Modern Blocks Quilt a Long: December 2013 Crossroads

Welcome back!

I am here to share the December block for the And Sew We Craft Modern Blocks Quilt a Long. This month’s block is “Crossroads” originally designed by Angela Pingle blogger of Cut to Pieces, chosen and instructed for the Quilt a Long by Amy at Actually Amy. If you would like to attempt the block yourself, and haven’t purchased the Modern Blocks book (compiled by Susanne Woods), you can find a tutorial led by Amy here. Below is Amy’s block, sewn from Little Apples fabrics by Aneela Hoey for Moda, which by the way is currently on sale at The Quilted Castle.

This is another block in the quilt a long that works best if you have a novelty print like those from Little Apples because you can fussy cut the larger pieces, as Amy did for the children playing and the clothes. Because I am using all-over non-directional prints, I really didn’t bother fussy-cutting any of my pieces, but I did choose to use that extra space for larger prints which I haven’t been able to utilize throughout all of the blocks. I also, chose to maintain my background solid to create continuity within the blocks.

So, above is my fabric key, I chose to work with Terrace Main in orange cream, Bouquet in sprout, and Rosebed in Pomegranate. All of these fabrics are from Juliana Horner’s 2013 Rosette line, designed and sold exclusively at JoAnn’s Fabrics (which makes it really accessible when you live in a town without amazing modern fabric shops.) When I purchased my fabrics, back in June/July, I purchased 9 of the 12 prints in the line, there were a few I just didn’t love to pieces at the time. But now, I am really wishing I had purchased those other prints so I could have the full collection, unfortunately those three have sold out at my local JoAnn’s, and they don’t seem to be bringing them back. They are available online, but only in full yard cuts and I really only want half yards, so I’m on the fence about ordering them. But I will mention, that Juliana Horner has already introduced some new fabrics at JoAnn’s in November. I went ahead and snatched up a half yard of each of those too, and am in love with the colors and prints, but that’s for another post.

So here she is, a little unconventional as far as color combination, but I think actually quite lovely.  This was a challenging block to match seams on, and I think I could actually create it with greater success, if I re-organized how the blocks are pieced. But I won’t, because I am overall pretty happy with the outcome.

A few photos to swoon over…

And an updated photo of all 8 completed blocks, thus far. Not too shabby!

The plan is for 12 total blocks, so we are already 2/3 finished with the blocks.

However, I finally purchased the book, and I think I might just make up a few more blocks, maybe an extra four, so it is a 16 block, or even an extra 8 so that it is a 20 block… There are just so many blocks in the book that I want to try, and where better to put them than in a sampler quilt! (There are by the way, 99 blocks in the book, but I won’t be making them all, for this quilt at least!

So, why not pop over to the Linky party to see what the other quilt a long participants are whipping up this month! Also, be sure to return tomorrow for a very special post also related to the Modern Blocks Quilt a Long, which I know some of you have been asking about!

xo,

Modern Block Quilt A Long: November 2013 Pogo Stick

Okay, I’ve been sitting on this post for well over a week because it took me that long to scan my fabric key, but here it is folks! The November block in the Modern Block Quilt A Long hosted by And Sew We Craft. This month’s block is the Pogo Stick block chosen and instructed by Rosalyn of Sew Delicious. As a reminder, all of the blocks completed for this quilt a long are from the book Modern Blocks by Susanne Woods, which I finally purchased from Joann’s this week with my Veterans Day coupon. But you can find the book almost anywhere online, Amazon, Book Depository, etc.

Above is an image of Rosalyn’s block, and  you can find her tutorial for the Pogo Stick  block here. So every time I piece a block for this quilt a long, I always take a look at how the tutorial host has put it together, and also how Amy at And Sew We Craft has put her’s together. Viewing the other blocks really helps me make decisions about my own block, and as I didn’t own the book until now, I can only assume that they pieced their block pretty similarly to what is in the book.  In this case, they both pieced the foreground element in one print and the background either as a solid or a separate print.

