Hive 1 March Evil Eye for Leah

 Hi Leah, 

This was a fun(ny) one to make!  I can't wait to see it finished.

Jane A.

Hive 3 - Unallocated blocks for Joanne

Hello Hive 3! My block comes from a free pattern called Unallocated, posted by Michelle McKillop (mckillopmichelle) on Instagram. These little blocks are 4" unfinished and hopefully you will have fun diving into your scrap bin to make a few. If you make 16, when combined they'll make one 14.5" block. If you run out of steam before making 16 4" blocks, no worries - I'll take what you've got! My goal is 529 4" blocks and I've made 85 so far, so any contributions are appreciated. Here's a sample of some of the blocks I've made:

You'll see the low volume prints make a secondary pattern. If you lose the diagonal stripe, then the low volume print is too loud.

If you prefer to repeat fabrics and send the blocks individually vs sewn together, that's great. I'll spread out those blocks across the quilt. The quilt will be 80" x 80", so there's plenty of space for repeated fabrics.

Colors 

Fun, bright colors - avoid black, brown, dark gray, dark blue, etc. I'd prefer prints versus solids. 

You will also need a variety of low to low(ish) volume fabrics. 

Cutting 

For every TWO 4" blocks you will need:

(1) 3.5" color square

(1) 3.5" low volume square

(2) 1.5" x 7(ish)" color rectangles - sub cut each into 1.5" x 3 and 1.5" x 4 pieces (I cut these a smidge longer than called for and having the wiggle room is nice when attaching the strips to the HST.)

Sewing

You are making a 3" HST with a 1.5" strip sewn to both the top and left side. Chain piecing is your friend here. 😁

All seams are 1/4" unless otherwise noted.

HST: Mark a diagonal line on the wrong side of the 3.5" low volume square. Layer the marked low volume square right sides together with the color square. Using a scant 1/4" seam, sew on each side of the marked line. Cut along the marked line, press each HST toward the color fabric and trim to 3" square. (Side note: if Creative Grids and Bloc_Loc got together and had a baby, that'd be my most favorite ruler EVER!) Or feel free to use your preferred method to make HSTs. If you need a more detailed explanation for how to make an HST, this tutorial is a good one. 

Marked line and stitching on both sides of line.

Adding the strips: Arrange the HST so the low volume fabric is on the bottom right. Sew the 3" strip to the top of the HST and press toward the strip. Again with the low volume fabric on the bottom right, sew the 4" strip to the left side of the block and press toward the strip.

Note alignment of HSTs before adding strips.

With top strip added.

With side strip added.

To lay out the 14.5" block, the location of the low volume fabric in each 4" block alternates like this:

Rows 1 and 3: lower right, upper left, lower right, upper left

Rows 2 and 4: upper left, lower right, upper left, lower right

Thanks so much and I look forward to seeing your beautiful blocks. 💜

 

Hive 1 March Evil Eye blocks for Leah

 

Hi Leah, 

I also had to make two (different-sized) eyes--I hope they repel evil effectively! 

--Caitlin 

Hive 1 - March Evil Eye for Leah

 Hi everyone!

Leah, I hope this works.  Another fun block!  I made the outside border larger so you could trim down to size.  Dropped it in the mail today.

Cindy

Hive 1 March Evil Eye Block for Leah

 

Hi Leah,

I do love Improv! Thank you for such a fun block!
That's why I couldn't stop at one 😁.

Hope they are 'round' enough and go with what you have in mind.

I'll pop them in to the post today.

Happy sewing,
Rita

Hive 1 February Knee Bend Block for Rita

 

Sorry for the delay! This is in the mail, Rita! -Julia

Hive 2 March Tutorial - Earthy 9 Patch for Mandi

I’m going really easy this month since I’m short on some colors to make this simple quilt I’m working on! It’s a basic 9 patch with 5” squares. Sorry, I know we just did a 9 patch (that was more fun), but I definitely appreciate the help getting this done and done in time for her birthday, and she wants this as her design. I’m actually putting a green slash across the middle as well.

Colors are earth tones, brown, red and orange. Solids are ok but I’m leaning away from them since I don’t have much and I don’t want them to stick out too much. She loves orange, so if you’ve got some orange that is great to use. If you can use a different fabric for each square that’s great, if not, no worries, just don’t have them next to each other.

I found a site for reference for the pattern: https://thesewingloftblog.com/9-patch-quilt-block-sewing-term/

Alternating fabrics; join 3 squares together to create a strip using 1/4″ seam allowance. Repeat to create 3 strips. Nest seams.

Join your 3 strips, nesting seams again. Block should measure 14"x14" when finished.

Hive 1- March Tutorial: Evil Eye Block for Leah

I've been wanting to make an Evil Eye quilt for a while, but with the world being the way it is lately, it feels like it's much more urgent now. We could all use protection and luck, and I would love to get the group's help. Maybe you'll all be able to help me imbue it with some magic!

This design is very improvised. If you see the picture and go "ohh, I have an idea for how to make it!" then please just go for it. But if you could use specific instructions, read on. And if it drives you totally nuts, 1) please let me know and ask about anything that's unclear, and 2) feel free to quit after the first round or two if you need to. I'll be so happy to receive any eyes you're able to make for me, even if they don't make it out to the fourth round.

Colors:

I'd like colors to be in the general realm of naturally-occuring eye colors. Blue, green, purple, gray, brown, gold, etc., mostly. You'll need a dark and a light version of the eye colors, as well as a black and a white. Here are a bunch of fabrics I pulled to show you my thoughts. You should know that I'm not totally happy with everything in the above photo of eye blocks; I think the top right came out a little too zombie! (Too much red in the black center, too gray in the white.) But as long as you avoid my mistakes, there's a lot of flexibility in the colors. I'm happy with solids or prints. Your light color and dark color do not need to be the same color as long as each ring in the eye is the same fabric all the way around.

Cutting instructions:

Please note this will not have precise assembly instructions, and amounts of each fabric will vary depending on how you assemble and trim your block, and how large a square you start with. Strips need not be all one piece and I've given how much fabric I used in assembling mine; you may need a little more or less.

Black: one square of between 2.5 and 3.5"

White: strip of between 2 and 3" wide, about 36" long 

Light color: strip of between 2 and 3" wide, about 18" long

Dark color: strip of between 2 and 3" wide, about 36" long

Assembly:

Sew the light color strip to one side of the black square

Press and trim the strip off, taking off a corner of the square too. We're going for a non-square polygon in the center by the time we're done. I'll be happy with a pentagon, hexagon, really any shape as long as it's a little closer to a circle than a square. You'll be able to rotate the edge you cut to add it to the next side of the black piece. 

Continue pressing, trimming so you have straight (but not square) edges, rotating, and sewing the strip to remaining sides of the black piece. Lots more photos to come:

It'll be ok to trim the black too, if you think it needs it!

Or just sew the strip where you think it belongs, and trim behind your seam after. Continuing to cut corners to make the square a little more hexagonal...

Continue until you've completed your light colored border around the black!

Trim the edges so they're all straight and you're happy with the overall shape, but don't square it up: keep the hexagonal or octagonal or whatever shape you've gotten. 

Then follow all the same steps with the white, completely bordering the light color.

Trim the edges.

And repeat the bordering process one more time with the dark color.

And you're done! Trim your edges but don't square up; I'll be putting all of them together with one background color to keep the roundish effect of each eye. Thank you so much for sticking with me through this. I'm really looking forward to putting it together!

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 1 February Knee Bend Block for Rita

 

Here are my Knee Bend blocks for Rita for February.  I'd never made this block before, but they were easy and fun to make.