Nail Polish Mini Quilt and Kit

When I saw the free Nail Polish mini pattern I had to make it, stat. That happens now and then, I have to drop everything to start a new project.

I used our very fun and shiny mirror ball for the polish.
I drew the quilting lines with a Frixon Pen and it was a quilt project to sew up start to finish

 

Soon after seeing the free pattern I saw Lori Holt's free pattern to make this mini even mini-ier! She makes her mini with 6 little bottles but I made just the one block.

I am going to give these to my teenager and hang them by her vanity.

I made kits and there is enough to make both minis. This is an easy pattern and would be a great beginner sewing project for your young sewist. The tiny block would make a fun zippy pouch front too.

Vintage Quilt Thursday: Hourglass Tutorial

Welcome to the Hourglass Block tutorial. You can see the vintage quilt inspiration here.
This is a smallish block (each of the half square triangles is 2").

Here is how to make this fun little block.

 Start with 4- 2 7/8" squares, 2 of each 2 colors.

Draw a line diagonally on the lighter square.

Place the squares right sides together and sew down each side of your drawn line 1/4".
Cut on your drawn line.

Open and press each square. Pressing (placing the iron on the fabric and picking it up to move) rather than sweeping across the block will help to keep the square from getting pressed out of shape.
You have now created 4 half square triangles (hst's).
Trim the dog ears (the corner flaps).

Lay the squares out like so.

Sew the squares on the top and bottom

And then join the top and bottom units.
Voila, you are done. Cute, right?

Since I am not making a full quilt out of these blocks (like in the inspiration) I made a few more blocks to see what a bigger block would look like.

This layout features the lower volume prints in the middle. It creates another block in the middle.

Turned this way I get another hourglass block in the middle.

 This placement gives a punch of color in the middle.

You can make this block any size you want. Have a bunch of left over 5" squares? Sew up half square triangles and you get the same block.

Here is a handy chart to help you figure out the finished size for any hst

Check out our past Vintage Quilt Tutorials here on our Tutorials page

Lastly, check out our Jelly Roll sale, while supplies last. See you next week for another Vintage Quilt Thursday!

Modern Building Blocks: Part 3

I have a few more Modern Building Blocks to show you today. I found this handy wire hanger at a thrift shop and it works pretty good.
6 more 6.5" unfinished. I think I am around 28 blocks done (out of 48).

 One of the bigger blocks. Its nice, after sewing together the teeny blocks, to sew a bigger one like this. This one is still half of the biggest block (38").

I saw Heather's big blocks up on a design wall (she is starting with the big blocks) and I am even more excited to finish. I will photograph her blocks and share those with you next.

Where to buy the patterns
Low volume bundle like my backgrounds

Part 1
Part 2
Flying Geese Tutorial

Vintage Quilt Thursday: Hourglass

Hello Thursday! Today's quilt has seen some love and is faded and soft.

As I was photographing it and trying to come up with the best way to piece each block (I initially though of doing an hourglass block) I realized how much simplier it actually was. Awesome!
Sometimes an easy quilt it just what I need. And its scrappy, so I am on board!

I wonder what this quilt looked like when the fabrics were brighter? Were they clothing?
Next week I will share how to make this fun little block.

I wanted to show the back too. You can see that the orange piece to the left is a different color. Did it fade different or was different to start with?

I like the rounded corners too. I want to try this some day. I've seen an old cd used to trace the rounded corners. I wonder if I could get away with not using a bias binding (because of the curved corners)? I almost never use bias binding and much prefer to cut regular strips. Most of my bindings are machine applied to the front (time saver) and I think machine binding a bias binding might turn out a bit wonky.

Before I go and fill orders look what we got in!!! Miss Kate flannels, by Bonnie and Camille. This includes layer cakes and charm packs. They would make the best rag quilts! And, with fall and winter around the corner I think my girls need pj pants and pillow cases to keep them warm

Modern Building Blocks: Flying Geese

I had a few questions about how I piece my triangles and flying geese units. I thought they best way to answer would be to show a few photos.
Above is the finished block (unfinished 6.5")

I lay all the right side triangles, right sides together, on the center piece. I match the bottom and right sides of all the triangles.

I sew down the sides of each triangle (I use a scant quarter inch).

I open the triangles up and press (I just press, I don't move the iron over the triangle or it may stretch it out of shape)

Do the same for the left side.

I then trim the 'dog ears' from the top and sides of the unit. The side bits can be trimmed with scissors but the top I straight trim with a ruler and rotary cutter

I chain sew together as many units as I can (less travel to the iron)

Voila.

