10-inch Toadstool Tutorial

This month I’m queen in Stash Bee and we’re making a toadstool block. I figured I might as well share the tutorial here as well.

The block has been tweaked – up scaled, turned into a square, simplified slightly, and the tiny HST units have been removed (you’re welcome) – from this tutorial by I am LunaSol. It turns out that it now looks very similar to this block by Patty Sloniger. When I couldn’t find the pattern in her shop I checked with her and she has given her consent to me using it so long as I let you know that she came up with it first. I’m more than happy with that!

I’ve chosen a red and white print for the toadstool top, low volume prints for the background, a mid grey print for the stem and a pale grey print for the gills.

CUTTING INSTRUCTIONS

From the toadstool top fabric

          Cut one rectangle 5 ½” x 10 ½”

          Cut two 1 ½” squares

From the gills section fabric

Cut one 1 ½” x 10 ½” rectangle

From the stem fabric

          Cut one rectangle 4 ½” x 3”

From the background fabric

Cut two rectangles 4 ½” x 4 ¼”

Cut two 3 ½” squares

SEWING IT TOGETHER

Mark the diagonals on the two background squares and the toadstool top fabric squares

Line the background squares up in the corner of the toadstool top rectangle so the line cuts across the corner, and the same for the toadstool top squares on the gills section rectangle. Stitch along the marked line. Trim ¼” from the stitched line and press.

Stitch the two background rectangles to either side of the stem fabric rectangle. Stitch the three sections together to form a toadstool.

And we’re done!

If you make any of these I would love to see them! Tag me on Instagram @sevenoaksstreetquilts or #10inchtoadstool or email me.

I’ll be linking this up to Cheryl’s (Meadow Mist Designs) and Yvonne’s (Quilting Jetgirl) bi-yearly tutorial link up.

In the meantime, I’m linking up to Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation and Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

Hold the Pickle Quilt Block Tutorial

As I promised last week here’s my quick and cheap tutorial for the Hold the Pickle block.

The block is effectively a  Pickle Dish Variation variation and once I modified it to remove the Drunkards Path units it lost its dish shape. I’ve named the quilt I’m making already as my Hold the Pickle Quilt, thus these are Hold the Pickle blocks.

I’ve given myself some parameters for fabric choices that you can ignore completely for your version. I’ve decided that I’m trying to achieve a sweet and pretty vintage effect so I’m using pastels for the backgrounds (B1 and B2) for the simple quarter log cabin units (not sure what to call these bits), low-volume prints as background for the star sections (B3) and checks, dots, and small scale florals for the focus prints in the centre (F). Star points are S. That’s what you’ll see in the photos.

I’m also using a tri-recs ruler these days to cut the fabric for the triangle in a square unit but I started out doing them as paper-pieced. You can find a pdf here from Generations Quilt Patterns for paper-piecing templates and paper-piecing cutting templates.

For this block we make 3 inch finished units.

So now that we’ve all got our templates ready we can start cutting.

CUTTING INSTRUCTIONS

For the triangle-in-a-square units, start with strips of your chosen fabric (S and B3) wide enough to fit your templates on and cut 8 star points and 4 background triangles. 

Cut two 3 ½” squares from the B3 fabric.

From the B1 and B2 backgrounds cut one each

          3 ½” square

          3 ½” x 6 ½” rectangle

From the F fabrics cut a total of four 3 ½” squares

SEWING IT TOGETHER

This part’s pretty easy.

(Notice how suddenly my fabrics have gone all wrinkly? That’s because a gust of wind blew them all over the garden and I had to chase them and grab them quickly in my sweaty little hand. Thoroughly annoyed I took the photo ANYWAY. Notice also that I have the far left star point section upside down - don't do that.)

Sew the B1 and B2 squares to two F squares, then attach the B1 and B2 rectangles to make the quarter log cabin units.

Lay out the star points S around the B3 triangles to make sure you’ve got everything lined up okay and then stitch together.

Arrange the different bits to make sure everything’s pointing in the right direction. Sew together two triangle-in-a-square units to the two B3 squares and two triangle-in-a-square units to two F squares (black arrows). Sew these two sections together (red arrows).

Sew the sections together like a four patch and *ta-da!* one block done! The block is 12" finished.

I hope this all makes sense to you. If you have any questions or need some clarification, please comment and I’ll endeavor to fix it.

I’ll be linking this up to Cheryl’s (Meadow Mist Designs) and Yvonne’s (Quilting Jetgirl) new quarterly tutorial link up.

