Sunday, October 26, 2008

Block 13

A super simple one this week. This should let everyone catch up. (Plus, I got home tonight, went to post this week's block and realized that I hadn't done one!! Oops) So, instead of picking a number out of the bowl, I picked the first simple block I found.

Here are the cut pieces.

The strips ready for final assembly.

The finished block!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Block 86

Our first edge block. There are two ways to make this block. You can either make the block and then cut it in half diagonally. Doing this, you lose the 1/4" seam allowance on the edges. Or you can rework the blocks and make two triangles with seam allowances. It's your choice.

The Non-red block is the make the block and cut in half method. Here are the pieces to start off with. Note - when you're cutting the large outer rectangles (white in this block) are shorter on the top than on the sides.

This block is a square in a square centre. (Just found on the correct name for the diamonds. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused) . Then we're back to a centre 9-patch then an outer 9-patch for construction.

And here we have the block ready to be cut. Just make sure you have the block orientated correctly before you cut.

Here are the pieces for making the block as two triangles. Just to mix things up, I switched the medium and light for the outer border.

It's the same basic principles for the block, regardless of which way you're doing things.

For the upper and bottom edges, I didn't attempt to cut triangles. I left things as rectangles and trimmed after everything was done. The shapes were a little weird and I figured it'd be easier this way.

And here we have the finished triangles. One trimmed, one not. You can probably tell from the colours which way I chose to approach these blocks. Yup, I'm one of those people. :) I was looking at the quilt and figured having the posts in the sashing different on the edges would probably bother me.

I leave you with a few more quilts for inspiration: dkerns; Becky's. This one had no name but I love the sashing.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Parade of Nearly Insane quilts

A couple more Nearly Insane quilts for your viewing pleasure:

The official Nearly Insane quilts site.

Block 64

Our next block! Over all, it's not so bad mostly 1/2 square triangles but there were a few little gotchas.

For the diamonds, normally I just measure the centre diamonds and then add the outer triangles. This time, the centre diamonds were not simple measurements. So, instead I used the method where you cut squares (for the outer triangles) and draw a line diagonally through the square to create the outer triangles. For this, the measurements for the centre diamond is a square (A in the picture below) A + 1/2". Each of the outer triangles are squares B + 1/2".

Here are the cut pieces ready to go. (See the trial run for the diamonds measurements. :)

Here are the pieces of the block all ready to go. There is one more little gotcha. If you measure the outer 1/2 square triangles, they're different sizes. Of the three 1/2 square triangle on each side, only one is actually a square. The other two are 1/8" narrower. When you're cutting these rectangles, pay attention to where the darks are. They're opposite (tops & bottoms and sides). If you don't pay attention, you'll be creating more 1/2 square triangles. (Ask me how I learned that. :)

One you tackle the 1/2 square triangles, you're ready to assemble. The inner square, is once again our friend the 9 patch. Once you assemble the inner square. You can assemble the entire block as a 5 patch. Then, Tada!, you're done the 4th block of the quilt.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Block 70

I was inspired by Yvette's polka dots for her last block. I also learned an important lesson on stripes...

I was sooo focused on getting the stripes straight I completely missed the flying geese. For piecing, I really like the fast flying geese method and it'd be great for this block since there are 4 of each size.

Also, if you're doing stripes, don't get so focused on getting the stripes straight that you forget the golden rule. Right sides together. Twice!

Once again, the cut pieces, ready to go. (Though, if you use the fast flying geese method, your cut pieces will look different)

I pieced the different elements. 2 sets of 4 flying geese. Centre double diamond. 1/2 square triangle blocks. Plus those outer squares (what ever they're called :)

For final assembly all the different elements come together in our familiar friend the nine patch. The smaller nine patch becomes the centre for the larger one.

And here we have our third block done!