WHW RS Sampler Quilt Class: Block 8: Snowball (Corner Square Triangles/Stitch and Flip Triangles)

We're getting closer!  Only two more pieced blocks and then we are on to the bonus blocks.  Yay!

Up next is the snowball block:

Snowball blocks are super easy.  You just start with a square, then sew little triangles onto all the corners.

Here are some quilts made with snowball blocks:

Pamela Quilts on Craftsy

Sisters Choice Quilts

AZ Patch

This post includes an extra tip for turning those normally wasted triangles into HSTs with on quick, easy extra step:

Sew Many Ways

My Quilt Infatuation

Check out these fruit quilts made with the same technique.  Cute, huh?

Bee in my Bonnet

A Little Bit Biased

And for our alternate blocks this week, look what you can do when you only add the stitch and flip triangles to 1, 2 or 3 sides, or change the size of the triangles:

Me and My Sister Designs

Blue is Bleu

Piece and Quilt

*NOTE* I won't be providing instructions for the heart blocks, but if you would like to make one, just click on the link - Allison provides instructions for making ANY size heart block.  Just follow her instructions for making 9 inch or four 6 inch blocks.  :)  Let me know if you have questions!

Cluck Cluck Sew

And here is the link to the instructions!
WHW RS Sampler Quilt Class:  Block 8: Snowballs

Finish Along List: Quarter 3

It's time to make another list of goals for a new quarter!  It's kind of amazing how my list of projects can change from one quarter to another.  Some things get carried over, some things get dropped completely, and other things get pulled from the depths to be renewed once again.

Last quarter, I was able to finish 4 out of 13 things on last quarter's list.  Yikes!  They were big things, though, so I'm okay with that.

Here are the current projects on my radar.  Some of them are not likely to be finished, but they are here anyway so that I don't forget about them.  ;)

1.   Do.Good Stitches Quilt.  It's basted now and waiting for quilting.  I'm thinking random straight lines over the whole thing.

2.  Puff quilt for sister-in-law.  Baby is coming in September!  This is the fabric she picked from my healthy stash of charm packs.  :)

3.  ABC I-Spy quilt.  GUYS.  This quilt is going to be SO FUN.  I won some novelty scraps from Sweetfeetstitches on IG, then promptly filled in a few gaps with a few purchases of my own.  I'm so excited for this one.

4.   Swoon Sixteen in Blushing. Everything is all cut, ready for a piecing party.  Taking this one to the cabin with me this week for some much needed "non commitment/deadline" sewing.  :)

5.  Kaleidoscope in The Sweet Life (see #5).

6.  Moda All-Star Row quilt.  Needs basting/quilting/binding.

7.  Growth Chart for Noah.  It's looking like this will be a Christmas present now that his birthday is past...

8.  Baby quilt (or puff quilt) using either one of my charm packs (Wishes, Noteworthy, Summerfest!, Hello Friend, Bump to Baby, or Just my Type - okay, I'm addicted to charm packs...)

9.   Eight Rummy mats (gotta be ready for the Christmas rush in my shop) - I've even got about 12 of them cut and fused. 

10.  New samples of at least 6 of my quiet books for the shop.  I bought some new (higher quality) felt and I'm dying to test it out.

11.  More bibs.  :)  These are great for whenever I need a quick fix and I have a few layer cakes set aside for some cute bibs. (Dream and a Wish by Riley Blake and Suprise by Riley Blake)

12.  Apron for myself.  This one is very low on the list because I never seem to find the time for it, but dang it - I'm NOT taking it off!

Also, I'll be working on my WHWRS Sampler Quilt for my class throughout the quarter, but don't plan to finish it until next quarter.  It's going to be epic!

Thanks for reading!

Linking up:

King Diamond Ripple

It's finally time to share my Diamond Ripple quilt!
The original inspiration for this quilt came from THIS block by Quilt Matters (Can you see the individual blocks?), and THIS quilt by Hoosier Toni, which I apparently totally copied.  ;P

This quilt was my "back-burner project" for quite awhile.  It didn't really have a deadline, so I worked on it here and there when I could.  I actually made a lot of the blocks while on vacation at our cabin last summer.  Everyone thought I was crazy for bringing my sewing machine on vacation, but to me - sewing IS a vacation!

 

This quilt is for ME!  Well, more for my husband, but since we sleep in the same bed, it's all good.  :)

We acquired a new bed a few... years... ago.  Our previous bed was Queen size and the new one is a King.  All of a sudden none of our quilts were big enough.  Naturally, this called for a new quilt!  And this one is huge.  Trust me on that.  :)  576 HST units, in case you were wondering. 

Jeremy picked out the colors AND design for this quilt and I convinced him we wanted the gray background.  I love how the little pops of red make the quilt sparkle.