Which, I think looks lovely on both ladies’ blocks, but two things occurred to me while I was deciding how I wanted to arrange my block. First, the block is called pogo stick, so what part of the pogo stick are we looking at here? Second, how can I use more than one print in my block, but also retain the solid background fabric that I have used throughout all of the others? So I decided to break the block into a few different elements of the so called “pogo” I separated the square from the side pegs and then separated the center pole and arranged my fabrics from lightest to darkest in an attempt to create depth. So my pieces looked more like this:

I kept my off white background fabric, then chose Posy Navy for the side pegs, Bouquet Sprout for the square, and Garden Main Floral for the vertical pole. All of my fabrics for the entire Modern Blocks quilt a long are from Juliana Horner’s 2013, Rosette fabric line designed for JoAnn’s Fabrics.

Now the question becomes, was I happy with my deviation from the two reference blocks? Yes, yes I am very happy! I actually love the outcome of the Pogo Stick Block. It was so simple to piece, yet came to be such an awesome modern graphic composition! This is one block I can definitely picture as an entire quilt! And with a little google searching, you will see that others agree, there are numerous full Pogo Stick quilts out there and maybe someday soon I will have made one of them!

Be sure to head over to the Linky Party at And Sew We Craft to view the other quilter’s Pogo Stick blocks! I really enjoy seeing the little twist everyone puts into their own blocks, and this month there is plenty of variation!

Happy Hopping!

Lighthouse Quilt A Long: Test Block

Well, I am at it again! I have just started another quilt a long. This time it is the Lighthouse quilt a long hosted by Faith of Fresh Lemons Modern Quilts. Faith has done such an amazing job so far detailing all of the fabric, batting, and template requirements for all different sizes of quilts. The math that she has put into this has literally blown my mind! I cannot be more thankful that she has taken the time to spell it all out for us!

So this past week was the test block week. I chose some fabrics from my stash, a few Denyse Schmidt prints that I had previously purchased from JoAnn’s Fabrics which I paired with Kona Bone. Here is my handy dandy fabric key, this time I sewed a scrappy dresden piece for the fun of it… (Dresden refers to the shape, typically you put a bunch of these “petals” together to make a lovely flower like shape with either round or pointed edges.)

So, the block itself is paper-pieced. Which is pretty easypeasy anyway, but I have a few tips to add to Faith’s excellent instructions.

First, I like to mark a 1/4″ seam allowance so that I have a line to align with the raw edges of my fabric, rather than eyeballing my seam allowance based on the stitch line that is already printed on the pattern.

From this point, I can easily align my fabrics and be certain I have a 1/4″ seam allowance. But I also have another trick before we do that! I lay my fabric out on a ruled cutting mat so that I can also be certain that my fabrics are centered.

In this case, I centered the 2 1/2″ print on top of the 4 1/2″ solid fabric –leaving me 1″ of solid fabric on each side of the printed fabric. Then I place the paper template and as you can see below, the newly marked 1/4″ seam allowance aligns perfectly with the raw edges of the perfectly aligned fabrics!

Now I am ready to stitch along the seam-line which was already diagrammed into the paper template! Bada-bam!

But, there is more! I have one more tip to share with you to further perfect our paper-piecing! Now that we can perfectly align the seam allowance and seam-line, we might also want to know that the paper template is centered on the fabric. This, my friends, is much much easier when you mark the center line on the paper template.

Now, combined with the ruled cutting mat and our carefully centered and aligned fabric, we are able to perfectly align the paper template to get the very best paper-pieced pattern EVER! OCD? Maybe, but isn’t that what paper-piecing is all about? (Don’t get confused, I am now using the second piece of the template.)

Okay, so if you’ve never paper-pieced before you do get to a point where you have this little mess.

Which is my least favorite thing about paper-piecing. It just seems so wasteful… So I’m going to ponder ways that I can reduce the waste produced when piecing my quilt blocks… Speaking of which, I bet you would like to see the finished test block!

TA-DA!

