Hive 9 Tutorial: November block for Karen

Hi! My name is Karen but I am also known as Tu-Na in blogland. I blog at Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats. My name, Tu-Na, was chosen by my grandson. Read here to find out why. If you are interested in learning more about me, you can read an introductory post I wrote here as part of the new quilt bloggers hop this year. I made my first quilt when I was 16 which resulted in my receiving necklaces, a bounty of nylon stockings and a marriage proposal. But I'll let you read more about that here if you want.

This is my first year participating in Stash Bee. In fact, it's my first year in any on-line quilting bee. I was so excited to join in on all the fun that I joined three on-line bees.

I've chosen a large circle block (16.5" unfinished) for my month. This quilt will make a lovely lap quilt for me to snuggle under this winter. I am not sure if I'll be calling it the Cheerio Quilt or the Lifesaver Quilt. It's a simple block to make. I found the cutting takes more time than the sewing.

The background color will be warm grays in light, medium, and dark solids and prints. For the circle portion, choose to work with either yellows OR oranges. Your stash may dictate which one you will make. The fabrics can be any shade of that color in solids and prints. I'm hoping for a very scrappy quilt so please use as many different background fabrics in the grays and either yellow or orange fabrics that you can from your stash.

CUTTING

8  4.5" squares of various shades of light, medium, or dark gray solids and prints (avoid the bluish grays if possible)

12  4.5" squares of various shades of either oranges OR yellows (not both) solids and prints

 

SEWING

Make 4 HSTs

For each HST: Draw a diagonal line from one corner to the other on the back of an orange or yellow square. I draw another line 1/2" away from that line. (There will be some waste here so you could opt to make the HSTs a different way or do as I did here by making an extra HST at the same time. I do this a lot and add them to my block stash to be made in a future quilt. If you don't want to use them and will be discarding them, you are welcome to include them in the mailing and I would appreciate receiving them. If you choose to make them another way, make sure they square to 4.5".)

Notice how I draw a diagonal line from one corner to the other and a second line 1/2" away. This will give me a bonus HST.

Take that drawn square and one gray square and put them right sides together.

Sew on each of the lines. Cut them apart.

Press the seams open. This is the only seams that will be pressed open. Square to 4.5".

To align the HST correctly, place the diagonal line of your ruler on the seam line as shown by the white arrows in the pic above. Trim block so it is 4.5" square.

Repeat three more times for a total of 4 HSTs.

Sewing the block

Lay out the squares as shown below. I have a lot of these colors so I was able to not repeat. If you are using several of the same fabrics, make sure to scatter them around the block to help give it a scrappy look.

Lay out the squares. Scatter any duplicate fabrics around so they are not next to each other.

Stitch each square together in each row using a scant 1/4" seam. I find that if I use a seam allowance just slightly less than 1/4" my blocks will end up being the correct size.

The black arrows show the direction to press the seams. Each row is pressed in an alternate direction allowing the seams to nest well making it easy to match those seams.

Press the first and third rows to one side and the second and fourth rows to the other side. This will allow the rows to nest helping the seams to match.


Sewing the rows together

Sew each of the rows together. Please do not press these rows so I can press them as needed. Please do not trim your block. I will do that.

Please don't press these last seams. I will press them as needed. Also please do not trim the block.

THANK YOU

Thank you very much. This has been a fun year and I have enjoyed making blocks for you. I hope you enjoy making this one for me. I am making a 1.5" postage stamp quilt and if you have any extra squares or scraps you'd like to include, I'd very much appreciate it. Thanks again.

What I Learned Today:

1. The year sure seems to have gone by fast!
2. There are so many cute blocks that I want to make.
3. Joining the on-line bees was supposed to help me make new blocks and weed out the ones I don't want to make into a large quilt. However, I've found so many more that I want to make for myself than those I don't.

Question: What did you discover with Stash Bee this year? I found about a dozen more quilt blocks I want to make into larger quilts. I've also had a lot of fun making blocks for my bee mates and sending them to other places. It's been interesting taking them to the post office, too. I've discovered that there is no rhyme or reason to how the postage is determined. I've shipped blocks for as little as 49 cents and the same size as high as $2.38.

Karen,
Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats