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Accurate Piecing Tips and New Pattern Inspiration!

Today I want to share one of my newest patterns: Ice Cream Social!

It’s a scrappy set of table runners that are made from small blocks. I love working in a standout element like the black stars to focus in on and then use the scrappy nine patches as a colorful secondary design. Both of these runners are quick projects and will dress up any table in your home! You can do the applique on the one runner by hand or machine. You can also substitute in wool for the fabric applique if you prefer!

The blocks in these patterns are 3 1/2 x 3 1/2″. Accuracy in piecing is important in quilting…. especially when making small blocks. There’s not as much room for error the smaller the block.

First, check to be sure your machine is stitching with an accurate 1/4″ seam. Take 2 scrap pieces of fabric and stitch them together, then measure the seam.

If your seam measures 1/4″ ….. congratulations! You are good for step 1!

If you do not get a 1/4″ measurement, time to take some steps to make sure you are stitching with a 1/4″ seam. First way to get an accurate seam is to use a 1/4″ foot made for your machine. Here’s mine:

When stitching with this foot, the edge of the foot is lined up with the edge of the piece you are stitching. This should give you an accurate seam.

If you do not have a 1/4″ foot for your machine, check to see if your machine’s throat plate has a 1/4″ mark like below. Then you line up the edge of your fabric with the 1/4″ mark when stitching. After the seam is stitched, measure it like I showed above.

If you do not have a 1/4″ mark on your throat plate, you can make one by using a measuring tape and some masking or painter’s tape. Start by laying the measuring tape under your needle at the “0” line.

Lower the needle by hand to make sure the needle matches up with that line. Then, find the 1/4″ line on the measuring tape. Use this as a guide to place a piece of tape on your throat plate.

When stitching a seam, you can now line up the edge of your fabric with the edge of the tape to give you an accurate 1/4″ seam. Once again, use scrap fabric to test your seam.

Now that you are stitching with an accurate seam, the final step in having your blocks measure accurately is to measure each unit as you stitch it to make sure it’s the correct size before continuing. For example, if I am making several flying geese units for a block and they need to measure 2 x 3 1/2″ each so the block comes out the correct size, I measure the geese units (like below). That way, when I am ready to piece the block, I know all the units measure accurately. That, along with accurate 1/4″ seams guarantee my blocks will be the right size!

So, there you have it. With accurate 1/4″ seams and measuring individual units as you go, you will be able to churn out blocks, big or small, that measure correctly and make your quilt go together without a hitch!

Share your secrets on accurate piecing and win a free pattern! My pattern, Ice Cream Social! The drawing will be on Monday, October 29th.
**Congrats Sue! You are the winner of the free pattern!**

Happy Piecing and Quilting!
Deanne

My Quilt Inspiration – The Churn Dash Block

Time to preview another of my new patterns for this fall. This one is called Country Dance!

One of my favorite block is the Churn Dash. Using that blocks with a beautiful assortment of Civil War reproduction color prints helps make this quilt pattern unique and vibrant! I used an on point setting and alternated between Churn Dash blocks and a checkerboard block. For some pointers on making a quilt with an on point setting, see my blog post: On Point Settings …. Easier Than You Think and Only a Little Math!

A Bit of History

As you know if you follow this blog, I like to use traditional blocks with some history behind them in my quilts. So here’s a bit of history on the Churn Dash block.

The Churn Dash block is considered to be in the equal 9-patch family of blocks. Made up of a center square, 4 half-square triangle squares and 4 units made up of two rectangles stitched together, you can see the equal nine sections of the block. It’s a very old pattern that dates back to the early 19th century. Since the block was thought to resemble a butter churn with the middle square representing the “dash” (the stick that churns the butter), the name “Churn Dash” was readily adopted.

The Churn Dash block also has many other names. Like many traditional blocks from the 19th century, the pattern was shared among women on isolated homesteads but not always shared with a name. In that case, other names were given to the block. Women often looked to utilitarian items in their home when naming a block. Here’s a few of those names: Double Monkey Wrench, Shoo Fly, Monkey Wrench, Hole-In-The-Barn-Door and Lincoln’s Platform.

Color My Quilt!

