This is my first time participating in Stashbee and my first time ever writing a tutorial! I love blue fabrics and have a lot of scraps so my blocks will all be made from medium to dark blue fabrics and low volume white/ivory. A bowtie block should be familiar to most quilters and I chose an easy tutorial from Elea Lutz. You can find her bowtie block tutorial HERE.
Here is a photo of the fabrics I pulled to add to my scraps:
I made 4 - 6 1/2 inch blocks (unfinished) and sewed them together to create a 12 1/2 block (unfinished).
Cutting for one 6 1/2 block:
Light or white background fabric: (A) 2 squares 3 ½” Solid or print bow tie fabric: (B) 2 squares 3 ½”; (C) 2 squares 1 ½” same fabric
Cut four different sets.
Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of both (C) 1 ½” fabric squares. With right sides together, place a (C) square on the corner of one (A) 3 ½” square. Stitch on the drawn line and trim seam to ¼”; iron flat pressing seam open. This partial Bow Tie unit should measure 3 ½ x 3 ½”. Repeat these steps again for each of the four sets, making two matching blocks from the (A)/(C) squares.
Next, sew one (B) 3 ½” square to the right side of one sewn unit as shown below. The (C) square (now half triangle) should be positioned in the bottom, right corner. Sew the remaining (B) square to the left side of remaining unit. The (C) square (now half triangle) should be positioned on the top, left corner.
Lastly, sew the top and bottom units together to get a 6 ½ x 6 ½” (unfinished) Bow Tie Block!
Do this again three more times to make all four units of the quilt block. Once all four units have been sewn, sew two together where the blues and low volume fabrics meet.
Next, sew two rows together to make one block.
That's it! I really hope this made sense and I'm super excited to see what you all make!
For my very first effort as Queen Bee, I've selected a super quick and easy
square in square block featured in this free quilt pattern at
Cluck Cluck Sew.
These blocks finish to 8 inches (8.5 inches unfinished) so I'm requesting 2
blocks in opposite colorways. Only 2 different fabrics are needed. Instead of
orange and white fabrics, I've chosen aqua/turquoise and black & white prints. Please no solids, batiks or novelties except as noted below.
Aqua/turquoise - these colors are similar and discerning between the two is subjective - think of the Caribbean Sea and beautiful turquoise jewelry. I'm hoping for color saturation; small amounts of other colors is fine, as long as the fabric reads aqua/turquoise.
Black & white - pretty self-explanatory. The fabric can be either a black print on a white background, or a white print on a black background. You can use a novelty print here, as long as it's not too juvenile and does not contain holiday, religious or political motifs.
My fabric pull:
Construction
You will need one aqua/turquoise fabric, and one black & white fabric for 2 blocks. From each fabric cut the following:
One 4.5 x 4.5 inch square
Two 4.5 x 2.5 inch rectangles
Two 8.5 x 2.5 inch rectangles
For the first block, use the aqua/turquoise square, and the black/white
rectangles. With right sides together and using a 1/4 inch seam, sew the smaller rectangles to the
sides of the square and press seams open.
Next, with right sides together and using a 1/4 inch seam, sew the longer rectangles to the top and bottom of the square/sides. Please press seams open. Your block should measure 8.5 inches square.
Now,
construct the second block in the same manner with the black/white
square in the center and the aqua/turquoise rectangles as the border.
And you're done!
Greetings from Tennessee. This is Mary Siemen. I've picked an improv Bear Paw for my block this month! Hold on to your seats and take a deep breath. It will be ok! Here's a sample block:
Notice how the block above is not squared up? The arrows are pointing to places you might normally square. Not needed!
Here's the first block I made that is smaller. After sewing first and then thinking, I realized a directional print for the triangles was not a good choice!
Fabrics
You'll need 4 different fabrics: a bright solid or something that roughly reads as a solid. I'm not too picky here. This is for the large rectangle. Then you'll also need another fabric--solid, floral or pattered print for the skinny bands. (Stripes would be great here too!)
Finally, you'll need two other fabrics--your choice: solids or prints, for the wonky triangles. You can't have too much color for me!
Shapes
Cutting:
1 rectangle 6.5" x 8.5"
1 border/edge piece 2" x 7.5"
1 border/edge piece 1.25" x 8.5"
2 different fabrics for triangles 2.5" x ~20"
1 2.5" x 2.5" square from one of the triangle fabrics (not pictured above
Sewing:
1. Sew the 1.25" border piece to a long edge of the rectangle, using 1/4" seam. Press the seam open, please.
2. Placing the strip you just sewed vertically to the right, sew the 2" border piece across the top so that both border pieces form a right angle:
Press the seam open. (Trim the extra 1/4" from my bad math if that piece bothers you!)
3. Making the actual claws or triangles - These will not match! None will or should be the same size; this is to be expected.
* Please don't worry about squaring up your block - especially the claw or triangle sides! *
I have a video to give guidance on cutting and sewing the wonky points. BEFORE you click on the link, please know that the first few minutes are filled with the creator 'thinking out loud'. I got a bit impatient the first time I watched it as I wanted her to just 'get on with it' and show me how she cut and sewed the block! If you're in this camp, skip forward to minute 8:10.
