Block of The Every Other Month- September - October 2019

Besides my Traditional Quilt Guild I also belong to my local Modern Quilt Guild called South Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild (SBAMQG).   SBAMQG has a block of the Every Other Month program.  I volunteered to provide the design and instructions for the September Block.

I looked at some of the past Months designs.  A lot of the recent designs were on the  improv  side so I thought it might be a nice change of pace to offer some Traditional piecing with a Modern twist.

The color palette is voted on by the members attending the previous Month's general meeting.
Here were the choices:

The majority voted for the color group on the right.

I decided to make it easy for everyone (including myself) and use the Go-To Modern background of plain white / off white with all solid colors!

Here's the block which measures 8.5" unfinished.

It's not complicated.  It's really just a 4 patch- in 4patch.  But the diagonal spine has endless possibilities for the Layout.  There's a lot of flexibility in this block and I'm leaving those choices up to the individual maker.

You get to choose:

1-  The diagonal patches need to be from the color palette but you can arrange them in any order you choose.

2-  The upper right corner patch can be the same as one of the diagonal fabs or it can be another tone or tint of  one of those colors.

3- The lower left hand block can be whatever little pieced patch the maker likes!  It just has to finish at 2".  I will refer to it as the "choice patch"  The sample above has a Quarter Square Triangle.   But you could make a HST,  4patch,  1patch or make something up.  The colors need to be from the palette but as specified in #2 they can be a tone or tint of those colors. The possibilities are almost endless!

Fabric picks:

Choose from your stash,  1- solid fabric in each of the 4 colors similar to those in the chosen Palette. 

And for the back ground you can use any white or 'light' off-white solid fabric

Note:  Tone on Tones are OK as long as they are subtle and they 'read' as solid.

From your back ground Cut:

6- 2.5" squares 

              2- 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles 

From your solids Cut: 

5- 2.5" squares 

There could be one in each color with one repeat or a second shade of one of the colors for the upper right corner.   You can see there are two different shades of the "pink Gumdrop" color in the sample block.

For the "choice patch" in the lower left:

Make whatever kind of 2.5" unfinished patch you want. Just keep it in the palette.

Step 1

Layout your patches according to the picture of the finished block.   Orient the rectangles as shown.  This will be important later.  Decide what you want for your "choice patch" and make that first.

Step 2

Assemble your 4 patches:

Sew one 2.5" colored patch to each of your 2.5" back ground patches and sew your "choice patch" to a 2.5" background patch.

You will have  6 units that look like this...

Press toward the colored fabric,  except for the "choice patch" which will probably  press more easily toward the background.

Step 3

Layout the block again being mindful of which way the seams are going.

The 4-patches should have seams that "Nest"  Sew each of these pairs together. 

Before you press the 4 patches make sure the solids are trimmed off so's not to show through on the background  Then open the seam intersections  (you may have to pick out a few stitches) and press toward the background.

The new seams are all pressed toward the background and they will also "Nest" in the next step when sewn together.

Step 4 

Finish the block by sewing the two upper 4 patches together and the two lower 4 patches together and press toward the background.

And sew the top half to the bottom half.  All three seams should "Nest"

Easy Peasy!

And here are some of the fun ways you can arrange these blocks!

You can insert plain square blocks in between and play with the diagonals...

Or smaller blocks to create a different geometry...

or arrange the blocks in different alignments...

or more like an Irish chain!

Have Fun!!

Any questions feel free to email me:

cspoonquilt@yahoo.com

cheers, CW

Where did the week go?

I've been doing a lot of sewing but the only thing close to a finish this week is this Eye Spy quilt which is now quilted!  Just needs a binding and it will be ready to go.  I think it's going to be a baby gift but I wanted to consult with the prospective Grandma first as to the suitability.  I don't know her daughter's tastes that well.  And I don't think the gender has been announced yet?!  Altho'  I think this could be Gender neutral.... 

We shall see!

Have a great week!

cheers, CW

Another Orphan Project

The center of this piece was given to me almost done.  I just sewed up a few of the central seams and then added the strip on the left to make the borders the same size.  But it needed to be bigger so I added the blue border and started making little scrappy units to mimic the blocks in the middle.

But some how I got some of my pieces to these four patches turned around...

Where does my mind go ?!  Well, happily I realized that I only needed the 4 patches to be 6" wide so the length of the units could be shorter and I could salvage these wonky blocks with a little trimming!

Red crumbs anyone?!

We were at the cabin last week,  just got home Friday.  We had many beautiful sunny days there and came home to overcast drizzle.  But I should not complain,  we've got a lot of yard work to do having been gone 2.5 weeks.  So overcast is good.  Gotta go dig up the bearded  irises.  It's that time of year!

