Hive 3 September Tutorial – Pam’s Block

I’m so excited to be Queen Bee this month!  

Years ago when I first started quilting, I drew up a sketch of a 4-block wallhanging. 

I never made the wallhanging, but I recently sewed up the block and wrote these instructions for my September tutorial.  I’m sure the block has a traditional name, but I don’t know what it is, so I’m calling it Pam’s Block.  Original, right?

Fabric selection

I used a total of six different fabrics—one neutral low-volume background and five contrasting prints. 

I  want a fun and scrappy quilt in any colors, but would prefer no novelty/juvenile prints or batiks. For the background, fabric A, I’d prefer light or low volume, so that I might get some of the secondary pattern where four blocks meet. 

Here are the cutting dimensions for the fabrics:

Fabric	Number of pieces	Size
A	8	3½”x3½”
A	8	2½”x2½”
B	8	3½”x3½”
C	2	5½”x5½”
D	2	5½”x5½”
E	4	2½”x4½”
F	1	2½”x2½”

Half-Square Triangle Units (HSTs)

From the fabric A and B 3½” squares and the C and D 5½” squares, make A/B and C/D HSTs using the two-at-a-time method.  For example, to make two A/B HSTs, layer one A 3½” square and one B 3½” square right sides together. 

Draw a diagonal line on one square.  I used a hera marker to do this.  

Then sew ¼” from the line on both sides. 

Cut between the stitching. 

Press the two HSTs open, pressing the seams to one side. 

Trim each A/B HST unit to 2½”. 

Repeat using all the A and B 3½” squares to make a total of 16 A/B 2½” HSTs. 

Repeat with the C and D 5½” squares to make a total of 4 C/D 4½” HSTs.

Note:  You can start with 3” and 5” squares, respectively, of fabrics A/B and C/D, but I like to start with larger pieces and then trim the HSTs down.   

Laying out and sewing the block

Once you’ve got the HSTs made, you’re ready to lay out and sew the block.

You can sew the sub-units together in any way that makes sense to you.  Here are some photos of how I did mine.   

The assembled block should come out at about 14½”, but don’t stress if it’s not exact.  Mine isn’t.  

I’d rather you didn’t trim the block down to exactly 14½”.  That way, I can measure the blocks I receive and trim them down somewhat uniformly.

Thanks so much for making these blocks for me.  Email me if you have any questions about the block or my instructions.  I can’t wait to see what you make. 

Hive 5 September 2017 Anna's Hug-O Block

anna's HUG-O BLOCK

Hi, I'm anna and I live in Wellington, New Zealand with my husband, three teenage children and two (PLUMP) cats. 

I carry around a journal and looking back at all the blocks I've doodle this year in anticipation of September it's a bunch. But when it came to the crunch there was only only one choice. If you are on Instagram then you may know Jessica @craftycop On July 6 Police Officer Miosotis Familia was shot and killed while on duty. That same day Jessica put up a post asking for donations of blue Raspberry Kiss Blocks to make into a quilt to gift to Miosotis' family. She asked for 42 blocks and today (31 August) has received 2357 blocks PLUS batting, backing, binding, prize donations, free quilting, free piecing, money for shipping...the hashtag is #bluerkblocks 💙

Answering Jessica's call I have sent 18 blocks and found myself doodling that block at work all the time (doesn't everyone doddle quilt blocks at work?). Then one day I was thinking what goes with a X (kiss) we'll quite obviously a O (hug). 

I tootled around the internet looking and could not find an O so I drafted this one. 

You will need;

❹ 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 colour

❶ 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 low volume

❷ 4 3/8 x 4 3/8 colour

❷ 4 3/8 x 4 3/8 low volume

❹ 1' x 1' colour

❷ 7 1/4 x 7 1/4 low volume cut on the diagonal

Fabric choice - now this I am leaving ENTIRELY TO YOU! It would be great if the low volume was all the same not scrappy (not white if that's ok?)  and as to the colour, I would love it if you picked your VERY FAVORITE fabric. The choice of colour and print is totally up to you. Whoop Whoop🙌🙌

Alrighty lets turn those 4 3/8 blocks into no waste 1/2 square triangles (thanks Post-it!)

Cut on the drawn line, press to the dark side and square them up into 3 1/2 (there is a fair bit of wiggle room)

Four corner dog ear your ❶ low volume 3 1/2 square 

Trim and press it

Then it's just a 9 patch

Sew the ❹ 7 1/4 triangles onto all four sides, now some thoughts about sewing fabric cut on the bias. MOST IMPORTANTLY DO NOT PIN! It's a disaster, I know it seems like a good idea but trust me it's not. Always put the bias cut fabric on the bottom (saggy fabric on the bottom). Let the feed dogs do the work of pulling the fabric through try not to pull. 

