles sticking out from the center seam.  Go ahead and clip them even with the block.  Repeat for all 4 edges.


And there you have it.  A stack of adorable Disappearing 16 Patch Block.  We will be adding the sashing next.  Yippee Skipee, we are getting closer :)


Don't forget to post your pictures of your progress on the Happy Quilting Quilt-A-Long Flickr page.  It is so fun to see everyone's progress :)
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Monday, February 21, 2011

Winners - A Few Days Late :)

Did I say Friday??  Oops, I got a little distracted and completely forgot about the giveaway results.  So without further ado, the 4 winners of the 400 follower card giveaway are . . .

 
- Barb said...

Four Hundred followers is awesome.....congrats.




Christa V said...

SOOOOOO glad I am a follower!




 JanetK said..


ooh! I'm a follower! These cards are so lovely!



Quiltjane said...

Congratulations on your 4th Century of followers. Well done. I always enjoy your blog


Congratulations Ladies!!  I have sent you emails to get your address :)  And thank you to Jewel for helping me figure out how to add the number generator pictures :)  I owe you one :)

And lastly, Thank You to all of my wonderful followers!!!  You all are the greatest and make me so happy each and every day to be part of this amazing virtual quilting community!!!
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Friday, February 18, 2011

Block-A-Palooza Back-Up No More :)

So I got a little behind in Block-A-Palooza.  As in 5 blocks behind :)  On Monday morning, I sat down and cut out the 4 blocks that I was behind at that point.  I found I actually really preferred cutting out several blocks at once.  It seemed to save time.  (especially where I don't have a designated cutting area and so it all comes up to my dining room table :)  So with that said, don't be surprised if you don't see any more of these blocks for another 2 weeks :)

So, here they are, in no particular order, the 5 block-a-palooza blocks completed.  And now, I can say I am half way done and all caught up!!  Yippee Skippee!!

I love how this block turned out!!!  I just love the color combination and it was fun to get to do something a little different.

Can I just say, flying geese aren't really my favorite.  So ya, I had to major push through this block.  That is a lot of little tiny flying geese :)

This block was a lot of fun.  A little more labor intensive than most of the blocks so far but a lot of fun.  I had a fun time mixing all of the bright colors.

I love pink and yellow together.  It reminds me of pink lemonade.  This block was simple and sweet.  And only having to do 4 flying geese was sweet :)

I loved tying in some solids in this block.  Also, having a large square allowed me to use one of my more fun and bold prints.  Super fun!!

And here they are so far.  The 8 blocks for Block-A-Palooza.  I just love how they are coming together.  Super bright and just screaming of Spring!!  And right now, I am so ready for Spring!!
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