Alternate Block

The alternate blocks for the sampler quilt are simple nine patches made with four patches and background squares. The subunits will be collected throughout the year, and as all the colors for each block come up, I'll post directions for how many of each color combination you will need to make. The colored squares are all 2.5 inches, and I'll let you know how many of each color you will need to save each month.

Each block will require the following pieces:
12 - 2.5 inch squares of colored fabric.
8 - 2.5 inch squares of background fabric
4 - 4.5 inch squares of background fabric

Take 4 squares of each color and combine them with a background square to make 4 two patches.  Take the remaining 2 squares of each color and sew them to make 2 more two patches.  

Combine the two patches together to make four patches.  Two each of two colors with background and one with just colored blocks.

The four patches will be combined with the large background squares to make nine patches.  Four patches with background fabric will form the corners and the dark square will be in the center.  

This is your finished nine patch.  It should measure 12.5 inches unfinished and will finish at 12 inches in the final quilt.  24 blocks are needed for the quilt, and we will be putting them together throughout the year as the appropriate colors are revealed.  

Rainbow Sampler - Wonky Goose Star

I have to be perfectly honest and tell you that I dug this block out of the red scrap bag.  It was an earlier sample block from Rainbow Scrap Challenges of years past.  I'll walk you through it, though there are no pictures in progress.
The center block is a 3.5 inch crumb block.
The four corners are 2 inches each.
The geese units are wonky blocks made by sewing random triangles on top of 4 - 2 inch by 3.5 inch rectangles.  Use the flip and stitch method.
Sew the block together as you would for a sawtooth star.  

RSC Sampler - Stripes

Here is a quick and easy string block to go with our Starz from earlier today.

To leave a little wiggle room, start with 7 inch long strips of red fabric.  Cut them in random widths from between 1 and 2 inches. You will need somewhere between 5 and 9 depending on how wide they are.

Sew the strips into pairs and the pairs into quads and continue until all of your strips are sewn together in one big block.  Press the seams to one side.  If you can, leave wider strips on each end to make it easier to square up.

Double check to make sure your block is at least 6.5 inches big.  If not, add more strips until you get a big enough square.

Trim to 6.5 inches unfinished and enjoy!

Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler - Starz

There are so many cute asterisk blocks out there these days.  A quick google image search will yield plenty of variations.  I also like the spokes version that it the July block at Block Lotto.  I worked up a quick 6 inch version today in honor of Independence Day for those of us in the US.

I started with a 6.25 inch square of fabric.  I really wanted to find a 6.5 or even 7 inch square, but I was working with scraps, and this was what I found in the scrap basket.  It wasn't until I sat down to type of the directions that it occurred to me that I could have started with two rectangles that were each 3.5 by 7.  That definitely would have given me a little more room for error.  In addition to that you will need 4 strips of contrasting fabric that are 1.25 inches wide.  These work out just right if you take 2.5 inch strips you have on hand and cut them in half.  Two strips should be about 8 inches long, and the other two should be about 11 inches long.

Start by cutting your square in half.  Insert one of the short rectangles and sew half of the square on each side.  Try to keep the edges even.  (Especially if you have a smallish square to start).  This isn't meant to be a "perfect points" block, but it isn't deliberately wonky either.    Press the edges in toward the center.

Cut your block in half perpendicular to the first cut.  Insert the other short rectangle and again, sew one half of the block to each side.

Try again to keep the edges lined up, but don't worry too much if it isn't exactly perfect.

Now cut the block in half along one diagonal.  Insert a long rectangle and sew on each side.

Press toward the middle and repeat.  Though it would reduce some bulk to press out, I think the seam allowances make the star look like it is ready to "pop" off the block.

Cut from corner to corner the other way and insert the last rectangle of contrasting fabric.

This is where I really held my breath and hoped that my block was going to be big enough.  It was -- just barely!  Starting with a larger base square would give you more room to "play" in the final square up.

Trim the finished block to 6.5 inches.  If you look really closely at the center, you can see that it doesn't all line up just right, but I think it works out just fine in the end.  

