Patches of Blue Quilt Along – Block 6 Shimmering Snow

Its a beautiful summer weekend, and I am so happy to announce that we are on Block 6 (halfway through) our Patches of Blue Quilt Along!

Especially to my husband Michael to whom the “Patches of Blue” book is dedicated to, Happy Father’s Day Sweetheart!

“Shimmering Snow” from page 85 is the next block that we will be working on.

This month you’ll need: 1 blue fat eighth 1 light fat eighth

I love how this “Shimmering Snow” quilt makes our guest room so light and welcoming.

We will be making 1 block, you need to cut:

Blue Fabric 8 small squares 2 medium squares (for quarter square triangles) 1 large square

Light Fabric 4 small squares 2 medium squares (for quarter square triangles) 8 rectangles 4 corner squares

First we need to make 4 quarter square triangle units (Step A in book directions). There are 2 different ways yo make these, I would like to take a few minutes to show you both. Let’s begin making 2 with the traditional way, and then we’ll make 2 with an alternate method.

Select 2 medium squares 3-1/2″ x 3-1/2″.

Place them on top of each other and cut twice diagonally to make 4 triangles.

Separate the pieces and layout 2 quarter square triangle units as shown above. Check your color position to ensure it is correct.

Join 1 dark and 1 light triangle together. I like chain sewing, always keep your light fabric on the top and dark on the bottom, right sides of fabric together.

Press open, pushing the seam allowence toward the dark triangle.

Place two halves right sides together, lock the seams, pin in place, and stitch.

Press all seams in one direction.

Trim block to a 2-3/4″ square.

You have just make 2 quarter square triangle units!

Let’s get started on the second option to make quarter square triangles. Take the remaining 3-1/2″ squares, place them right sides together and draw a diagonal line across the square with a pencil.

Sew on each side of the pencil line using a 1/4″ seam allowance (I like to keep my 1/4″ shy).

Cut on the line.

You just make 2 half square triangle units!

Place these half square triangles on top of each other, right sides together, matching light to dark triangles.

Next draw a diagonal line across the unit.

Pin units together and again sew on each side of the pencil line using a 1/4″ seam allowance (I keep my 1/4″ shy).

Cut on the pencil line.

Open the center seam and press all seams in one direction.

Trim quarter square triangle units to 2-3/4″.

You just made 4 quarter square triangle units and learned two different techniques!

Select 8 light rectangles and 8 small blue squares.

Place dark square on top of light rectangle – right sides together. Draw a diagonal line across the dark square as shown by ruler above. you will draw 4 lines to the left and 4 lines to the right, when preparing all 8 pieces.

Stitch directly on pencil line (not beside it like previous steps).

Trim 1/4″ away from stitched line as shown.

Press units open.

Select 1 large square in blue and 4 small light squares.

Place 4 small squares right sides together in each corner of large square. Draw a diagonal; line on each light square as shown above.

Stitch directly on pencil line, then trim with 1/4″ away from the stitch as shown above.

Press open to form a triangle on each corner of the square.

Layout your block as shown above.

Start by joining side units, make 4.

Sew your block into 3 rows.

Sew rows together.

Trim block to 10-3/4″ x 10-3/4″ finished size.

Your “Shimmering Snow” block is so cute, you’ll want to display and enjoy it right away!

But it is not yet ready for our sampler, we need to add a little sashing around it to fit in the quilt. I have a 1-1/2″ strip leftover from my new “Something Blue” collection. You can use any leftover 1-1/2″ light strip that you have in your stash. the strip is a bit bigger than we need, but this will allow us to trim the finished block the the exact size once it is pressed.

Add 1-1/2″ x 10-3/4″ strips to the top and bottom of your block, sew and press. Then add 1-1/2″ x 12-3/4″ strips to the left and right sides of your block, sew and press.

Trim your finished block to 12-1/2″ x 12-1/2″.

Happy Quilting, I look forward to our next time together!

I am so proud of you! Be sure to post pictures of your block on Instagram and Facebook with hashtag #patchesofblue so I can enjoy them with you!

Edyta

If you would like to download a PDF version of this Quilt-Along Block 6 click here!

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Patches of Blue Quilt Along – Block 5 Blue Bell

I hope your Mother’s Day was full of blue skies, family time,

and the most beautiful flowers!

The next block in our Quilt Along is one of my favorite quilting flower blocks “Blue Bells” which can be found on page 62 of the “Patches of Blue” book.

