Whenever I finish the Teacher Pillow Project, I always feel a little sad. This is even after ripping half my hair out and spending way more time than I wanted in the process. Crazy, I know.Somehow the end result of a little pile of pillows is wonderful. And this is the last year I am doing this. The Young Man goes to high school next year and, except for special occasions or for special recognition, I am resolved to not make this many pillows again. (I know you are thinking “Famous Last Words.” Stop thinking that!)
This year I had 5 pillows to make, but decided, as I talked about yesterday, to also make a pillow for the Art Teacher, leaving me with a total of 6 pillows to make.
I made a Greek Cross (pg.72) block for the 8th grade Religion Teacher.
The Science Teacher got a Big T (pg.37) block. Do you like the label? It is an exploding test tube. The Young Man’s goal of blowing something up in science class has not yet been achieved.
Art will receive a Martha Washington Star (pg.85). I really like the back that the Young Man did for her. Very appropriate, I think.
The Social Studies and Reading Teacher will also receive a Martha Washington Star. Look familiar? I was feeling uninspired. Now I think I should have made the block red, white and black, but I am not remaking it. I don’t know what the back means. Perhaps an inside joke?
English and Literature received a basket block pillow last year and she will receive the above Grape Basket (pg.71) this year. The fabrics and colors goes with the block I made last year. This basket block was a bit of pain. I have made a number of basket blocks and this one went together very strangely. When I had finished putting it together, I looked at it and thought that I would have done it differently, had I known.
The Math teacher will receive a Free Trade block (pg.67). see a theme here with the Sawtooth Star variations? Again, I was uninspired. The fabrics go with some I used last year. Hope she likes pink. The back depicts Pi out to a lot of digits.
In years past, I have also given the Resource teacher a pillow, but this year she is getting a quilt.
Nota bene: All the blocks are from a book called Around the Block. It is out of print, but has been been reprinted with v.2 and v.3 in a book called 501 Rotary-Cut Quilt Blocks. Very worthwhile purchase. I would have a hard time living without this book.
This post is kind of a roundup of the good and the bad. No ugly today, as I use GREAT fabric. 😉
This Sawtooth Star block is one I use to teach Flying Geese. I love the Dutchman’s Puzzle block, but think starting students out with 4 Flying Geese as opposed to 8+ is much kinder.
The larger blocks are weird for me to make, because I like to make 6″ or 8″ blocks mostly. The good thing about making these giant blocks is that there is a lot of potential for fussy cutting and the Big Plain Jane print worked really well in this block. I tried to position the flower a little off center to add a bit of interest while not showcasing the white flower that is near the red flower on the print. I am really pleased with how cheerful this blocks looks. I am glad I am working in a turquoise/aqua and red palette.
The Card Trick block is a great block for practicing triangles. It includes both half and quarter square triangles. If you haven’t tried the Card Trick, it is a great block as long as you pick the right fabrics. I, as you can see, did not build in enough contrast between the background and the light fabrics. There are a lot of seams and triangles in this block and you have to lay it out and piece carefully, because it is easy to get mixed up.
As I work on this project I see these blocks set on point with red cornerstones. We’ll see as the time gets closer.
My weekend was completely embroiled with quilt meetings and family events. I had a few minutes here and there, but never seemed to be able to settle down to write. That meant that none of the posts I usually prep on the weekends got done. I didn’t get any sewing done and didn’t write any book reports, so I really didn’t have much to write about any way.
I stayed home from work on Monday and sewed all day except for going to they gym in the morning and taking the Young Man to an appointment.
I cut this block out at the BAMQG meeting on Saturday and then sewed it together on Monday. I have made a lot of baskets in my day and found this one to be a bit on the tricky side. Exhaustion could have played a factor. 😉
I chose the colors to go with the pillow I made for this same teacher last year. You can see the 2010 pillows and compare.
I was also held up by the labels. I have the Young Man draw on a piece of paper to make the label. I have to mark the seam allowances, so his art does not get cut off and it took me awhile to site down and do it. Now it is done and I can progress.
I found it interesting to break down the process step by step and try to explain it. Here is what I came up with.
This is the block we are making today. You are making 12″ finished block in the Double Pinwheel pattern. The unfinished block will be 12.5″.
It is ok if your finished products looks like the above photo.
1. Cut 4 squares 4″x4″ for pinwheel part of block (mine are red in the above photos) and 4 squares (also 4″x4″) from the background fabric (my background fabric is aqua in the above photo). This will allow you to have enough extra fabric to trim the half square triangles before you sew them into the pinwheel. I like trimming. Also cut two 6.5″ squares for the large background pieces. Use your background fabric for the 6.5″ squares.
