Saturday, June 25, 2011

School house tutorial

This has taken me a wee while to assemble and compose ... but here goes ... I'm not a pattern maker by trade and I've done my best to give your correct instructions. To make this school house block, here are your instructions.Fig.1 – draw a 12” x 12” square on a piece of paper (do not draw any seam allowances).
Fig.2 – shows some lines that have been drawn in and the measurements are shown below in Fig. 3.
Fig.3 – draw your lines according to the measurements shown.
Fig.4 – this is the section that we will be working on next.
Fig.5 – these are the templates for the window section (there will be measurements for a door for those that want a door instead of a window).
Fig.6 – the measurements below do not include any seam allowances.
A – ½” wide x 6” high B and C – 1-1/4” high x 5-1/2” wide D and E – 1-1/4” wide x 3-1/2 high F and H – ¾” wide x 3-1/2” high
G – 1-1/2” wide x 3-1/2” high
Fig.7 – shows the placement for the door
Fig.8 – the measurements below do not include any seam allowance. AA – ½” wide x 6” high BB – 1-3/4” high x 5-1/2” wide CC and EE – 1-3/4” wide x 4-1/4” high
DD – 2” wide x 4-1/4” high
Fig.9 – is the start of drawing in the roof section. Again there will be no seam allowances for this section. From the right hand side, measure in 2-5/8” and make a dot at that measurement. Using your ruler, draw a diagonal line connecting the dot at the top to the bottom on the right on side.
Fig.10 – From your 2-5/8” mark, measure 6” to the left and make another dot. Draw a diagonal line as per the drawing.
Fig.11 – After you have drawn in your diagonal line, make another diagonal line that is ½” wide as shown.
Fig.12 – Following the diagram, draw another diagonal line to complete the triangle. At the top of the triangle, it should measure 2-3/4” from the left side of your block
Fig.13 – This is the chimney section. From the point of the triangle at the top, draw a line straight up using your ruler to act as a guide to get a straight line. The width of each chimney will be 1” wide. Follow diagram to draw in your second chimney.
Fig.14 - This is how your block should look.
Fig.15 - I took a couple of photo copies of my roof section, added ¼” seam allowance all around each template and stuck them onto MacTac Contact paper. My templates are hardy and easy to use when cutting out on the fabric.
Now, for those special blocks that fit into the bottom right side of my houses, I used my EQ software and BlockBase that goes with it.
Here are a couple of links where you can make 6" x 6" (6-1/2" x 6-1/2" unfinished) blocks:
Cre8tive Quilter My next post will show you how to assemble the block.
Have a great day!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Time to build .....

.... my house blocks. Now that all of my 6-1/2" x 6-1/2" (finished 6" x 6") blocks have all been made, it is time to tidy up those scraps and pieces of paper and take out the sections of my house blocks and start sewing them together. Some of you have asked about this pattern and I am in the process of writing up a tutorial on how you can draft up your own house block pattern (this will not include the smaller 6" finished blocks) and make your own quilt. That tutorial will be coming up in the next week or two. So stay tuned for the tutorial if you are interested. In the meantime, I wanted to show you how one of the more intricate blocks was made. Some of those blocks were so tricky that there was no other way for me to make them except using the English Paper Piecing method. Below, you can see some of the templates that were basted onto fabric and hand sewn together.
This is how the back looks like before being trimmed to size and all the basting and paper templates removed.
This is the block. See, is this not an intricate block?
Have a great day, eh!

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Quilting Pumpkins

We had a bad storm roll through our city last Wednesday and it has been cool ever since ..... so, guess what I've been doing? Hand quilting my pumpkin top. You know, Autumn is coming and I would like to have this hanging finished before the leaves change over to their fall colours.Finishing my Klosjes spool quilt has spurred me on to finishing up more of my tops.

Have a great day!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

My Sweet Klosjes

Let the celebrations begin ..... my klosjes spool quilt is done ... done .... done! This quilt is now gracing our dining room wall and DH and I are admiring it greatly. There was a lot of work in the making of this quilt. Hand piecing, hand applique, hand quilting .... oh yes, lots of work ... but so worth every single stitch! :o) A number of you were scared that the markings that I put on my quilt using Crayola Washable markers would not come out. Well, they did and on the first washing. We have a front load washer and it worked just fine.


I thank Valentina and all the other ladies for inspiring and challenging me to join in making a spool quilt. Just look what happens when we inspire and challenge each other!


The spool block comes from Block Base for EQ programs and is #3571 (The Spool of 1966). The flower border was made by me after being inspired by a pattern that was purchased from The Rabbit Factory. The pattern is #RF151 Blooms All Around.


Quilt size: 88" x 95-1/2" (top size before quilting was 92" x 98-1/2"). After washing and drying there was a loss of 4" on the height and 3-1/2" on the width. I always, always make my quilt at least 4" bigger so that after drying, the quilt will fit perfectly on our bed. All my fabric is pre-washed and 4" works for me.


Block size: 6" x 6"


Border block size: 6" x 7"


Design Source: EQ6 and Block Base software programs.


Time frame: Quilt was started on Mar. 21, 2010. The top was done Aug. 9, 2010 and finished being quilted on May 30, 2011. Just over one year for a hand pieced, hand applique and hand quilting. Now, that is not bad, eh!


I'm having a great day ... how about you?