RSC Sampler - Cactus Pot

This was supposed to be done last month. It was all kitted and ready to go, but there are only so many hours in the day and so it waited patiently until today. It would be nice in green too, wouldn't it?
I've had a wonderful day of sewing.  Three day weekends feel so much longer than two day weekends, don't they?  I am hoping to continue my sewing marathon in the morning.  There are several blocks scheduled to post for the rest of the month.  Pinterest is up to date for those who like to look ahead.  The RSC Sampler page is updated as well.  Yeah for relaxing days at home!  I did realize as I was posting everything that I accidentally made the same block AGAIN.  So now there are two Anvil blocks and two broken dishes blocks.  You would think I would remember making the same block twice, wouldn't you?  Well, best not to think too much about such things.  Maybe I'll rearrange one of them later.  Maybe not.

I used two dark purples and one light purple.  I would have used the same purple, but when working with scraps, I've learned to use what I have.
Dark purple = 1 square 3.5 inches
Light purple = 2 rectangles 2 x 3.5 inches each
Light purple - 2 squares 2 inches each
Using two inch scraps of light and dark purple placed right sides together, use the easy angle ruler to cut 6 HST units.

Sew the HST units together, trim dog ears and press toward the dark.  Check the block layout carefully.  Arrange the HST units along adjacent sides of the large square with dark touching dark.  Sew the HST units together and press toward the dark.

Sew one pair of HST units to the left side of the large square.
Sew one light square to the right side of the other pair.
Pay careful attention to the direction of the HST units, it is easy to get them turned around.

Sew the other set of HST units to the top of the large square subunit.
Also sew HST units to one end of each light purple rectangles.  Again, notice the orientation of the dark purple.  Press toward the large purple square.

Sew one long rectangle subunit to the right of the square.
Sew the remaining light purple square to the HST end of the remaining long rectangle.

It would have saved a few seams to use a single large triangle under the foot of the cactus pot, but I was pulling from the scrap basket and didn't have any larger pieces.  It looks like it would be a HST unit cut from a 3.5 inch square or even a 4 inch square cut in half and then trimmed to size.  Use what you have on hand, that is the essence of scrap quilting.  

RSC Sampler - Stacked Coins

A quick and easy classic for today. This one uses lots of different colors, and is great for smaller sized scraps.

Start with at least 6 greens.  I just happened to have a bag of 1.5 inch strips and so cut 6 rectangles that were 3.5 inches long.  This would be a fun block for strings as well.  Maybe I'll try that variation later.  In addition to those, you will also need two large strips of background fabric 2 inches by 6.5 inches.

Sew the 3.5 inch strips together and press carefully.  There are a lot of seams in this one and it is easy to get it a little wonky if you are overzealous with the iron.

Now sew the long strips of background fabric to either side and press away from the center.  I could see a giant quilt with this block, arranged in a basket weave pattern.  What a great scrap buster that would be!

RSC Sampler Cracker

So, I thought the earlier Knot block was called cracker, but perhaps I was confused.  This one is most definitely Cracker.
Warning -- It has very odd measurements.  I think most blocks do that have a square in a square layout.  I tried to minimize the oddness, but it is an easy block despite the quirks.

 You will need one square and one rectangle of light purple and one square and two rectangles of medium or dark purple.  I was using charm squares and didn't have two matching light squares.  Instead I chose two that I thought coordinated nicely.
Each square is cut at 4 inches.  All the other directions I found all asked for 3 7/8, but for one block I would rather sliver trim at the end than cut odd sizes.  If I were making a whole quilt I would probably make a different decision.
Each rectangle however is cut 4.75 by 1 15/16.  Yes, I said one and fifteen sixteenths.

 Really it is just a smidge shy of 2 inches.  I was tempted to cut everything to two inches and use a generous seam allowance, but I measured the odd sizes instead.

 First sew all three rectangles together with the light in the middle and the dark on either side.
Next cut each square in half diagonally and finger press to find the center.
Finger press your rectangle set as well and match the centers before sewing on each purple triangle to either end of the rectangles.
Press away from the center and trim the dog ears.

 Repeat the process of finger pressing and finding the center of the light blocks.
Sew the light blocks to opposite corners adjacent to the purple rectangles.