2. Cut all of the squares in half on the diagonal.
3. Lay out all of your patches to you can see how the block will look. Start thinking about how you will piece it.
Notice how the patches don’t look like they are the right sizes? That is because of the seam allowances. It will all work out in the end. I promise.
4. Put one background patch and one pinwheel patch right sides together matching the hypotenuse (longest side) of the triangle.
Handle the triangles carefully by not yanking on them.
5. Sew one background patch and one pinwheel patch together along the hypotenuse of the triangle. I sew them with the background patch on top.
Sew all patches with the same color fabric on top. It will help you keep them organized.
My fingers are just keeping the hypotenuse up against my seam guide.
I use chain piecing to piece all of the triangles. I try and prevent them from falling off the back of my table so the falling triangles don’t yank on the ones still under the presser foot.
6. Sew all triangles needed to make pinwheels.
7. Press towards the pinwheel fabric.
I set the seam like Fons & Porter suggest and then open the seam and carefully press the seam open towards the pinwheel fabric (red dot in my case).
8. Line up diagonal line on your ruler (hopefully you are using a square ruler with a diagonal line) with the diagonal line you have sewed and trim your new half square triangle (HST) block to 3.5″.
You will need to make this cut twice for each patch as you cut two sides, turn the block 180 degrees and then trim the other two sides.
9. Arrange your sewn HSTs on your design wall to you can be sure that the HSTs are arranged in a pinwheel block.
10. Make a note to yourself (use a pin, eyeball it, pinch it) which sides you are going to sew together.
11. Take 2 half square triangles and place them right sides together underneath your machine’s presser foot.
The seam allowances on the diagonal should be nested together. This will work if you have pressed all of your HSTs towards the pinwheel fabric. In the above photo you can see how the diagonal seams are lined up when I lift the corner of the fabric to show you. (Professional stunt quiltmaker, please do not try this at home with your machine running!
12. Making sure you are sewing them in the right orientation, sew two half square triangles together.
13. Press these half pinwheels towards the background.
You should have 2 pieces of 2 half square triangles ready to sew into a pinwheel.
14. Nest the 2 half pieces together and sew along the middle of the pinwheel. In the above photo I have put the pin in just to show you about where you should sew.
When you sew try not to cut off the point of the pinwheel center. You will see a V made by the seams you have sewn previously. Make sure you err towards the seam allowance (on your right looking at the needle of the sewing machine) and don’t cut off that V. Ideally, you want to sew one thread towards the seam allowance on top of that V.
You can just sew over the middle (.5″ on either side of the middle) to make sure your points match, then you can go over the whole seam once you decide if you like the way the center looks. The ripping out is easier if you only have an inch to do.
When you open the block (with just the middle sewn) you can tell whether or not the points will match.
A NOTE ABOUT POINT MATCHING: It is really important that you know your tolerance level for points not matching. My points don’t always match and either I leave them or rip them out. If my points are 1/4″ apart, I usually rip them out. If they are 1/16th of inch from one another, I will probably leave them. It is important to know:
what you are trying to achieve (practice block or show quilt)
if you are going to think about that seam not matching late into the night and it is going to prevent you from sleeping.
deadlines
whether the quilt is a gift to a prize winning quiltmaker or a baby who will drool all over it.
How busy the fabrics are (can you actually see the seams matching?)
Be kind to yourself when you think about whether to agonize over a seam not matching. Have fun, there is always more fabric and don’t make yourself crazy.
15. Sew the halves together, along the whole side, for both pinwheels. If you have sewn along the middle for an inch, make sure you stay on that line when you sew the whole side together.
See that nice little square that the pinwheel makes in the center?
16. Press the pinwheels patches in the same direction as the other triangles. It will look like the seam allowances are spinning.
17. Sew the large 6.5″ background square to each of your pinwheels.
18. Press towards the 6.5″ square/background.
19. Nest the two pieces (which are made up of a pinwheel and a background patch).
20. Sew over the middle starting from about .5″ on either side of the middle to make sure you have not cut off points.
21. Sew the 2 pieces together starting on one side, sewing over the middle where you have already sewn and continuing to the end of the block.
22. Press whichever way the seam seems to want to go. I like to press each half of the seam towards the background. It makes for kind of an ugly pressing job, but I am not going to quilt over that center anyway, so, for me, it doesn’t matter.
