Friday, August 1, 2014

RSC Sampler Small Bowties

We will be doing green for August.  I know we already did green this year, but that was dark green.  This time it is all about light and bright. I promise that orange is coming very soon, but August is going to be SO busy for me that I couldn't do justice to it this month.

We did a large Bowtie earlier this year, but the small one is SO much cuter.  It is just four smaller Bowties all put together to make one block.
I decided to use a different green for each block.  You could do two greens or even one if you had enough on one color.  It just depends on what is in your scrap basket.  I pulled out this light blue sky fabric for the background.  Blue and green will probably be near each other in the finished quilt, so having a few blender blocks will be nice I think.

Cutting instructions.
8 - 2 inch squares of background fabric.
For each of four greens:
     2 - 2 inch squares
     2 1.5 inch squares

Place the small green squares in one corner of the background squares, right sides together.  You can mark the green square with a pencil line drawn corner to corner, but I chose to just "eyeball" it.  For squares this small it is hard to miss the corners.
Sew each block from one corner to the next of the small green square.
Flip the green square back and press.
Before you start trimming, check to see if you have any green hanging over the edges.  If you do, it is easy to trim everything evenly into a nice square.  Repeat for all 8 background squares
Next trim away the triangle behind your flip and sew corner.  I usually double sew these for bonus triangles, but these little guys are too small even for me.  Repeat for all 8 background squares.
Now pair each 2 inch square of green with the two background squares with matching greens.  The green triangles point to the middle.
Since there are 8 pairs, I like to line them all up for chain piecing.  Notice that the all face exactly the same way.  This really helps with getting everything oriented the right way.  Pair up your two patches to make four patches and press with the center seams twirled.
 
Now you can decide which layout you like.  The Bowties can run along the same diagonal line.
They could all make a circle, or rotate the other way to make and X.  So many choices.  Pick the one that makes you smile.
I like the circle layout.  Something about the empty spot in the middle makes me happy.  

10 comments:

Jo said...

Ok thanks. Hope to get his done tomorrow...

Deb A said...

Starting right off this month with a block! Looks like a fun one - now to go pull some scraps.

Dasha said...

Cute little block! Green is fine by me - got lots and lots of those. :)

Nell's Quilts said...

Green is good. While tidying up you wouldn't believe what goodies I found. Love the little bowties. So cute in the circle layout.

Katie Z. said...

Woot! I have lots of green scraps, and a green and red quilt I MUST finish this month, so this works for me!

Carla A Few Of My Favorite Things said...

Oh yeah! I just got finished sorting the scrap bin and found some lime green fabric that I had cut away from behind some applique. It will be perfect to add some lime green blocks. I also came up with some more black and white scraps which is good since I was running low from those that I pulled in the beginning of year. No sewing today though life is calling.

Lilian Pilar said...

Gracias, este bloque es muy bonito, ahora mismo me coloco a buscar telas en verdes claros..
xoxo

Sarah said...

I love those shades of green, my absolute favourite. Hopefully get some sewing done this month, I've been sadly lacking for a couple of months now!

Kirsten said...

Wow...I am always stunned with all your great ideas and tutorials. Thank you.

Kate said...

I've always wanted to make a whole quilt of these, but I settle for just one block for the sampler.