For the quilting, I kept things simple (Jeremy is always insisting that I quilt with straight lines.  He really has it in for pebbles and stippling).  It was actually easier than I expected (for a King sized quilt...).  I just quilted diagonal lines across the whole quilt, jumping across the colored sections and only quilting in the background.  Quilting straight lines can be pretty tough on a huge quilt like this, but I was pleasantly surprised to realize that quilting them diagonally gave me the benefit of having less quilt in the throat of the machine most of the time (compared with what it would have been like quilting horizontal/vertical lines).

For the binding, I chose the same gray fabric as the background.  Mostly because I had a bunch leftover and I was being economical.  You could also say I was trying to be modern.  ;)  The backing is a 104" wide denim chambray print from Connecting Threads.  Sometimes I really love a pieced back, but sometimes it's so nice not to have to worry about it. 

 And here it is on our giant bed.  No more fighting for covers!  Yay!

Quilt stats:

Started:  Planning/beginning stages of fabric gathering:  March/April 2014

Finished: April 2016

Fabrics: Various, Kona Coal

Batting: Fairfield 60/40 Cotton/Poly

Finished size: Approx. 108" x 108" 

Number of HST units: 576

Recipient: ME!

Methods used:  HST Piecing, Straight Line Quilting

Binding: Hand Stitched to the Back

Time to make:  Roughly 45 Hours

 

AND, this quilt was goal #1 from this quarter's Finish Along, so I'll be linking up!

 

Hot Pads, a Thread Catcher, and Some Girly Bibs

Recently, I participated in a service auction with some of the women in my neighborhood. I donated a set of hot pads and a set of bibs.  In return, I ended up with an afternoon of babysitting AND a free haircut! I'm calling it a win.  Anyway, it's time for me to share what I made with you.  😊

My friend requested something with this blue/gray print for the hot pads:

I made them with hand pockets.  😏

For the quilting, I did cross-hatching, swirls, and outlining.

Oh, and I bound them by hand. These babies were THICK!

Next up, another friend requested girly bibs for her granddaughters, and since I didn't have very many in the shop, I decided to make a whole bunch and list the extras in my shop.

And lastly, another friend saw the little thread catcher/pin cushion I made WAY back when I first started sewing, and asked me to make her one for her sister-in-law.  I roughly followed THIS tutorial, because I wanted the hanging basket to be removable.

That's all for now! Thanks for stopping by!

Also, the bibs were one of my goals (#4) from this quarter's Finish Along, so I'll be linking up!

WHW RS Sampler Quilt Class: Block 7: Flying Geese

Next up for our Quilt Class is the Flying Geese block!  This is what a single "flying goose" looks like in fabric:

Piecemeal Quilts

We'll actually be making 8 flying geese, which can then be arranged in several different ways, including some of these:

The Crafty Mummy

The Crafty Mummy

The Crafty Mummy

The Crafty Mummy

And here are a few flying geese quilts that caught my eye:

Quilt With Us

Fancy Tiger Crafts

Beech Tree Lane Handmade

Simply Pieced

Bind Quilts

Robert Kaufman

Fresh Lemons

ME!

Flying Geese can be made using one of 4 different methods (Methods 1-3 are shown HERE - Craftsy Blog)
Method 1: Traditional Method: Cut three triangles and sew them back together
Method 2:  Corner Triangles (Starts with one rectangle and 2 squares)
Method 3:  No Waste Method (Makes 4 flying geese at a time)
Method 4:  Paper piecing (Pieces are sewn directly onto paper - this method is more commonly used when the flying geese are going to be arranged in an unusual formation).


Our alternate block is going to be the sawtooth star block, which is made using squares and flying geese units:

Honeybear Lane

Suzy Quilts

Okay.  Here are the things you need to know about actually MAKING flying geese units in ANY SIZE:
First of all - if you are doing your own math (which is super easy) just remember that the FINISHED WIDTH of your flying goose needs to be twice the FINISHED HEIGHT of your flying goose.
Here is a great tutorial for making any size flying geese using method #2 (one goose at a time):  Pat Sloan
There are TONS of tutorials out there for making flying geese using method #3 ("no waste" four-at-a-time), but this one is my personal favorite (and she gives you the formula for making any size flying geese):  Happy Quilting
And finally, a great demonstration of how to sew those geese together without losing your points:  Pat Sloan

Here's the low down on the different methods we covered in class:
ONE AT A TIME METHOD:
-Makes it easier to have lots of variety in your block
-Uses smaller pieces to start with
-Will have wasted fabric (you'll be cutting off corners and throwing the fabric away)
-No trimming required (usually)

FOUR AT A TIME METHOD:
-Makes four geese with the same fabric, so you are more limited in your fabric choices
-Uses bigger pieces to start with - in the long run uses LESS fabric
-No fabric is wasted
-Trimming is required (if you cut your pieces oversized - in my handout, the measurements have ALREADY been oversized)

So there you have it.  Here are the instructions.  Let me know if you need help!  Flying geese can really be so fun. :)
WHW RS Sampler Quilt Class: Block 7: Flying Geese