6 Heads / 12 Blocks (ROM) - April

Ha-ha, I am late but it is still in the month. The picture is a little dark. Sorry. This row needed 15 of them.
The April block was designed by Andrea and here is the link.   Of course this is a German blog but the directions are very clear with lots of photos and measurements are in inches. You don't really need the words with it I think.

I left the monthly rows in their sequence. January is top row and then down to April. I find it a little difficult to know what fabric to choose not knowing the whole picture but so far I am o.k.

Did you notice that I made a mistake? I had made a few and had cut out all the fabric rectangles. Yesterday some of my friends had a sew-in and I had made the slanted cut and sewed it in her house. When I was back home I noticed they were twirling the other way.

How did this happen? I had marked the first one on the front because the marker had showed up so I could cut accurately. Yesterday I had marked on the back because the marker I had was too week. However, I decided to go with it and leave the mistake.

What do you think about that mistake? Honestly!!! Leave me a comment please. Should I change it? It wouldn't be a big deal to do.

Meine Deutschen Freunde!

Was denkt Ihr über meinen Fehler? Soll ich es ändern? Bitte ganz ehrlich einen Kommentar schreiben. Es wäre keine große Sache die paar noch mal zu machen. Würde mich freuen Eure Meinung zu hören. DANKE!

NQC Block # 7 and 8

These were not 5-minute jobs and I didn't get around to post them but here they are.

I like the coloring sheets and keep those in mind when I don't have time to do the "actual quilt work". Next to my machine lay these little squares. 20 of them which were cut-offs from a previous project. I played a little around with them.

I was quite happy with the result. And then more decisions. What is the next step? 

I found some of the same fabric and like how the motif kept "flowing".

And here is the finished Block # 7

A week later I could make Block # 8

Not so exciting. Oh well.

Block # 9 left to do !!!

Woven Star

Love this block. I first saw it as the NQC Challenge # 2 Merope Star … but since then I have seen it out there in the quilt world written in different techniques. I like things simple and straightforward.  That’s why I wrote how I did it. I would like to make a whole quilt like this.

You need background fabric and 4 different fabrics which contrast against each other nicely.

Directions are for a 16 x 16 inch finished block

(16 1/2 square unfinished)

Background: cut 9 1/2 x 9 1/2 inch square (1)

4 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch square (4)

from each of the 4 fabrics: 5 x 5 (1)

                                                  5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inch (1, then sub-cut)

Sub-cut:

Each of the four larger squares cut first in half diagonally.

Then cut one of the triangles into two again. The photo above shows how to line it up on the cutting board.

First make the flying geese using the “4 flying geese at a time” method. There are lots of tutorials and you-tubes available. I have one link on my tutorial page.

It really does not matter in which order you use the 4 different squares.

Trim each of the flying geese to 4 1/2 to 8 1/2 inches. I find the Tucker Wing Clipper incredible useful for this.

With the finished flying geese lay out the block with all cut pieces.

You can chain-sew first each of the four smallest triangle pairs. 

Then add the larger triangles to those resulting into the 4 squares in the middle.  Find the middle on the long side of the larger triangle and finger press. Line this mark up with the seam of the two smaller triangles.

After each step make sure to put the pieces back onto the board so you don’t mix up the colors.

Trim each of the squares to 4 1/2 inches. 

I find the Tucker Trimmer incredible useful for this.

Sew first the 4 middle squares together.

Then add a flying geese to each side.

Sew the corner squares to the top and bottom geese.

Sew the rows together. You might want to iron the last two seams open.

I always use my pattern after I have written it to make sure it works. I had much fun making the second block. Hope you do too.

                         Christa

PS: If you would like this pattern as a PDF click HERE!

And here is the Cutting Chart PDF for blocks finished size 16, 14, 12, 10, 8 and 6 inch squares.

The photo is the largest and the smallest woven star.

Sewing lately?

Not much!

Here is a partially done quilt I was working on at the Thursday Stitchers charity sewing. I had cut out enough flowers and leaves to do flowers all over the whole quilt but when I had two rows put together it just didn't look good. Too much. Plan B - to just have green in-between some flowers. Hope I can see it when it is quilted. I am not always seeing my finished quilts.

I did spent quite some time working on the Cotton Robin. Had received a center and added the first border around. I am so pleased with what I did. I just hope the owner will be when she receives it finished in a couple of months. Bummer that I can't show it to you ... yet. And it is on its way to England for the second border.

The April Block Lotto is "scrappy". Here is my effort. Color guidelines: Background should be yellow. Everything else goes. My star point might should be scrappier but I couldn't help myself.

Today I went to my first hands-on quilt workshop. I have been to several lectures at lace groups before but nothing like this. It was fun. Rachel from Staunton VA talked about "Scrapology", which was funny since I just had made the scrappy Block Lotto block. Towards the end of the time everybody brought their products to a table and Rachel discussed all the possibilities what to do with these pattern. She encouraged to not relay on a pattern but just take the basic and run with it.

I decided what I have to do with my leftovers, get organized and save space. All I need now is some time (big grin over my face and giving a sigh).