Wee Wednesday

Step 1, make a template.  I found that a coaster and a quarter worked out well.  Anything that is round is up for grabs.  The smaller the circle, the fatter the petal.  My coaster is 4 inches in diameter.  

If you don't want to make your own templates, just print this handy dandy pattern which I will post for you.  The petal should be about 3 inches long.  (Please let me know if it isn't.  I'm not quite sure yet where the printer is, so I can't double check the size. ) 

I like to make templates out of freezer paper.  Feel free to use the applique method of your choice.  

You will need scraps of pink fabric  about 4 inches long and a tiny bit of a contrasting fabric.  They pinks can be the same or different.  In addition to the pink, you will need 4 squares of background fabric each 2.75 inches.  (feel free to use one single square of background fabric which is 5 inches if you want to simplify)

Prepare your pieces for applique and apply one piece to a background square.  Place the petal along the center diagonal and center it so that a quarter of an inch seam allowance remains at each corner.

Sew down your applique pieces and arrange your four patch.

If you don't want a flower, you could also arrange them this way which is a traditional orange peel layout.

Sew your four patch together.

Finally, place the contrasting center in the middle and sew it in place.  The advantage of the center circle is that it will camouflage any mismatched seams in the center.  

It is the last day of July, which is a good time to mention that the color for August will be light and bright blue.  Sorry for the purple fans, but it is coming soon.  Blue is one of those shades which needs a little extra attention for most of us.  

When I wasn't working on Wee Wednesday today I was working on Ryan's dorm room quilt.  Due to the temporary lack of extra rooms, I set up the quilting frame right in the middle of the family room.  Can't argue with the view!

I'm using a square spiral which I think feels like a circuit board.  

 Dave, our contractor and old neighbor, was back today and installed drywall around Sydney's door.  She will be so happy to have a little privacy as the garage entryway goes right past her bedroom

He also installed two new outlets to recharge cars in the garage.  He'll be back tomorrow to finish up the drywall and start working on the pantry.  Slowly but surely we are getting all settled in.  Just in time too.  One day left before back to school!

Tiny Tuesday - Violet

Ok, so violets aren't necessarily pink, but flowers come in many colors.  This should be another quick and simple block.  If  you are interested in an applique version, come back tomorrow for a bonus wee Wednesday block.

 Today's block is a four patch with snowball corners.  You will need:
4 pink squares each 2.75 inches
8 background squares each 1.75 inches
4 contrasting squares each 1.25 inches
 Start by drawing a line from corner to corner on each of the background squares.  Place one in a corner of each pink square.  Sew along the diagonal.  Flip and press the white square open. 

 With snowball or flip and sew corners, I like to look at the back of the block and trim away excess from the corners before trimming away the fabric behind.  I find the blocks end up much nicer this way.  Not everyone trims away the excess fabric behind, its all about choice. 

After you have snowballed one corner on each pink square, snowball the adjacent corner.  

 Next take a contrasting 1.25 inch square and snowball the next corner as you work around in a clockwise direction. 

 Here you go, 4 squares with 3 snowball corners each. 

 Arrange them so that the rotate around the center with the contrasting corners all pointed to the middle.  Sew as you would for any four patch.  The seams on the snowball corners will naturally face away toward the corner, if you want to manually reverse the seam allowance on one corner in each pair, you can reduce the bulk by a bit and get the seams to nestle. 

Here is the finished block.  Notice that the petals float a bit at the edges, this means you aren't going to have to match seams and the corners don't have to be perfect.  

When I wan't sewing today, we were getting a new door installed in Sydney's room.  She is super excited.  

We also got a new chandelier installed in the stairwell.  Just a bit more paint and finish work to go.  

T-Shirt Quilt

 Ryan is off to college in just  few short weeks.  It is time to get a move on with his dorm room quilt.  So far I've finished the ironing and cutting.  Now I'm off to the fabric store. 

I'm sure I have grey fabric somewhere, but finding it right now would be more work than it is worth.  The sewing room won't truly get set up until Anna is back at college.  It has been ages since I shopped for any fabric.  I'm looking forward to it.  

Last Pink Saturday

Where does the time go?  I hope that you have made some great pink progress.  This is my last weekend of summer before teachers go back to work next week.  I'm going to soak it all up like a sponge.  Looking forward to seeing lots of great pink today.

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Tiny Tuesday - Wonky Star

I thought a nice simple block was in order for this week.  Stars are always a favorite for me.  This one is an improvisational  version that comes together so quickly . 

 Gather together some squares.  The background squares are cut 2 inches and the star points can be anything between 1.5 and 2 inches in a square or rectangle.
Cutting:
8 squares of assorted background fabric 2 inches each
1 square of pink for the star center, also 2 inches
8 scraps of pink, about 1.75 inches square (exact size not important. 

 Start with 4 squares of background fabric and place a pink scrap in one corner.  Sew diagonally across the corner, no necessarily from corner to corner.  Try to get a little bit of variety of angles and sizes. 

 Fold the star points back and finger press to make sure that they cover the background fabric.  You can leave these untrimmed for now or iron and trim the pink fabric even with the background fabric. I chose to wait  because my iron is on a different floor from my sewing machine right now.  I know that sounds lazy, but I'm getting in over 50 flights a day at the moment.  Saving one or two of those  can't hurt. 

