We are now on the downward slope of the Random Sampler QAL.  After this month’s block there are only 3 more blocks!  Woohoo!  So, I’ve been thinking about how to wrap this up.  A couple of thoughts have been floating around in the back of my head.

One…

I think it would be great to add some numbers and/or letters to the quilt.  At the very least, the year that it was made.

Two…

Twelve blocks certainly aren’t enough blocks for an entire quilt. Even if you’ve made multiple of each block.  Though it certainly could be, depending on what size you are intending to make.  So, I’m thinking of adding a post of tutorials I’ve found around on the internet that would be fun blocks to add to this quilt.

But for now, let’s get May’s block underway.  I saw something similar to this on the Internet and thought it would be a fun block to add to our quilt.

The Basic Block

The finished block size is 6 inches, 6 1/2 inches including seam allowances.

1. Choose two fabrics – a dark for the heart (mine is red) and a light for the background (mine is white). If you are making the easy version, choose a novelty fabric, or a text fabric, or sew a bunch of scraps together for the 3rd fabric (mine is the alphabet fabric).

From the dark (red) fabric cut:

• 1 – 3 7/8″ square, cut in half diagonally once to yield 2 triangles
• 2 – 1 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ rectangles

From the light (white) fabric cut:

• 1 – 3 7/8″ square, cut in half diagonally once to yield 2 triangles
• 4 – 1/2″ squares

From the novelty fabric cut:

• 1 – 2 1/2″ x 6 1/2″ rectangle

2. With right sides together, sew together a 3 7/8″ light background triangle to a 3 7/8″ dark (red) triangle.  Press the seam open. Make two and sew them together to form the bottom section of the heart. Press the seam open.

3.  With a pencil, mark the diagonal on the wrong side of the four 1 1/2″ light background squares.  Place a 1 1/2″ light background square in each corner of the 1 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ dark (red) rectangle.  Sew along the marked diagonal and trim away the corner leaving a 1/4″ seam allowance.  Press the seams open.  Make two and sew them together to form the top section of the heart. Press the seam open

4. If you are making the simple version, sew the top heart section to the top of the 2 1/2″ x 6 1/2″ novelty section pressing the seam towards the center.  Then sew the bottom heart section to the novelty fabric pressing the seam towards the center.  Make as many as you wish!

Or… Be Adventurous!

If you want to venture out and play with your block a bit, then continue reading…

The center section is basically 3 – 2-inch finished blocks. (2 1/2″ including seam allowances)  You may insert what ever you would like as long as it adds up to a 2 1/2″ x 6 1/2″ rectangle before sewing it into the block.  You could add stars or baby hearts or even just scraps.  I decided that I wanted to try some mini flying geese.  I arranged them so that they were all pointing in the same direction. But you could even toss them up a bit if you like.

1.  For the flying geese version choose a medium fabric (mine is orange) for the geese and a light fabric (mine is white) for the sky.

From the medium (orange) fabric cut:

• 6 – 1 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ rectangles

From the light (white) fabric cut:

• 12 – 1 1/2″ squares

2. With a pencil, mark the diagonal on the wrong side of the 1 1/2″ light sky squares.

With right sides together, place a 1 1/2″ light sky square in the corner of a 1 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ geese rectangle.  Sew on the diagonal pencil mark.  Trim away the corner leaving a 1/4″ seam allowance. Press the seam open.

Repeat in other corner of the geese rectangle to form a flying geese block. Make six and sew them together to form the center unit of the heart block.  Press all the seams going in one direction.

3. This time, the center seam of the heart top & heart bottom should be pressed in the opposite direction as the flying geese seams.  Sew the heart top & heart bottom units to the flying geese unit. Press the seams away from the flying geese.

And… the back side… so that you can see the pressing direction of the seams.

I can’t wait to see what you all do to personalize this block!

- – - – -

Note:  If you click on the photos above, you will be taken to a larger version.  In tutorial posts, the process photos are hosted here on my blog and only the first one takes you to Flickr.  But, in normal blog posts all photos lead back to my Flickr account and you can see larger photos there.  For those who don’t have a Flickr account, MAJOR changes were made this week to Flickr and it now may be confusing to find the larger photos. If you right click on the photo  (I don’t know the Mac equivalent) you will have options to view the photos larger.  We are all getting used to this new Flickr format. I am just as lost as you are!

Back in January there was a cult-like quilt along to make a Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt. It was probably the second fastest quilt I’ve ever made.  And it gave me a chance to dive into some of my scraps.  I only wish  that these things would use up more scraps! Because the border, binding & backing just create more scraps!

There are a couple of progress shots over on my Flickr account.  I bought the border fabric & the backing fabric.  And some of the purples were from my stash.  And the rest of the fabric was dug out of my scrap bins. There are some real uglies in there. But the beauty of these quilts is that the uglies get lost in the quilt and no one notices.

