Free Quilt Blocks

Time for a road trip! A virtual one that is.

If you're just joining in, it's week 2 of Around the Block, a block of the month blog hop that runs for a year, and full of free quilt blocks featuring the 50 US states and territories. Each week there's a new journey to a different state, along with state facts and trivia. And of course, a free quilt block pattern that relates to that state, along with extra goodies and rafflecopter giveaways.

Since this is week 2, we're taking a trip to Alaska. This beautiful block is brought to you by Appliques, Quilts and More, and features silhouettes of both Alaska and a dog sled from the Ididarod race.

If you missed week 1, it's right here! Dragonfly's Quilting Design Studio created this applique block, called the Heart of Massachusetts, complete with a little heart to place within the state.

For the free downloads, rafflecopter giveaway, and other goodies, please visit the designers of Massachusetts and Alaska:

Week 1 - Massachusetts - Dragonfly's Quilting Design Studio

Week 2 - Alaska - Appliques Quilts and More

Want to be sure you collect all of the blocks over the year? There's several ways to do that.

• For a complete list of all the designers and links to the free blocks as they come out, visit Blockofthemo.com/US-Tour/. Check back there each week for the new block.
• sign up at Blockofthemo.com to receive the links via email.

Coming up next:

Week 3 - Washington from Kissed Quilts

Week 4 - California from Always Expect Moore

Safe travels around the United States, and Happy Quilting!

My Favorite Patterns

Quilting with Tape

Do you have difficulty quilting straight lines? Have you struggled with any of the following:

• keeping lines consistent at the same angle?
• maintaining even spacing across a block or quilt?  
• matching lines on opposite sides of a motif or applique?

Then consider quilting with tape!

Yes, tape. Painters tape, masking tape, or even quilters tape will keep those stitches in line!

I always have a couple of different widths on hand, usually a multi-sized pack of 1/4", 1/2", and 3/4" blue painters tape (affiliate link) giving me just the right amount of stickiness in an easy to see blue. A multi-size pack of masking tape (affiliate link) is another great choice, if I can't find the size I need in blue. Quilters tape (affiliate link) is limited to a 1/4" width, which, depending on the application, would also work fine.                                                                         

Of course, this is not the first time I've used tape, finding it very useful for stitching the straight line background fill on Light at the End, plus other quilts. Tape is so useful - it's what I recently used to create the straight line quilting behind the deer heads of Reindeer Wreath. 

       

Finding 3/4" blue painters tape provided the right scale for my design, I used it to mark and space my lines. 

The longest piece, the design anchor, is laid down corner to corner in the block. Short pieces are used as spacers since straight line quilting can be stitched on both sides of the long piece. No need to cover everything with tape!

Then all I needed to do was stitch next to the tape, lifting the end up here and there to travel to the next line via the block edges or motif. Super easy! Check out the Quilting with Tape video to watch it in action.

Notice that all of that straight line quilting is continuous - no stops, starts, and tie-offs to deal with. Here's a valuable tip: only travel over previous stitching 2 times, for a total of 3 layers of stitching. Any more than that and the thread buildup becomes noticeable.

Though quilting with tape may seem time consuming, it's worth it! Here's why:

• the angle was always correct
• the stitch lines on opposite sides of the head applique matched and lined up
• the spacing between lines was consistent
• the line was straight, not wobbly or shifted as sometimes happens with long rulers
• the ruler and my hand was always safely in front of the needle and not awkwardly trying to align stitch lines with ruler markings behind the needle
• the whole design stitched continuously by traveling around the applique and block edges

Need I say more?

If you watched the Quilting with Tape video, you'll see I did all of this straight line stitching on an Innova longarm. But this technique is also possible on a domestic machine. The steps are the same: use the tape to mark the stitching lines, stitch, and travel to the next line using the block edges or motif. What an easy way to take your quilting to the next level - nothing like having a few more tools in the quilting toolbox!

Happy Quilting!

My Favorite Patterns

Back to School - Calculator Quilt Block

This post updated November 2022.

It's time for Back to School and everyone needs a Calculator! This month the Quilt Block Mania group is offering over 40 quilt blocks to create a fantastic school themed quilt! 

In my area, though schools are not welcoming students physically back onto campus, it doesn't mean that learning is canceled. All the more reason to make a school themed quilt to brighten the days!

And the participants in the August 2020 Quilt Block Mania group have done a suburb job of designing very special school themed quilt blocks. There's a quilt block for just about every imaginable school item available - crayons, glue, books, a chalkboard, a school bus - the list is extensive! 

Here's the links to all the blocks. Keep in mind that the designers reserve the right to offer their blocks for sale after the initial one-month free offer period.

Crayons by Slice of Pi Quilts
Lockers by Powered by Quilting
Math Problem by Pretty Piney
Chalk Board by Inquiring Quilter
Stack of Books by Carolina Moore
Pointy Pencil Block by Sew Brainy
Geometry by Duck Creek Mountain Quilting
Pencils by Quilting Room with Mel
School Bus by Orange Blossom Quilt
Book with Animal by Seams to be Sew
Stack of Textbooks by Quilted Diary
Shades of the Sun by Charisma Horton
Basketball by Devoted Quilter
Apples by Perkins Dry Goods
Box of Crayons by ScrapDash
Apple with leaf by Block of the Mo
Crayons by Off the Wall Quilt
School Time Schoolhouse by Quilt Moments
School House by Utah Quilt Appraiser
Pencil by True Blue Quilts
Owl by The Whimsical Workshop
Calculator by Quilt Fabrication
Crayons by Linda B Creative
Applique Computer by DooHikey Designs
Modern Apple by Cotton Street Commons
Glue by Quilting Mod
School Girls Puzzle by Sew on the Go
Snack by Quiltfox Design
Backpack by Oh Kaye Quilting
Math Signs by Patti's Patchwork
Bookworm by Appliques Quilts and More
Backpack by Tacy Gray
Schoolhouse by From my Carolina Home
Girl's Favorite by Blue Bear Quilts
Origami Paper Plane by Amara Creacions
Show up and Shine! by SewJoy Creations
School House with Children by Aunte Ms Quilts

My Calculator block is one of the most useful tools found in schools and just about anywhere - a calculator. Really - what would we do without it???

 

Measuring in at a finished size of 12" x 12", the Calculator can be made any color you want. I just happen to like red at the moment, and along with yellow, it's a color that I associate with school. Fortunately, red was one of the colors in our given Design Seeds palette for the School Days blocks.

Here's the Calculator block made up, using 1 fat quarter each of red and a very light grey for the keypads and display.

Eventually, I'd like to add numbers to the keypad and display, plus the all-important function keys of plus, minus, multiply, divide, and equals. I'm sure TAP or Transfer Artist Paper (affiliate link) will work great for that - stay tuned!

The Back to School - Calculator quilt block is now available in my QuiltFabrication Etsy shop. The updated version now includes the bonus of readable and reverse numbers/functions for filling in the keyboard and display. Three options for transferring the numbers/functions to the quilt block are given: printing on inkjet fabric, printing on TAP, and applying by applique. And the reversing of the numbers is done for you - yeah!

Happy Quilting!