PVQA November BOM 2016

This month's BOM has a Winter Theme.  Two-fabric quilt tops are not usually my thing but this indigo snowman fab with the Kona white seemed like a nice seasonal choice!

 My first sample blocks used background fab that was tooooo busy (see last post). The secondary pattern in the corners really got lost, but with these two fabs in the block the pattern really  stands out!

This block is kind of a variation of a "disappearing nine patch".  You sew some squares together and then cut and re-sew.  But in this case first you sew two large HST's,  instead of a nine patch.

                                                                  Cut 2- 10" squares.

Place the squares right sides together, press, draw a line diagonally, put a pin on either side of the line and sew like you would for any HST. 

Cut on the diagonal line. Press toward the dark fab.  Orient the HST as in the picture below and cut a 2" strip from the right side and then a 2" strip from the left side.

Cut a 2" HST from each of these resulting strips.

From the remaining rectangle cut a 2" strip from each side.  

All the pieces should look like this: 

Switch the strips around so that they match the picture below!  And ta da!  You have all the pieces you need to make the block!

Sew the HST's to the long strips and press toward the long strips. Sew the short strips to each side of the center and press away from the center.

Sew the long seams on either side of the center, leaving any excess to stick out as shown below.

Press to the outside edge. Trim off the dog ears and excess tabs.  The block should measure just a hair over 8.5"

So easy and fun!!

And there are so many different ways you can arrange the blocks!

Playing with layouts is so much fun!!

Have a great week!!

Cheers, Claire W.

Rainy weather allows for a lot of sewing!!

We spent almost two weeks at our cabin last month.  It was really nice but it did rain most days.
I brought a variety of fabrics so's to have flexibility in projects depending on my mood...
After the fun I had with the Halloween O's blocks made from 10" layer cake fabs ( read about that here)  I decided to try the O's in some vintage layer cake fabs.  I figured the layer cakes would provide a lot of variety without having to lug a boat full of fabrics on vacation. 

 These blocks are fun and easy to make but at 8" I've still got a ways to go before I have enough for a bed sized quilt.  And I did find that the colors in the layer cakes only went so far, so back to my stash I must go!

After the vintage fun wore off I switched to this Dr. Seuss Fabrics.  Again I relied  on a charm packet  to give me some portable variety and with two yards of grey I whipped up a kid quilt.  These fabrics are so cute!! 

 Now back to the vintage fabrics I used  some of the 10" squares to make these blocks.  It was kind of an experiment kind of like  disappearing nine patch block.  I think this method might be the BOM for Nov. so I will post that next week.  It was fun but the background fab is to busy to show off the interesting geometry of the block.  Higher contrast is needed to make the pattern work...

As a third alternate fab source I brought my basket of Batik scraps.  I had fun resorting the basket and decided on an easy monochrome color scheme of greens...

This is as far as I got on that, but then I grabbed all the browns and quick made this small lap quilt.

The quilt project for wheel chair bound vets asks for quilts that are 36" x 48".  I had just enough brown scraps to make this.  Nothing fancy but it will make a nice lap quilt.

Funny thing is...after all that intensive sewing I've been home almost 2 weeks and I've hardly sewn a stitch!  I guess I'm waiting for it to rain?!

Have a Great week!

Cheers, CW