August do.Good Stitches Block Tutorial

I cannot believe it is my turn to be queen bee again! This summer is flying right by. July was crazy! Vacation, visitors, more visitors and a couple of custom quilt orders! It's no wonder August snuck right up! Here's a quick block tutorial that we'll be using for Promise Circle do.Good Stitches this month.

I recently came across a similar design done with paper piecing by Amy Ellis.... I haven't quite mastered paper piecing yet so I figured out another way to make it.

Materials for one 6 1/2 inch unfinished star block:
White background fabric
4 - 1.5in x 3in rectangles
Plus white scraps to complete the points

Fabric for stars
4 - 3 inch squares
1 - 1.5 inch square

Take one of your 3-inch squares and measure 1 1/4 inches on both sides of a single corner. On the wrong side place a small mark at each of the 1 1/4 inch lines. Do this for each of the four 3-inch squares.

Grab your ruler and, starting at the opposite corner of the corner with the two marks, draw a straight line to each of the marks. These will be your sew lines.

Grab a white scrap and place it right sides together with your marked square. Follow one of the sew lines. Before sewing you might want to take a quick peek and make sure you have enough white fabric to re-trim the square, this part can be a little tricky the first few you make.

Next trim the excess off 1/4 inch from your sew line

Open and press

Trim off excess white scrap so that you have a 3 inch square again

Do the same with your second marked sew line so that you end up with a 3 inch square with your color fabric in the center surrounded by your white background fabric. Complete this for each of the four 3-inch squares.

Next assemble the star blocks.

Trim block to 6 1/2 inches

Hopefully I captured all the important steps - if you have questions let me know and I'll be sure to answer them! I've added a link to this starburst quilt block tutorial to my Tutorials page.

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July do.Good Stitches

The colors for our July do.Good Stitches block were so pretty that I couldn't put the fabrics away until I cut up bunches and bunches of it! My groupmate MsMinnesota (link to her blog) selected a palette rich in blues with pops of grey, green-mustard and burnt orange. Almost everyone in our group has an abundance of blue... not me, I'm all about teal but I have made an effort to select different blues to add to my stash since joining the group.

I would not have thought to put these all together but they worked beautifully! She selected the big multicolored plus block below - another block I haven't made before. It was very easy to do and I can't wait to see what she does with it!

While considering whether or not to put the fabric away after finishing my blocks or just letting it sit in the middle of my sewing room I couldn't help but note that these colors would make a great boy quilt... And boy colors are tough to pick! So I selected cluck cluck sews Scrappy Summer pattern which I've admired since Alison blogged about it and whipped up a bunch of these blocks in no time! I'm developing a bit of a habit with these do.Good Stitches blocks and color palettes. I did the same thing for May's do.Good Stitches blocks which were done in red, blue and navy also great masculine colors. Trying new things is one of the fun things about being a part of do.Good Stitches.

 

The Scrappy Summer patter is such a wonderful pattern! It goes together very quickly and works great for scraps. I used Kona White to make the four-patch blocks which are all strip pieced. 

I assembled 30 blocks and arranged them in a crib size quilt measuring about 40x48 over the weekend. Next up is backing and binding additions. I've been hanging onto these little jellyfish guys for just the right boy quilt...  not sure if this is the one or not! 

And these too - running low on blues again I see! Not sure when when I'll be back to finish this quilt as my son in finishing up his Marines training and we'll be off to see him before he heads off to California to his next duty station.

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Hourglass Crib Quilt

Last months do.Good Stitches block was a traditional hourglass quilt block combined with solid blocks following the Cloud 9 Shake It Up pattern using colors of red, cream, navy and blue. Can you believe I have never made hourglass blocks before! I'm loving this online quilting bee and learning so much!  I had so much fun making these blocks that I didn't want to stop and made an entire crib quilt top in the bat of an eye!

I had so much fun doing the hourglass blocks that I hardly used any solid blocks but did include a few to shake things up a little.

I had very little yardage available for this quilt as these colors aren't my typical 'thing.' I tried adding some sky blue but that was a major fail! I actually ended up buying a handful of fat quarters from my lqs to round this quilt out including the cute animal print from Alexander Henry above.  The navy colored Kona is Windsor, my favorite shade of navy.

I chose a polka dot binding - big surprise I know! But it really was the perfect thing here... isn't it always though?!  The backing is white minky dot. I quilted the hourglass diagonals and ended up with a cute diamond pattern on the back.