 Here is where my block is just a tiny bit big because I cut my squares to regular sizes.  I used s 6.5 inch square up ruler to make sure my block finished to a perfect size.  Honestly I was surprised at how little fabric was trimmed away.  I worry that my block would have been too small with smaller squares to start.

Here is the finished block.  It came together so quickly that I think it was worth weird measurements.  

RSC Sampler Antique Tile

Sometimes the simplest blocks can give you the most trouble. I was sure this classic block with just rectangles and squares would go together in a flash. Maybe next time.

The first time I made this block I did bad math and made a nine inch block instead of a 6 inch block.  Ooops.  Just ignore the gridlines on the mat.  

Cutting instructions:

Light fabric: 

1 square 2.5 inches.

4 squares 1.5 inches.

4 rectangles 1.5 by 2.5 inches

Medium fabric: 

4 rectangles 1.5 by 2.5 inches

Dark fabric

4 squares 1.5 inches

4 rectangles 1.5 by 2.5 inches.  

First sew the light and medium rectangles together on the long side
Next, sew the light and dark squares together into pairs.  Press toward the dark in both cases.

This is where I made my second mistake.  To get the seams to nestle nicely, you should sew the two patches of light and dark squares to the rectangles so that half of the dark squares point to the right and half point to the left.  You can rotate the finished pieces if you don't, but getting the seams to nestle becomes a trick.

Arrange the finishes pieces as a nine patch.  Notice that I didn't properly orient my corner units while sewing and had to rotate the seams to get it to work. The light rectangles should all be facing the same direction.  Sew as you would sew any nine patch, making sure you alternate the seams on the back.  

Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler - Knot Block

After a long and painful delay, I am finally back on task with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler.  April has been a busier month than anticipated, but with only 7 school days before the End Of Course for my little guys and 10 school days before the Advanced Placement Exam for my big kids, things will certainly start to calm down soon.

So with no further delay, here is the next block for the sampler!
Cutting directions are super simple.  A 16 patch grid for a 6 inch block needs 2 inch squares.  I used a dark, a medium and a light purple.
dark purple = 2 - 2 inch squares
medium purple = 6 - 2 inch squares
light purple = 4- 2 inch squares
light purple = 2 - 2 by 3.5 inch rectangles

When I first saw the block diagram on this one, the center four patch was the first thing that caught my eye.  I was thinking of doing that first and then building out around it.  Instead, it occurred to me that it would be easier to assemble as four patches instead.

So, here are the four patch units, two with dark corners and two with medium corners.  Notice that the light purple rectangle makes up half of each medium corner unit.  After laying out the pieces, pair up the squares and sew into twosies.

Pressing was a bit of a puzzle for me.  In hind sight, I should have done it differently.  I think that if you consistently press toward the medium purples you will be able to get everything lined up just right.  Pair the dark and medium twosies with the medium and light twosies.  Next pair the other medium and light twosies with the light rectangles.  Twirl your seams and press nicely.

Arrange the four patches so that the dark centers and medium centers all meet in the middle.  Hopefully your seams will all nestle nicely.  Sew the four four patches together and enjoy.  

Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler - Large Spool

It is back to quick and easy today.  The same block could be made in a smaller 3.5 inch size so that 4 would fit into a block, but I'm going for the giant size this time.

You will need two contrasting shades of teal.  Cut the following pieces:

light teal  = 2 rectangles - 2.5 by 6.5
dark teal  = 1 rectangle 2.5 by 6.5
dark teal  = 4 squares - 2.5

Using a pencil, draw a diagonal line on each of the squares going from corner to corner.

On each light teal rectangle, place a square so that the lines both point up toward the middle.

Carefully sew on the drawn line.  If you like, you can also sew a quarter of an inch outside that line as well to produce bonus blocks.

Flip and press the dark squares open.  Trim away the bonus blocks from the back of the block.

Arrange the three subunits as shown above.  The hypotenuse of the dark triangles should touch the middle teal rectangle.

Sew the three rectangles together and press toward the solid center.  Make sure your finished block is 6.5 inches and add it to your ever growing collection!