In the meantime, I’m linking up to Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation and Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

The Somewhat Positive block tutorial

This is the tutorial for this variation on the plus block. I’ve tried it in solids and prints, and now you can apply your own creative talents to it and make it your own.

Okay so I might have been promising to write this up for a year and finally I have overcome all the monsters-in-the-closet kind of fears and done it! To be honest it probably wouldn’t have happened at all except that Jen of Dizzy Quilter said she wanted to make one for her son. I would probably even have toyed with the idea editing the evidence out.

I asked Jen to test this tutorial and she’s done just that, with marvelous results. 

My biggest fear, ‘what if I get it wrong?’ has a simple answer - I’ll fix it. Just let me know as politely as you can.

As a quick stat this block finishes up at 9” square.

I’m going to assume some knowledge of the process of paper foundation piecing. If you want to give it a go and haven’t done it before just google it, there are plenty of tutorials out there.

If I have a tip it’s to mark the seam allowance in for the first section so you can line the pieces up and avoid trimming on the first seam.

The paper piecing template is available here for A4 size and here for US Letter. Print it off with page scaling set at ‘none’.

I have given a template for the simple 3 square section. It is probably overkill and you can piece it normally if you choose, just use 31/2” squares if you choose this option. I’m sure you can work it out how to put that section together for yourself and you don’t need me over-explaining.

This is what you’ll need to cut for one block (Fabric B is the background, fabric F is the focus). I’m generous with my cutting.

·       2- 4” x 4” square fabric B, 1 - 4” x 4” square fabric F (for paper piecing)

·       5 - 4” x 4” square fabric B, 1 - 4” x 7”  fabric F

·       Strips of fabric F around 1 ½” wide – 6 - 4” x 1 ½” strips and 1 - about 2” x 1 ½”

Follow the piece by number instructions on the templates.

This section, though, may have you scratching your head and wondering what’s going on.

It’s for this small scrap of detail I put in here.

To make it add a background square at 5(b) and trim ¼” away from the straight and dashed line. Use the 1 ½” x 2” strip and stitch along the seam line. You don’t need to stitch the full length since you’ll be trimming to ¼” away from the diagonal line at the next step.

Press and then trim ¼” away from diagonal line (I know I’ve just repeated myself but this is just the instruction I wouldn’t be able to find when I look for it halfway through making a block). 

Keep the paper folded while you line up the 4” x 7” focus fabric strip (I originally saw this tip on We All Sew. It changed my life!).

Then stitch it in place. Press it, trim it and we’re done with that section.

Complete the other sections and here’s the placement. As you can see the seams line up between the top section but not the bottom one. Rest assured you haven’t made it wrong, it’s supposed to be like that. There should be about 1/8” difference between the two.

Here’s my remaining tips

·       Leave the paper in until after you’ve sewn your sashing on.

·       When you go to quilt it DO stabilize by outlining the shape first.

·       I used sashing finishing at 1” wide for my grey mini quilt (I thought it was too narrow) and 3” for the quilt top I showed last week.

If you decide to use this tutorial please let me know, I would love to see it. If you’re on Instagram I’m @sevenoaksstreetquilts, and use #somewhatpositivequilt.

Hope you have fun!

Cheers

Sue

PERMISSIONS: You can use the quilts you make from this tutorial for private purposes, including selling them on a small scale (please acknowledge the pattern source). If anyone is thinking about copying this tutorial and adding it to their own blog or other internet site and passing it off as their own work (people do that apparently, not you of course, but others) then don’t!

Linking up to Tips and Tutorials Tuesday with Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl, Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation, and Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

12 ½ Inch Inside Addition Block Tutorial

This post was originally written for the BeeInspired group – it’s the block I’ve requested the girls make for me this month. I thought I’d share it here as well.

