Hive 5 - May Tutorial - The House That Jack Built for Michelle

Hello fellow Hive 5 quilters, Michelle from Wisconsin here! For the month of May, I'll have you make the 'House that Jack Built' block.

This is a modern on-point block that I've seen in a few places. I was inspired to choose this pattern after finding this bag (on the left) in the book The Shape of Japan - 750 Patchwork Patterns by Kumiko Fujita:

And from another source, here is the free tutorial I used as a basis for my block: https://www.generations-quilt-patterns.com/house-jack-built-quilt-block.html

You can check out the Generations tutorial to see more detailed assembly photos, but keep in mind that my measurements are different (due to not using an on-point ruler), so please be sure to use the measurements I listed below.

Materials needed:

Color A 

- Two 15" x 1.5" strips* of black or charcoal

Color B 

- One 15" x 1.5" strip* of any light or bright color

*14" is the absolute minimum length, but I added 1" extra for safety

Color C (Background)

- One 4.5" square of light or medium gray

- Two 4" squares of the same light or medium gray

- One 3.5" square of the same light or medium gray 

Please no holiday or religious/political prints, otherwise anything goes, solid, prints, batiks etc.

Instructions:

Step 1:

Sew the long ends of the A and B strips together, making sure B is in the middle. You should end up with a 15" x 3.5" strip sandwich. Press towards the darker color (A).

Cut the sandwich into four 3.5" x 3.5" squares. 

Step 2:

Put the 3.5" gray (color C) square aside for now.

Cut the 4.5" gray square in half down both diagonals to make four small right triangles.

Cut the other two 4" gray squares in half along one diagonal to make four large right triangles in total.

You should have now have one 3.5" square, four large triangles, and four small triangles.

Step 3:

Take the ABA squares and the four small gray triangles. Sew the diagonal of a gray triangle to a black edge of each ABA square, to make four house-shaped units. Press.

Note that the triangle will stick out past the sides of the squares. That's correct, just make sure to center the triangle on top of the square before sewing (use a ruler or fold both in half + match the folds):

Step 4:

Tip: If you press towards gray in the next two steps, you can nest the seams easier when assembling the full block.

Take two houses and the C square. Sew the house 'bottoms' to two opposing edges of the square. 

Step 5: 

Take the remaining two houses and the four large triangles. For each house, sew the leg of a large triangle to both of the side edges of the house, lining up the flat edge. Make sure the triangles slope down and away from the house:

Step 6: 

You should now have 3 units- two identical triangular-shaped rows and one 'stretched hexagon' row.
Arrange the 3 units into rows to form a diamond:

Sew the 3 rows together. You can press however you want on this step, but personally I found it easiest to press away from the center row.

You're done! Your block should be somewhere around 9.25" square, but don't stress about the size (it likely won't be exact). Please send it to me like this, without trimming! I will trim your block myself to match the ones I've already made :)

Thank you and please let me know if something is unclear or if you have any questions!

Hive 5 April Tutorial: Sawtooth Star with Quilter’s Choice Center

 

 

First and foremost, double check that you're looking at the post for the right Emily! I'm Emily J in Hive 5 :) 

 

I love giving the talented quilters of Stashbee a lot of freedom to create. I’m asking you to make a 16.5 in sawtooth star with a bit of a twist: the center 8.5 in square is pieced in any way you’d like! Pick your favorite pattern and make a unique center that speaks to your quilting style. It can be modern or traditional. Then just add the flying geese star points, and send it my way. There is a plethora of free block resources online. I’ve linked to a few below, but you are not obligated to use these resources. 

Patchwork Square

Quilter's Cache

Generations Quilt Patterns

Because the stars themselves will have a variety of styles, I’d like to keep the colors in the same neighborhood. The background should be a solid white or white-on-white (no off-white, cream, or tan). The sawtooth star should have blue points in a solid or blender. Lastly, the exciting part: the center square should be any shade of blue. Cornflower, teal, navy, royal…They are all welcome. Be aware of color contrast if you want to use multiple fabrics in your pieced center. Use white or light grey to help balance things; patterned fabrics are ok here. I recommend taking a photo in black and white to see if the contrast is there. Please avoid holiday and cartoony prints. 

Fabric requirements for a 16.5” block:

• Background (solid or white-on-white)

• (4) 4 ½” squares

• (4) 4 ½” x 8 ½” rectangles

• Star Points (solid or blender blue)

• (8) 4 ½” squares

• Star Center (blue, pay attention to contrast)

• Final Measurement: 8.5” square

1. Make your 8.5” center block.

1. If you want help finding, choosing, or making a pattern please let me know. I’d be happy to assist.

2. Make 4 Flying Geese

1. Draw a line from corner to corner down the wrong side of the blue 4 ½” square

2. Place a marked square on one end of a background fabric rectangle with right sides together.  Stitch on the marked line. Trim 1/4" from the line.Press seams open.

