THREE ACROSS QUILT BLOCK

Three across quilt block

The three across quilt block is unusual looking.  It uses four colours and I can definitely see this in a quilt.  You'd have to rotate the blocks so that the yellow squares weren't next to each other and then you'd get the dark blue squares forming some sort of a zigzag.  I've made it as a 14" block using 2.1/2" and 4.1/2" squares mostly.

Layout for three across quilt block

This is the basic layout and it's best to sew it together as large top and bottom rows with a single middle row.

On Saturday I went to the Quilt Guild Area Day over at Stourport which was really interesting.  In the morning we were asked to help making Japanese folded quilt blocks - it just reminded me of why I don't like making them!  The highlight was a talk by Jan Hassard in the afternoon.  She really is so talented.  Some of her quilt patterns looked relatively simple but it was the colour placement that made them extraordinary quilts.  Sorry - I forgot to take my camera so I can't show you any photos of the quilts that were on display.

Manipulated fabric flower

Last week I attended a Jennie Rayment workshop which was so interesting.  I made this flower which is a long way from being complete and has a veritable mountain in the middle where it should be flat, but I learned so much!  I've abandoned that one for the moment and I'm in the middle of making another one using batiks which I'm really pleased with (and it has a flat middle!).  I'm hoping to have enough of it done to show you more later in the week.

This morning I received a surprise package from Marelize containing some bobbin washers.  I had commented to her that I could only find washers for industrial, not domestic, sewing machines so she sent me some all the way from South Africa.  Thanks, Marelize - you're a star!

Linking up to Stitch by Stitch:

Thanks for visiting my blog.
Hope to see you again soon.
Rose

Mosaic Tile Quilt Block

Mosaic tile quilt block

This quilt block was called Mosaic by Nancy Cabot and the Ladies Art Company, but I rather like the alternative name of Zigzag Tile Quilt Block.  It's dead easy and only needs sixteen half square triangle units to make.  I've used several different black patterned fabrics, but of course you could use eight different fabrics with one background fabric if you chose.

Mosaic quilt block layout

The only point to watch is which way you place the half square triangles, but other than that it's just a case of laying them out and sewing them together.






On Saturday I went to the National Quilt Championships taking place at the Sandown Park Race Course.  I so wish that I could bring you some photos, but there were signs everywhere saying that photos could only be used with the written permission of Grosvenor, which of course I don't have.  There were displays of quilts by Liz Jones who lives not far from Ludlow amongst several others - I spent a thoroughly enjoyable few hours there and then went to see my daughter who lives in London so it was a great day overall.

Octagon quilt

I made an octagon quilt for last week's project on the website.  It could be used as a table topper or a picnic quilt and many quilters have come up with different ideas for uses - usually involving dogs or children!

Thanks for visiting my blog.
Hope to see you again soon.
Rose

Pinwheel Table Runner

Quilted table runners can be great for using up stash.  This one is 12" by 40" finished size and it really doesn't use much fabric.  It's made using Nancy Cabot's dancing pinwheels quilt block and I think it's really fresh and cheerful looking.

Each quilt block is made using four white 2.1/2" squares, sixteen 2.7/8" brown squares and eight 2.7/8" squares of both yellow and white.  All the half square triangle units are made using brown with either yellow or white fabric.  For the table runner I used three complete blocks.

After sewing the quilt blocks together I felt that it needed something to finish off the ends, so I added a row consisting of two brown 2.1/2" squares and four brown/yellow half square triangles at each end.  That seemed to do the trick and round off the design.  Then it just needed layering, quilting and binding.


Thanks for visiting my blog.
I hope to see you again soon.
Rose

Scrappy Quilt Borders

I love trying out new ideas for quilt borders and recently I made a french braid quilt which gave me an idea for a quilt border that could use up lots of odds and ends of scrap fabric.

I cut piles of strips of fabric 3.1/2" by 2" and another pile of red 2" squares.  This makes quite a wide border, but you could always adjust the length of the strips if you wanted a thinner border.

With the red squares in the middle I laid out all the strips of fabric on either side.  I began by putting two strips of the same fabric next to each other but then decided that I preferred the random look.

I began by sewing the brown strip to the red square and then sewed the green strip to both of these.  That's the base so then it's just a case of building from there.  The cream strip goes next on the left hand side and then a red square with another strip on the right hand side.

Once I had the length that I needed it was just a case of pressing well before trimming.

I trimmed the top and bottom first and then the sides.  The safest way to trim the sides is to place your ruler on the strip so that you can cut a definite amount from each side.  Otherwise you risk having your border strip an uneven width.



My work in progress right now is a tutorial for quilting rope borders.  In order to keep the process simple I seem to have lots of diagrams showing each stage - templates would be so much easier except that they are never the right size!

Linking up with freshly pieced as ever:



Thanks for visiting my blog.
I hope to see you again soon.
Rose

Ticker Tape Quilts

Don't you just love a quilt design where there are no rules!  I hadn't come across ticker tape quilts until recently and I can't believe what fun they are to make.  They are a great way to use up small strips of fabric from your stash and I'm sure that they were orginally intended for strips only - hence the ticker tape name.  But in fact they have now become a great way to use up all scraps of any size or shape. 

The ticker tape quilt block is intended for quilt as you go methods, so the starting point is a layer of backing fabric with right side down, batting and then white fabric on top with right side up.  I chose a 12.1/2" block to give 12" finished size.  Pin the three layers.

When placing the patches I tend to start in a corner and work across and down, but there really aren't any rules to this quilt design!  Decide on the first patch, lay it where you want to start and sew it down.  There are obviously alternative methods of sewing it down.  I prefer to zigzag around the patch with a fairly close zigzag - about 1 for stitch length and about 3 for stitch width.  I've seen ticker tape quilts where the patches are sewn with straight stitch just inside the edge so that there will be a frayed effect after the quilt has been washed and other quilts where the patches are cut using pinking shears to prevent fraying.  I just find that zigzag stitching works for me.

Keep adding patches, sewing each one in place before you move on.  Leave a good 1/2" or so around the edge for sewing the blocks together.  The patches don't have to be squares or rectangles.  Leave enough white fabric showing between the patches, somewhere around 1/4" but that can vary.  The main focus of these ticker tape quilts is keeping it irregular, so it's good to vary the amount of white showing and try not to have rows and columns - just varied sizes.

As you can see, the quilting is all done as you go, with plenty of varied shapes of zigzag.  I found that as the shapes were so small I could use my normal sewing foot without having to worry about the fabric puckering.

I tried something completely different for the next ticker tape quilt block.  I began with a circle in the middle, sewn on in the same way, and used the same fabric for four spokes along the diagonals.  Then I filled in the areas between the spokes with random patches and ended up with quite a striking quilt block.

To sew the blocks together I placed them with right sides together and sewed the top fabrics together, then trimmed the batting to lie flat between the blocks, turned under a small hem in one of the backing fabric edges and sewed it down over the other backing fabric.

I stopped after just the two ticker tape quilt blocks and added quilt binding once I had sewn the blocks together.  I'm not sure now where I'll put it, but I really love how bright and cheerful it looks.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

I hope to see you again soon.

Rose