I started cutting and making a few blocks. mindlessly sewing four patches and hourglasses together. This one was just a picture and had no pattern, so I'm going to create my own. I realized I didn't really have a blue and brown quilt. I decided to add a little touch of pink to the blue and brown blocks and see what happens.
Sunday, March 5, 2023
Simple Sewing, Mindless Piecing
Monday, February 6, 2023
2023 Valentine Mini Mystery Quilt - Step 3
Here's Step 3 of the 2023 Valentine mini quilt -
Materials
and Cutting
From a light
print for the quilt background, cut
1 square, 4
½” x
4 ½”
1
square, 7”
x 7” cut
twice on the diagonal for 4 triangles.
2 squares, 3 ¾” x 3 ¾”. Cut each square once on the diagonal
for 4 triangles.
From
a pink or red print, cut
4
rectangles/strips, 2” x 11 ½ for borders
4
squares, 2” x 2” for corner blocks.
1. Sew the blocks together in diagonal rows as shown with the 4 ½” setting block in the center row and the setting triangles on the ends of the first and third rows.
2. Add the 4 corner triangles.
3. Sew two border strips to the sides of
the quilt. Sew two 2 ½” squares to both ends of the remaining border
strips. Sew these to the top and bottom of your quilt.
Ta da! Love Letters . . .
I thought it might be fun to applique some little hearts inside the blocks. Layer with batting and backing, quilt and add a 1 1/4" binding.
Friday, February 3, 2023
2023 Valentine Mini Quilt - Step 2
Step 2 - Take four matching half-square triangles from Step 1 and sew them together as shown. Do this with each set of matching HSTs. Make 4 blocks. Trim to 4 1/2" x 4 1/2".
Step 3 will be posted on Monday, February 6.
Wednesday, February 1, 2023
2023 Valentine Mini Quilt - Step 1
Here's the first step for making my little Valentine quilt -
Cutting
From four different red or pink fabrics, cut
2 squares, 2 7/8" x 2 7/8"
From four different light or shirting prints, cut
2 squares, 2 7/8" x 2 7/8"
This gives you 8 light squares and 8 pink and red squares in matching sets of 2.
Next - Match up each red or pink print square with a light print square in matching sets of two. Make 4 sets of half-square triangles. Here's how to make half-square triangles -
Layer a light print square together with a pink or red print square, right sides together. Draw a diagonal line from corner to corner across the lighter square. Stitch 1/4" away from the line on both sides. Cut on the drawn line. Flip open and press. Arrange in four groups of matching prints. Make 16 half-square triangles. Trim each to 2 1/2" x 2 1/2".
You may be able to find this tool at your local quilt shop or a quilt shop online. If not, JoAnn Fabrics and Amazon carry it. Here's how to use it: Cut 2 squares (usually light and dark) according to the directions in your pattern. Layer the right sides together. Line up the open notches of this ruler on the diagonal corners of your fabric squares as shown.
Mark a line along each side of the ruler with a fine lead pencil. These are the sewing lines. Lightly mark the center through the notches as well. This is the cutting line.
After you sew on both
lines, press the squares to set the stitches. Flip open one side and press gently BEFORE
you cut the squares in half. Switch and press the other side open. THEN cut in
half. This will stabilize the bias edge and keep your blocks from stretching
out of shape, which gives them a wonky look. If you cut and stitch accurately (slow down!) and press this way, your
half-square-triangle units will come out perfectly instead of WONKY and will need minimal
trimming. Try it!
That's it! I encourage you to join my Facebook group for motivation if you haven't already. I find that if you break down these little projects into simple steps and sew along with others it's not only more fun but you'll be much more likely to finish something.
Stop by on Friday, Feb 3, when I'll post Step 2.
Tuesday, January 31, 2023
Sew a Little Valentine's Day Quilt
Over the weekend, I had an idea for a sweet little Valentine's Day quilt. I kept telling myself I had too many other projects to finish but I just could not resist doing one more. You're all invited to join me in making another little project beginning on Wednesday, February1. Some of you sewed along with me last year for something similar and it was a lot of fun. Small scraps, simple pieces and before you know it you have a little quilt finished.
Valentine's Day quilts are a lot of fun to make. Here are a few of my favorites -
Bring out your red, pink and light fabrics or scraps and join me on Feb 1!
Friday, January 20, 2023
Shoo Fly Blocks
My little shoo-fly runner, quilted and bound. Quick and easy. Hope you're also making something cute with the shoo fly blocks! See my website or FB group files for the little shoo-fly pattern. (Links are on the right sidebar.)
