Craftsy Block of the Month for May 2012

1. Modern Log Cabin Block

This Log Cabin block is supposed to be very improvisational.  There is no measuring or pre-cutting of strips.  The only suggestions were to skew the block so that the centre is framed and is off-centre.

Framing the center was easy.  I used a tulip fabric for the centre and chose to sew a narrow frame around it. 

To keep it off-center, I added narrow borders to the right and bottom of the centre block and added wider borders to the left and top of the centre block.  This was done to the second and fourth borders.

The finished size of this block measures 12-1/2" square.

2.  Wonky 5-Sided Log Cabin Block

This log cabin block is also improvisational and needs no measuring or pre-cutting of strips.

Rotated 180 degrees, it looks like a house!

In the beginning, there was a basket full of scraps.  The two suggestions were to create a wonky 5-sided log cabin block and to give it a scrappy look.

For the centre of the block, I chose to make a house which has 5 sides.  This was my first attempt at creating the 5-sided wonky log cabin block, but it was so small that I decided to frame it.
  

A second attempt to create a 5-sided block didn't succeed because the diagonal cut (green triangle at bottom right edge) was too small.  So I tried again.

For some odd reason, I found it really hard to keep from squaring up the block.  Notice the first time a wonky side was introduced, it was very soon after squared up so that the fifth side was lost.  The same thing is about to happen here.  So it's back to the scrap basket, as I try to finish up the block.

I usually try to maintain some order in the work place, but not so today.

The cutting table looks the worst.

Before attempting to create a truly wonky log cabin block, it looks like this mess will have to be cleaned up and order restored, which may help the brain to function better. Well, that never happened.

Instead I moved right on to creating that diagonal fifth side.  Here is tip #1.
To create that wonky side requires a (brave) deep cut spanning at least a couple of strips.

I realized that in order to maintain the diagonal edge, the two sides adjacent to it has to be trimmed  along its bias edge. This is tip #2.

And Here is tip #3.  When a strip is being added to this bias edge, the strip must be longer than the bias edge, so that it doesn't fall short of fabric when it's trimmed.

Having a bias edge on one side of the block didn't seem to do it, so I chopped off the adjacent edge. and created another wonky side.  And here's how the block ended up.  It finished at 12-1/2" square.

Now here's the really strange part of this entire exercise.  I ended up with a basket that has more scraps than when I began!  Don't ask me how that happened :)

Cheers & happy quilting!

Craftsy Block of the Month for April 2012

Check out the video lesson and instructions for the Craftsy Block of the Month for April.  It's free!  All of my Craftsy BOM blocks are documented here.

Yes, it's the first week of May and I've only just completed the Craftsy Block of the Month for April!  To be honest, I was going to give these blocks a miss because I'm not a fan of English paper-piecing, in general, and hexagons, in particular.

Here are my two blocks for the April BOM.

Sunny With a Chance of Hex

Hexi Stripe

 I kept procrastinating and putting off the inevitable until I could stand it no longer and took another look at the instructions.  With a lot of grumbling and mumbling, I sat myself down one afternoon and started creating the three hexagon templates.  The size of a hexagon is determined by the length of one of its six sides.  So I created a 2" plastic template for the sun, a 3/4" template for the rays and a 1-1/4" template for the striped block.

I then went through the exercise of tracing the templates onto parchment paper and cutting them all out.  Why did I decide to use parchment paper?  Because I was working at the dining room table and parchment paper was closer at hand than typing paper.  Subconsciously, I must have been thinking that parchment paper would withstand the heat of an iron better than typing paper.  As it turned out, using parchment paper was a very good idea because it was very easy to baste through.  I've saved all the hexagon paper pieces and was surprised at how well they stood up to all the (man)handling.

Parchment Paper Pieces

Another evening was spent picking out all the fabrics, tracing a quarter inch around and cutting each hexagon from the fabrics.  Yes, the whole process sounds very tedious because I've got so used to rotary cutting the pieces of a quilt and machine sewing everything in sight, but guess what?  The repetitive process was almost meditative and extremely relaxing!

However, the next time I make a hexi-anything, I will create a plastic template for the cut-size of the hexagon to remove one step from this process - that of measuring a 1/4" around the paper piece onto the back of the fabric.  Yes, that will save a lot of time!  Why didn't I think of this earlier?