You could trim the seam in the middle, but I don’t do that. Jo Morton talks about doing that and you might want to check out her website and YouTube videos.
I finished the Stars for San Bruno #1 top Saturday afternoon. I will, hopefully, take it to the quilter next week and send it off to its new owner soon thereafter. Stay tuned! Thanks to everyone who contributed and helped.
You want to know my biggest problem with this quilt? I don’t have enough dark blue fabric. I have used EVERY scrap, except the tiniest (I mean, really, why bother?), for this project and I haven’t even gotten through the first quilt. I kid you not. Now I know that I never buy dark blue. No big loss, but, yes, I went to the fabric store to see what would work.
I tossed all the blocks out like this to see what inspiration I would get. It actually worked pretty well, because I could see some patterns start to emerge.
DH really liked the layout above and thought I should applique’ everything down like this. In an ideal world, with a fleet of sewing ladies, i would have done this, but I am still waiting for my fleet.
Once some patterns started to form, I began editing. Above is what is left after the first edit. The edited blocks will go into one of the other quilts. All the blocks will be used, don’t worry.
Sue’s blocks really wanted to be the border, so I tried them out in different ways. Tossing is a lot easier than sewing, so they won’t be as wonky as they seem here.
The editing is done, though I haven’t worked much on the bottom left hand corner and will need to pay some attention down there, so I started to line up the blocks and start filling in with pieces of fabric. I added some triangles to get some movement.
This is the top of SfSB#1. I have the border put together and am starting to sew rows together. It is harder to chunk with improvisational piecing, but I will do some chunking.
I really like how well the blocks fit together in terms of color.
You can see some chunking going on above. You can also see the neglected stepchild that is the lower left corner. I’ll get to it. The ultimate goal is to have a square or rectangle that is not to big, but will be big enough to snuggle with.
I thought of putting some coping strips in, but then I looked through the blocks again and found some smallish blocks (thanks, Diane!) that would fit and add interest to the bottom.
The piece is coming together.
Looks a little unfinished.
A little bit of breathing room around the edge should do the trick.
The Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild met on Saturday and I had a great time. That is just a fun group. One of the things we did was show off all of the blocks we made for the Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow block swap. these are the final blocks I ended up making. I thought I made a lot, but almost everyone made at least four and several people made 6-8! There were a total of 42 blocks, so the leadership did two drawings for blocks, which meant two winners. I didn’t win, but that was ok. I have plenty of projects to work on.
The challenge was to make blocks using squares. I described some of my process in other posts. Nobody else really talked about struggling against the desire to use triangles or other shapes.
I thought the blocks made a relatively cohesive group. there were a number of off center log cabins (which I think might be called quarter square log cabins). There were a few prints that were conducive to fussy cutting, and people took advantage of those prints to highlight certain motifs. People described their process and I really enjoyed hearing how people worked through the constraints of the challenge.
Robert Kaufman donated charm packs to our group. We received 5″ charm squares of the Kona Solids in the Bright Palette. The challenge is to make a quilt top or something (I asked about a bag and was enthusiastically told that that would be ok) by the June meeting. My immediate thought was to make the quilt I saw at the Manteca show. I could easily make a Chubby Charmer, but my mind is working through the math on the Fun with Scraps quilt. I wouldn’t do the border, just the center. I like the way the hourglass block adds to the postage stamp block. I wonder how many Postage stamp blocks I could make with the charm pack?
We also got a group gift together for Ruth who started the guild. I made her a Jane Market tote, which I forgot to photograph. 🙁 and people brought treats to put in it (thread, FQs, etc). It is a nice way to thank someone.
Kathleen did a demo on how to make the Oh Fransson! Crazy 9patch blocks. She is doing a swap via Flickr of these blocks, so she used the opportunity of making extra blocks to show everyone how to do the technique. Kathleen is a very good teacher.
I did, mostly, socializing, but cut a few patches for a quilt I want to make from a group of fabric I bought from the Fabricworm. The pack I am using is a Fabricworm Custom Bundle and is called Starling Cherry/Aqua/Black.
It was a fun meeting. I left wanting more and feeling good about spending time away from the sewing machine at a meeting.
Thanks to Adrianne for letting use the Kona charm pack photo and the group photo of the Be Square block challenge.
Last call for Stars for San Bruno netted a bunch of blocks! In addition to those I talked about last week, I received 4 more over the weekend. These two beauties are from Julie. She sent me a little note with them wondering if I would be able to use them.
YES! Most definitely yes. I think they look like jewels, like the stone in a ring that sparkles elegantly. They are all applique’ and I think they will make an excellent addition to the quilts.
