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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Patches of Blue Quilt Along – Block 3 Aurora

Welcome to our “Patches of Blue” Quilt along. I am so thankful you are joining us. I hope you have finished your previous blocks and please remember to tag us when you are posting them on Instagram and Facebook #patchesofbluequiltalong

I love seeing your pictures!

I have been busy picking our next block.

There are so many beautiful quilts to choose from.

One of them always catches my eye, it even made it on the front cover of our Patches of Blue book.

This cute little saw tooth star block looks lovely as a border in the “Shining Star” quilt on page 71.

It also glows and sparkles through the “Aurora” quilt on page 118.

I love stars – not only in quilting, do you?

Lets start by picking our fabrics. It should be smooth sailing, we need 6 blue 10″ squares and 6 light 10″ squares. 

Grab your fabric, rotary, ruler, and “Patches of Blue” book; cutting directions are on page 119. NOTE: You will be cutting 2 stars from each fabric instead of 4. We need 11 star blocks for the quilt, we’ll save the extra star block for later.

This month I would like to introduce you to one of my favorite little rulers, Bloc-Loc 1″ X 2″ finished. It is going to come in handy when making flying geese units.

Out of light fabrics, cut 4 quarter-square triangles and 4 squares for each star. (The exact measurements are in the book page 119)

Out of blue fabrics, cut 1 center square and 8 half-square triangles for each block.

Place 1 quarter-square triangle in light and 1 half-square triangle in blue right sides together. Notice I match perfectly the outside point and have a little overlap on opposite side then sew. It looks like I could use a new spool of my favorite Aurifil 2310 thread!

Press open, pushing your seam allowance towards the blue, and then add the second blue half-square triangle. Now its time to trim the little bunny ears.

After you press your flying geese, it is time for trimming to an unfinished size of 1-1/2″ X 2-1/2″. Grab your Bloc-Loc ruler and get ready to enjoy it!

Place your Bloc-Loc ruler on the front side of your flying geese, lock the grooves onto the seam allowance, and trim the outside of flying geese unit. Repeat for all of the flying geese.

Time to assemble your star block. Begin by laying out 4 flying geese, 4 background squares, and 1 center square.

Sew in three rows. Make sure the seam allowances are pushed towards the square. Join the rows to make a star. I love to use pins to keep everything in place.

The block is 4-1/2″ x 4-1/2″ unfinished. Make 11 Star blocks.

If you need a little help, don’t worry, you can click on this link and it will take you to our YouTube video where I will talk you through all the steps of making this star.

Before you put all your fabric away, please cut 8 light 4-1/2″ squares from your scraps. We will be using them when it is time to assemble the quilt.

Looking forward to seeing you next time!

Happy Quilting, Edyta

To download a PDF copy of this blog click here.

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Patches of Blue Quilt Along – Block 2 Gift Basket

Happy Valentine’s Day and welcome to our Patches of Blue Quilt Along – Block 2!

I hope your Valentine’s Day arrived with baskets full of the most beautiful flowers,

and delicious kisses!

And speaking of baskets, our Quilt Along Block 2 is “Gift Basket” on page 106 of our Patches of Blue book.

Now you know the routine – lets start by picking your fabrics! You will need: 5 blue 10″ squares and 5 light 10″ squares. Remember the Rule of 5 when picking your fabrics.

Grab your Patches of Blue book, fabric, basic cutting supplies, and we will be ready to start! During the process I will introduce a few other tools you’ll need to make this a fun experience. In the book, we are cutting multiple baskets out of the same color, but in this case  we want each basket to be a different color and 10″ squares are perfect for that.

NOTE: Our sampler quilt will have applique branches and a bird coming out of the baskets – this applique will be done in a later month of our quilt along. Please be patient, I will have something special for you at that time.

Trim your square to 9-1/4″.

Cut it into 2 half square triangles.

From one triangle cut a 3/4″ bias strip for basket handle.

Take the larger triangle, cut in half again to make a quarter square triangle for basket . Notice how I lined up my 45 degree ruler with the edge of my triangle to insure that I cut it exactly.

From small triangle cut a 3-3/8″ square for the basket base.

Don’t forget to reward yourself with some kisses and cut enough fabrics for five baskets.

Next, from each 10″ light square, cut a rectangle and square for basket background. Fabric cutting requirements are in the book. I decided to use different color for each block background.

Pair up your backgrounds with your basket pieces in preparation for assembly. For one basket you need; 1 rectangle light, 1 square light, 1 square dark, 1 quarter square triangle and 1 bias strip for a handle.  Now you will need a 3/8″ (9mm) bias tape maker and and 5mm fusible bias tape, if you don’t have them, I have included a link for you.

Take a light and a dark square.

Place them right side together, draw a diagonal line with your pencil.

Sew on the line, press open, and trim.

Cut in half to create two half square triangles.

This is so much fun and so easy to make a basket this way!

Lay your pieces out to make sure that they are in the correct location.

Place right sides together. Notice the outside points are matching and the bottom points overlap. I pin it to keep everything together and now its time to stitch.

Next add the left side of the basket; place right sides together, match the outer points, and sew. Press and trim to complete. The size of the basket base should be 8-1/2″ x 4-1/2″.

Repeat above steps and in no time you will have all 5 basket bases done!

To make the handle I use a bias tape maker –  just click here or on the photo for a wonderful video on our YouTube channel that will guide you through the process. Once the handle is in position you can hand or machine applique it to the background.

Sew the top and bottom basket pieces together to create a block.

Press and trim your basket to 8-1/2″ x 8-1/2″.

In no time, you will have a basket full of baskets for Valentines!

We are not done yet, just like last time, I need you to do just a tiny bit more work as we will need these little finishing pieces in our quilt. Last time we did four-patches, this time I would like you to make some 1-1/2″ half square triangle units. Use a variety of scraps.

You will need 5″ squares of light and blue fabrics along with one of my personal favorite notions; 1-1/2″ triangle paper (LBQ-0523-X).

Place fabric right sides together with the light fabric and triangle paper on top.

Pin the paper in place and stitch on the dotted line. Make sure your stitches are a little closer together (reduce your stitch size).

Cut on a straight lines and in a short time you will have perfect triangle units. Don’t forget to trim the bunny ears and peel the paper off the back. I would like you to keep making some of these every month. We will need 348 of them for the border when we assemble the quilt.

You might even want to make some extras to share with your quilting sweethearts.

In the spirit of Valentines Day, I wanted to share our “Patches of Blue” Quilt-Along Sampler with you in the official colors of today. It’s a sneak peek of our new fabric collection called “Sweetheart”! XOXO Edyta

 If you would like to download a PDF version of this Quilt-Along Block 2 click here!

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