~ Tutorial can be found here.

~ Finished dimensions approximately 82″ x 82″. I wanted it to be big enough for at least a couple of adults to snuggle under, or multiple smaller children.

~ I’m giving it to a friend who loves purple and has a large family.  I can imagine her snuggling under it with a couple of kiddos.

While my hubby worked ALL WEEK breaking his back to lay bamboo flooring in the living room I holed up in my sewing room and worked on putting these bee blocks from 2011 together.  I think I had the easier job this week.

He used glue (to continue how the contractor did the kitchen) to put down the floor and it was MESSY!  We used a different kind of glue that wasn’t so smelly, but it made up for the lack of smell by being a hundred times more messy.  We should have hired flooring professionals to finish the job.  He was a good sport and saw it through to the end in spite of all of the back breaking frustration.

I’m still debating about tying this quilt.  Part of me wants to see pink felted nubs all over the quilt.  But the more practical side of me thinks that it is going to need some machine quilting for better wear & tear on those seams.  I did do a little search on the internet for tied quilts and I almost think it would be better to make a quilt specifically to be tied.  Who knows which way I will go….  to be continued.

Last year during my photography class we had a discussion about whether photos tell the truth or not.  Originally, with film one assumed that the photo never lied.  But now, with digital, it’s hard tell what is really the truth.

As my hubby is struggling to install bamboo flooring in the living room (we are extending it from the kitchen remodel out into the rest of the house and it’s not going to be perfect!)…  I’m in my sewing room trying to keep myself busy, out of the way, and helpful when needed.  I’m browsing blogs intermittently while working on my Bee Blocks* from 2011 (above).  And you know how some blogs just always look perfect?  Perfect photos. Perfect life. Perfect house.

Well, this flooring project is emphasizing how imperfect our house is. And the contrast between the perfect blogs out there that we all drool over & our imperfect house in here, makes me want to rebel and post about all my imperfections for a good dose of reality.  But I can’t quite bring myself to completely reveal ALL the ugliness.

The amateur photographer in me still needs the photos to look nice.  The pile of my grandmother’s dishes** sitting on the stainless steel work table look pretty if you zoom in close enough.  And then I had to move them so I could make bread today.

While the floor is disappearing (we call it Flat Surface Syndrome***)  in my sewing room from an overflow of scraps, projects and bags, they look inviting if I crop out the rest of the room.  I really should have tried to get a decent photo of the spare bedroom turned storage room for the week!

And the crab apple blossoms live on in a photo (from last week) even though they are all gone and have fallen on the ground, wilted, this week.  I guess there needs to be a balance between appreciating the little things (how pretty the dishes look stacked up) amidst the chaos around it all.  And… remembering that no matter what the photo says… that may not be the whole story!

- – - – -

* I’m thinking these Bee Blocks need to become our beach quilt, or picnic quilt.  The liberated piecing style seems to want to be spread out on the ground and laid upon while watching the clouds drift by or flying kites on the windy beach.  I’m also thinking that maybe it should have a denim backing to increase it’s durability.  And I’ve been craving to make a tied quilt. Weird huh?  What do you think?  Could this one be tied?  I’ve only ever tied one quilt before in my life.  But I don’t use it. It’s more of a memory quilt.

** We really should use these dishes more often rather than letting them collect dust inside a cabinet.

*** Usually, it’s just the dining room table, or the counter tops, or the coffee table that are prone to this syndrome. But no flat surface is immune!  If there is a flat surface available, it tends to collect things!

If anyone is interested, I  just wanted to take a moment to point out that Electric Quilt is posting a Summer Drawing Series over on their blog.  Their schedule includes one lesson each month (May, June, July & August) and then you can sew your block and share it in a link up post at the end of the month.  If you have this quilt design software and struggle to use it, I highly recommend taking a look at these drawing lessons.  This is what makes EQ so useful to me!

Some of you may know that I teach EQ classes at my local quilt shop and may even have taken a class from me.  Their first lesson is posted and it looks good!  It would be a great refresher if you haven’t used EQ in awhile.

I love Electric Quilt and use it all the time!  All of the blocks we are making in the Random Sampler QAL, I first draw in EQ to try & decide what size to make it and where I want seam placements.

Pattern – Pyroclastic socks from the Knitty, Winter 2009 issue

Mods – Judy’s Magic Cast-on for the toe & Wendy Johsnon’s Gusset Heel with Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Sewn Bind-off

Yarn – Colinette Jitterbug, color 180 Salted Caper

Needles – 2.25mm & magic loop

I’ve been thinking about what to take to the Gwen Marston medallion workshop in June.  Maybe this???