Here is the example video:
NOTE: I recommend you keep the triangles in the same order as you cut them. Also sew them in that same order.
You will make 2 rows of triangles. One for each side of your rectangle that had the border sewn on.
Pressing:
When joining 2 triangles, press that seam OPEN. After joing multiple triangles, press those seams to the side, all in one direction. Take care not to stretch the row due to the bias seams in the triangles.
Note: your triangle rows may not look like your best sewing effort. This is completely ok! I plan to trim the bottom edge (the pink side) and sew that to the border.
* Please DO NOT trim the outside edge of your triangles. EVEN if they are uneven and don't look pretty. See how uneven mine are??
4. Sew one triangle row to the long edge of the rectangle.
Press the seam toward the border/rectangle.
Square off the end above the right angle of borders. (This is the left end in my picture below.)
5. Ensure that your 2nd row of triangles is long enough. Square off the inside end. Sew the 2.5" square to that end.
6. Sew the triangle/square strip to the left side of the rectangle. Press seam toward rectangle.
Your block is DONE!
7. One last small request: I like adding information on my beemates who've made blocks for me, to the back of my quilt. I'd love for you to write your name (first and last) and where you live (city and state) on a smallish piece of fabric. It doesn't have to be any certain shape (in keeping with my improv/wonky theme! Please use a permanent pen or sharpie. Thank you!
This is my second year doing stash bee. I have had so much fun making blocks for everyone so far! I found a super easy tutorial for this month. They’re magic stars because they only appear when you put 4 blocks together.
I found this amazing batik layer cake, which I am so excited to use. The colors are inspired by the sunset, so I’m looking for dark blues, purples, reds, a little bit of orange or yellow. I’m pairing these with cream colored fabrics.
For both of the fabrics, blenders, batiks, and small to medium scale prints are all great. Please no solids for this block.
Process Pics:
You’ll need 1 10” square of a cream and a darker color.
You’ll make 2 cuts in each of your squares. As per the tutorial, you'll cut a 3.5" section off of the 10" square, then turn the large rectangle and cut a 3.5" section off the side. This pic shows the 2 cuts and the finished sizes of the pieces.
You’ll then swap the center squares and sew them back into a larger square.
Press the seams however you prefer - I’m not picky. Trim the extra off, then cut across both blocks diagonally. You’ll be cutting a corner off of the big square.
Swap the pieces, and sew along the bias. There are no seams to match - just line up the edges. This is the only seam I typically use pins for, to help keep them from stretching.
Open them up and press. Please don't trim; I'll trim them all when they arrive. The tutorial says that these can finish at 9", but my first two aren't the same size, so don't worry if they're not square or not 9”. I’ve also discovered that my layer cake squares aren’t square (!!!!), so I expect I will end up trimming all of them down to 8.5” or so.
You only need to send me one of the blocks, although I would be happy to receive the second as well. :) If you do only send one, please send the darker one.
I decided for this year’s Stash Bee, I would like to do something Christmas themed and because of my stack of unquilted and in-progress quilts, maybe a smaller project that I will actually finish in a timely manner. I found this adorable gnome block and intend to make a table runner or runners for my mom for Christmas.
For the background, use a solid white or white on white print
For the red and green, please use a print that reads mostly green or mostly red, preferably not a licensed or novelty print, though something Christmasy would be acceptable
For the nose, I used pink as per the pattern, but feel free to use pink or any skin tone fabric you’d like, preferably solid or tone on tone.
Here is my pull:
Cutting
Red Fabric: (1) 4.5″ x 8.5″
Green Fabric: (2) 2″ x 5″, (2) 3″ x 3″, (2) 1.25″ x 1.25″
White Fabric: (2) 3″ x 5″, (2) 4.5″ x 4.5″, (2) 2″ x 2″, (4) 1.5” strips for border (9 and 11” or a bit longer to be safe)
Pink Fabric: (2) 1.25″ x 1.25″
Note: photo below shows my cut pieces, but is missing the border strips as I decided to add them when I was all finished.
Draw a line corner to corner on each of the squares as they will be used either for a flying geese block for the hat or snow ball corners for the rest of the pieces.
Lay the larger white squares on top of the Red rectangle as below and sew along the drawn line. Optional: This big piece causes quite a large waste piece when cutting the flying goose. Optionally draw a second line 1/2” from the diagonal line (as shown in my photos) and sew along it and cut between the lines for 2 bonus half square triangles…you can keep them for a fun project or I’d be happy to use them in mine if you feel so inclined to send them along.
Press open and repeat on the other side
Press Open
Set the hat aside and assemble the rest of the pieces as shown by snowballing the squares on by sewing across the diagonal lines as shown.
Press each snowball back
Sew the 4 bottom pieces and attach the hat piece to the finished body
Optional: If needed, give the block a bit of a trim to 8.5” x 9” Below is after I gave mine a little bit of a square up.
Add the 1.5” strips to each side. I did top and bottom first, and then the sides, but I am not picky about that.
Thank you all so much for helping me with this fun gift for my mom. I hope you have as much fun making this little guy as I did :)
I have to thank you Chris, for the excuse to go buy some beautiful fall colored batik fabrics! My LQS didn't have a big selection, but I found a few I hope work for you.
