mommysew

Blocks 5-8

Good morning! Here are blocks 5-8 for you! As before, I've included a laid-out photo of the blocks, and an assembled photo. Please let me know if you have any questions!

 

Block 5

 

Block 6

 

Block 7

 

Block 8

Blocks 1-4

Good morning! Well this post sure didn't get up like I planned on Sunday (or even Monday!). This time of year is crazy busy for our family, and I just had to sacrifice something so I could sleep! At any rate - here we go!

I thought you might like to see my original sketches for the blocks - if you've read back, you'll recall that I didn't create these (of course!), but I put them all down in my quilt sketchbook so I could have them all in one place. 

So here are the blocks. Now, these are pretty easy to lay out and assemble. As there are SO many blocks, I decided against row by row pictures for this round, and I laid out the entire block for you in half-square triangles. After each laid-out picture, I'll include the finished block photo so you can double check your finished block to see what it looks like. I hope this is helpful! Please let me know if you have any questions as you're working through them!

Block 1

 

Block 2

 

Block 3

 

Block 4

 

Modern HST QAL - Week 1

Good morning! It's time to get started on cutting our fabric for our quilts. Be forewarned - cutting, sewing the half-square triangles, and trimming them is the most time consuming part of the QAL. I like to do a whole bunch at once, and have several batches in different states, so whenever I have a free moment, I can work on something, even if I don't have time to piece a full block. 

You are more than welcome to create your half-square triangles however you would like! I am going to present how I make them, but there is no wrong way!

From your two colors, you will cut 3.5" strips, which you will sub-cut into 3.5" squares. (If you sew very precisely, you can get away with cutting 3" squares, but you will have very very little to trim, so you may want the larger squares). You will have to cut a total of 53 strips of each color, which you will sub-cut into 576 squares!! (I told you it was a lot!)

On the back of your lighter color squares, draw a diagonal line from corner to corner. I use an acrylic ruler (I love my 6.5") to make my straight edge. If you use the tape method (tape on your sewing machine to show you where to line up your corners), you don't need to mark anything! You can also use half-square triangle paper if you prefer. 

Then, start sewing! Place a light color right sides together with a dark square. I sew a scant 1/4" on either side of your drawn line. I will do a whole batch on one side, and then flip it around to sew the other, and then I'll cut them apart. 

After you've done that, you will cut them in half by cutting on your drawn line. Press each HST unit open (you may want to press your seam to the dark side), and trim each HST to 2.5". 

Don't get overwhelmed! It is easy to keep up with these as we go - don't feel like you have to do them all before we start. You will make 1,152 HST units for the entire quilt - you've got time!

If you want to sew as you go, each block takes 16 HST units, and we are making 8 blocks a week. That's 128 units you need each week. 

Please let me know if you have any questions! Oh, and what colors am I using? Pink and Navy - I'm so excited for something traditional, but also a little bit modern. 

 

Blocks start next week! I will do four blocks on Sunday and 4 on Wednesday!

Join the Quilt-a-Long!

I am so excited to kick off 2020 with a quilt-a-long for one of my favorite completed quilts! I first made this quilt over six years ago, and I have been wanting to remake it for about two years, just waiting for the timing to be right. I decided we needed to jump right in, or it would never get done, and I thought a quilt-a-long would keep me accountable. 

 

Want to join us? You will need five yards of each of two colors (I used white and black in my original, check back next week to see my new colors!) for the blocks. We will talk more about the sashing and cornerstones later, as some folks may want to leave those out, but you may want to think about a third color that would work for the sashing if you'd like. I used Kona Cotton for my first version and I'm using Kona again - I just love all of their color choices. 

There are 72(!) blocks in this quilt, so it is quite a bit of work. I will post more next week about getting started, and then I will post eight blocks a week over nine weeks to include them all. I'll do two weekly posts with four blocks at a time, to make it more manageable! Then we'll discuss finishing options. Feel free to make the ones you like, make a smaller quilt, or enlarge the size of your blocks - it's your quilt!

If you do follow along on social media, I'm @mommysew on Instagram and will be posting there throughout. I'll be using the tag #modernhstqal if you'd like to tag your blocks too!