One of the things I like about the blocks people are sending is that they are all different in some way. Yes, Sue and SherriD both sent groups of similar blocks, but there is something different about each block. Many of the people who have contributed do not normally make block quilts, so I am especially touched.
As soon as I finish this reorganization, I am going to start piecing. My mom is out of town without her sewing machine, so she is off the hook for now. Perhaps I’ll get her to make the backs. 😉
Want to help? I am still accepting blocks. Leave a note on this post to let me know they are coming.
The background for this project is: that one family we know from school and my husband’s cousin were affected by the September 2010 San Bruno fire. We are making 3 quilts: one for our cousin and his wife, one for my son’s friend and one for the parents of my son’s friend.
I am thrilled at how many people are making a block or two. Do you want to contribute some blocks?
All star blocks are welcome!
Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern, technique, eg. embroidery, painting, silkscreen, etc)
Block size: 8? finished (8.5? unfinished) or smaller (we will work with any size)
Remember to sign your block!
Deadline: End of March 2011, but I can only piece one quilt at a time and all blocks will be used.
I received this group of 10 stars plus some goodies from Sue last week. Aren’t they great?
One thing I know about the Liberated stars is that the proportion of the star points need some attention otherwise the stars look weird. Sue has nailed that and her stars have a lot of movement. They look cheerfully wonky. I am thinking of using them around the edge of a quilt – not quite a border, but something similar.
I also like the scrapiness of these blocks. I need to get started!
Sandy, from Quilting for the Rest of Us podcast, also sent some stars. Her color choices are fabulous! The yellow stands out against the blue wonderfully.
I am also thrilled that so many people have made the Friendship Star. I hope it infuses the quilt with good feelings for the families.
Thanks to Sandy and Sue for taking the time!
Want to help? We are doing this project because one family we know from school and my husband’s cousin were affected by the September 2010 San Bruno fire. We are making 3 quilts: one for our cousin and his wife, one for my son’s friend and one for the parents of my son’s friend.
I am thrilled at how many people are making a block or two. Do you want to contribute some blocks?
All star blocks are welcome!
Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern, technique, eg. embroidery, painting, silkscreen, etc)
Block size: 8? finished (8.5? unfinished) or smaller (we will work with any size)
Remember to sign your block!
Deadline: End of March, but I can only piece one quilt at a time and all blocks will be used.
This is the last call for blocks. Your name will be on the label as a contributor if you send me some blocks.
Want to help? The background for this project is that one family we know from school and my husband’s cousin were affected by the September 2010 San Bruno fire. We are making 3 quilts: one for our cousin and his wife, one for my son’s friend and one for the parents of my son’s friend.
I am thrilled at how many people are making a block or two. Do you want to contribute some blocks?
All star blocks are welcome!
Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern, technique, eg. embroidery, painting, silkscreen, etc)
Block size: 8? finished (8.5? unfinished) or smaller (we will work with any size)
Remember to sign your block!
Deadline: End of March, but I can only piece one quilt at a time and all blocks will be used.
Shown are examples of blocks I have received. Aren’t they great?
A few weeks ago I talked about the blocks I was planning on making for the BAMQG challenge. Here are the first two. I had an idea for these blocks, but I also had a couple of obstacles to the finished pieces.
First, I had to find the rotary cutting directions. I tried to draw the blocks on EQ7 and wasn’t, initially successful. Through a series of weird coincidences, I found a block in the big Jinny Beyer block book and had a pad of graph paper near handy, which allowed me to visualize the grid. Once I had that, I was able to draw the block in EQ7 (I was surprised not to find it there already there) and EQ7 generated the rotary cutting directions for this Courthouse Square block. Update 10/9/2011: I found that this block is Brackman Number: 2815A. You can see an antique example of this block in a quilt at the Quilt Index.
I used the fabrics I showed in the last post and am pleased with how they came out. I was a little nervous about using the Michael Miller fabric, because I have it slated for another project. I slapped myself and used the fabric since I hadn’t used it in that other project yet and it isn’t as though I have a shortage of fabric. I think the block looks great.
Two blocks wasn’t enough and I still had some fabric, so I looked at the gallery (I apologize if you can’t open the link) that Adrianne made.I found this one in Jinny Beyer’s book also. It is called Multiple Square Quilt and is from a 1953 issue of the Kansas City Star. That book is a useful resource if you love blocks at all.
I am thinking I will make one or two more, but I made a list of all I have to sew this weekend, so we will see how much I get done.