(Sorry for the fuzzy picture, I am working in our basement which doesn’t have the best light and as we roll into winter, I am certain I will be taking more and more photos in dimly lit settings! :S )

Check it out! Isn’t she beautiful? I know…

I do plan to construct an entire quilt but, my fabrics haven’t arrived yet, and I am going to be piecing a very special quilt for a very special project which I will tell you more about very soon! If you would like to participate in the Lighthouse quilt a long, be sure to visit Faith’s blog (the link is posted at the top of this post), to find the template and piecing instructions, as well as all of the wonderful calculations! And of course, share your progress on instagram, flicker or whatever platform you use!

xo,

Modern Block Quilt a Long: October 2013 Best Friends

And she’s on a roll!  And by “she” I mean me! The ladies of And Sew We Craft posted the October block yesterday! They are in Australia, so for them it was right on time (10/01), and for me in the Midwest United States it was a day early (9/30)– which was fine by me! This month’s block is the Best Friends block, it was hosted by Anorina over at the blog Samelia’s Mum. She gave a little background on the block, apparently the original designer is Angela Pingle who runs the blog Cut to Pieces. I have never come across Cut to Pieces, so I am excited to have another crafty blog to check out.

Above is Anorina’s block, she used a directional print so she utilized some special cutting instructions so that her elephants all run the same direction. Her tutorial for the October Best Friends block is here!

Amy at And Sew We Craft shared her Best Friend block in this month’s Modern Block Quilt a Long Introduction Post. She also cut her pieces with a directional print, and even fussy cut the adorable center piece to align the hula hoop girl!

I love what they both did with their directional prints, but In order to keep with my theme, I also wanted to maintain a similar use of my background fabric, so I cut the larger rectangles from my neutral solid. I was somewhat bummed to leave so much of the block blank when everyone else is employing such awesome prints for their blocks, but really this meshes better with my other blocks.

 Again, I used Juliana Horner’s 2013 Rosette fabric line which is sold exclusively at JoAnn’s Fabrics, which by the way I am in love with. It is so sweet with it’s blend of traditional and modern motifs and colors. This month I made it back to JoAnn’s and found another print (Ivy Tangerine) that had apparently arrived late at my local store, so of course I had to buy it and introduce it into my blocks!

So, the block construction was easy-peasy. It does include a partial seam, but really it isn’t difficult and from the front you can’t even tell which seam was the partial seam!

And since we are six months into the quilt a long, I decided to post a photo of all six blocks that I have completed so far! Half way there!

Are you working on any quilts right now? Did you join the Modern Blocks Quilt a Long? Let me know what you are up to in the comments!

xo,

Modern Block Quilt a Long: September 2013 Escalator Block

Bada-boom! I finished up the September 2013 Escalator block for the And Sew We Craft Modern Blocks Quilt A Long just in time! Phew!

Escalator Block Layout

 

This block was chosen from Modern Blocks by Cate at Life Behind the Purple Door. The escalator block was originally designed by Ann Haley. Like myself, Cate is still quite new to the quilting scene, but she did an excellent job explaining the cutting and construction of the block. Cate’s block is pictured below, and her tutorial for the block is available here!

Cate at Life Behind the Purple Door’s Escalator Block

When I first began constructing this block at the beginning of September, I had a real brain fart and couldn’t figure out what to do with the 2.5″ squares and the 2 .875″ triangles… My brain could not figure out what to do with the extra .375″. So I sat on my cut pieces for the rest of the month, without piecing them (not to mention the first time I started piecing them I had laid them out in the wrong order! displayed in the top un-pieced image above, this is the wrong layout. Don’t follow that image!) Instead, check out the illustrated tutorial I’ve shared below!

 

Cutting vs. Stitching Dimensions

 

Once again, I worked with Juliana Horner’s 2013 Rosette line for JoAnn’s Fabrics. And, like always, I constructed a little key to keep in my quilting notes.

Once I figured out the cutting versus stitching dimensions, the block was very easy to construct! And it was an excellent distraction from my academic work. I took my time to carefully align my corners and am really pleased with the finished block.

Be sure to check out all of the other participants September Escalator blocks at the Linky party!