The original block by Jessica (@alittlegressica) is designed at 8" unfinished. Upsizing it is fairly simple. Here’s what you will need

4 HST units with an unfinished size of 5 ½̎  using background and feature fabrics

(I’m not including cutting measurements or sewing techniques here. I know everyone has their own favourite HST method. I like to make mine oversized and trim. Links to resources are included at the bottom of the post);

4 x 3" squares background fabric

2 x 3" squares feature fabric

1 x  3" x 8" strip feature fabric

Sew 2 background squares to either end of the feature fabric strip and sew two feature fabric squares to one background fabric square each; sew the HST units to the 2 square units; then the two sewn sections to the centre strip and admire! (That’s black arrow, then green arrow, then red

As promised, here are some links:

Blossom Heart Quilts triangle tutorials (with the maths!)

http://www.blossomheartquilts.com/2016/01/hst-tutorials-tips-accuracy/?v=6cc98ba2045f

See the work of others using this block:

on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/insideadditionquiltalong/

No Hats in the House

http://www.nohatsinthehouse.com/2015/04/inside-addition-top.html

Carla at Grace and Favour

http://carla-graceandfavour.blogspot.com.au/2015/05/bloggers-quilt-festival-spring-2015.html

Debbie at A Quilter’s Table

http://aquilterstable.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/allinclusive.html

Linking up to Yvonneat Quilting Jetgirl for Tips and Tricks Tuesdays.

Post Quilt Blocks Internationally For Less

This post was originally written for the BeeInspired group. I thought I’d share it here as well.

Before signing up for two international bees where posting quilt blocks to the rest of the world is going to be a monthly activity I did some research into postage costs. Here’s what I found:

1.     Cost variation between parcels and letters is immense!

As you can see from the image below (taken from the Australia Post website) the starting cost for sending a parcel from Australia is $15.85!

Compare that with the price of letters – much better!

2.     Weight matters

That’s the weight of the contents not your personal weight – if you’re happy and healthy then have that slice of cake! As you can see keeping the weight under 50g gives the cheapest option and then there’s a big jump to the next cost scale.

3.     Variations occur across the various countries so check on your local postal websites. StashBee had some resources for US postal services that I’ve included here.

ENVELOPE SIZES

One of the variations I found was in the size limits for envelopes. In Australia our largest size is 26 x 36cm (10" x 14") with the maximum thickness being 20mm (just over ¾ inch). In the US the maximum size is just over 6" x 11 ½" and ¼" thick (US Postal Information on Letter Sizes). That’s still plenty of room for a quilt block though!

PACKAGING YOUR BLOCK

Stash Bee has two good articles on packing blocks for posting that I highly recommend reading

The Inside Scoop on Lower Postage Rates

Best Practice Tip For Mailing Blocks

I packaged my block inside a zip lock bag. In the end I didn’t close the zip because it fills up with air and I wanted it to sit as flat as possible, and I taped the zip down and added a label with the address as suggested in the second Stash Bee post above.

WEIGHING IT ALL UP

And here’s what I included for my test run up to the post office (I ditched the crappy homemade gift card before posting the real block and replaced it with something of similar size but way better). When I weighed this on my scales at home it came in very close to 50g and I forgot to ask how much leeway was left, but rest assured that it came in under the weight limit. When I put 50g (0.05kg) into the US Postal Price Calculator it came up with a cost of $2.10 for posting to Australia which isn’t too bad!

Hope you find this helpful!

Linking up to Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl for Tips andTricks Tuesdays.

Cloud 9 New Block Blog Hop

Hello, I’m Sue and welcome to my stop on the Cloud 9 New Block Blog Hop. If this is your first visit please feel free to look around.

This is the block. It's 12" square finished.

I adapted it from a snowflake design on the pyjamas I was wearing on the night the chance of joining this hop was offered to the 2016 New Quilt Bloggers Facebook group. Just as well inspiration struck so early otherwise I may have had a sleepless night or 30…

This is my first ever tutorial, hope it’s clear. If not, let me know, I’ll treat it as constructive criticism, I promise.

SNOWFLAKE SWIRL BLOCK

This block construction is a hybrid between regular piecing and paper foundation piecing. Really, it is mostly a guide to keep everything lined up and if you’ve never done paper piecing before it is a super easy way to start. To make this block you’ll need 4 copies of the piecing template here (please excuse the fact that it is hand-drawn, I couldn't get the circular effect without drawing it). Print it off with page scaling on your printer settings at NONE.

I’ve been generous with the cutting. I like plenty of room to manoeuvre with this technique.

I’ll be pressing all seams as I go, you have my permission to do what you usually do in regards to pressing.

When paper piecing use a smaller stitch length than usual to make it easier to remove the paper at the end. I set mine at 1.6.

If you have never tried foundation piecing there are many tutorials available on the web in the format of your choice.  

CUTTING INSTRUCTIONS

Cut 4 x 7 ½” squares from the background fabric (Shadow), then cut on the diagonal to yield 8 HSTs.