Fabrics for Sunny With a Chance of Hex

Oh boy, there was more hand piecing to be done, whip stitching all the hexagons to each other.  Then the fun began as I finally sat at the sewing machine and sewed all the hexagons down to the background fabrics.

I love how my blocks turned out!

Somewhere in my pile of UFOs , there are some grandmother's flower garden blocks that are begging for some TLC.  Dare I suggest tackling one of my UFOs?  After all, it's one of my New Year resolutions!  This  UFO is a blue and yellow quilt made from 1" hexagons.  I've completed exactly two blocks out of eight and it was started in 2007!!

I think I can!  I think I can!  After these two blocks that were just completed, I know I can!  But that will be covered in another post.

Cheers, everyone!

Craftsy Blocks of the Month for March

The theme for Craftsy's March BOM is Foundation Piecing and the two blocks are string blocks.  It was quite an experience for me to give no thought whatsoever to the organization of the fabrics.  I just dug through all my scraps (it was amazing how much I had accumulated) and randomly sewed them on.  It was very liberating.

Take a look at my two blocks on the Craftsy website.

Craftsy March Block of the Month - String Block

To arrive at a 12-1/2" block, the process began with four 6-1/2" squares of muslin.  Following Amy Gibson's instructions, each square was marked on adjacent sides of one corner at 1" and the same was done on the opposite corner.  Leaving the area between these four marks empty, varying widths of fabric, between 1 and 2 inches , were sewn until the entire foundation square was covered.  Using the foundation square as a template the strips of fabric hanging off the ends were trimmed away.  The four units were sewn together, pressing all seams open.

This is a great way of using up scraps that have accumulated over the years.  I discovered that most of my scraps were left-over pieces of binding.  Afraid of running out of binding, I always add 8-10 inches to the recommended length, so there were plenty of strips available.

Craftsy March Block of the Month - Broken Spider Web

For this block, one large 13-1/2" square of muslin was segmented diagonally into four triangles and marked as instructed.  As in block 1, strips of fabric, between 1 and 2" wide, were sewn away from the marked lines until the entire foundation was covered.  Then, using the foundation piece as a template, the units were trimmed until the triangle shape was restored once more.

If I had to do this block over, the one modification I would make would be to edge the center with dark fabrics to make the star stand out.

The instructions were that once the first strip was sewn on to the foundation, it was to be folded out of the way and the strips sewn to each other.  After the sewing was completed for each triangle and trimmed, the foundation fabric was to be cut away from the first strip.  I ignored this piece of advice and sewed all the strips to the foundation.

Somehow, even after both these blocks were done, hardly a dent was made in this stash.  I probably have enough left to make an entire string quilt!

Cheers, everyone!

Craftsy's Blocks of the Month for February

Balkan Puzzle and Chevron Bocks

It took me a day to complete the two blocks for February's Block of the Month taught by Amy Gibson on the Craftsy website.  The first block is the Balkan Puzzle.

I selected the fabrics out of my existing stash.  The most challenging part of constructing this block was making sure the placement of the units was correct.  Otherwise, it was a breeze to put together.

The theme this month was half-square triangles.  I'm quite proud that most of the points matched.

The second block is the Chunky Chevron.

The fabrics for this block also came from my existing stash.  Again, getting the placement right was pretty challenging.

Now looking forward to what's in store for March!

Cheers, everyone!

Craftsy Block of the Month

Asterisk & Slashed Blocks

I've just completed Craftsy's BOM for January. 

Two of my quilting New Year resolutions were to ferret out fabrics for new projects from my stash and to try making non-traditional quilts for a change.  Both of these have now been satisfied, by joining the Craftsy' BOM course.

I had fun working on the two blocks for January. 

January's Block 1 is the Asterisk block.

This one looks too much like the Swiss flag.

I like this one better.

January's Block 2 is the Slashed block.

Give it a try!  It's free!

http://www.craftsy.com/lecture/Introduction/542.html

Craftsy - My Online Video Resource For A Number of Crafts

Happy New Year, everyone!

I love Craftsy online video courses.  Their online courses cover a wide range of topics related to my favorite hobbies and the courses are taught by amazing instructors. 


This course is free, but you need to register to become a member of Craftsy.
http://www.craftsy.com/class/The-Craftsy-Block-of-the-Month/50