Play with Me Quilt Along Skill Builder - June

I've been playing along with 

Alida (TweloQ) Designs

in the "Play with Me" quilt along.

This month the skill builder is traditional piecing and the block is Ludo.

It was fun to do some simple piecing.

Making the quarter triangle square (hour glass block) in the middle was my favorite part.

There are a lot of ways to make hour glass blocks, but my favorite is to make 2 half square triangles and then put them together to make 2 quarter triangle squares.

Click here to see my 

Hourglass Block tutorial

Here are all my 

Play with Me Quilt Along blocks so far.

I'm having fun making this quilt.  It's going to be a Christmas exchange gift.

I still haven't made any game pieces, (I say this every month) but I have 6 more months.  lol

I can't believe it's the last day of June...

Hourglass Quilt Block Tutorial

The Hourglass Quilt Blocks 

This method will yield 4 blocks

These hourglass quilt blocks are a snap to make and with two colors or four,
there are so many possibilities.

Size:  When I put these together I always figure I am going to lose about 3/4" from my original fabric squares.  In this example I added an inch and will then trim them.  

Finished size wanted: 5"

Cutting:  Cut 4 fabric squares 6"

Put one light fabric on top of one dark fabric square right sides together and mark one diagonal line from corner to corner.

You have 2 pairs to sew.  Stitch each pair 1/4" from the drawn line on each side of the line.

Cut each pair on the drawn line.

Now you have 4 pieces (half square triangles).  Press each of them open with the seam allowances towards the dark fabric.  DO NOT TRIM!

Pair one of each color of half square triangles together with the right sides together and the seams meeting in the middle.  Put them together by smushing the seams together.  Definition of smushing??  Really squeezing those seams together until you can feel them meeting.  :)  Draw a diagonal line across the back of the block as shown.  Your corners should form little butterfly wings like in the pictures below.

Now stitch 1/4" away from the drawn line on both sides of the line as you did before.  Check to see that the first time you sew 1/4" from the line you are running into the seam allowance as it is pictured below.  This will help to "push" those seams together.

Sew on both sides of the line 1/4" from the line.

Cut on the lines to form 4 pieces total.

Press open and now you have 4 hour glass blocks. 

 They all measure about 5 1/4" and can be trimmed to 5" by centering and squaring up the blocks.

If you have any questions, please ask.

Have a great day!

Red Rockets

I love designing my own quilts, but once in awhile a quilt catches my eye

and I really want to try it.

Red, white, and blue is always a favorite of mine and the new Quiltmaker magazine has a lot of patriotic quilts to tempt.

This one was quick and fun.

It's called Red Rockets and designed by Margie Ullery at Ribbon Candy Quilt Company.

I think it was using the rickrack for the fuses that made this one jump out of the pages at me.

I used scraps (another reason to put it together) and my go to fusible web,

 Therm-O-Web Heat-n-Bond Lite.

Red Rockets is a 14" x 28" wall hanging (if I get the sleeve sewn on) or a sweet table runner.

My other finish for the week is quilting this for my Niece.

This is her very first quilt and my Mother-in-Law has been helping her with it.

She did a great job of matching her corners and I just love her color selection.

I was honored to quilt it for her and it gave me a chance to try some computer aided edge to edge quilting with the Handi Quilter.

Here's the back to show the quilting.

I would never be able to free motion so perfectly.  I don't know if that's a good thing...

Happy weekend!!

In Our Garden Blocks for June

The

In Our Garden BOM blog hop

is

Hosted by Amy over at Sew Incredibly Crazy.

I finished my June blocks.

You can get the pattern for these blocks

from

Sue – Super Mom No Cape.

The patterns for the June blocks are free as long as you download them this month.

Go and check out her blog to see how to pick them up. 

She is also having a giveaway for

The Fat Quarter Shop!

 I was lucky enough to receive Riley Blake fabrics for this quilt.

Here are all my blocks so far.  

(sorry for the lousy picture...the wind has been blowing like crazy for the last 2 days and this was the only spot I could find to take a shot of all the blocks)

The fabrics are Botanique by fabric designer Lila Tueller.

Here is the list of bloggers and the months

February - Blocks 1 and 2

Amy – Sew Incredibly Crazy

March - Blocks 3 and 4

Carol – Just Let Me Quilt 

April -  Blocks 4 and 5

Doris – Quilting Queen Online

Bonus Block

Amy - For Thermoweb

May - Blocks 7 and 8

Carla - Creatin’ in the Sticks 

Bonus Block

Carla - Creatin' in the Sticks

June - Blocks 9 and 10

Sue – Super Mom No Cape

Still to Come:

July
Joan – Moosestash Quilting

August
Kris – Kris Loves Fabric

September
Pat – Life in the Scrapatch

October
Vicki – More Stars in Comanche

November
Lana – It Seams to be Sew

December
Jan - Sew and Sow Farm

January

Amy – Sew Incredibly Crazy– Final Blocks and wrap up

There's a group Facebook page HERE 

 and a Flickr Group 

where everyone has been sharing garden blocks.

Participants are able to win quilty prizes too!!

Join in on the fun!

This is a scene from my garden this morning.

All these frogs were on one side of our "pond in progress."

 They seem to know there is a snake on the other side. 

I won't share that picture....

Visit Carla - Creatin's Craftsy Pattern Store »

Chernobyl Children's Quilt Bee - Jennifer's Mission

My friend, Jennifer over at Glinda Quilt's, asked for help with some quilty gifts

for a charity she is involved with 

Chernobyl Children's Life Line (CCLL) 

a charity that helps children living in Belarus and Northern Ukraine who still suffer the effects of low level radiation even 30 years after the nuclear accident in Chernobyl.

Jennifer explained the charity will bring 17 children to North Wales this July.  While there, the children will enjoy a combination of uncontaminated food, fresh air and sunshine, exciting trips out and lots of exercise.  This stay helps strengthen the children's weakened immune systems and does them a power of good.

A quilting bee is born...

Jennifer wants to send each child home with a tote bag and a quilted table mat.

The tote bag is for the child

and 

the table mat is to take home to the child's family.

I chose to make my tote bag with Jennifer's tutorial.

She always has easy to follow instructions and very clear pictures.
I used fabrics from my stash with dragonflies and some with butterflies
and the orange is  Connecting Thread's faux burlap in persimmon.

My table mat is my newest pieced pattern, "Flower Box" 

with a 2 " sashing and cornerstones.

Jennifer has a great tutorial for a table mat on her blog.

I'm still practicing my quilting on the Handi Quilter.

It's getting a little easier and I pulled out less hair this time...lol

My friend in the UK has such a giving heart and spreads it to everyone she meets.

I am thrilled to be able to help her on this mission.

How lucky are we to meet such wonderful people all over the world

while sharing our hobby with each other.

Thank you, Jen, for your big heart!