Back to some sewing

After spending the past two months renovating and moving and unpacking, I have finally spent a few days getting back to the best part, sewing.

I finished the disappearing nine patch kids quilt and it is at the shop as a sample for some kits.

Finally got the borders on the batik quilt I started eons ago, and it is being quilted by Margo,

Got intrigued by the idea of five inch squares.  I know, it doesn't take much some days.

I had a couple of charm packs of Honeysweet, by Fig Tree by moda.   I sewed connector corners on to two sides of the squares, and then combined four into one block. 

Some sashing, and now it's ready for a border.   

I'm thinking that I might be able to quilt it myself if its not too large, 

Mini Charm Pack Idea

If you're like me, you find those little mini charm packs irresistible.

 42 little 2-1/2" squares, all stacked in a neat little pack...

I always have an eye out for what to do with them, and I just saw a great project on the moda Bake Shop blog: here
I especially like the cushion on the left, it would be easy to make it into a baby quilt:

you can press on the link above to take you to the directions,
Actually, I really like the one on the right too....

Kids quilt

Simple quilt using a wide border print

I like the foxes and the hedgehogs.

Turned out pretty cute so we are making kits at the shop!

Batik Charm Squares-- Counterpane Block

Counterpane blocks, all sewn together!

I went a bit overboard this autumn when it came to ordering in charm squares.  We have lots and lots of them, especially in batiks.  but they are so pretty!

I had 4 packs that I took home with me, which I decided to sew into one large quilt top.

  (note! along the way, I discovered that my charm squares were not 5" x 5", but more like 5-1/4" square! so if you get some, you might want to double-check their size!)

A while back, (oh, my goodness, it was almost a year ago!) I tried out a quick sew technique, here,
and I decided to do a bigger project with it.
Basically the idea is to sew all the squares together, and then cut finished blocks from the large gridded piece. 
So, I sewed four sections of blocks, 4 columns by 10 rows.  So although I jumbled up all my charm squares, each pack would yield one 4x10 unit.

 I decided not to sew all the units into one large grid, because it is a bit easier to handle smaller pieces.
Next, I cut off half the block from the left side, and sewed it to the right side.  Then I cut half the top row off and sewed it to the bottom.

 I'm sure you can see where all this is going...

this blocked off area shows where the individual block will appear

 This is the finished block!  I have consulted my reference copy of Barbara Brackman's "Encyclopedia of Pieced Blocks" where it is identified by several names, --A Plain Block(1896), Nine Patch, Sheepfold Quilt (1934), Irish Chain , and Counterpane(1934).  I prefer to call it by the last name.

so then you can cut the section apart to get 10 finished Counterpane blocks! Yay!

 I sewed them together with sashing from a pale apricot color.  I had it on hand, and I liked the look, it seemed to lighten it all up a bit. I cut the sashing at 1-3/4", so it finishes at 1-1/4". 

all 40 blocks with sashing

 Now, if you only used 3 charm packs, you would have 30 blocks, so it would be this size!

30 blocks

 and if you used only 2 charm packs, it would be this big:

20 blocks

 Although it looked fine as a horizontal grid setting, I decided to turn it on point, and so I did, using that very tricky "turn a quilt on it's side" technique.

 I added a bit of an outer border, and this is where I'm at with it now.  I don't think that it really needs an outer border, what do you think?

A New Fun Technique

One of the things that I did at the retreat was to play with a pack of 5-inch charm squares that I've been wanting to do something with.  I'd also had an idea about how to do a sew/cut/sew project.
So, the idea was to make this block using a quick-sew technique:

 I made this little top starting by sewing them together into one big grid of squares!

1. sew 5-inch squares all together-- I started with 48 squares.  I sewed them into a 6 x 8 grid.  It is important to use and even number of rows and columns!

2. cut a strip from the left side of the grid

3. move it to the right side of the grid, and sew it on

4. do the same for the top and bottom of the piece, so that you have a unit like in the photo- squares in the center surrounded by a 1/2 width border

5. then cut through the center of every other square!

 If you just want a pile of the main blocks to sew into a quilt, just cut the strips crosswise at this point as well and in this example I would end up with 12 blocks!  Starting with the 5-inch squares, the resulting blocks now measure 9 inches with the seam allowance-- they'll finish at 8-12".

However, I decided to put in a small sashing.

6.  So if you want a sashing, delay cutting the strips into individual blocks.  Just sew the sashing strips in between the columns.

7.  Then, cut the unit cross-wise and sew in the sashing strips going the other direction.  you can move the strips around so that there is a bit of variation in the color distribution of the blocks.

8. Now the unit is all sewn together again. 

I like this technique a lot! I think I need to figure out a larger project using this technique.  I think that the sashing in this example would have been better using a plain white so that the blocks stand out more. Live and learn!

The Magic Four-Patch!

Well, yesterday was our big day, altho it was actually not as long as most of our big days are. But, we visited and sewed a bit, and had some very delicious food (thanks for bringing such great cheeses and bread and lemon loaf, and veggies/dip). Because it has felt so much like spring lately, I even made lemonade!

 Now, for the magic four patch, you start by making a checkerboard of squares, any number of squares you like.  If you start with 100 squares, you will end up with 100 four-patches. 
And re. size.  Whatever size of square you start with, you will end up with a finished four-patch that is 1 inch smaller. 
So, if you start with 64 5-inch squares, you'll get 64 4-inch finished four-patches.  Right? Right.
Here, I had 4-1/2" squares to start with, and so my finished four-patches measure 3-1/2", or each small square in the four patch is 1-3/4".
As I may have mentioned (more than once), just sew all your squares into one big piece. 

Then, you will cut exactly through each patch, both vertically,

 And then, with each strip, turn it sideways and cut through each square that way too...

 I mean, that is just so incredibly easy.
The side strips, you will sew together, and then cut apart...

 and the ends of each strip you'll just sew together too:

and then you'll have all these four patches to play with:

Although this is not the most imaginative use for these units, I like the size of them better than what I had before,
The other way of making four-patches - using strip sets in pairs cut cross-ways, is very fast too - But, it is nice to have another option of making them fast, especially if you don't have long pieces of fabric.  It is nice to use a charm pack for this, or you might have a bunch of odd-shaped scraps.
I hope you give this technique a try. 
I still have some four patches left, which I have another idea to use, which I hope to get to soon.