Another thing that makes my quilt eye-catching is that the Churn Dash blocks are “scrappy”. I love using a wide variety of color prints to keep it interesting. I used 25 assorted color prints so each of my Churn Dash blocks were a different fabric. Picking those colors can sometimes present a challenge. I recommend laying the fabrics out on your cutting table and see how they blend together (that’s what I do!). Stand back and look…. you can remove and replace fabrics until you get the look you like.

Below is an example of how I audition fabrics that I am considering for a project.

By laying them out like this, you can see if the prints look good together and if there is enough variation in shade to give you a good contrast with whatever background fabric you are using. It’s better to do this now, rather than realize you made a mistake after everything is cut out and you’ve made some blocks.

So I hope you’ve enjoyed getting a peek at one of my newest patterns and this little journey through history.

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

Applique Tips and New Pattern Feature!

Hi everyone!

It’s that time of the year where I have some new patterns that will be released at the end of the month when I attend Quilt Market in Houston. So, I thought I would share them with you along with the inspiration behind the quilt.

This week I am featuring my new lap quilt Stepping Stones. This is 70 x 70” lap quilt that has a scrappy pieced center and is framed by appliqué.

I wanted a block that would feature the color prints I chose but be easy to make. This simple square in a square design was the answer. Each block has 3 different color prints and a tan background. I alternate between blocks that have the tan print background as the corners and blocks that have the color prints as the corners. This creates the unique secondary design. Here are examples of the two blocks types:

Since this quilt also features an appliqué motif that frames the center, I wanted to review some appliqué tips.

First, for the stems I cut bias strips from a green print fabric. It’s easiest to cut the strips needed from fat quarters (or fat eighths if you don’t need a lot). To cut bias strips, lay the fabric on the cutting surface, lay the 45° line of your ruler on the fabric edge, and then start cutting strips. The photos below show these steps:

Once you have the strips cut, fold in the sides of the strip and press to make the stem. If you start with a 1” wide bias strip, after pressing, your stem will be 1/2” wide. Using a bias tool makes it easier to fold the strips into stems.

My second tip: start stitching your appliqué motif with the stems and then build the rest of the design from there. Use small dots of appliqué glue to shape and hold your stems in place for stitching. Here’s my favorite glue:

This is Roxanne’s Glue Baste-it. This is the best glue that I have used. It’s a small container, but you use so little of it at a time, that it lasts through several projects.

My final tip for this post: If you have an appliqué motif that is made up of several pieces layered on top of each other, stitch the smaller pieces to the larger pieces before stitching it all down to the quilt top. For example, here is the medallion corner stone:

The red penny circle was stitched to the gold circle. Then that unit was stitched to the blue medallion piece. After that was done, the excess fabric was trimmed out in the back before stitching the whole medallion to the quilt top.

I hope these tips were helpful and that you are excited to make this quilt! You will see announcements here and on my Facebook and Instagram pages when the pattern is available.

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

2018 Block of the Month – Block 7!

Hi everyone! I did not have a blog post last week because I was away on vacation (yay!). Now it’s back to work so I will begin posting blog posts again regularly.

Here’s block 7 for the 2018 BOM!

The instructions for making the block can be found here: 2018 BOM Block 7.

I hope you’ve been having fun making all the 2018 BOM blocks. If this is your first time finding out about my 2018 BOM, you can get all the information and previous blocks here: Block of the Month.

New pattern release coming up this week! Keep an eye out for Twilight Desert. This is a fun, scrappy lap quilt that will really take advantage of your fabric stash!

This quilt was inspired by an antique quilt, of course! Here is the quilt and block that was my inspiration:

One of the names of this block is Rolling Stone. I added a star to the middle of the Rolling Stone block to add more interest. 

I plan on a mid week release, so keep an eye out for the announcement on Facebook and Instagram.

So now on to the winner of my pattern, Summer Serendipity, from my July 1st blog post drawing. Congrats Sharon Aurora!!!

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

New Pattern and Some Half-Square Triangle Square Tips!

Hi everyone! Just a short visit this week to introduce my new pattern called Summer Serendipity.

This is a 36 x 36″ wall hanging or table topper. It a fun, scrappy pieced background embellished with some beautiful floral appliqué. And this appliqué can be done by hand or machine! You can also substitute wool for the fabric and use this background for some colorful wool appliqué. You can go here for purchasing information.

The pieced background is easy piecing that uses a lot of half-square triangle squares. Do not be intimidated by these! Half-square triangle squares, or as I call them, HSTs, are really not that hard and come out accurately every time if you follow my tips.