I finished this quilt just in time to capture a couple of pictures of our tree flowering in the backyard. Usually they bloom, it rains and they're gone. These little flowers smell so amazing... like summer

Our blocks were a little bit larger than the Cloud 9 pattern. We used 6.5 inch squares for the solid squares and started with 7.5 inch squares for our hourglass blocks. I love the method of making hourglass blocks in the pattern - nearly perfect centers each time - I didn't need to pin at all which I also loved! I sorta want to keep making these blocks over and over; I'm not quite tired of them yet! This quilt measures 36x47 after washing.

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Promise Circle Finished Quilt

I've finished my first do.Good Stitches quilt with the amazing Promise Circle! This quilt was featured at My Quilt Infatuation Needle and Thread Thursday!!

Do you see the green grass up there - spring is really, really here, finally! My month to be the quilter was February; I selected improv log cabins in hot pink, navy, teal, white, mustard and mint.  I'm thinking I may need to do another quilt in these colors soon.

I love doing improv log cabins; sometimes randomness is just the thing!

It was such fun to see the different fabrics and variations of the block from the rest of the Circle.

I quilted in a meandering pattern, my practicing has been paying off! For the binding I selected a textured solid in mustard from Andover, I think the actual color is called Hay Stack which is fitting.

I pieced a backing from solid mint and hot pink flowers with tiny lime colored centers, all from my stash. It feels so good to finish a quilt without buying anything! Just another one of the good things about do.Good Stitches - stash management.

The blocks were 12.5 inches unfinished, some contained one large log cabin and some made up of four small log cabins. The finished quilt measures around 50x68. do.Good Stitches is an online charity quilting bee; this finished quilt will be heading to Enchanted Makeovers. One more indoors shot - these bright colors were tough to capture... probably needed to push more buttons on my camera... which ones though?!?

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Promise Circle February Blocks

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I was invited to participate in do.Good Stitches Promise Circle and I’m still pretty excited about that! My month to be the quilter is February which came up really fast! Yay, so glad it’s here already! I wanted to keep it simple since I only had a few days to come up with a color scheme and block. I decided on improv log cabins in two variations. I first dove into improv log cabins when putting together my pink log cabin pillow – those three little blocks were super fun. Promise Circle quilts benefit orphaned children through Threading Hope.

I selected colors in hot pink, mustard, white, navy and mint/light teal.

One of my 2015 goals was to put together a quilt with different sized blocks – making a quilt with several other people seemed like a good opportunity to get at that. The ‘large block variation’ is 12.5x12.5 unfinished. I started with a 3 inch square in the middle and added strings in varying widths between 1 - 2.5 inches with no particular rhyme or reason although I did alternate colors at each turn and kept the logs somewhat straight instead of wonky.

The ‘small block variation’ is made up of 4- 6.5x6.5 unfinished improv log cabin blocks with a total unfinished size of 12.5x12.5 just like the large block. I started with a 2.5 inch square in varying colors and used the same pile of strings for the large block variation using mostly 1 - 1.5 inch wide strings although there were a few that were wider.

Each bee mate will make 2 blocks. I plan to let my bee mates decide which block variation(s) they want to make. That way it will be a fun surprise to see what shows up! I’ve never made a whole quilt with improv log cabins as it seems daunting but I have always admired them. The finished quilt will be donated to charity and should be ready in April.

If you are a beginner to improv log cabins take a look at the tutorial by Heather Jones at Sew4Home My blocks are a little more scrappy and had smaller beginning center squares but the general idea for construction is the same. Do what you like bee mates – it’s going to be amazing no matter what!

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Rainbow Baby Quilt Top

I've been working with an etsy client on this personalized baby quilt. I do love a rainbow quilt! The top is all done and was made with Good Morning fabrics by Me and My Sister Designs from Moda. The pattern is another one from Three Times a Charm, book 2 by Me and My Sister Designs. That book has so many cute patterns for baby quilts. And these fabrics, wow, they are so bright and cheerful! This quilt top was featured at Quilt Story: Fabric Tuesday!!

The backing is going to be an adorable owl print by Timeless Treasures. The owls will be all used up after this quilt - I need more. The teal squiggle is one of my all time favorites by Tim and Beck from Bungle Jungle.

We were auditioning fabrics for the personalization and ultimately went with the pink on pink print for the baby name. I used wonder under and appliqued with my Pfaff to attach the letters. You can take a look at the finished rainbow baby quilt here.

I was also asked to join do.Good Stitches, a charity bee, this week! Umm, for sure, I am in! I joined the Promise circle, which benefits orphaned children through Threading Hope. This month we are working on Jacobs ladder blocks (mine are all done) and I've got to come up with a block as I'm going to be the quilter for February which is coming up super fast!  Eek!  I'm thinking mustard, mint, navy and hot pink fabrics - sounds yummy! But I change my mind a lot....

I also finished another dog quilt this time for a Bichon Frise! You can check out The Sophie on my instagram

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