3. Repeat steps 2.a-c on the other side of the strip. Orient your second diagonal seam so that you form a triangle of white in the center of the rectangle.

4. Trim the flying geese to 4 ½” x 8 ½”, taking care to keep ¼” on the point for seam allowance.

5. Repeat steps 2.a-d until you have 4 flying geese.

3. Assemble the final block like a 9-patch

1. Nest seams for easier alignment

2. Your final block should be 16.5”.

    

   
   
    

    

    

Hive 5 March Tutorial- Purple Stars for Annemieke

 Hi all,

My name is Annemieke and this is the second year I’ve been in a hive. Last year I asked for 12” finished, 12.5” unfinished purple stars. This year I’m asking for 6” finished stars, 6.5” unfinished purple stars. 

These are the 12” blocks from last year.

For the fabric for your 6” finished blocks I am asking for purples. Batiks are fine. I do ask that your background be white or white on white. 

Here a selection of some my fabric choices.

This website has lots of stars to choose from. The star block you select is totally up to you.

Now I’m going to show you a tutorial of a 6” star you could make.

You are going to need 

4 - 2” squares background

4 - 2 5/8” squares background

4 - 2 5/8” squares purple

1 x 3.5” square purple

Now we’re going to make half square triangles. Take a 2 5/8” white square and place right sides together with a purple square. Draw a line diagonally and sew a 1/4” seam on both sides of your line. Cut along your drawn line. Do this four times.

Open up your blocks pressing your seam to the dark side and trim these to 2”.

Sew your half square triangle blocks together as shown. The arrows indicate how I pressed my seams.

Sew the sides to the center square.

Then sew the top and bottom strips on and Voila you have a 6” finished, 6.5” unfinished star.

Now this is just one example. You can follow this tutorial or find another star block you like.

I look forward to seeing what everybody makes.

Annemieke

Hive 5 - January Tutorial- Dala Horses for Josie

 Happy New Year, Quilters!  I am starting off the year with some sweet little Dala horses in bright red and blue.  This pattern comes from a Moda Christmas Countdown and is written by Nicola Dodd of Cakestand Quilts. Traditional Dala horses are in bright primary colors, most often in red, and have such a cheerful, sweet Scandinavian vibe.  They are unofficial mascots of Sweden, which is why you may be thinking "...didn't I see this in Ikea??" 

For your background fabric, please select a bright, clean white.  It can have a tone on tone pattern if you would like, but it should read visually as clean white. For your horses, please select bright, crisp blues or reds...but you have options!  Please select either a fun, lively pattern that reads red or blue overall, OR go with a nice solid.  I plan to embroider some of the Dala horse details onto the solid horsies, or if you have a yen for embroidery (or a machine that does fun stitches), please feel free to send your own pattern.  Here is my pull of my colors, and I can tolerate all the way to a bright scarlet (a little darker than pictured) or royal blue.  As long as it's poppy and fun, you've got the right idea!

Let's get cutting!

From WHITE BACKGROUND, cut:

• one 4.5x9.5"
• one 4.5x5.5"
• one 3.5x8.5"
• one 3.5" square
• one 2.5" square
• one 1.5x5.5"
• one 1.5x2.5" 
• one 1.5" square

From your HORSE BODY COLOR, cut: 

• one 4.5x9.5"
• one 3.5x7.5"
• two 3x5"
• one 1.5" square

Start simple with the horse's body...we gotta give him a little butt. Draw a line down the center back side of the white 1.5" square, then pin the piece, right sides together, to the upper right corner of the large 4.5x9.5" rectangle of body color. Sew along your line, then trim your corner a quarter inch from the seam, and press flat. Set aside.

 The legs are the only tricky bit of this block. Take your two 3x5" body pieces and place them right sides together.  Mark a point 1.25" from the lower right corner on the short side, and draw a line from that point up to the top right corner. Cut along this line and you should have two mirrored pieces. I'm including Nicola's sketch as well as my work because my pattern makes the line a little hard to see.

Now that we have our legs, we're going to mark where they'll be sewn in place.  Take your 4.5x9.5" background piece, and with the piece sitting lengthwise, make a mark 2" in from both top corners, and another pair of marks 1" from the bottom two corners. Draw lines connecting the top and bottom marks. 

