Blocks From the Past: Week 13

Welcome to my stop in the Blocks From the Past Quilt Along!  If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out the button in my sidebar.  Basically a bunch of us (click on the button to see who) are sewing our way through this old book of classic blocks to make our own modern sampler quilts.  They are all going to turn out so different and unique!

If you've been following (or sewing) along with the quilt-along, you probably know by now that these blocks are kind of intricate, but mostly TINY (finishing at 6")!  And the author's method for creating HSTs (which there are a lot of) is to cut two triangles and sew them back together.  None of us seems to be a huge fan of this method.  So before I show you my blocks, I have a few tips for working with teeny pieces:

First of all, I like to press all my seams open when I'm working with lots of seams in a small block.  It just helps cut down on bulk and allows the block to lie flatter.
Secondly, trim OFTEN!  Like after every pressing.  Try to keep those edges straight, but don't over trim!
Third (and this one probably seems like a no-brainer, but it's something I don't always do) - line up ALL the edges of the two pieces you are sewing together.  Usually I just line up the edges I'm sewing together, but if I also make sure the tops/bottoms/other sides are aligned, my blocks will come out more accurate in the end.  Hopefully that makes sense...
Fourth, use starch!  
And lastly, there is of course the whole HST issue.  I make all of my HSTs according to THIS AWESEOME TUTORIAL at Blossom Heart Quilts.  If I'm making 4, I use the alternative method (my favorite).  If I'm making 2, I use the traditional method.  The wonderful thing about Alyce's tutorial is that she provides all the measurements needed for pretty much any size HST you would like to make.  And she leaves room for trimming - which is a super big deal to me.  I ALWAYS make my HSTs a little big and then trim them down.

NOW.  Let's talk about my blocks.  I decided to use a layer cake of "On Our Way" paired with a green solid for background and sashing.  The green is a little out of my comfort zone.  I'm pretty much a white background kind of girl.  But I decided that the point of this quilt-along is to stretch myself and try new things.  So here goes.

Also.  I made each of my blocks twice.  Once according to the instructions in the book, and once again using some kind of alternate method.  I guess I have a hard time following the rules all the time.

This week I will be talking about the blocks on pages 29 (Hovering Hawks), 30 (Ocean Waves), and 72 (Swirl).

Hovering Hawks, page 29
I thought you might like to see how my blocks compare to the original versions in the book.  Just so you can see how colors and fabric choices can change the look of a quilt dramatically.  :)

The original version of this block is the yellow one.  I wish I had use fabrics with more contrast, though.  It's amazing how much of a print design is lost when you cut it up into teeny tiny pieces...
For the second version (the red one), I made the block entirely out of HSTs, rather than piecing a bunch of triangles together.  There were more seams in this block, but I still think I like it the best.  This block was also fun because there are lots of alternate ways to arrange the four quadrants and I went with something a little different for my block.

Ocean waves, page 30
Once again, I made the second version of this block entirely out of HSTs, rather than sew two big triangles onto the sides.  This time I like the book version better.  Although I did cut my triangles a little big and trimmed them down to size as I sewed them on.  I was pretty worried about my block coming out too small.
Once again, the second block just doesn't have enough contrast.  :s

Swirl, page 72

Alright, so I didn't even make either versions of this block the way the book recommended.  The author created ALL of her applique blocks using needle turn applique, which is kind of insane.  There are some teeny tiny pieces in this book and I am NOT good at needle turn applique.  Although I will admit that I did try it once with another block.  I'll show it to you soon.
For my swirl blocks, I used two of my favorite applique methods.  For the first block (the red checks) I just traced the block onto my fabric, glued it onto my background with a glue stick, and stitched it on with a 1/4-1/2 inch seam allowance.  I'm going to leave the edges raw because I want this block to get a little raggy once it is washed.
For the second block, I used a method I picked up during the Hello Sun quilt-along over at April Mae's blog.  First, I pieced together some randomly sized strips, then fused my "fabric" to some Heat N Bond and traced my design.  Then I fused it to my background and created the "sketch" look by stitching around the design three times in black thread.  I love this method of applique. 



 And there you have it!  I'm working on a few more blocks from the book and hoping to end up with a babyish size quilt by the time I'm finished.

And because I promised to share it with you, here's my needle turn applique block:

After a frustrating attempt at doing one of the blocks regular size, I finally had to pick a different block (which was difficult to do since most of the blocks have flowers on them and this is supposed to be for a boy quilt...).  I went with the Indiana Rose block on page 75.  I blew it up about 200 percent or so, but then I could only fit about half of the block onto my 6" square.  I think it turned out looking kind of cool and much more little boy appropriate.  I used the awesome Freezer Paper/Starch method from Gigi's Thimble and it really wasn't too bad.  I could maybe do it again with simple (and larger) shapes.  :)

Anyway.  Are you working on any blocks from this quilt along?  Link up your progress over at My Quilt Diet. 