We’ve completed five months of the twelve month Modern Blocks Quilt A Long, and the next block should be available very soon! Can’t wait to see what’s next from the ladies at And Sew We Craft!

xo,

Hookin’

So I’m changing gears a little bit this week to work on a few crochet projects. I couldn’t help myself, JoAnn’s Fabrics was having a major sale on yarns so I took advantage, and took the plunge into large scale crochet projects!

Yesterday, I began work on the “Weekend in Stockholm” throw by Debbie Stoller of Stitch Nation. This pattern was released for free in 2010 to coordinate with the release of her yarn line, Full o’ Sheep. The yarn was beautiful but at the time I could not afford it, so I picked up the free pattern and went on with life. For the past three years, that pattern has remained pinned to my inspiration board as a “someday” sort of project. Well, yesterday was someday.  With JoAnn’s sale on yarn, and the dream pattern in hand, I hypothetically went to town and ordered the required 25 skeins of yarn in various colors online. I chose Lion Brand, Wool Ease as my replacement yarn (Full o’ Sheep is no longer being manufactured). The colors won’t be an exact match unfortunately, but I think they will still be quite nice; I am working with Avocado, Cranberry, Denim, Eggplant, Fisherman, Mustard, Ranch Red, and Violet.

In no way do I consider myself to be an advanced crocheter(?). So this project is truly a leap from my comfort zone, but I think it’s beautiful and hopefully that will be the inspiration I need to keep going! So I should also mention that with a little help from Ravelry, I located these excellent tutorial videos that break this granny square blanket down into a round by round easy to follow pattern (the free pattern is lacking in a diagram and clear instructions…) Thanks so much to Knit my Grits for creating these! However, last night I only had time to do round 1 and round 2 of my first granny square, so my progress is very very slow!

Tonight, I received my yarn to join in on another crochet project, the Crochet A Long hosted by And Sew We Craft. The first project of the Crochet A Long is a simple crocheted blanket which repeats the same stitch through every row. This makes it a perfect beginner large scale project, and considering I have never attempted to crochet anything larger than what I could hold cupped in two hands, it seems like a perfect project for me. I jumped online and ordered 15 skeins of Deborah Norville’s Everyday Soft Worsted Cotton in Cornflower, Navy, and Cappuccino, from that same excellent Joann’s yarn sale.

Technically, the crochet a long started at the end of last week, and I’m quite jealous of some participants’ progress because I didn’t receive my yarn for this project until this afternoon! Anyway, I decided to follow Tonya’s lead, host of the crochet a long and blogger of The Crafty Mummy, and chained for 74″. I worked the first row of stitches while enjoying the True Blood season 6 finale and Newsroom (we watch HBO shows a day late), but two hours later I have only made it 3/4 of the way through the first row!

Please wish me luck on these might large crochet projects! I think I am going to need it! Many more updates to come, I am sure!

Happy Hookin’

Modern Block Quilt a Long: May 2013 Follow the Leader Block

Woohoo! With this post I announce that I am all caught up in the And Sew We Craft  Modern Block Quilt a Long!

The first block of the Quilt a Long was this May: Follow the Leader block. This was the fourth and final block I needed to piece in order to get caught up, since I started 3 months late! Above I have shared Amy, at And Sew We Craft‘s, block. Amy has been kind enough to share the tutorial for this month’s block, and has been creating two blocks each month, one in solids and one in prints. I adore her print fabric selection (which is shown in the block above), the Little Apples fabric line by Aneela Hoey, too sweet! Amy also has done an excellent job of documenting her tutorial in photos so there is no possible way to get lost!

Anyway, on to my block! Once again I chose to work with fabrics from the 2013 Rosette fabric line by Juliana Horner for JoAnns Fabric. This line was only released on July 21st, so I am an early adopter of it’s wonderful blend of traditional country motifs with modern influences.  This line is one of four designer lines that JoAnns is producing as part of its Premium Quilts Collection, a wise response to the growing mass of young and modern quilters in the market. For this block, I chose to work with the Posy print in both the Navy and Sweet colorways, as well as, Bouquet Sweet and Ivy Lemon Lime. Below I have shared my handy-dandy fabric key!

