Young Quilter

 

Strip sets

My grand children are staying overnight this weekend. We went out earlier but on our return Isla wanted to do some sewing. She's fascinated by my shelves of fabrics and chose two to work with. She'd seen a design she liked in my scrapbook which was a quilt I saw at Sandown. I decided it was a two colour split ninepatch.
First we made two strip sets, one floral/green/floral and the other green/floral/green. Ideally we would have made two of the former but I decided to allow for a 7 year old attention span. Also I wanted to check my theory as to the construction of the inspiration quilt was correct.

We took two slices from the floral/green/floral set
and one from the green/floral/green set and arranged
and sewed them into a nine patch block.

We then cut the pieced nine patch in half vertically and horizontally
using the technique devised by Nancy Brenan Daniel. (Isla took
this photo)

The units were then rearranged and stitched in pairs

Finished block (Another one by Isla)





Very proud
 

 

Block 2a for U3A group

Completed block, a bit crumpled from having been folded

Block 2a introduces the quarter square triangle where a square is divided into quarters diagonally. This time the straight grain is on the long side of the triangle. If you draw the shapes onto graph paper you can easily see this. This block is called a variable star and you can colour it any number of ways from 2 fabrics upward.

Square divided into 4 quarter square triangles (QST's)

Again when drafting we start by drawing the whole block square then the ninepatch grid lines and finally mark the shapes in the individual squares, here drawing diagonal lines corner to corner in the side squares.
As before cut out the quarter square shape roughly, glue onto the shiny side of card and cut out exactly on the line. You can either use your wheel to draw round it the seam allowance directly onto fabric or use the wheel to make a second card template.
If you prefer to hand piece, draw the sewing line too and put dots at the corners.

It helps to lay your pieces out on a padded
board by your sewing machine

Now start to assemble the pieced squares

WRONG!!!
If you feed the QST's though
the machine like this they won't
match up.

RIGHT! Align and feed your pairs of QST's through the machine the
SAME way and they will match up correctly.

Once the squares are pieced join the squares into rows
then the rows into a block.

The plain squares have been rotary cut. For 4" finished squares, cut a 4.5" strip and subcut it into 4.5" squares.

Another completed block

Out visiting

Jill with a very jolly little quilt.

On Tuesday I went to Hythe Quilters to do the rulers - they were such a nice friendly group and as always I enjoyed the Show & Tell.

Pat with Christmas trees

Pat with reindeer
(Sorry about picture
quality)





Jill again with complex foundation pieced stars.
 

My namesake Mary with
seasonal placemats.

Still more from the retreat

 Heather's Winding Ways



Julie again and I think
pattern by Mandy Shaw

Susie  and quilt top showing effective use of value

Isabel's 2013 Christmas quilt

Julie doing the Tenessee Waltz

Heather with her clever blocks

Pat's very bright and happy quilt

Bits and Bobs

At Bonnie's yesterday Mavis showed her frame quilt which she is currently quilting and Fran is working on the the log cabins for her second one. Trish and I have done all our log cabins; mine are ready to add and Trish is making a pineapple block for her corner.

Mavis with her quilt
 



Rulers top

I finished my rulers top unless I add to it later. I'm sorry I cut off my bottom border triangles to accommodate the square in a square at the bottom. Later I may unpick and change it.  (In my dreams)

Moo to you!

At Houston there was super exhibit of cow quilts made by quilters inspired by Mary Lou Weidman's "Out of The Box", a book with lots of great designs and best of all they're BIG. I took lots of photos and laughed at folks' inventiveness and bought the book and asked Mary Lou if I could post them on my blog and she said, "Yes yes, post them all", so here are some. We at Bonnie Quilters are finishing off our current project and while our fourth member is enjoying winter sun (she cares not for farm life)  the other three of us will make quilts based on the book which we've all bought.

Peggy Baldwin Clayton

Laurie Latta

Charlotte Lorenzo

Rio the Cow Dog

Mary Lou Weidman: Moodern

Rulers

On the retreat one of my deadline projects was to prepare some blocks to illustrate the use of some special rulers. Next Monday I'm going to a patchwork group to talk about ones used to make more common shapes in patchwork: half square and quarter square triangles, "Peaky & Spike", square in a square, 60 degree triangles and kaleidoscope shapes. Today I've tried to get going on assembling some of my motley units into a top and I am quite pleased. I like the serendipity of patchwork.

Easy Angle: HST's



Rulers Top: note square in a square blocks in the centre
and 60 degree equilateral triangles in the top right
large block.

Tri- Recs: Peaky & Spike

Tri Recs: Spikes

Easy Angle: HST's

Companion Angle: QST's

Peaky & Spike, HST's and Square in a Square

More from the retreat

I shall have to leave some pictures out as having been convinced I knew who had made what I am now rather muddled. Next time I'll label the pictures with the maker's name at the time. It helps to get the maker to pose.

Caroline's quilt with a touch of Halloween



Another one from a very prolific Caroline
oblongs, not squares



Julie's trompel'oeil Double Wedding Ring all straight lines.



Detail of stunning Den Haan & Wagenmaker (?) fabrics
now out of their box.

Mandy's fantastic log cabin

Block 2b for U3A patchworkers

7.  An attempt to show the pressing.

8. Sew into pairs..

5. If liked 2.5 inch squares with a diagonal line drawn across
can be added to the SAME corner of each square.

6. Sew along the line and press two towards the corners.
The underneath press two seams towards the square.

4. Arrange the squares to form a sort of cross or
windmill. You can sew the squares together
at this point to make a 12.5 inch unfinished
block.

Here is a version of Block 2b, I'm a bit cross with myself as I intended to place the corner squares on the grey fabric, not the yellow. The squares are optional and one of mine is not well sewn; it is fine to make a block without the centre pieces as this would be a traditional rail fence.
The pictures have a mind of their own but I have numbered them to indicate the order of sewing and cutting.


9. Completed block

1. Take three 2.5 inch wide strips and slong along the long edge.
Start the second seam from the opposite end to the first.


 

2. Straighten right hand end of your strip set.

.

3. Turn the board round and cut a 6.5 inch square measured from the left hand edge