Welcome to the last day of the Fabri-Quilt New Block Blog Hop.
Our group from the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers were tasked with designing a block using 6 fat eighths generously donated to us all by Fabri-Quilt. Not only were we to design a block we also had to write a tutorial for our blocks!!
I’ve never written a tutorial before, in fact I’ve never designed my own block before. I hope it makes sense! I didn’t have the EQ7 (or any such like) programmes to help with the design or maths, just my grid paper and coloured pencils!
I am not sure if these are the best, correct or easiest methods to use but this is how I did it…
Cutting Instructions
Watermelon Summer Colour Pallet:
* Cut one 7” square from the Chartreuse fabric and one 7” square from the Aqua fabric
* Cut one 7”x4” rectangle from the Coral fabric and one 7”x4” rectangle from the White fabric
* Cut two 4”x4” squares from the Turquoise fabric and two 4”x4” squares from the Lapis Blue fabric
* Cut two 3”x4” rectangles from the white fabric
* Cut four 2 ½”x4” rectangles from the Coral fabric
Sewing Instructions
Step 1: Place the two 7” Chartreuse and Aqua squares right sides together. Draw a diagonal line and sew a ¼ inch either side of the line. Cut along the centre marked line and press seams open. Trim to 6 ½” square. (you will end up with two of these squares but we will actually only be using one in this design)
Step 2: Place the Coral 7”x4” rectangle right sides together with the matching White 7”x4” rectangle. Draw a diagonal line and cut along this line. Place one Coral and one White triangle right sides together matching the long length along the top. Then sew a ¼” along this long length. Press seams open. Trim the “dog ears” and trim to 6½” x 3½” rectangle. Repeat with the second set of triangles. (I’m not sure that I have done my HRT’s correctly but I’ve not done them before. I had mistakenly assumed that they worked in the same way as HST’s which isn’t quite right! I learned this as I was going along and ended up with a rather weird shape! So my method may be a little unorthodox!!)
Step 3: Place one Turquoise and one Lapis Blue 4”x4” square right sides together. Draw a diagonal line and sew a ¼” either side of the line. Cut along the marked centre line and press seams open. Trim to 3½” square. Repeat with the second set of squares to create four 4”x4” HST’s.
Step 4: Place one 3”x4” White rectangle right sides together with one of the 2½”x4” Coral rectangles along the longer 4” length. Sew ¼” seam. Place another 2½”x4” Coral rectangle along the opposite longer 4” length of the White rectangle. Sew ¼” seam. Press both seams open. Trim block to 6½” x 3½”.
Step 5: Place one completed Turquoise/Lapis Blue HST right sides together with the Coral/White strip block along the shorter 3½” length. Sew ¼” seam. Place another Turquoise/Lapis Blue HST right sides together to the opposite end of the Coral/White strip block. Sew ¼” seam. Press seams open. Repeat with the other two Turquoise/Lapis Blue HST’s and Coral/White strip block.
Step 6: Take the first Coral/White HRT and place right sides together with the now 6½” square Chartreuse/Aqua block. Sew ¼” seam. Place the second Coral/White HRT right sides together to the opposite end of the Chartreuse/Aqua HST block. Sew ¼” seam. Press seams open.
Step 7: You now have three strips to sew together to create your completed block. Place the strips as shown below, sewing a ¼” seam and pressing seams open.
Your Completed Block
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| (I apologise if this picture looks a little fuzzy, possibly due to the late hour it was taken!!) |
(some of the points don’t match up in places and I’m not too sure if they should or not! Seeing as this is my block that I designed I’m going with not!)
The orientation of the blocks is entirely up to you. The diagrams show you which way I placed the individual parts but if you want to rotate any of the components to change the overall effect feel free. It would be really interesting to see your take on it if you do.
I have to say that I have found this challenge much harder than I had envisaged when I first signed up! I’ve found that it is really difficult to try and actually produce a written explanation of what you are doing! I was also worried that my design would be too basic for all you wonderful quilters. But it’s a starting point for me and I am so glad I took on the challenge. Another first to tick off my list!
Please check out my fellow “hoppers” today and their amazing blocks…
Robyn of Hoops & Thimbles Helen of Midget Gem Quilts
Jinger of Trials of a Newbie Quilter Anja of Anja Quilts
Kathryn of Upitis Quilts Mary of Quilting is in my Blood
Francine of Mocha Wild Child Dina of Living Water Quilter
Deb of The Farmhouse Quilter Lori of SewPsyched!
Amy of 13 Spools Denise of CrafTraditions
Sandra of The Bias Edge Sandra of One Million Stitches
Also our fab hosts from this week and their giveaways!
Yvonne of Quilting Jetgirl
Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs
(Just to pre-warn you if you use this particular fabric collection some of the other members participating in this challenge have found that the fabrics are prone to shrinkage and colour bleeding. I didn’t experience these issues. I used a dry iron and didn’t use any spray starch)
I am so glad that you joined the blog hop and tried something new. I think your tutorial is well written and creates a lovely block. Half Rectangle Triangles can be tricky; squaring up the final rectangle so that the block is square and the HRT seam falls at diagonal corners is the key. 🙂
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I agree…this challenge was much harder than I thought but your tutorial including your graphics is awesome! Very thorough. Great job for sure!
Deb
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I love scrappy block. Your block includes all the fabrics 🙂
Sandra
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Great block. Your tutorial is well done.
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I think you did and excellent job with your tutorial and it's proof that one doesn't need fancy programs to write a wonderful tutorial. Great job on your block!
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You did a great job! I love the half square rectangles…very nice!
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Congratulations on your first self-designed block! It's a great block, and a whole quilt of them would look really complex, with lots of secondary designs.
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Your block is great. Your directions and diagrams are fantastic and so easy to follow. You don't need software to design a block!
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I also design with pencils and graph paper – you did great with the tutorial! I like your block design and color placement.
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I also design with pencils and graph paper – you did great with the tutorial! I like your block design and color placement.
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I've never tried making half square rectangles but you make them look really doable. Creative block!
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Such an excellent tutorial and a truly lovely block!!! I hope you're going to keep on designing, cause I want to see them allllll!
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I really like your block. Job well done.
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Nicely done and easy to follow tutorial. crystalbluern at onlineok dot com
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Great block that you have created and written a fantastic tutorial for. Thank you for sharing and have a fabulous creative day!
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Hats off to you Emma. You did a fantastic job of designing a block and writing the tutorial. I thank you very much for your creativeness.
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This is a wonderful design! I love HSR's, and I see a nautical flag here flying in the harbour. I think I would like to see the entire middle section tried in QSR's too, just for a variation. Lots of room to play with these orginal blocks, isn't there? Thanks for sharing.
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This is such an interesting block. It's very striking! I was fooling around with 1/2 rectangles as well…but I thought they would be too hard for me to explain. Beautiful job on the block and tutorial.
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