I have always been intimidated by the very idea of curves, and have avoided trying them by doing applique. Thank you, Rita for this tutorial to ease those of us like me into it. I've still got a long way to go if I want to do a nice, neat curve, but at least I've gotten rid of my fear. Here's what I sent your way.
Whew, I did it! This month flew by for me and I was worried I wouldn't get my block done in time. It didn't help that the OCD in me kept wanting to pin these curves like they were precisely cut drunkard's path pieces (so it kept coming out wonky, and not in a good way!). But I did it.
I hope you like the colors. Looking forward to seeing your final project.
~ Diana
Hello there ladies!!
I'm Jacque and have returned this year to stash bee, but in the early years I was in Stash Bee for a few years and loved it! I am a nurse in Western Wisconsin living the full life on a dairy farm with my hubby and we are parents to 3 kiddos, and 5 grandbabies 8 and under.
For our block this month I thought we could all do a little improv creativity and use some of our stash and scraps. This block was made all from scraps and stash so I think it is appropriate and fun! All seams are a 1/4 inch.
This pattern I call either chop sticks or pickup sticks. Here is what we will need:
For the background please use black and dark grey colors. You can see mine is very scrappy and all the backgrounds read in my preferred colorways.
For the pickup sticks I would prefer brighter pinks, aqua/turquoise and yellows.
Background:
Cut 9 - 5 1/2 inch squares in blacks and dark greys.
Cut several 1 inch wide strips about 7 1/2 - 8 inches long so that they are long enough to place on the slant or angle of the blocks. You will trim them up anyway.
**** There is a tutorial I found on YouTube from Jordan Fabrics called Chopsticks which gives great tips especially on matching up the strips and how best to press the seams allowances depending on which seam you are sewing to decrease seam bulk. I would encourage you to view it:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0AMpWXnMxY
It even helped me when I went back and reviewed it again, so then I had to go back and fix a few blocks. I always say every day I learn something new it's a good day.
Take a 5 1/2 inch square and just take a ruler and just cut the fabric in half how ever you like.
Now take a 1 inch wide strip of your choosing and sew it to one side of the angle you just cut and sew with a straight 1/4 inch seam allowance. With this strip press seam allowance towards the background. and be sure to press it with a hot iron, but try not to tug so the blocks don't stretch.
Rita, when you said "Do not worry about the size, nor the wonkiness of your blocks," I certainly hope you meant it!
This was my first time ever sewing a curve for a quilt block, so thank you for pushing me out of my comfort zone. I learned a lot, and I hope you can put these to good use.
This was only my second time piecing curves (after trying them out thinking about what I’d like to do as queen bee—you read my mind, Rita!) but I think it went pretty well considering my inexperience. I enjoyed it, at least. I hope you like them!
Hi, Rita!
Wonky is HARD! Hopefully these are okay!! They're kind of...blocky. But I haven't done much with curves, so this was fun! I can't wait to see what the whole thing looks like together.
Hopefully they won't take 6 months to get to you this time!! 😅
Molli. 💃
Well, these blocks were challenging and fun to put together! It took everything I had to NOT square them up before sending!
Hope the colors are what you’re going for.
Chris
Hi Rita,
What a nice sunny block! I did my best on these curves. No doubt that with your magic touch, this quilt will be splendid!🌅
In the mail this week!
Marie
PS The fabric is light yellow, not cream color
It’ll be on its way to you tomorrow, Chris. I’m sorry it’s still so far from perfection, but I’m sure it’s better than my last attempts. This one is growing on me!
Hi Chris,
These are going on their way to you on Saturday.
Happy Hand-Quilting, 🪡
Rita
Hi, Everyone! My name is Bonnie and this is my second year participating in Stash Bee. As per usual, I agonized over what to do when my turn came around, so once again, I turned to my Hive for help. With all their awesome feedback, I'm now pretty excited about this one.
The Plan:
With your help, I would like to create a space-themed sampler quilt. I have found that I absolutely love samplers, because I love making lots of different types of blocks, trying new patterns and techniques, and putting them all together like a puzzle. So for this quilt, I’d love it if you could make ANY block(s) you want that fits the theme. Think stars, constellations, planets, spaceships, black holes, eclipses, suns, meteors, comets, aliens (if you can figure out how to make me a xenomorph, we will be friends forever, haha), moons, galaxies, or anything else you can think of. Use whatever techniques you’d like. Straight piecing, curved piecing, big pieces, tiny pieces, FPP, EPP, applique, crumb piecing, string piecing, seriously whatever. Be as creative (or not) as you want to be. I’d like it to be more “adult” so please avoid things like astronaut cats. Words/phrases could be okay, too, depending. The pattern itself does NOT have to be space-themed. If you hate stars, just try to aim for space-y colors and do a row of flying geese or something for filler.
Colors & Prints:
I’m envisioning BOLD, BRIGHT colors against a BLACK background for maximum “poppage.” I made that word up, but you get it, yeah? Take a look at my inspiration collage below. Notice that there is not any green, which is shocking because green is my favorite color. Please avoid green (ðŸ˜).
