SewHappyGeek

Sew Intertwined QAL: Outside Blocks Tutorial

Hi Everyone! And welcome to the second tutorial for the Sew Intertwined Quilt Along!

Sew Intertwined QuiltIf you are just joining us or if you missed the first tutorial, head over and visit Jenna at Sew Happy Geek for the Dresden Center.

Today I will be showing you how to make the outside blocks – these are by far the easiest blocks to make and I will be showing you how to do it with the least amount of fabric waste – because I HATE wasting my fabric. I even double and triple checked the math on the HST method I’m showing just to make sure I was actually saving your fabric.

Based on my colors (shown above) you will need to cut the following: (Note: when I say feature fabric – I am referring to prints I used for my HSTs – both fabrics)

For the HSTS:
Background fabric (white): two strips – 8.5″ by width of fabric
Feature fabric: two strips – 8.5″ by width of fabric

Sub- cut the strips into 8.5″ x 8.5″ squares.

Pair your squares up – right sides together – one background, one feature fabric. You should have 10 Pairs Total

Use your 1/4″ foot and sew along the outside edges of the squares – ALL THE WAY around.

Next you will want to cut diagonally across your Squares. When you open the triangles up you will have made 4 half square triangles. You will have a total of 40 HSTs.

I pressed my HSTs towards the feature fabric because my background is white. You could also press your seams open if you like. You will want to trim your squares down to 5.5″ and then set them aside.

Next you will want to work on your 4 patches. Each block requires two 4 patches for a grand total of 40. I am going to demonstrate the fastest way to make them using strips.

You will want to cut:

6 Strips of Gray – 3″ by width of fabric
3 Strips Each of pink and orange – 3″ by width of fabric

Next you will want to sew the 3 pink strips to 3 of the gray strips, and the 3 orange strips to the remaining 3 gray strips.

Press towards the gray – I recommend this even if you are used to pressing your seams open. When creating a 4 patch, pressing towards the same fabric in both color sets, will allow you to perfectly match your seams.

Cut your strips into 3″ sections. See picture above.

Next you will want to put your pieces right sides together and butt your seams up – this is what gives you the perfect points.

Sew using a 1/4″ seam. You will create 40 four patch blocks. These should measure 5.5″ x 5.5″.

Next layout your blocks and sew them together.

You will make a total of 20 outside blocks and if you follow this tutorial you will conserve as much fabric as possible!  The important things to note if you are doing a scrappier version of the quilt: each square in the 4 patch was 3″x3″ – when the 4 patches are sewn together they should measure 5.5″x5.5″. The finished HSTs should also measure 5.5″x5.5″ – in case you decide to use a method that you are more comfortable with.  The overall finished block is 10.5″.

Please let me know if you have any questions and I can’t wait to start seeing finished blocks in the Flickr Group!

This post is sponsored by Contemporary Cloth – they provided the fabrics that were used for the tutorial and my quilt.

Contemporary Cloth

Sew Intertwined QAL – First Tutorial – Dresden Plate

Sew Intertwined QALHappy Thursday Everyone! Jenna has our first official sewing tutorial for the Sew Intertwined QAL up on her blog today!

Jenna will be showing everyone how to do the Dresden Plate for the center of the quilt. Here’s a peak at how mine turned out – I would show you more but I don’t want to reveal my whole top yet – in good time I promise.

Head on over and as you start getting your blocks completed start uploading them to the flickr group! I can’t wait to oooh and aaaah over them all!!!

Contemporary Cloth

This post is sponsored by Contemporary Cloth – who provided me with the stunning Stockholm line for Robert Kaufman to make my quilt top.

 

Shh! Don’t Tell My Husband….

But I got more fabric last week!!!  A bunch of it came in the mail and then…well I just couldn’t help it I went shopping in person too!

I ordered some Joy by Kate Spain from Julie at Intrepid Thread. I bought only 2 yards of Christmas fabric, but I’m not keeping it, at the end I will only have a 5″ square of each. Yup, that’s right, I have joined a Christmas in July Charm Swap, hosted by Manda Made Quilts on flickr. Here is a link to the post, there are still a few spots left if you want to join.

I ordered on Wednesday and it was here bright and early on Friday. As always, it came with a lovely hand written note and wrapped beautifully with ribbon and tissue paper, but this time…Julie slipped in a little something special into the package – and after you see what you will know just how well Julie knows my tastes!

Some gorgeous La Dee Da!!! I already have a project in mind for these lovelies and I am so excited about them! Thank you Julie!

I also got a wonderful squishy from Fat Quarter Shop.

Some Kona Modern Quilts for Robert Kaufman! It is a half yard bundle in the Berry Colorway. On Monday night I whipped up a quilt using this line and I will be showing you a tutorial for it before the end of the month. The quilt took me 3 hours start to finish (including designing it in EQ7).  If you follow me on Twitter, I did post a picture up there on Monday night, if you want a sneak peak it is in my images.

You would think with all the wonderful squishies that I wouldn’t feel the need to go out and buy even MORE fabric, HAHAHA! You don’t know me very well if you actually thought that! My local quilt shop, Ruby Street Quiltworks, is doing $2.00 fat quarters every Friday during the summer, with Lemonade and Cookies! Here is my latest haul:

I don’t know any of the lines but I just couldn’t leave any of them behind either! I have no projects in mind…kind of figures!  Something will get made eventually, in the meantime they will be in my stash and I can ogle over them whenever I want.

If you haven’t already, make sure you check out the QAL that Jenna from SewHappyGeek and I are co-hosting, Sew Intertwined. It is going to be so much fun!

 

Sew Intertwined QAL Planning

Sew Intertwined QAL

We already have 34 members in our Sew Intertwined Flickr Group! I am so excited to have all of you joining us in making this quilt and I know Jenna is too! A few people are already well on their way to picking out fabrics and planning their layouts.

Jenna has put up some great templates and images over on SewHappyGeek today to help you in the planning process.

Sew Intertwined Quilt - Stockholm Fabrics by Robin Singone

Here is an image of my quilt – I did 2 different fabrics for my HSTs, so my one yard print is the Daisy Janie – Shades of Gray, Rag Tag.  I have used it in every single one of my blocks – I like the continuity it gives my quilt.  So head over to SewHappyGeek and download the templates!

AND!!! If you are quilting along with us, grab a button from my sidebar, Jenna has one too!

Sew Intertwined QAL

 

Sew Intertwined Quilt

I am so excited to announce that I will be co-hosting my first every QAL with none other than Jen from Sew Happy Geek! We have teamed up to create this newly designed quilt just for you!

The quilt is fairly straightforward, however, the woven blocks can present a bit of a challenge. This quilt will definitely stretch your skill set. We will be presenting you 2 different methods for assembling the woven blocks, regular piecing and paper piecing, try out both methods and decide which one works best for you. The finished quilt without borders is 60×60, with borders is 65×65.

How to Join: All you have to do is head over to Flickr and join the Sew Intertwined QAL Group. We are going to take our time with this QAL, you will have until September 6th to get your quilt top into the Flickr group to be eligible for prizes.

Fabric Requirements AND Prizes:

For my version of the quilt I am using Stockholm by Robin Singone for Robert Kauffman. My fabrics were provided by the lovely Sondra of Contemporary Cloth and she is providing all of your with 20% off your fabric for the QAL with code: SewIntertwined!

Sew Intertwined Quilt - Stockholm Fabrics by Robin Singone
You will need five 2/3 yard cuts (these are my orange, pink, green, leaf, and multi-color), 1 yard cut (Daisy Janie gray print) and 1.75 yards of background fabric.

We have arranged discounts AND prizes from you at some of our favorite fabric shops!


Intrepid Thread20% off your fabricJulie has a custom listing set up for this QAL. She is also offering a $50.00 prize!

Contemporary Cloth 20% off your fabrics with coupon code SewIntertwined. She is also offering a FQ Bundle prize to one of the winners!


QuiltingLodgeQuilting Lodge20% off your fabrics with code SIQAL20. They are also offering a Layer Cake as a prize!

Stitches ‘N Giggles10% off fabrics your fabric with code qal2012 good through July 31st. She is also offering a Fat Quarter Bundle of Riley Blake’s Chevrons as a prize!

Eclectic Maker (UK)- 10% Discount Code available for one use – QALGEEK,


Pink Castle Fabrics: 15% off Discount Code – SEWINT15

Superior Threads Quilting and Sewing Thread
Superior Threads - $30.00 gift certificate

Winners will be selected randomly from those who have completed their top and uploaded their photo into the Flickr Group by September 6th!

Schedule:

16 July: Quilt Design and Requirements - on SewHappyGeek and SewBitterSweet Designs

26 July: Dresden Fan Tutorial by Jen Excell of SewHappyGeek

6 August: Outside blocks tutorial by Melissa of SewBitterSweet Designs

16 August: Woven blocks tutorial. Paper piecing technique by Melissa of SewBitterSweet Designs and traditional piecing technique by Jen of SewHappyGeek

27 August: Joining the blocks by Melissa of Sew BitterSweet Designs and border by Jen of SewHappyGeek

6 September: Last day to enter completed quilt top into the Flickr group

7 September: Prizes awarded! Yay!

Make sure you head over to SewHappyGeek to read more and join the Flickr Group (introduce yourself while you are there!)!

 

 

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