My Favorite Block Quilt Along : Heart Block Tutorial

"Heart Block" (shown in two sizes) created by Pam Geisel of For Quilts Sake

Several years ago I wanted to make a heart block but didn't want to use curved pieces so I came up with this pattern. One of the things I like about this block is it utilizes the rotary cutting piecing method of making half square triangles and Flying Geese squares without having to sew along a bias edge, so no bias stretching to worry about.

The block on the left is the 6" (finished) block; the block on the right is the 12" (finished) block.

Cutting for the 6″ block
From the RED fabric (can be the same or different fabric) cut :
 - 1 rectangle : 6½″ x 2″
 - 2 rectangles : 3½″ x 2″
 - 1 square : 3⅞″ x 3⅞″
From the WHITE fabric cut :
 - 4 squares : 2″ x 2″
 - 1 square : 3⅞″ x 3⅞″

Cutting for the 12″ block
From the RED fabric (can be the same or different fabric) cut :
 - 1 rectangle : 12½″ x 3½″
 - 2 rectangles : 6½″ x 3½″
 - 1 square : 6⅞″ x 6⅞″
From the WHITE fabric cut :
- 4 squares : 3½″ x 3½″
- 1 square : 6⅞″ x 6⅞″

Half square triangles (bottom of finished block) : Mark a line on the diagonal on the wrong side of the larger white square, pair with a same size red square placing right sides together.

Sew ¼″ away from both sides the marked line.

Cut on the diagonal line and press the seams toward the red.

Flying Geese (top of finished block) : Mark a line on the diagonal on the wrong side of the four white squares. Lay square on the left side of the smaller red rectangle with right sides together. The line should go from the lower left to the upper right. Unlike the half square triangles, sew ON the line then trim the upper left corner leaving ¼″ seam allowance.

Press seams toward the red. Repeat with the square on the right side of the rectangle with the line going from the upper left to the lower right.

Finishing : Following the diagram, sew the two Flying Geese squares together, and sew those to the top of the long rectangle. Sew the two half square triangles together, and sew those to the bottom of the long rectangle. Press the seam allowances toward the red fabric.

This is a quilted necklace that I made with this block, which is only 1½″ in size.

This tutorial is published for "My Favorite Block Quilt Along" hosted by Kim of Persimon Dreams. You can see photos of finished blocks on the My Favorite Block Quilt Along Flickr site and you can check out the other tutorial for this week the Owl Block at by BeaQuilter.

"Wedded Bliss" - made from a wedding dress

 

"Wedded Bliss", 58" x 58", July 2008

Five years ago (before I started blogging) Brandi got married. Because the wedding was close to Valentine's Day, and because her dress had red accents, her bridesmaids wore red. Later that year she contacted me about making a large wall hanging using her wedding dress, a bridesmaid's dress, and the flower girl's dress.

The wedding dress had lots of great beading which I was able to use in the quilt. It also had a lace-up corset in the back which Brandi wanted in the center.

The six hearts were paper pieced, each with different embellishments from the dresses.

A detail photo of the beading from the wedding dress.

Happy Valentine's Day! And Happy Anniversary Brandi!

Coneflower Confection - Project Quilting

"Coneflower Confection," 16.5" x 17.5", made for Project Quilting
Season 4, Challenge 3: Annie's Vision, Feb. 2013

Quick recap of the challenge: "Annie's Vision"

1. Your inspiration is the art of Annie Young. Explore the colors, the textures, the style, the subject matter, the feeling. Choose what speaks most to you and use it to make your quilt.

The first thing I noticed when I looked at Annie's art was that her painted backgrounds looked similar to some of the hand dyed and hand painted fabric that I had. So I started this challenge by looking through my fabrics to find one that made me think of her backgrounds.

Something else I recognized was that she frequently uses flowers as her subject matter. I decided to make a cone flower because it tied in with the pinkish purple spot in the upper left corner of my background fabric. I fused the flower pieces to the background then made the quilt sandwich with wool batting so the stitches that hold down the fused fabric are also the quilting stitches.

One of my favorite aspects about Annie's work is how much energy and movement it has. She often goes around her subject matter with many strokes. I immediately thought of mimicking that look but using couched thread instead of paint.