 Repeat the same procedure on the other corner. 

 Press at this point and make sure all your corners are covered. 

 Trim the pink so that it exactly covers the background square. 

 At this point you can either trim the background fabric away from behind the points or leave it in place.  It depends on how much you like to reduce bulk.  I'm a trimmer. 

 Now just arrange your star points around the center pink square and fill in the remaining background squares to make a nine patch. 

 Sew  the nine patch together and feel free to trim it up if it isn't quite 5 inches. 

Set it on the diagonal for the finished quilt and enjoy your quick and simple block.  I could make these all day!

ScrapHappy Saturday

There was a wedding on the beach this week.  I enjoyed sitting on the deck and watching.  Usually couples just come to take photos on the beach and get married somewhere else.  This couple seemed to have the entire ceremony on the beach.   So sweet.

As far as pink scraps, I gifted this pink baby quilt for a dad at my husbands office who just had a baby girl.  I'm out of baby quilts now.  I try to keep one for each gender on hand just in case.  One of my coworkers had a baby boy earlier this year though, so I'd better think about replenishing the supplies.  

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Tiny Tuesday - Tiny Piglet

Sally Trude has designed another adorable animal block this week.  Wow is it tiny!
Link to Tiny Piglet block.  Don't worry too much though, it is all squares and rectangles.  Tiny squares and rectangles. 

Just in case that is too scary though, there are some friendlier fish to try as well.  Please set these straight.  They don't want to get dizzy!  Thanks so much Sally for your creativity and adorable designs.  

ScrapHappy Saturday - Hot Pink

Thoughts and prayers for quilters in New Orleans right now. Hurricane season is just beginning.

I got a little sewing area set up in the family room.  Plenty of space to start playing with some pink scraps.  So far I haven't accomplished much, but it sure feels good to putter.  I've also been working on refinishing the stairs now that the half bath has been painted.  It is a long list, but everything is pretty livable right now, so we can just work slowly on the list over time.  Initially I thought I would have more done before summer ended, but there honestly have not been that many days at home yet.  I was at a training class for most of last week.  Ryan is getting his wisdom teeth out next week.  It is great to be able to have time in between all of that though.  Summer is a good thing for teachers. 
I hope that all of your pink plans are coming out nicely.  Looking forward to seeing what everyone has been working on. 

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Tiny Tuesday - Bear's Paw

Pink seems so cheerful right now.  I just can't get enough of it.  Paired with simple, classic blocks, it is hard to go wrong. 
This week is a Bear's Paw block.  Definitely a simple classic. 

 You will need two squares along with 4 HST units.  Feel free to use the method of  your choice for the half square triangles.  The unfinished size is 2 inches and they will be 1.5 in the finished block.  I'll be showing the two squares method today, but there are lots of ways to make HST units. 
Cutting:
From pink: 1 large square 3.5 inches and two medium squares 2.5 inches
From background: 2 medium squares 2.5 inches and 1 small square 2 inches

(These directions are for slightly over-sized HST triangle units which will be trimmed to 2 inches, the "official" rule says to add 7/8 of an inch to your desired finished size to make an exact size with no trimming required.  I would personally rather trim a tiny bit and use a standard sized square, but if you would rather use and exact size, that should make the medium square 2 and 3/8 of an inch each I believe)

 Pair each 2.5 inch pink square with a background square.  Use a pencil to draw a line from corner to corner along the diagonal of each background square. 

 Sew a quarter of an inch from the drawn line on either side of both squares.  Cut along the drawn line and press so that the seam allowance goes toward the dark fabric.  Trim each of your four HST units to 2 inches. 

 Here is your layout.  The large square forms the sole of the bear's paw.  Each HST makes up one toe.  Notice that the pink portions are all adjacent and the diagonal seams all run parallel.  Use the small square of background to fill in the final corner. 

 Sew each pair of HST units together.  Be careful with the orientation as it is easy to rotate them accidentally.  Note that the two sides are not facing the same way. 

 Sew two toes to one side and then sew the background square to the end of the other two toes.  Press the seams toward to sole and away from the toes so that the seams nestle. 

There you go!  Just press the final seam toward the sole of the bears paw and your final block should be 5 inches.  Set in on the diagonal so that it looks like the bear is walking up your quilt.  

Scraphappy Saturday

I've decided to take over the family room and set up my sewing machine there for the weekend.  Sharing space with Anna isn't quite working out, and I really want to dig into my pink scraps.  I've been working really hard on the new house and I could sure use a little sewing break.  Can't wait!  I hope your pink scraps are off to a great start.  Hopefully those of us in the US had a nice long holiday weekend to enjoy a bit of extra sewing time. 

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Tiny Tuesday

 Libby in Tennessee let me know that she had a block for Tiny Tuesday.  Perfect timing as I am not quite all set up for sewing quite yet.  There is nothing stopping me at this point, I just haven't quite shifted gears yet from remodeling and unpacking. 

I have seen a lot of sunrises since we moved, and a rocket launch this morning.  I even have this week off of work!  It seems like all the weeks of summer should be off for teachers, but it never seems to work out quite that way. I think that I can whip up a quick block though.  It looks like it should be super speedy