For this month we will be making 2 blocks and you will need: 2 fat quarters in blue fabrics 2 fat quarters in light fabrics 4 squares 10″ in light fabrics

Lets start by cutting our blue fabrics.  Place two fat quarters (one on top of the over) right sides up. The cutting directions can be found on page 63 in “Patches of Blue” book (we are cutting two blocks, each blue represents each block).

For one block, you will cut: 24 small half square triangles 4 large half square triangles 2 small squares 3 large squares

Light fabric: 24 small quarter square triangles 2 medium half square triangles 10 small squares 1 large square 1 large half square triangle

Select a combination of fabric for one block.

Start by making HST units.

Make sure you trim the bunny ears. The unfinished size should be 2-1/2″ on these.

Add small triangles in blue and light.

Push seam towards dark fabric and trim the bunny ears.

Start on the left.

Notice how nice the seam is locking.

Then the right side.

Notice how it locks in place again.

Press and trim. Make 2 units A.

Now time for a square and small triangle units. I always lay all my pieces in front of me so as I sew them they are positioned in the right places. Keep pushing the seam allowance towards the dark fabric.

Make 4 units B

Now we will sew two blue small HST to a small light square.

Repeat to make 6 of those. Push seam allowance towards dark and remember to trim bunny ears.

Time to make a bloom. 🙂 Lay out 2 units B, 2 units C and a large blue center square.

Be sure to pin when sewing block to make sure your seams are aligned. Press it and trim it to 6-1/2″ x 6-1/2″. Make 1.

Next, Layout 1 unit A, 1 unit B and 2 unit C.

Sew it together, press and trim to 6-1/2″ x 6-1/2″. Repeat to make 2.

Place 1 large light square, 2 small blue squares, 2 HST in blue and 1 large light HST.

Sew it together starting with blue triangle and blue squares. Then add them to large light square and finishing with large HST in light.

This unit should also be 6-1/2″ x 6-1/2″ after trimming. Make 1.

You are ready to layout and assemble your block. Notice the position on two flowers with dark blue triangles.

Sew it together, press and trim to 12-1/2″ x 12-1/2″. Repeat to make second block .

We need to add a stem and small leaves to our flower. You can find the templates on page 67 of the “Patches of Blue” book. I am going to use fusible applique on mine for a quick results. I chose Heat n Bond Lite for my fusible webbing.

We start by tracing the design to paper side of the fusible webbing. I trace enough for 2 blocks.

We will rough cut the pieces our of fusible webbing and match them with our blue fabric.

Press to the back of your fabric very gently. My iron is set to cotton with no water or stem.

Now we will cut pieces out following the trace line.

Peel the paper away.

Position your pieces in place.

Now lets fuse it to the background with a dry iron on a cotton setting for 3 seconds. Do not overheat.

Stitch around the edges with your favorite stitch to hold it in place.

To learn more about fusible applique click here for a video tutorial.

Repeat to make two blocks.

Prepare your 4 light 10″ squares by pressing them.

Cut 4 squares into 9-3/8″ x 9-3/8″, then cut them once diagonally into 8 HST to create our  background setting triangles.

Arrange HSTs and sew them to the outside of your blocks.Press and trim to 17-1/2″ x 17-1/2″. Congratulations – we are done with our block number 5! I am so proud of you – you have just learned little fusible applique.

If you like those little applique leaves that we used in our pattern then you will love our new pattern called “Simple Life”.

Those leaves are part of the border in this quilt.

This design is full of wonderful images of a simple life. Ours ends up to be on the coast of Southern California.

The sun is almost down, time for me to go!

I hope you had good time quilting flowers with me.

If you would like to download a PDF version of this Quilt-Along Block 5 click here!

Happy Quilting! Edyta

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Patches of Blue Quilt Along - Block 4 Blue Spruce

Hello quilters, welcome to my blog and I’m so excited to be here with you!

Are you ready to pull over and take a little break from the daily routine?

Grab some fresh fruit, a basket of scraps,

and our Patches of Blue book. It’s time for our next Quilt Along block!

As I passed through the hallway I thought Blue Spruce block would be perfect for this time of the year where we look to the trees for a little sign of spring.

You will find this pattern on page 93 in our Patches of Blue book.

I selected 4 fabrics for this month.

