Polka Dot Quilter

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

"Swoon" in civil war colors

Here is my version of "Swoon" by Camille Roskelley of Thimbleblossoms.

I did it in what I call "civil war colors." It's yummy.

I did 14" blocks instead of her larger ones. That way I could do more squares and add the cute stars in the sashing...which were a pain by the way, the way you have to lay out every sashing strip in just the right place because every star color was different. Remind me not to do that again!

As I've looked around, I find that the real name of this block is not actually swoon at all. It's a very old block (of course it is!) called by several different names. I'd sure like to know which is the most common. Anybody know?

"Broken star, Star of Bethlehem, Dutch rose, Star with diamonds, Star of the east," etc.

Whatever it's real name, it sure is pretty!

Friday, January 20, 2017

Hip Holidays Free Quilt Soup Pattern (Henry Glass)

We finish our Christmas quilts in January right? That's how I've always done it.

Jan. of the next year...

I finished "Hip Holidays"

It's a little bit older, but I was able to find some of the orginal fabrics by Henry Glass. then I substituted some from local stores.

Currently, this is the only place I can see that Free Pattern online. If that disappears, feel free to leave a comment and your email and i'll send it to you.

I did some of it differently from the pattern. I didn't want to piece the crazy star, so I just appliqued it. I also appliqued the trees on the top row. It seemed easier. If you look closely, you can see the blanket stitch around this tree....

I'm surprised to say that I enjoyed the paper piecing the bows.

Here's a quick Tutorial on Paper Piecing.

Print the pattern as many times as you have blocks in the quilt. Use each section in the pattern as a template for each fabric. Cut a scrap of each fabric larger than your template pattern. I stacked them here. I also drew myself a little arrow to show me which side of the pattern I would be sewing down.

Now, turn the paper upside down. You're sewing the fabric onto the back of the paper with the fabric facing away from the paper, it's sort of a double backwards thing. I place the first piece, A2 cream behind it's spot on the paper, right side out, and the bow on top of it right side together so that it's hanging over the line about a quarter inch and pinned it.

Turn it over and sew on the line on the TOP of the paper between A2 and A1.

Open it up. Here's what it looks like on the back.

When you open it, it should cover all of that space plus at least a quarter inch.

Here I show how I hold it up to the light to see if it's got coverage.

Work your way in order across the pattern. Lay the next piece on so it will fit when you sew on the line between A1 and A3. Hold it up the light to make sure it covers it's space plus a minimum of a quarter inch around.