This block was one of the more time consuming blocks of the Quilt a Long thus far, so I understand some of the frustration other participants voiced as they completed their blocks in May. For me, however, doing this block fourth made it seem quite manageable after completing the July and August blocks! I really enjoyed putting it together and practicing my Flying Geese. I did make a few mistakes along the way, but my patience seems to be growing as I work on these because I didn’t mind ripping out a few seams and correcting the major issue.

If you’re wondering what the major issue was, well you’ll notice at the center of the block you have each of your four colors represented. This occurs by alternating which color is on the right and left when you combine them into pairs (for example the Lemon Lime Ivy and the Navy Posy are a pair). On my first attempt at completing the block, I accidentally placed them in the same position both times and my finished block had two sets of navy geese in the center. This mistake was large enough I felt the need to rip out many seams to correct it, and then re-piece the block. Other small mistakes include some imperfect point alignment and cutting off the “beaks” of a few of my geese. These are seemingly minor mistakes though and since this project is just for fun I do not feel OCD enough to correct them.

Overall, I am quite happy with my Follow the Leader block. Though I am a little bummed to be caught up in the Quilt a Long, what will I do now?

Actually, I’ve already started working on something new, as suggested by Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts on a previous post, teeny tiny half square triangles pieced from the scraps of the Flying Geese technique. This may be my first attempt at working in the Postage Stamp size category!

Also, I completed piecing the top of the Four Seasons table runner, but due to an early misunderstanding it is a littler shorter than desired! So I am brainstorming an attractive and modern way to change that (Photos and explanation to come soon!).

Anywho, on to the rest of the day, dog walks, research, and writing! Hopefully a bike ride or lap swimming too, if weather permits!

Erin Myone

Modern Block Quilt A Long: July 2013 Megan’s Star Block

The July block for the And Sew We Craft Modern Blocks Quilt A Long is a block titled Megan’s Star. The block originally appears on page 113 in the book Modern Blocks compiled by Susanne Woods. I don’t own this book, so I can’t speak to its greatness, but all the blocks for the quilt a long are from it so maybe after a year of blocks I will have an opinion.

One of the excellent things about a Quilt A Long is that you don’t need to own the books. Each month a tutorial is created to guide you through the creation of your own block. This month the tutorial was posted by Samelia’s Mum.

The tutorial called for at least four fabrics (3 prints and 1 solid was recommended) but you could easily increase the number of fabrics for a more busy block if that is your thing. I decided to call on my latest purchase from Jo-Ann’s Fabrics, the Rosette line by Juliana Horner. Rosette was only released last month, July 21, 2013, in Jo-Ann’s Fabrics across the country, and I kind of loved it immediately when I saw it, before I even knew what I was looking at. Juliana  (check out this video, she’s too sweet) is the daughter of one of my other favorite fabric designers, Anna Maria Horner.

Anyway! My block utilizes three of the Rosette fabrics, Rosebed Pomegranate, Bouquet Sweet, and Posy Navy. I also picked a nice cheap symphony broadcloth for my solid background.  Below you’ll see a key to the fabrics I chose for this particular block.

Now, on to the piecing. Being an occasional quilter, I am prone to a lot of mistakes. I definitely need every little detail spelled out for me. For example, I forgot that quilters use a standard seam allowance of 1/4″, being that recently I have sewed apparel mostly, I went with 1/2″. However, I doubted myself and googled it after stitching only one seam.

I also got a little over excited and cut way too many of my blocks into adorable little half squares, forgetting that this wasn’t that particular piecing method. So I eventually re-cut a number of my pieces. But eventually I finished it! Really it is a quick block, and I bet I could do another one lickety-split. One regret would be the choice of my focal fabric, it doesn’t have the type of motif that really makes it pop.  And somehow, it looks very traditional colorwise, which was not my intention… C’est la vie. On to the August block, and then back to catch the May and June blocks.

Until tomorrow,

Erin Myone