1. One 10″ square in blue batik fabric for tree trunk

2. One 10″ X 20″ rectangle of blue big print  –  this will give you a nice variety for your leaves

3. One 10″ square of light fabric for tree background (light tree triangles)

4. 1/3 of a yard of light fabric for block background

For a quick cutting and assembly, I am going to use 2″ finished size triangle paper and an acrylic “Tree Farm” template.  The links will take you to these items if you would like them.

Lets start by cutting Dark Triangles and Tree Trunk pieces from blue fabric as shown in the directions on page 94, when finished we should have:

1. 10″ square from blue big print fabric (with 10″ light square from fabric requirements)

2. 6 small HSTs from blue big print fabric

3. 1 rectangle from blue fabric for a tree trunk

4. 2 medium HST (we will use one)

5. 4 small QST (we will use two)

From the light 1/3 yard block background fabric cut 2 squares 11-1/4″, then cut once diagonally to make 4 extra large Half Square Triangles (HST).

You will not find this measurements in the book. We will need those triangles to frame our block in the Patches of Blue sampler quilt.

Next. following the directions on page 94 for Light Block Background, cut the remaining pieces for our block.

Cut a 4 1/2″ x 12″ strip of fabric, fold the strip in half,

place your template on top of it, and finish cutting with your rotary.

With this technique you will quickly get left and right sides of the tree trunk.

After finishing all of the cutting for light fabric, you should have the following for 1 block:

1. 4 extra large 11-1/4″ setting HSTs

2. 2 light tree side pieces cut with template

3. 2 large HSTs for background

4. 2 medium HSTs ( we will use only one for the block)

5. 3 small squares for background

Place light 10″ square over blue 10″ square – right sides together. Position Triangle paper on top and pin it in place.

Since we are making only 1 block I decided to use LBQ-0529-X 2″ finished size triangle paper as we will get 18 HSTs and that is perfect for one tree.

Sew on the dotted lines, cut on the solid lines, press, trim, remove paper, and you will have a handful of perfect triangles!

You can use all of the triangles for your tree,

or reach out to exchange with friend(s) for a more scrappy look. You will be surprised by what a fun variety you will get back!

Time to lay out our block – I’m so excited!

Pay attention to the picture on page 96 in the Patches of Blue book to confirm you have all your pieces ready for assembly.

When positioning my pieces I place the ones with larger flowers and leaves closer to the tree trunk keeping the lighter one less busy in the top of my tree.

Time to sew. Start by assembling the left side of the tree.

Then the right side of the tree.

Tree Top

Tree trunk – let me help by sharing my assembly method.

Place your little blue QST on the light background, right sides together.

Sew and finger press as shown above. Repeat for HST on other side of trunk.

Place the tree trunk on top of the unit, pin, sew, and finger press ONLY.

I am very careful with pressing at this stage to minimize fabric stretch and distortion.

Position medium HST’s in blue and light on top and bottom, pin in place.

Sew unit together and now press with iron. Make sure your unit size is a 8-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ square, trim to size if necessary.

We are moving along nicely, now it is time to assemble the tree!

Pin, pin, pin, – then sew. 🙂

Press and verify that your tree has an unfinished size of 14-1/2″ x 14-1/2″.

The last step is to add our extra large triangle backgrounds. Remember to pin and center up your background triangles.

I over-sized the HST a tiny bit to 11-1/4″, that way we can trim our block to fit in our sampler. This is an easy way to accommodate a block that is on point.

Sew and trim the bunny ears, then press.

Congratulations, you have just finished your Blue Spruce block! Your unfinished block size should be at least 20-1/2″ x 20-1/2″, DO NOT trim if it is larger, we’ll wait until we are ready to put the block in our quilt.

Don’t forget to share your block pictures with me on Instagram and Facebook with the hashtag #patchesofblue.

This block will be one of the blocks that we will add applique to it. Please be patient, as this will be one of the topics for our Quilt Along and I am preparing something special.

I know, I know, it is so hard to just sit and wait.

You can always make more blue triangles and in no time you can find yourself lost in the “Blue Spruce” woods.

Or maybe you have lots of colorful scraps in your stash, you can always plant a “Tree Farm”. If you don’t have enough fun scraps I would love to some share with you. Leave us a comment by April 20, 2018 for a chance to win a Layer Cake from our new Sequoia Collection.

Happy Quilting Edyta

If you would like to download a PDF version of this Quilt-Along Block 4 click here!

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