Tip #1: For this project, I use the method of making HSTs that uses 2 squares, one color print and one tan print. I’m going to use the squares the size I need to make HSTs that measure 2 1/2″ when I’m done. So start with your squares either 2  7/8″ x 2  7/8″ OR, if you don’t mind wasting a tiny bit of fabric and want to make sure your finished squares are the correct size, you can start with squares that measure 3″ x 3″.

Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of the tan print square:

Then place the tan print and the color print squares right sides together with the tan print square on top so the drawn line is visible.

Tip #2: Now comes the time to stitch. I like to stitch with a scant 1/4″ on each side of the drawn line, especially if I am using squares cut 2 7/8″:

Using the scant 1/4″ distance guarantees your squares will not be too small when you press them open because you can always trim them.

Tip #3: Now we come to the trimming. Cut the above unit apart on the drawn line. You will have two units. Do not press them open yet. We will actually trim them before pressing. The great thing about that is you are only having to make two trimming cuts instead of have to trim all four sides individually!

Here’s the unit cut apart:

Now I will introduce you to this awesome tool I like to use for the trimming. It’s called the Quilt in a Day® Triangle Square Up Ruler!

Here it is and how it works:

The numbers on the measurement lines are the size of the HST you want after it’s pressed open. Ours are going to be 2 1/2″ after trimming so we use the 2 1/2″ line on this ruler. First place the ruler on one of the units from above with the 2 1/2″ line on the stitch line:

Now you trim off the excess fabric on the two sides. Once you do this, you can press open the unit and here you are:

It’s that simple! Since each set of squares makes 2 HSTs, if you need 40 HSTs you need 20 squares of tan print and 20 squares of color print.

Now you can make HSTs with ease and make many of my patterns that use HSTs!

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

More Pattern Inspiration! New Pattern Coming Soon!

So last Saturday, I shared the first of my new patterns that will be arriving soon. See it in this blog post here. Today, I want to share the second of my new patterns. This one also has 2 projects in it and they are for the table, but I added some applique to these. The pattern is called Bloomin’ Spools:

In the pattern are instructions for the long table runner and for the square table topper. Both are embellished with some pretty floral applique that you can do by hand or machine.

This pattern was inspired by the spool block, versions of which have been around since the 19th century. Quilt blocks were often designed and named for ordinary household items. I image the women who designed and named this block based it on the wooden spools that held their thread.

This antique quilt also inspired this pattern:

I loved the scrappy-ness of this old quilt. The different color spools and different color backgrounds inspired me to make my runner and topper scrappy in my pattern.

Here’s a close-up of the applique on each of these projects:

Look for this new pattern at the end of the month, hopefully! It’s being written and tested as we speak.

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

Announcing New Patterns!

New pattern now available from Snuggles Quilts!

This is a fun, scrappy lap quilt for the cat lover in your family …. or for you! Use your favorite color prints, whether they are reproductions, brights or traditional. The lap quilt is 60 x 68″ so it’s perfect to drape over your sofa and snuggle into on a cool night. Here’s a close-up of the cat block:

The pattern is available in my shop: Scrappy Catz

Next Pattern: Pins ‘n Needles.

This is a wool applique pin cushion pattern! There is optional instructions for a scrap bag to go along with these pincushions so you can switch them out to suit your mood!

Here are some close-ups of each pin cushion:

The pattern is available from my shop here: Pins ‘n Needles

Order yours today!

Happy Quilting
Deanne

From Saw Tooth to Fan Dance!

My next new patterns is a variation on the Saw Tooth block pattern. Here is a piece of the quilt that inspired my pattern.

Most Saw Tooth blocks I have seen have the small half-square triangle squares that frame the larger square on two sides facing as shown in the block below:

I really liked the version in the antique quilt so I built my design off of that one. I like the antique version also because I could create a “pinwheel” design with my blocks. I called my block “Fan Dance” because I think the blocks look like fans. So here is my pattern:

Of course, I needed to add some stars and applique into the pattern to put my “signature” on the design. The flowers are inspired by some floral applique I saw on an antique quilt as well.

Mine is not exactly like this flower …. but close enough!

So there’s the story of Fan Dance. I hope you will enjoy making this pattern if you choose it!

What inspires you when you quilt?

Happy Quilting!
Deanne