And looky 👀looky 👀squared up to 12.5' and looking fine! What a pretty hug.

Now you know what would go great with that Hug-O? Yup a Raspberry Kiss! http://heritage-threads.com/2016/09/09/12-raspberry-kiss-block/

And with Cotton and Steel jumper friends!

And if you are interested in why it is X's and O's became kisses and hugs the Washington Post does a detailed article on it's origins https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/a-whole-lot-of-history-behind-x-and-o-kiss-and-hug/2014/02/13/0c3e218a-9341-11e3-b46a-5a3d0d2130da_story.html?utm_term=.c9f7a832d496

I hope you enjoy making my Hug-O and THANK YOU in advance.

anna - Miss September

( Two truths and a lie

1. Anthony Kiedis came to my house for dinner TRUE

2. Bryan Adams asked me out for a drink TRUE

3. Nicole Kidman swapped shoes with me at a party That's not true)

Hive 7 Block for September - Say Cheese!

Happy September Everyone,

I am the lucky person (Cathleen aka Kitch Kouture) who gets to post block directions this month. Thank goodness I had so many months to ponder this decision. 

There are many in my family who are nuts about photography. My grandfather took photographs from the 1920s to the early 50s and my son studied photography in high school.  As I help my parents downsize, I’ve been looking at photographs that I haven’t seen in decades (many of them unlabeled, darn it).  

With photography and life stages on my mind, I would appreciate your help with part of a quilt experiment. I’d like to create a quilt with different sizes of film blocks that will hold various images.  Your job is to create the frame of perforated hole strips. I will create the large negative space possibly using transferred photos, embroidery and/or representational piecing.

Fabric 

Please choose two fabrics.  

• One black that is a solid, blackish or a tone on tone that reads as black.  
• One white that is a solid, whitish or a tone on tone that reads as white.

Fabric Amounts

Black - two 42” (width of fabric) by 2” strips

Black - four 23” by 1” strips

White - one 42” (width of fabric) by 2” strip

Directions

Trim the white strip and one 2” black strip to 36”. Sew them together lengthwise. This will give you a unit approximately 36” long by 3.5” wide. 

Press the seam towards the black.  

Sub-cut 14 units from that strip that are 2.5” wide.  As I cut further into the long strip, I occasionally needed to make a straightening cut.

Sew seven units together so that the strip begins with a white rectangle.  Sew another seven units together to make a second strip.  Cut two white 2” x 2.5” rectangles from the remaining white and add one to each end. Each of these units should measure approximately 23” x 2.5”.

Press the seams towards the black. 

Sew the 1” black strips to both sides of each unit.  

Press the seams towards the black.

And the final and easiest step.  Please cut and include one 42” x 2” black that I will use for the vertical sides of the film block.

Karen, from Hive 8, kindly tested my directions.  I hope that everyone finds them easy to understand now that they are improved. Please email me if you have any questions. I look forward to greeting each of these as they arrive in my mail box.

Cathleen aka Kitch Kouture

Hive 4 September Tutorial: calling all scraps

After much deliberation, I finally decided on a block.  Super scrappy improv.

Fabric pull:  Find the scraps in your fabric.
*This is going to work best if you don't have all rectangles, but if you do end up with all rectangles it'll still work.
*Please aim for bright colors with whites, greys, and blacks.  Try to avoid browns, pastels, and large pieces of novelty fabrics (small pieces of novelty are ok).  However, if some of those get in it is fine.
*The scraps should be big enough so that when you sew them together you can still see them.  Scraps should be smaller than about 5" on a leg for a triangle and about 4" for a square.  Again, these are just size guidelines rather than rigid requirements.

I pulled way more than I needed for the four blocks I ended up making.  You don't need this many!

Final size:
Really, any size is going to be fine.  Any shape is going to be fine.  It would be nice if you got at least one 8.5"x8.5" square and one 9"x9" square, but if it ends up taking you too long just send me whatever you have after the 1.5 hours is up.  My goal is to have a variety of scraps and I can always add to yours if I need to.

I'm going to set them like the coral shown in the picture below.  This will create some order from the chaos (and will hopefully allow any odd final shapes to be easily used).

Instructions:
I'm going to show how I put the pieces together below, but as long as it ends up looking rather haphazard, that's fine.  You could also follow the tutorial from Chris W Designs.  It isn't quite the same, but gets the idea across.

1. Grab two pieces that have a side of approximately the same length.  Sew together; press. (You can press open or to a side.  There may be some places with a lot of bulk; that's fine.)

