With Block 2, what you see is what you get. You are given 16 strips of four colors and after figuring out the scant seam that I needed to use, went together fairly quickly.
Sewing the blocks together proved a little tricky, but I managed to get the corners together after five minutes of wrangling and a little bit of seam ripping.
And here is the second finished block!! Two down and 10 to go!!
Starting a new block-of-the-month courtesy of Joann Fabrics. The newest one out of the gate is Thistleberry. This pattern is again from quiltblocks© and I have to say they have another hit in my opinion. The finished quilt will measure 76 ½” x 93 ½” and has the setting kit, binding, and backing kit available as well as the 12 monthly blocks for purchase.
The patterns are very unique and the color scheme is fantastic. I’ve already put the first block together and it looks great.
The difficulty level of this quilt on a scale from 1 to 5 would have to be a two. The patterns are beautiful and the colors reminiscent of Easter. I’ve passed on the last three patterns put out for Joann Fabrics and am pleased to say I’ll be putting this one together.
Another labor of love that I’ve been able to enjoy piecing together. I’m 4/7 the way done with the quilt top and yes the square at the bottom will mark the center of the quilt. I’m very excited about piecing this two-color quilt. I wanted to break it down just slightly to give an idea of what it’s like to put something like this together. Not to scare anyone off, but more of the scope of this sort of project.
This quilt when finished will be composed of 49 blocks (7 rows of 7). Each block has (5) 3 1/2″ squares and (16) 3 1/4″ triangles. Put in perspective of the whole, it will contain 245 small squares, 196 each of red and white triangles, 31 bordering strips, and 4 pieces for the panels. In the end I have planned to add 13 maple leaves of different color to give it a total piece count of 685 individual pieces. I could be off on my count a little as I was doing the math a little quickly, but you get the idea.
When I start a quilt, I always start with a single block and don’t even necessarily allow myself to think about the above information as it will quite literally stall the project before it begins. I don’t even cut out the fabric for all of the pieces because of this.
This quilt, or more correctly the idea that started this quilt is now a year past, as is the first block I created for it. My question for anyone out there is how do YOU eat an elephant?
My wife Kay… (I just love talking about her if you haven’t noticed!) wanted to put in some volunteer hours creating some quilts for a local firehouse. The firehouse would use the quilts by taking them out into the field and handing them out to victims that had the need. As I was struggling with the motivation to finish my Christmas quilt, I kept looking over at the simple pattern that she was using to create the “firehouse” quilt. I looked down at the fabric in my lap and thought… this would look really good in the pattern.
Staying on-track has never been my strong suit which has me literally dropping the fabric I was working on and pestering my wife for measurements. “What was the width of those strips again Kay?” She must have felt at the end of the day that she had been talking to a three-year-old.
For anyone who’d like to know the pattern, here’s the pattern I used:
You’ll need 1 1/4 yard of three fabrics
From three different fabrics cut 16 from each fabric (2 3/4″ strips) Sew the three fabrics together with the neutral color in the middle (it will make it look better). Cut the sewn strips to a length of 7 1/4″ and keep the end pieces that are left to be used on the border (the end pieces should measure over 6″. See the picture above for piecing it together.
Take the end pieces that measure less than the 7 1/4″ and cut them down to 3 (2″ strips). Incorporate these into one of the layers of your border.
I’ll post another photo once I get the borders sewn on. This currently measures 54″ X 67.5″ without borders.
Persian Plum Block 10 had so many little pieces of fabric. It had me thinking how I was going to be able to make a block big enough.
Sewing them together I had to make eight flying geese. They were so small and cute, but the fabric is so thick it took a little to get the seams ironed down.
Then sewing everything together the block looked so nice, don’t you agree?
So this is two of the quilts we’re going to be making and like I posted, it’s from the McCall’s Fast Quilts magazine. Fabrics similar to these are available just about anywhere. If you end up making this one or have made it, share how it turned out!! I was able to get fabric almost identical and will post it up on Saturday.
Skill Level BEGINNER
Finished Size 59˝ x 75˝
Featured Fabrics
Ann used assorted fabrics from her stash to make this quilt.
This quilt is fully patterned in the McCall’s Quilting America Makes Fast Quilts special issue.
Books quilts and sewing 