Friday, April 23, 2021

Block Base+ - Block 2 Tutorial

Are you sewing along with Electric Quilt's Block Base+? It's time to share the second block, #2898, also know as Magic Cross.

EQ's post featuring this block came out April 12, giving us eleven days to stitch it for sharing on the EQ linky party today. In case you want to join in, block 1 is #1273, and block 3 will come out on Monday, April 26. That's one block every two weeks until mid-July, for a total of eight blocks.

Keep in mind that EQ's post is all about using the features of their new Block Base+ program (no affiliation), which can be a stand-alone program, or linked to EQ7 or 8. It's a great program - I especially like the quilt layout previews!

Because all EQ blocks come with no instructions for construction, I thought I'd provide a little tutorial on cutting and assembling #2898 for a finished 12" block size. Ready?

Here's block 2898 in it's original EQ coloring,

and recolored to match my actual block and avoid confusion in the tutorial.

Here's block 2898 broken down into labelled parts, and I'll refer to the above coloring in the tutorial to match my block. I'm also showing all parts at once, which may seem confusing, but it makes it easier to see how the construction is completed.

Cutting for a 12" finished block

for A: 2 squares 3 7/8" background (green)
2 squares 3 7/8" yellow
2 squares 3 7/8" red, cut on the diagonal for 4 triangles

for B: 1 square 7 1/4" background (green), cut on both diagonals for 4 triangles
1 square 7 1/4" red, cut on both diagonals for 4 triangles

for C: 1 square 4 3/4" background (green)

Make Corner Half Square Triangles (HST's)

This is basic quilting 101, but I'll include it anyway.

Draw a diagonal line on each of the 2 yellow 'A' squares. Pair with 2 green 'A' squares. Stitch a scant 1/4" from the line to make a total of 4 yellow/green HST's.

Press seams, and trim HST's to 3 1/2" square. As independent HST's, they're seen in the upper and lower left corners in this picture.

By laying out all pieces with jumped ahead construction, you can also get an idea of how this block is going to be put together. To follow along, it's easiest to lay out all the pieces in the correct positions.

Once those corner HST's are made, the next step is to add the red triangle piece 'A' to side of the of each green triangle of the yellow/green HST. The piece is seen independently in the upper left, and sewn in at the other corners.

Next, add red triangles 'B' to the red and green of the previous unit.

You can see where the construction is going in the above photo. I'm making two corner triangular units and a center diagonal strip for the easy piecing.

To make those two corner triangular units, add two green 'B' triangles, shown with the circles, on each side of the red triangles. And stitch the remaining corner units to the green center square 'C' to make the center diagonal strip.

To finish, add the corner triangle units to the diagonal center strip, matching seams.

And there is block #2898 completed, at an unfinished measurement of 12.5" x 12.5". Easy, right?

Sew along with the EQ group or make more 2898 blocks for an entire quilt - have fun!

My Favorite Patterns

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Midweek Makers 276

Welcome to Midweek Makers!

My share this week is an in-progress quilting picture, adding the pantograph Pretty Paisleys to Carol's colorful quilt, done in between block making.

And did you see all of the finished Stay at Home Round Robin quilts over on Quilting Gail's blog? I was certainly impressed with everyone's creativity! There are some very talented quilters out there. And the big news is, we'll do the SAHRR again next January, with different block choices than this year. Hope you join us!

As for last week, how about these three finished beauties that popped up?

From Kathy's Quilting, an RSC finish,

from Vicki's Craft and Quilting, an adorable butterfly runner,

and from Grace and Peace Quilting, this adorable donation quilt, Little Heat Wave.

Now it's your turn - come share what you're working on!

please link directly to your post
please link a quilt related item
visit with the others and leave some comment love

Have fun!

My Favorite Patterns

Monday, April 19, 2021

Lattice Fruit Pie Trivet

Who wants some pie? I've got the best kind of pie there is with these adorable Lattice Fruit Pie Trivets, along with a free tutorial to make your own!

fruit fabric plus strips and ric rac make a pie

Made for the In the Kitchen Stitchin Blog Hop, hosted by one of my favorite quilters, Carla, of Creatin In the Sticks. Both she and Carol of Just Let Me Quilt always have such fun hops! And this one is no different.

And don't those pies look delicious? I can't decide which I like better: the blueberry or the multi-fruit of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. Definitely a tough choice!

These are so cute that I'd rather use them as trivets to pretty up the table than fold them and mess them up as potholders. With all the filling of batting, insul-fleece, and the stitching, they're a bit on the stiff side for potholders anyway. That may be just fine for some, but for me, I like seeing their deliciousness on the table!

Want to make your own? Then grab the following ingredients and let's make a pie!

Lattice Fruit Pie Trivet Ingredients

Makes 2 pie trivets

1/4 yard fruit themed cotton prints
1/4 yard insul-fleece (the one with the metal in it)
1/4 yard all cotton batting
1/4 yard backing (I used beige, a 'crust' color)
1 1/2 yard (or 1 pkg) medium or .5 inch beige ric rac
1 1/2 yard (or 1 pkg) 5/8" wide beige double fold bias tape
1 new, sharp, size 14 needle

Step 1 - Cut circles

Use a circle cutting tool or an 8" plate or bowl as a template to cut the following number of circles:

2 (two) from beige backing, and insul-fleece

4 (four) from cotton batting.

1 (one) from each of the fruit prints, for a total of 2 (two)

cutting circles with a half circle template

Step 2 - Layer the pie

Stack the cut circles in the following order to make two pies:

backing, cotton, insul-fleece, cotton, fruit print

BTW, I placed the exposed metal of the insul-fleece up to (hopefully) better reflect the heat back to the dish and not onto my table

Step 3 - Baste

To keep layers from shifting, use a long stitch length to baste circles together, with a line parallel on two sides. Baste a group 2 and a group of 3,

then baste all 5 together. Finish the basting by stitching close to the circle edge.

Remove straight line basting stitches before proceeding to Step 4.

Step 4 - Add lattice

Cut bias tape lattice strips for the center and each side, 6 (six) pieces total. Stitch in place using a zig zag stitch and thread to match the 'crust'. Trim lattice ends when done.

Easy lattice:

Starting in the pie center, add bias tape lattice strips there and on each side. Add the remaining three lattice strips perpendicular to the first set.

applying bias tape to make a lattice pie trivet

Woven lattice

If weaving the lattice strips, cut all six bias strip pieces, weaving them over and under each other. Start stitching with the 'under' center piece, keeping pieces that go on top folded back out of the way. Continue stitching down strips for the woven effect.

Step 5 - Apply bias binding

Pin bias binding to the edge, overlapping and folding back final end for a nice finish. If necessary, use a bit of glue to hold binding in place.

Stitch binding with trivet backside up (fruit print face down) for even zig zag stitches along binding edge. Do not worry about catching the binding on the front of the trivet - it gets covered in the next step.

Step 6 - Apply ric rac to front

Using a longer straight stitch, around 3.5-4, stitch ric rac to the front covering binding edge and with ric rac at the trivet edge. Fold back the ends for a clean finish.