Have a great week!

cheers, cw

Liberated UFO finish and a little more

So here's how the Liberated UFO turned out.  It measures about 53" by 68" so it's a good size for a Camp Erin quilt.  Camp Erin is a Summer camp for kids who are in some way impacted by Cancer.  Hospice which runs the camp requests Quilts of about this size so they fit well on the bunk beds for the kids.  And the kids get to take their quilts home.

Now usually when I finish a top like this where I've Struggled a lot over the design I take all the leftovers and associated yardage and put it in basket and shove it where I don't have to look at it for awhile.  But for some reason I got a flea in my ear and started in the next day sewing all the leftover bits and blocks together.  I even worked through lunch 'cause I thought if I stopped I would never start it up again.  So I just kept sewing until I got it done!!!

I was kind of channeling my inner Gypsy Wife?!

OK it's kind of a scrappy mess but I think it will make a decent lap quilt for donation.

I'm going to have to really get my game on with the quilting with all these finished tops!

Have a great week!

cheers, cw

Liberated UFO

A bit of a departure from my latest projects but the central piecework with a pile of fabric has been siting around for about 7 years.

I'm not sure what prompted me to dig it out?!  Sometimes I think projects reach their own Critical mass and send out some vibe.  It is mysterious!

 At any rate As I was browsing my UFO baskets trying to decide what projects to take on vacation My hand hovered over this rather large pile of fabrics and something clicked.

The thought passed through my brain....

I did not have to be stuck in / with my original vision for this group of fabrics.

I Could just make something else with them!

After all it had been 7 years waiting to be made up into the original idea and that had not happened?!                                                       So into the suit case it went.
      It's amazing how liberating giving up certain ideas can be!  It makes room for new ideas!!! 

It just took me a couple of mornings to sew this and I have a plan for the next border and then it will                                                                              be done!!  

                                                                      Liberate a UFO!

                                                                    Have a great week!

    Cheers, CW

 

A different set of Orphan Blocks

In contrast to my last post the next set of Orphan Blocks I tackled were these very pretty very well made collection.  I can hardly believe someone gave these blocks away?  Lucky me!!!

I think they must have been made by a sew-along group because most of the blocks had names pinned to them and they were very uniform and well made.  Most of the blocks were made in a very tight range of colors suggesting some specific communication amongst the sewers.

At any rate it was a pleasure to sew them together and didn't they make a pretty top?

I really like block patterns that make a secondary pattern when you put the blocks together! 

And the colors in these blocks really add some sparkle!

Wouldn't it be nice if all blocks fit together so nicely!

Well with all these tops getting finished (and all the other tops floating around my sewing room)  I'd better get cracking on the Long Arm to have some Real finishes!  

Have a great Weekend!

cheers, CW

!

Origins of Orphan blocks aka I had to laugh!

Thanks to all the folks who left such kind and encouraging comments on my last post.  FYI  I don't get get notices in my email anymore so I have left my return comments in the comments area as well.

In my last post I mentioned that I received not only single blocks as "Thank You" blocks but some people gave me whole stacks of blocks. Enough to make a quilt top from one bundle!

Some looked like they were from Swaps  (they had names pinned to different blocks etc,) and some I recognized as former BOM blocks from my Guild. But when I came across the bundle of the blocks pictured here I had to laugh because these blocks were from a BOM that I was responsible for!

What kind of message was being sent here?  I don't remember who won the blocks we have 250 members in our guild and it was almost 4 years ago.

Did the giver remember that this block idea originate with me?  Or was it just a disconnect?  I suppose I could have been offended but the truth is, either way,  I sympathize with anyone who has ever tried to put together a collection of BOM blocks. My guild encourages beginners to participate.  But it does generate blocks that aren't perfect.

 

Whatever the reason I was glad for the opportunity to look back at my instructions in a different way and I enjoyed the challenge of putting this top together.

Here's the link to my instructions to this block:
http://cspoonquilt.blogspot.com/2015/11/pvqa-block-of-month-modern-kaleioscope.html

I tried as BOM coordinator to pick mostly beginner friendly blocks but sometimes I'd offer something for more experienced quilters.  In retrospect it may not have been a great choice.  Even tho' I thought it was an intermediate block I found it pretty challenging to get all the points in the right places when assembling the blocks.

This one's not to bad... But getting those eight points together is pretty tricky and if blocks aren't the right size points get loped off or off set or both! 

In the end I made 6 more blocks to get it to the size I wanted and two more blocks to replace two blocks that were way toooo small,  two more because the background fabrics way off and I rebuilt  about 4.   I'm not sure the variable background work out so well but all in all it will make a really nice donation quilt!

On ward to the next Orphan Block adventure!

Have a great weekend!

cheers, CW