2. Either sew a third scrap to your set of two or put two pairs together.  It doesn't really matter how you put them together too much yet.  Try to keep the sides that you sew together about the same size.  Trim off any excess in the seam; press.

3. Continue repeating step 2 until you have one or more pieces of a decent size.

4. Then you need to start getting picky and figuring out how you're going to make everything into a square of the right size.  If you have multiple pieces, roughly arrange the pieces into a square (or into one unit if you suddenly realize you didn't make enough).  Trim some sides so that they can go together.  Add pieces if needed to make an edge a little bit bigger.  If you only have one piece, figure out what you can add to make your piece into a square.  (Side note: if this is completely throwing you for a loop just put some scraps together and send them to me.  I can put them together.)

 

 

5. Although I trimmed my finished blocks, you do not need to do that.  The upper left is the block that was used in the instructions above; you can see that I connected those two strips, added the large green triangle, and had to make a third strip to get it to the right size.

 

Just remember, you can't do it wrong.  Please let me know if you have any questions! 

Springtime tulips - Hive 6 Tutorial

Hi, I'm Debbie and I'm so excited to be Queen for a day. No crown or scepter needed. 

So I know it is fall; but I love tulips especially when  the winter drags on. I grew up further south of Wisconsin, so here is something to make you think of fresh, warm spring.  ( Nothing like the weather we now have.)

Finished block:

Here are the fabric pulls for the flowers:  yellows, pinks, oranges, reds, and purples.
Tone on tone fabrics please, , no secondary colors or batiks.

I made 2 yellow tulips each a different yellow, one orange, and one pink.
Choose what colors you think would look nice.

Sizes to cut for Flowers
4 yellow centers:  1 1/2 inch squares    plus 2 yellow 2  1/2 inch squares   (Center of tulip)

For each flower you will need:  1    3 inch square and 1    2 1/2 inch by 4 1/2 inch square and 1 2 1/2 inch square.You will need 4 of each set to make the 4 tulips.

Here are the pulls/ picks for the background ( light blue) and greens.
You need a light and a medium green.  If you don't like what you have try the back side.

Blue Background cuts:  (I used 2 different blues )

4      1 1/2 inch squares
4      1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inch rectangles.
12     2 1/2 squares
4      3 inch squares
2      1 1/2 inch by 12 1/2 inch strip
2       1 1/2 by 14 1/2 inch strips

Greens:
  light green 4   2 1/2 inch by 4 1/2 inch rectangle
  dark green 4  2 1/2 inch by 6 1/2 inch rectangle  I used 2 different greens, though it is not necessary.

Sewing:
Sew yellow small  square to blue small square; then sew the blue rectangle to those to squares.
The center should look like this.

Next make half square triangles from the 3 inch squares blue with a tulip color:
I used this tool to draw the center line for cutting and then the sewing line.


Sew on the 2 lines, and then cut on the center making 2 half square triangles.  ( Or any other triangle method you would prefer.)
 Then I used a ruler to trim to the exact size...2 1/2 in. square

For the next part of the tulip, I I first marked a center line and then sewed a blue triangle to a colored rectangle.  Notice the angle to make the tulip.  Sew a a half inch away  ( I just adjusted my needle to the widest position.)  Make sure it presses to a good corner.  Cut  the extra/waste triangle off.


Now assemble the centers to the small tulip triangle and then those 2 pieces to the tulip rectangle.


You should now have this:.

  Again, your color choices for tulips.  It will be a garden full of beauties.
 Size: each tulip is 6 and 1/2 inches square.

Green leaves next:  Now I show this picture because here is what NOT to do.
The light green leaf should face the other direction.
Mark center diagonal line of blue square.  Lay on top of green leaves. Sew.  Sew half inch away.

Press to create pointed leaf, and cut the extra triangle as you did before.

    Small green leaf  point is in the WRONG direction.

Add first the small green leaf to the left and then the dark tall one to the right of the flower.




Here they are assembled and placed in the correct position. I then added the extra squares to the center, marked and then sewed on the line. I removed the orange one so you could see what was underneath. I put the yellow squares on the yellow tulips but put the orange on the opposite flower. whatever you make is all good. 

When putting the flowers next to each other, match the diagonal seams.  ( I pinned them.)
In the second photo, you can see how I turned the top one down to match them. Tricky little things.





And here is the 4 assembled flowers with the design in the center.

Add your first 2  12 and 1/2  inch borders to opposite sides of the quilt square.  Then add the longer ones to the last 2 sides. Final size 14 and 1/2 square.

Ta Da!  It is finished. 

 P.S.  If you don't want to keep your cut off triangles, I would LOVE to add them to my border: 

Here is what I am thinking:  

It is up to you! 

Hope the springy colors inspire you!  I can't wait to put it into a garden quilt.