You can find my previous Modern Building Block posts here and here
You can also purchase the pattern here
And I made a few low volume bundles like the fabrics I have used as my scrappy background fabrics

Modern Building Blocks Part 2

I am moving right along with my Moda Modern Building Blocks. I am now up to 20 out of 48 blocks. These 6 are 6" finished blocks. Again, I used spray starch on the fabric before I cut out the pieces. Some blocks have a lot of little, cut on the bias pieces.

You can see Part 1 set of my blocks here

These 4 are the 12" finished blocks. The bottom left one is in progress.
I am still having fun with this project. I really can't wait to see it all finished.

 Heather has started cutting out her blocks and I am really liking the fabrics she is pulling.
 I will be sure to show you pictures of her blocks too.

I like the way this pattern is presented. The fan deck style makes it easy to find and keep track of all the patterns. And its small enough not to get in the way on my cutting table.

 You can pick up a pattern set here or here
 

Hexagon Flower Quilt Tutorial

Anyone remember this quilt I made last year? I used about 18 Moda Mini Charm Packs and about 4 yards of background fabric.  I had a great time making it and it was, actually, pretty easy. It just takes lots of time.
I think of this as a modern Grandmother's Garden. I didn't want to sew together the hundreds of plain spacers that go between each flower. I was sure I would lose interest. Buuuut...if I didn't have to make the spacers? Perfect

Here is how you can make a Hexie Flower Quilt. A baby quilt would be cute too, and wouldn't be as time consuming..

Start by making a hexie flower. You can see my previous post on how I stitch my hexies here

You will need:
6 petals (the pink hexies in my photo) =2.5" fabric squares and one hexie paper per petal
one center piece=2.5" fabric square and one 1" paper hexie
1- 7" background square

Arrange your pieces in a layout you like this

Start by sewing the center piece to one of the petals (the hexie tutorial shows how I do this step too).

Add the second petal by placing it right sides together on the center hexie.
Whip stitch from the right towards the center
I like to do a couple of extra stitches in place in the center before I start to sew down the side

Flip this unit and sew from the middle down to the top.
Knot the thread and snip

Sew the next 3 petals the same way
The last petal you will sew just as you did before but you will go back to the last side of the hexie and sew the one remaining side

Here is the back. You can see that I do not trim my hexie fabric prior to sewing. I use 2.5" squares for the 1" hexie paper
Pull out your papers (pull back one corner of a petal on the back and gently pull the paper out)
Iron flat after all papers are out

Fold your square in half, finger press, fold in half again, finger press.
This creates a cross hair for you to center your flower.
You can see I lined up the notch on each side of the flower to the horizontal line.
 I lined up the center of each top petal the the vertical line
Pin in place

Sew around the flower close to the edge.
For the finished quilt in the first photo I used an off white thread for every flower. I decided I didn't want to change thread color.
With my example block I used an off white thread again. A light grey probably would have worked too.

Fabric requirements ( for finished twin quilt)

108  blocks in a 9X12 layout
3.5 yards of background
756-2.5" squares (or 18 mini charm packs, which I used. All different but I duplicated 2)
3 packages of 100/pack 1 inch hexies

I have used those 300 hexies for about 5 projects and they have held up well.
Sometimes I like to make each flower from beginning to end, sometimes I will sew up a bunch of hexies until I have a huge stack and then sew them up in to a flower

Where to Find: Etsy
Hexies
Mini Charm packs
Low Volume fabrics for background

Website
Mini Charm packs
Low Volume

Modern Building Blocks: Scrappy Version

Meet my latest quilting obsession (yes, I say that a lot), Moda's Modern Building Blocks. Its a cute fan deck of blocks. There are several blocks sizes (you can see in the top left picture).

I am using my handy design board (tutorial by Lori Holt) to lay out the pieces after cutting them out and carrying it over to my machine.

I am making a scrappy version and decided to cut out and sew the smallest blocks first (6" finished) to make use of my scraps. The bigger blocks may require cutting in to my fat quarters.

I am up to 9.5 blocks (out of 30-6" blocks). I am having so much fun!

I am a little worried about the cut triangles (they do not use a hst triangle technique) and bias so I am starching my scraps and then ironing before cutting. So far it has worked out pretty good. I also am finding I have to use a scant 1/4" to get my blocks all the same.

You may want to check your quarter inch for accuracy. My quarter inch foot has a metal seam guide and I think it gets a little bent after use and I could stand to check it more (and buy a new foot if necessary).

Heather is sewing up a solid version (like in the original) and my friend Mary stopped by today and I asked if she would bring her blocks over to share too.

If you are making and blogging about these blocks, let me know and I can check out and link to your blocks.

Fabric Members, here is your link to get your pattern fan deck at 25% off.

Fabric and Quilting Membership info