Take your leg pieces and with right sides together, align the cut diagonal edge of the leg piece with the line you just drew on the background fabric. The corners of the cut diagonal edge should extend about a 1/4" over the background fabric. Stitch 1/4" from the cut diagonal edge, then you can press the leg open and trim the block to the original 4.5x9.5", using the background fabric as a guide. (After I trimmed this section, I also flipped the legs back over and trimmed the excess white fabric, but you don't have to!) My picture shows one leg aligned and sewn, and one already flipped and pressed.

Now we need to make this little guy's head.  Take your 3.5" and 2.5" white background squares and draw a line down the center back side of the fabric. Align the 2.5" corner in the top left side of the 2.5x7.5" body color rectangle with right sides together, sew along your line, trim your excess, and press open.  Do the same with the 3.5" square in the top right corner of the body color rectangle.

Last corner triangle!  To make our horse's ear, draw a line on the back side fabric of the 1.5" body color square, position it right sides together at the bottom left of the 1.5x5.5" background piece.  Check your positioning to make sure that the ear will be cocked forward! Sew along the line, trim excess, press. 

Finally, join your 1.5x2.5" background piece to the left of the ear strip.  

Now all we have to do is put this little friend together!  Sew your ear strip to the top of the head block (As you can see, my ear strip was very slightly short. For alignment's sake, I recommend lining up the leftmost edges of the head and ear strips so that the ear lands nicely at the top of the "forehead.").  Then, attach your 4.5x5.5" background piece to the right side of the head. Sew the legs to the body, then sew the 3.5x8.5" background piece to the left side of the body/leg block.  Finally, sew the head unit to the body unit. 

Look how cute that little Dala horse is!  Your finished block should be about 12" square.  If you choose to add designs to your solid block, please feel free, but don't feel that you have to...I will be embellishing as I assemble!

Hive 5 February Tutorial - "Sixteen"

Happy February Hive 5!

I love participating in Stash Bee. The connections and inspiration are a bright spot every month. My hive last year had many “choose your own adventure” tutorials. It was great fun and allowed so much creativity. I hope my new hive will enjoy this approach (and maybe even consider it as an option for their tutorials).

Karan Bolan created a collaborative quilt last year that she called “Sixteen.” You can see her quilt and read the story here. Notice the variety of colors and scale! There are a few that contain a different amount of blocks, and I love that variation too! 

This year, I’d like to create a collaborative version with you. You get to PLAY and make your own decisions. This should be super easy and quick.

Fabric

You get to make all the color decisions and decide the size (small, medium, large). 

Please choose two solids. (If you don’t have solids, find fabrics that read as solid from a distance.) It’s the contrast that will make your block sing, so please choose two colors with medium to high contrast. 

Here are a few ways you can play with colors:

• You can pull two colors that you like sitting next to each other from your stash or your scrap bin. 
• You can pull your color wheel and have fun making pairs using complementary colors.
• You can find a cool pairing by just looking for pieces that are about the same length in your stash or scrap bin. 
• You can choose a light and dark in the same color family.

Whichever you choose, please save a 2” x 5” piece of the lighter of the two fabrics for a label. (label directions below)

Construction

There are two approaches to block construction. 

• Use strips of the same width. 
• Or use strips of different widths (creates visual interest). 

Think of these width measurements as guidelines for three different sizes of blocks.

• minimum of 1.25” wide strips for a small block
• 2” - 2.75” wide strips for a medium block
• 3”-4” wide strips for a large block

I used slightly differently widths for each strip when constructing my sample.

You can even make a block with more than 16. Sometimes the fabric lets you create variations. Let the fabric tell you what to do.

Cut two strips approximately the same length. 

Sew the two strips together and press towards the dark.

Fold the two strip unit in half and cut along fold (fold is shown below the rotary cutter). Since none of these blocks need to have distinct final measurements, use every bit that you are able. 

Lay out the units so that the colors are alternating and sew those two together, continuing to press towards the dark.  

Fold that unit in half and cut on the fold again. 

Fold the remaining two units in half and cut. You will now have four repeating units of four strips with four blocks each.

Place them in an alternating sequence and sew together. 

 

Do Not Square Up! I want wonky . . . 

Label

I finally figured out a way to remember who created which block. Please use that 2” x 5” piece of the lighter of the two fabrics in your block to write your name and city. Leave .5” perimeter to allow for the seam allowances. I think I’ll have just as much fun assembling the labels on the back as I’ll have assembling the front. 

If you create more than one (which I do not expect no matter the size), please send a label for each block.

These are blocks that I’ve created so far. There’s not a lot of color variety at this point, which is why I will appreciate the colors from your stash. I’ve enjoyed experimenting and had fun adding two flying geese to one of the blocks and creating one that contained 32 squares. 

These can be addictive. 

Thank you very much for contributing to my quilt. Message me if you have any questions.

With much gratitude,

Cathleen

@KitchKouture