It is kind of fun thinking about blocks in a different way and trying to make them modern. I still have more fabric, so I may make a few more blocks.
I was also pleased to receive a block from Carol of a Scot in Tennessee. I bet she has the greatest accent!
Carol is a contributor to the Creative Prompt Project. She also does color exercises on her blog. I am not sure how often, but every time I look at her blog, I see one. Carol’s block is raw edge applique’. I love the simplicity.
Mom the Energizer Quilt Bunny brought two more stars over yesterday. She is amazing! these are definitely for the kid quilt. All those food fabrics scream ‘kid.’ Do you like those potato chips?
We now have over 50 blocks!
Want to help? The background for this project is that one family we know from school and my husband’s cousin were affected by the September 2010 San Bruno fire. We are making 3 quilts: one for our cousin and his wife, one for my son’s friend and one for the parents of my son’s friend.
I am thrilled at how many people are making a block or two. Do you want to contribute some blocks?
All star blocks are welcome!
Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern, technique, eg. embroidery, painting, silkscreen, etc)
Block size: 8? finished (8.5? unfinished) or smaller (we will work with any size)
Remember to sign your block!
Deadline: Still TBA, but the end is nearing. I am still thinking it will be around the end of March, though I am not sure I will be ready to piece quilts by then. We will see.
Still…
We can’t do it without you! Please contribute some blocks.
Contact us through our blogs for mailing instructions. Thanks very much for your generosity!
I bought a lot of food fabric fat quarters (say that 3x really fast) for my mom last spring while she was taking care of Super G and trying not to lose her mind. This is one of the blocks she made with those food fabrics. She made a lot of blocks like the Corner Store pattern I talked about in the review of Pretty Little Mini Quilts, then she didn’t like them for the food quilt, so she redid them and this is block one of the result. Check her blog for progress.
Mom has been busy making more stars. She is trying different patterns, which means I never know what to expect from her! On another note, I told her to start showing some of her 19 (!!!) works in progress on her blog. I can’t wait to see what she has started.
The paper pieced block in the upper left hand corner was made by Maureen. It is really a perfect combination of colors. I know Maureen from CQFA. She is wonderful dyer and fabric printer. She does a lot of really good work in fabric manipulation with dyes, paints, etc and is an inspiration and teacher to others in the group in this area.
Mrs. K came to a party yesterday. She lives 4-5 hours away from me and prepared these reverse appliqued blocks for the drive down the mountain. The stars are reverse applique’ and then she has tied some French knots in each inset of the stars. You can just see them in the photos. I will have to take out some of the basting and trim the backs, but that is ok. I would rather do it when I am ready to sew than have the edges unravel or fray. I know Mrs. K from an online quilt group and we have gotten together several times. She loves handwork and crazy quilting. She taught hearing impaired students for many years in public schools. I really appreciate her effort on these blocks.
Mrs. K also made me a cookie. Check it out! I think I need to have a cookie baking and decorating session with Mrs. K!
We now have over 50 blocks!
Want to help? The background for this project is that one family we know from school and my husband’s cousin were affected by the September 2010 San Bruno fire. We are making 3 quilts: one for our cousin and his wife, one for my son’s friend and one for the parents of my son’s friend.
I am thrilled at how many people are making a block or two. Do you want to contribute some blocks?
All star blocks are welcome!
Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern, technique, eg. embroidery, painting, silkscreen, etc)
Block size: 8? finished (8.5″ unfinished) or smaller (we will work with any size)
Remember to sign your block!
Deadline: TBA, probably around the end of March. We can’t do it without you!
Contact us through our blogs for mailing instructions. Thanks very much for your generosity!
I received these 9 blocks from my SIL on Thursday. I was so excited. We are now at 41 blocks! I didn’t think we would make 30, but people have been so generous. It warms my heart. Now my goal is 60 blocks: 20 for each of the 3 quilts.
As reminder, one family we know from school and my husband’s cousin were affected by the September 2010 San Bruno fire. We are making 3 quilts: one for our cousin and his wife, one for my son’s friend and one for the parents of my son’s friend.
Want to help? I am thrilled at how many people are making a block or two. Do you want to contribute some blocks?
All star blocks are welcome!
Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern, technique, eg. embroidery, painting, silkscreen, etc)
Block size: 8″ finished or smaller (we will work with any size)
Remember to sign your block!
Deadline: TBA, probably around the end of March. We can’t do it without you!
Contact us through our blogs for mailing instructions. Thanks very much for your generosity!