#FullStop July Block: Colon

A colon is a punctuation mark used to precede a list, quotation or description within a sentence. It is adds a pause to spoken English which is intermediate in length between a comma and a period.   Generally, the fragment that precedes the colon is a complete sentence.  The portion of the sentence after the colon is often an aside and does not need to be a complete sentence.   A colon is also used to separate the speaker from the dialogue in a play.  Mathematically, it indicates ratios and has several computer programming functions.   It is also used to separate minutes from hours in time and to separate chapter from verse in quotations from the Bible.  

This month's block will be a simple one.   Start with 2.5 inch strips of dark and background.   Cut 2 squares of dark and a rectangle of the background that is 3 by 2.5.   

Sew one dark square onto either end of the rectangle.  Press toward the dark.   Next, add a 7 inch strip of background to separate the blocks from one another.   

This will be a short row.  I had two navy blues, two browns and one black to use.   Here they are sewn together.   

 

Full Stop April Block - Asterisks

An asterisk is from a word root meaning star.  When used in writing, it is often a reference indicating that something has been omitted or requires more information or context.  I often tell my kids not to worry too much about their standardized test scores right now because everything we do this year will have an asterisk by it.   To understand why their AP scores were strangely low for this year, the asterisk would go with a footnote to explain that we are all learning in a hybrid environment during a pandemic, and the results might not be consistent with their usual performance.    I think the movie profits will all need and asterisk this year because most of the theaters were closed for so long.   I hear they are open now, but I'll keep enjoying new releases on HBO max for now.   There is an aster flower, asteroids in the sky, and the word disaster is derived from the same word root.  It refers to an unfavorable aspect of a planet or star.   

I plan to end up with a 6.5 inch block in the end, so I chose to start with 7 inches in order to leave room for squaring up. This is not strictly necessary as the width of the strips will add enough extra size into the block to give you some wiggle room.  So feel free to start with a 6.5 inch block if you prefer.  

For the oversized ready for trimming version, start with:

• 1 - 7 inch square of background fabric
• 2 - 1.25 by about 10 inch strips of blue
• 2 - 1.25 by about 8 inch strips of blue. 

The exact lengths of the blue strips are not important, as long as they are a bit longer than the background strips, the rest is all going to be trimmed away at the end.   

Start by slicing your background square from corner to corner along the diagonal.  Insert a long blue strip and sew to one hypotenuse of the triangle.  Always press toward the blue.   

Now add the second triangle to the other side of the strip.  Try to line up the middle corner with the middle of the block.   Remember to press toward the blue.  I feel that this makes the star "pop" in the finished block.   

Now repeat the same treatment along the other diagonal.   Cut corner to corner, insert the other long strip.  Sew on one side, press.  Sew on the other side, press again.   

Now you have a big "X" going on.   You will need to cut the block in half again, but this time, vertically.   Each side should be about 3.5 inches, but worry more about cutting through the intersection of the existing strips than about the exact size of the background.   

Insert a short strip and sew on one side of the background unit.   

Add the other side of the background square and repeat the process of sew and press.    

Rotate the block 90 degrees and repeat the sewing in of the strip.   

Your block is now just a bit bigger than the starting size of 7 inches.   Use a square up ruler to trim it down to 6.5, taking care to try to center the corner strips along the diagonal.   It doesn't have to be perfect, so just do the best you can.   You can see how much extra fabric I have on all the sides, so feel free to start with a slightly smaller block to produce less waste.   

Tada!  Here is your finished block.  Make 6 of these and sew them into a strip with a 6.5 by 1.5 inch strip of background fabric between each block.  

There are so many ways to work on variations of a theme with this block.  It is easy to make them larger or smaller of course, but you could also just use wider or narrower strips.  I think it would look great with solids in the diagonal and various fun prints in the horizontal and vertical strips.   Wonky blocks would be lots of fun with the same idea as well, just cutting on slightly different angles would give a nice fun feel to the finished quilt.  

Kathy did an entire post with the asterisk quilts she has made over the years.  

Another Quotation Option for February Full Stop

My original start on quotation marks was a combination of a 2.5 inch square with a 2.5 inch half square triangle.  From there, I went for a simplified but somewhat stylized version with only two pieces and one seam.  There was another way I could have gone though, and it has been pulling at my mind.  This version has more shape and finesse, but of course, more pieces and seams.   To make a curvier  quotation you will need:

• 2.5 inch squares in yellow - 2 of these
• 2.5 inch square in background - 1 of these
• 2 inch squares in background - 2 of these

Start with the 2.5 inch square of background fabric.  Cut it into quarters, each of which will be 1.25 inches square.   Toss one tiny square away or save it for now.  You will only need three for each quotation mark.  

Now use a pencil to draw a line from corner to corner on each of the 5 background colored squares.   

Three of them will go on three corners of one of the yellow squares.  You will sew on each drawn line.  If you are in a rush, it is easy to just sew around the square from one to the next by pivoting at each center point.   The 2 inch square will go on one corner of the other yellow square.  