While I also LOVE botanical prints, I don’t feel they are in keeping with the theme, so please avoid florals, leaves, trees, and the like. Blenders, geometric designs, stars, dots, etc. would all be appropriate prints for this. Novelty science prints COULD be okay, but please use your best judgement re: whether they read adult or juvenile. If you think you have something really fitting, but worry about the appropriateness, feel free to send me a picture, because I often bend rules. Heh…
Background: Please use white on black prints, black on black prints, bold colors on black prints, or solid black prints for the background. Please make sure they read black and not gray or navy. SUPER dark grey is okay.
Celestial Spacy Stuff: I’m super eloquent. Please use Maroon,
Firey Orange, Yellow, Teal, Blue, Purple, Magenta, White, etc. Please NO green.
Teal/turquoise OKAY. If you’re doing something made of metal, like a spaceship,
please stick to realistic greys. As you can see below, I have too much fabric
I like basically everything, including batiks, metallics, etc. So don’t worry yourself overmuch-- Just avoid
florals and other botanical and novelty prints.
Pressing
Please press
to one side. It's just my preference. Thank you!
Go Forth and Create...
...If you feel inspired. If you're not sure what you want to do and could use some ideas, scroll to the bottom where I've listed tons of free theme-y patterns and tutorials. If you hate this, keep reading and make one of the blocks from my two tutorials below.
Tutorials
Now for those of you who prefer to not be given free reign and would like to just be told exactly what to do I have written up a couple of simple star block tutorials. I envision lots of stars in this quilt, so stars of all sorts are welcome.
OPTION ONE – FRIENDSHIP STAR
This is just a nine-patch with a few Half Square Triangles (HSTs).
Cutting:
|
|
FINISHED SIZE |
|||
|
SQUARES |
3” Block |
4.5” Block |
6” Block |
7.5” Block |
|
BLACK background |
(4) 1.5” |
(4) 2” |
(4) 2.5” |
(4) 3” |
|
COLOR or WHITE |
(1) 1.5” |
(1) 2” |
(1) 2.5” |
(1) 3” |
These instructions use the traditional method of making HSTs, but many stars use multiples of four, so the 4-at-a-time technique where you sew all the way around the square and then cut on both diagonals or the 8-at-a-time method that I’ve personally never tried may be more your speed. You can also make the HST Squares 1/8” larger and just trim more if you don’t mind the waste. My favorite method is to use the essential triangle tool by Bonnie Hunter. Use whatever method you’re comfortable with!
Make the HSTs:
Put two squares right sides together. Draw a line from corner to corner. Or be super rebellious like me and just lop those babies in half and risk bias stretching when you sew them. I hate taking my seam guide off my machine if I don’t have to.
Trim to the appropriate size, which is the same size as the plain square blocks.
Lay out the squares and HSTs and then sew into rows. Please press toward the squares (away from the HSTs).
Sew the rows together with nesting seams. Please press away from the center.
OPTION TWO – OHIO STAR
This is just like the friendship star, but with Quarter Square Triangles (QSTs) aka Hourglass units instead of HSTs.
Cutting:
|
|
FINISHED SIZE |
|||
|
SQUARES |
4.5” Block |
6” Block |
7.5” Block |
9” Block |
|
BLACK background |
(4) 2” |
(4) 2.5” |
(4) 3” |
(4) 3.5” |
|
COLOR A |
(1) 2” |
(1) 2.5” |
(1) 2.5” |
(1) 3.5” |
|
COLOR B |
(1) 2 7/8” |
(1) 3 3/8” |
(1) 3 7/8” |
(1) 4 3/8” |
|
COLOR C |
(2) 2 7/8” |
(2) 3 3/8” |
(2) 3 7/8” |
(2) 4 3/8” |
See my spiel on HSTs (also relevant for QSTs) in the option 1 tutorial.
Make the HSTs:
Follow the method listed above in Option 1. You should be pairing a black background square with a C Square and a B square with a C square.
Press toward COLOR C or away from Color C, just be consistent with all of them. In this case I pressed AWAY from Color C.
Put two HSTs right sides together. So that the seams nest and Color C triangles are opposite each other.
Again draw a line from corner to corner, perpedicular to the seam. Sew ¼” from the line on each side of the square and then cut on the line. Or be rebellious 😉. Please press towards the side with the black background triangle or be fancy and spin the seam. Trim to the appropriate size, which is the same size as Color A squares.
Lay out the squares and QSTs and then sew into rows. Please press toward the squares (away from the QSTs).
Join the rows together by nesting the seams. Please press away from the center.
Fin!
Free Patterns/Tutorials
For those of you who are down with this challenge, but have NO idea where to start (I get it, I’m super indecisive myself), below are some FREE patterns for star blocks and theme-y stuff that might inspire you:
If you fancy STARS:
If you’re partial to PLANETS / MOONS:
If you’re fond of SHIPS and STATIONS:
If you’re a fan of other SPACE-Y THINGS:
Bonus Content
And finally, if you're still with me, while searching for all those tutorials above I found this cool article for about Karen Nyberg: http://quiltingdigest.com/one-of-these-blocks-was-made-on-the-space-station/
More about retired Astronaut / Artist Karen Nyburg: https://karennyberg.com/artist/
THANK YOU ALL, I AM SO EXCITED FOR ALL THE HAPPY MAIL!
💚 BONNIE aka @gingerbreaddscraps
P.S. I missed half my address in the address file when it was first sent out, so if you downloaded it BEFORE I corrected it, just an FYI that it is now correct. Also feel free to just PM me and I'll give you my address.
