Hive 5 - July tutorial for Amy - (still) Twirling at the Disco

 It's summertime in Minnesota. A short, but lovely time of year! Long, sunny days, and celebrating my birthday, fishing on the little and big lakes are all a great way to enjoy the summer along with quilting (it's never a bad time to get the sewing machine out to make something beautiful). 

This year, I'm going back to a quilt I started in the 2024 Stash Bee. It's called Twirling at the Disco. It's a great stash buster using mostly 2 1/2" squares.

Here is a previous Stash Bee tutorial with excellent instructions: http://stashbee.blogspot.com/2024/04/hive-2-april-tutorial-for-kim.html

Here is the original pattern: https://www.sameliasmum.com/2020/02/twirling-at-disco-quilt-free-pattern.html?m=1

When I originally made this quilt back in 2024, I thought I was done with it, but have been putting off quilting it for 2 years and realized it's because it's not done. I want to add some more blocks and that's where you come in 😁 

I think 12 more blocks will finish it off. It'll be a good queen size quilt. 

This is a super easy block to assemble. There are a lot of pieces, but it goes together quickly and is a great use of those small scraps you’ve got laying around.

I used this advanced chain piecing also known as web piecing (and probably other things as well) for the 16 patches. Assemble them however you prefer, but I thought I would share for anyone who is interested and hasn’t tried this method. https://youtu.be/qE7KKaS5p-8?si=ADB0Qz5b-0JStY7n

You will need the following fabric:

Forty (40) 2-1/2” squares in a nice mix of colorful prints. Just about anything goes but I would like to avoid browns, blacks, greys, and anything that reads mostly white. Batiks are cool. Licensed fabric are fine. Holiday is acceptable (preferably not majority holiday). Use as great a variety as you'd like.

Two (2) 4-1/2” squares from low volume fabric with white background or white or white on white.

Two (2) 4-1/2 “ by 8-1/2” rectangles  from low volume fabric with white background or white or white on white.

Here's my fabric pull:

I made 2 four patches and 2 sixteen patches, I did some fussy cutting for fun and arranged them in as nice an arrangement as I could for such a scrappy scrappy pattern.

Then each four patch got attached to a white square

Lastly, I assembled two rows (top and bottom) and then attached the two rows into the final block:

My original 16 blocks:

I decided I wanted to make it a rectangle, so I added 8 more blocks, but I cannot leave well enough alone, so I am excited to add 12 more blocks (3 more circles) and finally finish this one up.

Thank you so much for your participation. I hope you have a lot of fun putting it together.

Wishing you all a wonderful summer and more quilty fun for the rest of this year and on!

Hive 2 - July's tutorial - Rail fence quilt block

 Hi, Happy Semi quincentennial! 

You had to know it was going to be a Red, White and Blue theme.  With vacations, kids out of school and a month of many celebratory events I figured it would be good to have a simple and easy block. (I promise next year's will be more complicated. 😉) 

So, the colors pulled are just red (red-blue, if possible, compared to red orange) and white. The red just has to read red. Please check ** if the red fabric as they are prone bleed White on white is okay as well as Batiks fabrics.  

U

You will need three red fabric strips and two white fabric strips of 2.5" by 10.5" so, it should measure 10.5" x 10.5" unfinished.  The fabrics can be the same bolt or different bolts. 

Lay out will be red, then white, then red, then white to finish up with a red strip.  The red strips start and finish the block.  I ended up using an ombre fabric.  

Sew the first two strips using a 1/4" seam allowance. Then sew the next strip to the ones already sewed and so (sew) on.  

Press your seams towards the darker fabric.

I'm sure you are wondering where the blue comes into play.  I'll be making white stars on blue background to finish up the quilt.  

Thanks for your assistance & enjoy 250th celebration of the America's independence.

Deb

😃

** A good test to see if the red fabric will bleed is to take a small piece like one inch square and wet it completely and put it on a white paper towel to dry to see if the dye transfers.  If there is a terrible problem, you can wash the fabric till it runs clear.