Wednesday, January 11, 2023
Small Quilt Sew Along 2023
We're kicking off the 2023 Small Quilt Sew Along today, sewing little 3" x 3" Shoo-fly blocks to make a quilt of your choice. Directions for the block and suggestions for how to set them are in my Facebook group files. (I've also uploaded a file on my website under Shoo Fly Sew Along for those of you not on FB.)
So, jump in, download the pattern, then make some blocks in your favorite colors and have a little bit of fun. Look through the examples I included in the file to decide how to set your blocks.
Some of you have asked me to do the sew along here or on Instagram, instead of Facebook. Sorry to disappoint but FB is the only place to conduct something like this where you can share files, interact and allow others to post photos of their progress and quilts. This is the only reason I do Facebook. I simple cannot do any of that on a blog. And you cannot upload files or post others' photos on Instagram. However, if you are on Instagram, feel free to post photos of your own shoo fly quilts using the hashtags #kathleentracysmallquiltsewalong or #shooflysewalong. I would love to see them.
Also, beginning tomorrow, some in my group will be sewing along and making the Soldier's Cot quilt from my book The Civil War Sewing Circle. (See my previous blog post from last week.) If you'd like to join in and have the book, we'll be doing this ONLY in my Facebook group where members can ask questions and share photos. There's a pattern available in my Etsy shop. for the version I recently made.
If you don't have the book, you can purchase an e-book from Martingale. But only for a short time. Many of you may have heard that my publisher Martingale/That Patchwork Place is closing soon. This means that they will no longer be publishing or selling books. There will be a huge hole in the quilting industry and we will all miss the wonderful inspiration they provided us for so many years. If you don't have some of my books that are still in print you might want to purchase them while they are still available, and some of the others in e-book format. I still have copies available of Schoolgirl Sampler, Small & Scrappy and A Prairie Journey. But once they're gone, they're gone. Even the e-books will no longer be available. Definitely the end of an era . . . .
Enjoy your small sewing!
Monday, January 2, 2023
2023 Sew Alongs
Happy New Year! Ring in the new as well as the old. I'm wishing you a year filled with lots of stitching and many new projects. And perhaps some time or motivation to work on a few old ones too.
We'll be doing a few new sew alongs in my Facebook group beginning on January 11. One will involve a small, simple, scrappy quilt. TBD (to be determined). And the other will be a sew along for a quilt in one of my older books - the Soldier's Cot Quilt from my book The Civil War Sewing Circle. This one is exciting. Some of you might remember this one from years ago. Definitely an oldie (2011). I revived it and started making another one last year for my son and finished it just in time for Christmas. Whew.
This one is slightly larger than the original (I added a row) but it's basically same pattern as in the book. The quilt was inspired by one of the surviving Civil War quilts that was made for and distributed to Union soldiers during the war and is displayed at the Lincoln Memorial Shrine in Redlands, California. Here's a link to the story behind that quilt.
It's a fun quilt. I love this pattern and always regretted that I didn't use better fabrics or colors my my quilt in the book. I like this new one so much better and made sure I used less browns and more blues.
More than a few quilters asked me about the quilt and I thought it might make a good a sew along this year. The pattern is in the Civil War Sewing Circle book but if you don't have it or don't want to buy it I will create a single pattern that will be available for purchase in my Etsy shop. Probably by next week. The book is out of print now but you can usually find good used copies on Amazon, eBay or places like Thrift Books. Martingale also has ebooks available for instant download. If you're interested in sewing along with some of my FB members, jump in any time. We'll be doing this as a casual sew along where everyone works at their own pace for however long it takes. Only took me about 8 months, LOL. Pieced it together a little at a time in between everything else going on last year.
* * *
The 2023 small quilt sew along will begin on January 11. It will be very simple and perfect for using up your reproduction scraps and playing around with your favorite colors. I'll post directions in my group then. And I'll also put them up on a new page on my website around then so check there if you're not on FB.
Here are a few other projects I need to work on this year -
Dear Jane, of course. Finish sewing on those triangle borders. It occurred to me I might be having a hard time letting it go, LOL.
I have another section just like this one but need to make a few more rows then sew them together to finish it into a lap quilt. Start with one square and build rows, alternating lights and dark or medium prints. Fun and easy. Linda has told me she might want to publish this as a pattern someday so I am not giving out specific directions for it.
Scrappy Stars anyone?? Waaay behind on this one . . . .
I also started making some little red baskets last week, on a whim, LOL. To add to my growing pile of other baskets . . . . The inspiration and urge to create something new and fresh never ends it seems. Someone is going to have a fun time going through all of my unfinished projects someday . . . .