I decided to try out one of the alternative colour ways that I suggested for my Block of the Month quilt ‘Round the Year’, before I post the fabric requirements on the 7th July. There were a few glitches in this block pattern, but I have sorted those out.
Here is a first look at the under-construction block , which I call “Hope” after the famous blue diamond!
Block “Hope” / Blue Diamond from the “Round the Year” quilt
I absolutely love this and am tempted to scrap the other blue- orange-yellow and make this one instead! Or perhaps I’ll make both the quilts !? My daughter in law loves the blue and orange combination, so that goes to her. This – the ‘modern’ version – shall be mine! Meanwhile, here is a look at Block Two “Evening at the Pond” from the other one…
Block Two – Evening at the Pond “Round the Year” quilt
What do you suggest? Which one? If you are on facebook, why don’t you visit my page “Patchwork of my Life” ? Click on the link, visit my page, like it and tell me what you think. I so look forward to hearing from you!
This is a very special quilt, perhaps the closest to my heart! I started making it in February this year, as a Valentine’s Day challenge entry for my facebook quilting group, Desi Quilters. I had just managed to get the pieces ready for English paper piecing, when my daughter fell seriously ill.
She was hospitalized for 2 months, when there was someone very special who gave us faith she and we would come out of it, stronger than before.
“Cruel harsh winter
Ablaze with flowers of hope.
Summer’s in my heart.”
The unfinished pieces lay there forlorn and rolled up, to emerge in September, for yet another group challenge, ‘Flowers’. Finally completed, here it is.
Flowers of Hope – Small Quilted wall hanging
This piece is also special, because it is the first time I tried free motion quilting, quite successfully, I thought!
Back of Quilt
(The use of the lighter brown in the bobbin case was not intentional – I just ran out of the darker thread :-p)
I added a few French knots to give some dimension to the flowering trees.
Today we are faced with yet another situation where we need strength and hope, lots of it!
My faith continues to give me belief we shall overcome this too! “…but winter always turns to spring. Never, from ancient times on, has anyone heard or seen of winter turning back to autumn. ” Nichiren Daishonin
And so,
बीहड़ उजाड़ मन.
गुलमोहर अमलतास बन
झूमी आस किरन…
I do love Elizabeth Hartman’s Mod Mosaic Block!
She has mentioned that for quilting bees, I just need to provide a link to her block tute, should not enclose PDF files etc.
The colours are to be blues, greys majorly, (with a dash of lime green or torquoise if someone does not have enough scraps) and with white sashing.
The size could be 11 to 15″.
The link is here http://www.ohfransson.com/files/mod-mosaic-quilt-blocks.pdf
And guess what?!? The first block has already arrived! It is the most delicious block ever 🙂
DQ Vidya was leaving for the USA and was eager to finish the block before she went!
Look at those seams!A perfect block! Exactly what I wantedyou
Now, a question! Which is the right side?
I am eagerly waiting for the other blocks to arrive :-)d
Post Script – You can see the other blocks and completed quilt here!
The four- patch block is certainly versatile! I recently had the occasion to make several 9 square patch and 4 patch square blocks…
I saw and followed from YouTube an easy and quick method for the basic nine patch block and decided to adopt and adapt it for the four patch!
This method gives you perfect four- patches, points matched just so! and a pair each time! It is also great to use with pre-cut squares, such as charm squares or layer cakes.
So here we go!
Since I had several 4-patch blocks to make ( ready 2.5 ” square) so I started with two strips, one black and one white, which were 3.5″ wide. Remember, cut your strips just one inch wider than the size of the ready block.
If you want a single pair of 4 patch blocks 2.5″ square, begin with squares 3.5″…
Begin with strips 1′ wider than your ready block
2. Join the strips along the longer edges ( both sides!)
1/4″ seam along both long edges
3. Cut the joined strips at 3.5″ intervals. ( size of ready block plus 1′)
Cut into 3.5″ squares ( or ready plus 1″)
If you wanted a single pair of blocks, you would have this at the end of the first step! That is, you would have started with 2 squares of 3.5″ and sewed along opposite sides as above…
Similarly, if you were working with pre-cuts, this is where you would be after joining a pair of charm s or layer cakes along opposite sides.
4. Slice through each block as shown, parallel to the seams.
Cut each piece along centre, parallel to the seams
Here instead of measuring 1.75″ from the edge of the fabric, measure 1.5″ from the seam to find the centre!
5. Open and press towards the darker fabric! Or the light! (Just be consistent about which side you press them on) Or, press open your seams, if you like. (I don’t! 🙁 )
Seams pressed towards dark fabric
6. Place the pieces in pairs, right sides facing. Black on white and white on black!
Pair the pieces, right sides inside and opposite colours facing each other
7. Pile them, dark piece away from you, and seam towards the machine. This helps the seams of the top and bottom pieces `butt’ against each other, and you get a perfect corner!
Join the pairs as shown.
Stitch all the patches on one side, without cutting the thread!Flip over, sew along opposite side! Chain piecing makes things move fast!
8. Now snip the chain links to separate the pieces, and we are almost there!
Cut along the centre line of each piece
9. Abacadabra! We are there!
Open to reveal perfect four patch blocks!
Impossible for the blocks not to be perfect 🙂
You shall have two sets of blocks. With the seam on the right, one set shall have white on the top and the other shall have black on the top. This is unimportant, except the slight adjustments required when making larger blocks from these.
Two sets of blocks
11. One little step more, my favourite! 🙂
Flip the block to the wrong side, and use your ripper to rip those few stitches in the centre. Finger press the seams in a whirl …this reduces bulk!
Whirl in the centre
And here is your 4-patch
Done!
This method is particularly useful when you have several 4-patches to make as in a border. It prevents fabric from getting distorted along the longer edge and is great if you like working on minis!
Here are a few quilts where I have used 4-patch blocks!
Four patch border on a queen size quilt4-patch on a miniature QuiltSixteen 4-patches were used to make this chessboard.
And how many basic 4-patches in this work in progress?
And this – it was foundation pieced! I did the y-seams by hand. Probably need to rip the bottom right corner, and re-sew it! The pieces were already cut and yet it took more than four hours to construct! I am tired 🙁 And I hate paper foundation piecing – keep getting confused how the next piece will be sewed on! Next time, shall English paper piece. Equally accurate and less taxing on my ageing brain.
Just takes 2 Block 40
Decided to clean the blocks of stray threads and iron them when I am ready to join them!
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