BLOCK A

Cut a 8 ½” x  5 ½" piece light blue fabric (Sky)

Cut a 8 ½” x  1” piece dark blue fabric (Amazon)

Cut a 8 ½” x  ¾ ” and  a 8 ½” x 4” piece background fabric (Shadow)

BLOCK B

Cut a 4 ½” x  5 ½” piece lilac fabric (Lilac)

Cut a 4 ½” x  1” piece purple fabric (Iris)

Cut a 4 ½” x  ¾ ” and  a 4 ½” x 2” piece background fabric (Shadow)

BLOCK C

Cut a 2 ½” x  10” piece lilac fabric (Lilac)

Cut 2 x 2 ½” x  1” pieces purple fabric (Iris)

Cut 2 x 2 ½” x  ¾ ” and  2 x 2 ½” x 2” piece grey fabric (Shadow)

PUTTING IT TOGETHER

We’re going to start by making the snowflake arms. Block A makes up the diagonal arms and Blocks B and C make up the cross bar arms.

NOTE:  you will need to use a scant ¼” seam allowance when piecing the arms

BLOCK A

Sew the 8 ½” x 4"piece background fabric to the 8 ½” x  1” piece dark blue fabric and the 8 ½” x  5 ½" piece light blue fabric to the 8 ½” x  ¾” piece background fabric. Sew the two sections together (see diagram below). Trim the side edges if required to tidy it up then cut into 4 x approximately 2” strips.

BLOCK B

Sew the 4 ½” x 2” piece background fabric to the 4 ½” x  10” piece purple fabric and the 4 ½” x  5 ½” piece lilac fabric to the 4 ½” x  ¾” piece background fabric. Sew the two sections together (see photo below). Trim the side edges if required to tidy it up then cut into 2 x approximately 2” strips

BLOCK C

Sew the 2 ½” x ¾” pieces background fabric to either end of the 2 ½” x  10” piece lilac fabric and the 2 ½” x  1” pieces purple fabric to the 2 ½” x  2” pieces background fabric. Sew the three sections together (see photo below). Trim the side edges if required to tidy it up.

TEMPLATE SECTIONS

Lay a hst on the template, lining the diagonal edge from corner to corner.

Lay a Block A strip along the diagonal edge lining up the marks on the template with the seams along the strips. It doesn’t have to be accurate, they are a guide to create a circular effect. Stitch along the seam line and press. Fold the template back along the second seam line and trim a ¼” from the edge of the paper.

Line the second hst piece with the edge of the strip and stitch along the seam line. Press and trim the block to the edge of the template.

PUTTING THE BLOCK TOGETHER

Lay the 4 sections out so the arms are swirling in a circular kind of way

Stitch a Block B strip to two of the templates (one from the top, one from the bottom) using the marks as a guide to line the seams on the strip up. Again they’re more of a suggestion than an order. Press and trim the top and bottom edges then READ THE NEXT SECTION CAREFULLY. Trim the strip ½” from the edge of the template, yes that is half an inch from the template edge not the seam line.

Line the other template sections up aligning the square edges and stitch along the seam line

Stitch the Block C strip to the edge of one of your pieced sections, using the marks as a guide. Press and trim the edges, then once again trim the strip ½” from the edge of the template. Line the two sections up and stitch along the seam line. Press and trim.

Remove the paper and admire

At this point I would like to say thankyou to Cloud 9 for giving us the opportunity to work with their fabrics and to hosts Yvonne, Cheryl and Stephanie for organising the hop.

Today’s section of the hop is being hosted by Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs. There is a big list of bloggers to visit today with no shortage of talent. Check them out. And wait there's more! See the links for yesterday's stage of the hop here and tomorrow's here.

Miranda @I Have Purple Hair
Jennifer @The Inquiring Quilter
Sarah @123 Quilt
Leanne @Devoted Quilter
Jen @Patterns By Jen
Jennifer @RV Quilting
Amanda @Quiltologie
Sharon @Yellow Cat Quilt Designs
Jen @A Dream and A Stitch
Jen @Faith and Fabric
Carole @Carole Lyles Shaw
Stephanie @Quilt’n Party
Susan @Sevenoaks Street Quilts (you are here)
Katrin @Now What Puppilalla
Amista @Hilltop Custom Designs
Nicole @Handwrought Quilts
Marla @Penny Lane Quilts
Silvia @A Stranger View
Sarah @Smiles Too Loudly
Carrie @the zen quilter
Mary @Quilting is in My Blood
Velda @GRANNYcanQUILT