Do.Good Stitches: Star Cluster Nine Patch

I have another Do.Good Stitches quilt to share with you!  Our January quilter ended up leaving the group, so I offered to take over her month.  I didn't have a lot of time to choose a block, but I've been dying to try this cluster star block for awhile so I went with it.  Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to test it out before posting it for all my bee mates to make and it ended up being a little bit harder than I expected.  Mostly because there are lots of tiny HSTs.  But everyone did such a great job, even though I know this block probably wasn't their most favorite to make.  At least the second block I requested from them was easy!
ANYWAY.  The tutorial for the star cluster block can be found HERE.  We made the 12 inch version, so I recommend the 16 inch version.  :)
I asked my bee mates to make their blocks in whatever colors they consider girly.  Since I'm having my third boy in a month or two, I figured it would be fun to play with girl fabrics for once.  :)  The blocks turned out amazing and they go together really well!  Here is the finished quilt:

I used a purple flower print for the back, but it's pretty busy so you can't really tell.

Of course I had to make a label:

For the binding I decided to go quick and easy and just folded the backing over onto the front.  Whew!

And now I want to talk about the quilting.  I decided that this quilt would be a perfect one for practicing lots of different FMQ designs.  I also knew that I wanted a good mix of straight and curvy lines, plus a good mix of large scale and small scale designs.  So I took Angela Walters' Dot to Dot Quilting class on Craftsy and used her designs for about half my blocks.  It was fun coming up with something different for each block, and I definitely got some good practice in!  It's also a good thing this a charity quilt and not a show quilt.  I know the recipient will love it either way.  :)
I used Aurifil 50 wt thread in white and it blended in REALLY well.  A little too well in some spots - you can't really see the quilting designs.  But sometimes that's a good thing, right?  (I'm well aware that my quilting is NOT perfect!)  I quilted a pebble/bead design in all the sashing and now I know that white quilting on white fabric shows up better than anything else.  :)  But I kind of love the effect.
NOW.  For documentation purposes (I will be boxing this quilt up tomorrow and will never see it again), here are photos of every single block.  I'll spare you the commentary.  ;)

And a few more photos just for fun.  The back is so busy that you really can't see the quilting on the back at all. 

I have really awesome bee mates.  They did such a great job and I loved seeing the different fabrics they used for their own personal interpretation of "girly."

This quilt will be donated to a Juniors House to benefit children who have been victims of abuse or neglect.  I hope some little girl loves it!

Until next time!

Quilt stats:

Started: January 2015

Finished: March 13, 2015

Fabrics: Various

Batting:  Pellon Nature's Choice 100% Cotton

Finished size: Approx. 45" x 60"

Recipient: Junior's House

Methods used:  Piecing, Free Motion Quilting (on my home machine)

Binding: Backing folded over and machine stitched to the front

P.S. this was my March goal for ALYOF (#106), so I will be linking up HERE:

This was also goal #2 on my Finish Along Quarter 1 List.   I'll be linking up HERE:

March

I made another pillow!  I'm liking this trend and I already have a pillow design in mind for April.  :)

I've been seeing lots and lots of plus quilts around lately, have you?  I decided to try my hand at one in pillow form.  And of course, in honor of St. Patties day in March, I made it all green.  Lots of scraps went into this one.  Wahoo! 
For the quilting, I considered doing some matchstick quilting (have you heard?  Matchstick quilting is THE thing lately).  But in the end, I went with simple straight line quilting because I know that's what hubby likes best.  He's so spoiled.  :)

For the backing, I really wanted to use up the rest of those clover-like leaves, but it turns out I didn't have much left.  Not quite enough to properly overlap in the back.  So I added this little button to my envelope closure to keep everything from falling out.  Also, I've been following Amy's Pillow Collective blog hop over at Amy's Creative Side.  Many of her guest bloggers added binding to their pillows for a nice finished look, so I decided to give it a try and I LOVE it!  It's so easy too.  Win win!

Next up - Clamshells! 

p.s. I need to link up my March goal with Shanna and Melissa over at ALYOF.  I have a lot of projects to finish before the baby comes (T-minus 8 weeks!), but I'm choosing to finish my latest Do.Good Stitches quilt for my March goal.  It's all basted and ditch quilted.  I'm going to practice lots and lots of fun FMQ designs on this one.  Wish me luck!