The last 2 inch square will go on the opposite corner of the same square.  

Now just flip open all of those little flaps and iron them flat.   Trim the squares to make sure they are nice and even, and then trim the waste triangles from behind.  

The same units can be arranged facing right or left.   Sew these two subunits together

Each single set of quotes will get a left and a right.   Quotation marks usually come in pairs, so it will take 4 subunits for each set.  

I didn't make quite that many as I was just playing with the pattern, but here is a single pair of quotations on the design wall with the simple HST version and the simpler still final version I decided to go with.  

Each version has its own pluses and minuses.  Which one do you prefer?   

February Full Stop - Quotations

Quotation marks are used to identify direct spoken words of any individual.   They appear at the beginning and end of the attributed words, and therefore must generally be used in pairs.  They may also be used to mark the titles of certain short compositions, or to indicate "words used as words".  This use of "air quotes"  has become a popular way to delegitimize a word.  Imagine that your meal was cooked by a "professional" chef.  

These units may be made from 2.5 inch squares and half square triangles.  That is the way that I made them initially, but after seeing the finished block, I decided that I would make them with fewer seam allowances.  There is a bit more waste this way, but it is a good tradeoff for one less seam.  

For each pair of quotes, you will need: 

•  4 rectangles of yellow fabric, each cut 4.5 by 2.5 inches. 
• 4 squares of background fabric cut to 2.5 inches.   

Layer the squares on top of the rectangles, lined up with the bottom edge.  You will need to draw a line in pencil diagonally from corner to corner on the background square.   Notice that two of the lines angle up from left to right and two angle down.   

Next, sew along the drawn line on each of the 4 units.   

Flip these triangles down toward the corner and press.  Make sure the edges line up nicely before trimming away the waste triangles behind the block.   

Now just add a few dividing strips from background fabric.  The two small segments are cut 1.5 by 4.5 and the wide bit between the two pairs is 2.5 by 4.5 inches.   Now you have one pair of quotation marks.   

I made 4 pairs of quotation marks, although I'm wondering now if that is too many.  Sewed all together, that makes the rom 58 inches wide, which is pretty close to my target width of 64 inches for the finished quilt.  It is a simple row though, so I think the length will work out well.  Especially given that the lighter shades are not likely to overwhelm the quilt.   Here is Lizzie inspecting the two finished rows so far.  She seems to approve.   

I'll be back tomorrow with another version of the same block, with more seams, but more shape as well.  It is a trade off of course, depending on how complicated you are feeling. 

Hashtag - Full Stop Block 1

Row 1 of the Full Stop Quilt is Hashtag.  It is honestly one of the most complex blocks I am planning.  I always have more energy at the start of a a year than at the end, so it is good to get the hard part done now.    

The hashtag is traditionally known as a number sign or a pound sign.  In recent years it has been adopted as a tag for social media posts.   While not properly a punctuation mark, I feel that it fits in well with our theme this year.   

You will need some 2 inch strips to start.   These will be cut into rectangles

From pink: 

• 2 rectangles 6 inches by 2 inches
• 2 rectangles 8 inches by 2 inches

From background:

• 3 rectangles 6 inches by 2 inches

In addition to the block fabric, you will also need 4 rectangles for sashing.  These are 2 inches by 8 inches.   

Start with the short rectangles and lay them out, alternating between background and pink.   

Sew the strips together and sew toward the pink fabric.   If you are having trouble getting the strips sewn evenly, you can use rectangles which are a bit longer (such as 6.5 inches) and square the ends up during the next step.   

  

Make sure that the seams are all nice and parallel and cut this strip set into  three 2 inch strips.   The seams should be parallel and as even as possible.  

Now lay down the two longer rectangles in between the strip sets.   

Sew these 5 strips together to make your block.  Press again toward the pink fabric.   

Make 5 of these blocks and then assemble them into a row by sewing an  inch strip of background fabric between the blocks.  

Here is the finished row.   Mine ended up at about 45 inches, so I will eventually add a total of 19 inches of background fabric to either end.  I won't do that quite yet though.  I want to leave my layout options open for now.    

Full Stop

 I have a challenge quilt planned for this year.  It is called Full Stop and the theme is punctuation.   Check out an inspiration video related to punctuation here.  I haven't chosen all the punctuation marks yet, but January is going to be a hashtag. 

It is going to be a random length row by row quilt.  Each month I will make one row of the quilt, and post directions.  Because all of the punctuation marks are going to be sized differently and I just don't want to try to make all the rows work out to the same length, the rows will be randomly sized and then background fabric will be added to either end to bring each row up to the same size.   I am going for a nice staggered layout with a modern flair.   My target size will be a large lap quilt of about 52 by 64 inches.  It will be quite easy though to make the quilt larger or smaller by adjusting the number of rows or blocks.   I have worked up a clip art mock up of the general idea above.   Because it is a scrap quilt, I can not give you fabric requirements.  I am planning to work in solids this year and use a variety of greys for the background.   I have the first row done and the directions for that will be posted tomorrow.