Last week, I shared a tutorial on making a Brick Yard block, scrappy version, and today, I'm sharing the full finished quilt!
Didn't that turn out great? I just love it when lots fabrics, whether yardage or scraps, come together for a beautiful quilt!
Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed making the scrappy Brick Yard blocks, all 48 of them. With the borders, this quilt measures 62" x 80", and with a light cotton batting, is soft and lightweight.
Quilting is the nice open pantograph, Happy Times, in a matching purple thread. Keeping the quilting large didn't let the purple thread dominate, otherwise it could have made an even more purple quilt. It all came out just right!
My inspiration for this quilt was three-fold. First, the Brick Yard scrappy blocks, then the desire to clean out some purple fabrics from the scraps and yardage bins, and finally, the purple/yellow leaf print (upper left).
With over 2.75 yards, I immediately set it aside for backing, and based my purple fabric choices against it.
Then everything fell into place. The yellow I chose is washed out in the picture, but that was also around 2 yards, and I just have a few scraps left - how lucky is that? But being me, I would have found a way to throw in another yellow and make it look like a design feature!
And now when purple comes up for RSC 2020 at So Scrappy, I'll have more purple to play with, and maybe even enough to make another, different quilt. We shall see what the schedule holds. Until then...
Happy Quilting!
My quilt guild has a fun activity called 'Block Party', in which instructions are written up for a block, then offered to guild members to make. They can then bring in the block, entering for a chance to win all the blocks turned in. I've participated in this in the past, and found last month's block quite fetching. Here's one of mine that I'll turn in.
I ended up making 4 for the party, then decided to use up some old purple fabric and make a full quilt, but more on that later.
After making a bunch in purple, I contacted guild member Amy, the presumed designer, about putting out a tutorial for this block cause it's just so easy!
She told me she had redesigned a Missouri Star Quilt Co block, called Brick Yard. The technique shown is fast and easy, especially if using long strips.
Ah, but Amy's version uses scraps, measures 9" versus MSQ's 8.5", and doesn't lose the corners of the center unit when sewn with other blocks. Personally, I like Amy's version better!
But it does have a bit too much fabric waste for me. So, I did a bit of measuring and substituted a triangle for a strip on the corners. Much less fabric waste now, just tiny strings and a small background triangle. Check out this pretty trimming pile from 48 blocks - it's art in itself!
So, how about a tutorial on making a scrappy, redesigned Brick Yard block? The first couple pictures are drawn cause I didn't think to take pictures till later in the sewing process!
9" Brick Yard quilt block, scrappy version tutorial
Cutting
2 (two) 2.5" x 8.5" strips of coordinating prints
2 (two) 2.5" x 8.5" strips background
1 (one) 4" x 4" square print
1 (one) 4" x 4" square background
Sewing
Stitch 2 (two) 2.5" x 8.5" strips of coordinating prints together along the 8.5" edge.
Add 2 (two) 2.5" x 8.5" strips background to each side, pressing toward the prints or center.
Cut both 4" x 4" squares on the diagonal.
Fold each triangle in half, pressing a mark in the seam allowance. Do the same with each 8.5" strip unit, as shown.
Stitch each background triangle to the print ends, matching both the triangle fold and triangle point with the center seam.
Repeat the process with each print triangle to the background side strips, matching the triangle fold with the fold at the center of the strip. Hint: finger press the fold mark on the strip unit, with right sides together. Press the fold mark on the triangles with wrong sides together. Then the folds will nest!
Finish by aligning a square ruler's diagonal with the center seam, trimming the block to 9" x 9" square. Then stand back and admire your work!
Have fun with this, making up different color combinations, and using up those scraps. I'll have more to show on the progress of my purple, scrappy version of Brick Yard on Monday.
Happy Quilting!
My Favorite Patterns
This month's Book of the Month feature is something a bit different. It's not a book, but a new, re-formulated product for transferring images to natural surfaces: Transfer Artist Paper or TAP (affiliate link).
Graciously provided to me by C&T Publishing, I'm quite intrigued by this product, and inspired by our guild's recent speaker, Lisa Thorpe. She prints directly onto fabric with an inkjet printer, manipulating images and creating compositions before printing. With Transfer Artist Paper, (affiliate link) images are also manipulated before printing, then ironed onto any natural surface such as fabric, paper, wood, glass, or metal, making endless opportunities for creativity.
Images can also be drawn, painted, or stamped onto Transfer Artist Paper (affiliate link)- whatever the creative heart desires! Colorfast and crisp, the transferred images are washable and crack resistant on fabric. Not sure if I'll be testing that quality, as my project is probably for hanging. But someday I'll test it!
Lisa passed around all of her works so we got to see and feel them, and her compositions were quite lovely. She left her talk with 'just play' - something I'd like to try this month. With the upcoming Making Us Laugh blog hop, hosted by Joan of Moosestash Quilting, I'm thinking of a small collage piece using the Transfer Artist Paper.(affiliate link) I have no other details to share right now as there is no plan, but I will share more later on using this paper.
Happy Quilting and Creating!