I found an old charm pack of Denyse Schmidt’s first Flea Market Fancy collection in my closet. And then I also have a fat quarter tower of the newer reprinted Flea Market Fancy collection.  So I pulled a bunch more fat quarters & other pieces to fluff out the group.  Pondering the possibilities…..

I really need to dig around in my closet a little more often.

Here is the next block in the Random Sampler QAL.  I couldn’t find any official name, but it is a variation of a whirligig block.  And it is a simple one. Seems like we needed something easy, right??  There are a couple of different ways to make this block. The other way is to leave the center block whole rather than pieced… which would be good if you wanted to fussy cut a fabric. But then the seams get a little tricky when assembling and I just didn’t feel like explaining that method at the moment. And the measurements start getting funky. Maybe in a future block???

I put all of the sampler blocks on my design wall along with a few orphan blocks that I’m hoping will work.  The snowflake block is an extra from the from my Crazy Snow Days quilt that I made along with my SIL a couple of years ago.  The HSTs are from my first attempt at the Tree of Life block that I didn’t like.  And the Square-in-a-Square blocks are from my discarded attempt on the backgrounds from the Merry Merry Snowman quilt. I am hoping that I can work in some of my orphan blocks into this quilt plus a few more!  I really want to start thinking about how I want to put these blocks together. I’m inclined to

Alright. Let’s get started. This block finishes at 8 inches,  8 1/2″ including the seam allowances.  I hope you like it.

1. Choose 4 different fabrics. A light value, a medium value, a dark value and a contrasting color.

• From the light (mine is the cream with polka dots) cut 4 – 2 1/2″ squares.
• From the medium (mine is the green) cut 4 – 2 1/2″ squares.
• From the dark (mine is the blue floral) cut 4 – 2 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ rectangles.
• From the contrasting color (mine is the orange) cut 4 – 2 1/2″ squares.

2. Sew a light square to a medium square pressing the seam towards the medium square. Make 4 units.

3. With a pencil, mark the diagonal on the contrasting square – - or – - use The Angler 2 as I am doing – - to stitch along the diagonal line.  (Here’s a video showing how it works.) I like using the angler because it saves me the “marking with a pencil” step and it helps me to sew a straight line.  If you are like me, I have found that if I try to guess, my line is often crooked.  The lines on The Angler 2 help me to sew a straight line.  Make 4 units.

4. Trim away the corner leaving a 1/4″ seam allowance. Press the seams open.

5.  Sew a light/medium square unit to the rectangular unit.  Press the seams towards the squares.  Make 4 units.

6. Arrange the whirligig units so that the dark blades rotate around the block.  Sew the two units together in each row, pressing the seams towards the rectangular unit.  Sew the rows together to complete the block.

Here’s the back.

As much as I didn’t feel like it, I forced myself to knuckle down and get a few things done yesterday. One of those things were these potholders for a friend of mine. They are having a chili cook-off at her church and she wanted to give something to the winner.  I agreed to make some potholders for her.  I dug into my red & white scrap bucket and now my sewing room is a complete mess.  (It wasn’t that clean to begin with!)

They look so awesome hanging next to our stove that I almost want to keep them for myself.  But I need full glove potholders.  I have been known to burn my arms.

Approximate size = 9 1/2″ square for man-sized hands & unisex.  Who knows who might win!

Filed under: Scrappy Goodness ]]> http://bloominworkshop.wordpress.com/2013/04/12/hot-potholders/feed/ 9 Anita http://bloominworkshop.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/catching-up/ http://bloominworkshop.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/catching-up/#comments Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:08:25 +0000 Anita http://bloominworkshop.wordpress.com/?p=3968 ]]>

Our other kitty, Kiska, has been ill for the last 1 1/2 years or so.  Earlier this week it appeared she had had a stroke and so we had to say good-bye again to another one of our fur babies.  Two good-byes in the last 3 weeks is hard.  Even though we were a little more prepared for this one it was still hard to see her go.  The house sure is quiet now.

I have been wanting an applique project to work on this year.  But I couldn’t decide exactly what. Then I remembered that I had picked up the pattern for the Merry Merry Snowman quilt last year.  I had started picking out green fabrics because I wanted something different. There are going to be hundreds of red quilts out there one day!  Not that I don’t love the red!  I do!  But I just wanted the challenge of finding a different color theme.

When I pulled out what I had so far I didn’t really like the green anymore. So I started digging through  my stash to see what I had.  I think I am going to like this for the backgrounds.  I am envisioning brighter colors for the applique pieces.  We shall see. I am really jumping around on my projects lately. And frankly, between the kitchen remodel and the loss of our two cats my quilting has been in a weird funk.  Knitting has been my therapy of choice lately.

And my hubby is excited about his garden this year. These are his tomato starts sitting near the sliding door… searching for the sun.  Come back sun!  We miss you!