For the petals of the cone flower, I cut the hand-painted pink fabric a little larger than I wanted then trimmed it down saving the "outline" which I fused on top of the petals. I stitched them down then couched some thread over the petals echoing the petal shapes. I also couched this yarn in the pinkish purple area in the upper left corner.

Annie's painting "Confetti Susan" has painted confetti on it, which reminded me of seed stitching, so I did some blue seed stitching in the background of the quilt, which also added some texture to this area. Another piece titled "Rug Eyes" looks like it has buttons for the center of the flowers so I added one for the center of my cone flower.

The quilt is finished with a strip-facing binding.

More about Coneflower Confection

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Click on any of the photos to see larger images.

To see other entries for this challenge, visit the Annie's Vision page.

Mountain Mist - Project Quilting

"Mountain Mist," 20" x 10" (frame size), made for Project Quilting
Season 4, Challenge 2: My Favorite Color, Jan. 2013

Quick recap of the challenge: "My Favorite Color"
1. Your color scheme will be white and one other color. Use as many shades of that color as you wish, but do not add any other colors to the front of your project, including embellishments.

My favorite color is green. Specifically, sage green.

This project is a fabric mosaic. I arranged several layers of green fabric on a background layer. The top third of the piece has two alternating light green batik fabrics. The middle third has an olive green batik fabric that has a tree line cut across the top of it. And the lower third has a piece of green-blue batik fabric with spots on it.

I separated some off-white wool roving and spread it across the lower part of the middle third to represent fog behind the pine trees in the foreground. These pine trees were cut from two different dark green batik fabrics and have fusible web on the back, which stuck to the roving a little too well, which made them difficult to move afterwards. I couched a piece of yarn across the bottom of the line of pine trees to even them up and give some different texture to that area.

I also used some green wool roving across the lower third and both white and green roving in the upper third, again to give it a whispy effect.

I covered it all with some sparkly green netting then quilting it all together with two different green threads. I cut the mat a little larger so the edges of the piece and the pale green background fabric show, then I framed it in a wood frame.

More about Mountain Mist

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Click on any of the photos to see larger images.

To see other entries for this challenge, visit the My Favorite Color page.

Winter Quilt Along to Start

Kim, who hosts the Project Quilting, is also hosting a Quilt Along. My Favorite Block Quilt Along starts next Tuesday, Jan 15, and will run during the 'off' week of Project Quilting.

I am one of the block designers and the tutorial for my block will be posted on Thurs. Feb. 14.

There will be a total of 20 different blocks.

Lime Squares - Project Quilting

 "Lime Squares"  12" x 12", made for Project Quilting, 

Season 4, Challenge 1: A Square in a square...in a square..., Jan. 2013

Quick recap of the challenge: "A Square in a square...in a square..."
1. Your inspiration for this challenge is Square in a Square. Interpret it however you’d like. It is an inspiration, not a pattern, so be creative.

25 small 1/2" lime squares are placed slightly angled in (on top of) 25 1-1/4" colored batik squares that are arranged so the colors blended from an orange brown to red to purple to blue to green. Every other colored square is inside a square quilted with white thread.

The squares are quilted through the center in both directions with lime green thread, which attaches them to the background, allowing the corners of the colored squares to float up.

The quilt is 12" square and is wrapped around stretcher bars making it 3/4" deep. Tiny lime green seed beads are sewn where the quilting lines cross on the lime green squares.

More about Lime Squares

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Click on any of the photos to see larger images.

To see other entries for this challenge, visit the A Square in a Square in a Square page.

Project Quilting Season 4 Begins

It is time for Season 4 of Project Quilting to begin! I've been a part of Project Quilting since the beginning. The first season I was a judge, the second season I was the Grand Prize Winner, last year I was a participant, and this year I'm a participant and a prize sponsor.

My favorite thing about Project Quilting? All the really great quilts that I've made for the challenges, including one that won "Best of Show" in an all-media regional landscape competition.

Like last year there won't be any judges, but there will still be prizes. Prizes will be chosen by random from all of the participants for that challenge.

At the end of the season there will be grand prizes and each time you enter a challenge your name will be put in the drawing for the grand prize. So the more challenges you enter, the better your chances for winning.

The schedule for this year is:
Challenge 1: January 6
Challenge 2: January 20
Challenge 3: February 3
Challenge 4: February 17
Challenge 5: March 3
Challenge 6: March 17

Each challenge is posted at noon CDT and due exactly one week later at noon CDT.