Nine-patch Madness

I learned a lot from "Jane's January Tutorial".  When she finished, she decided perhaps her darks could have used more than just that gray with palest pink possible polka dots.  However, we were learning about how to make nine-patch blocks, not about color variations in our quilts.  She made a few more blocks to use with her gray and pink, then she passed her extra gray and pink blocks on to Marsha and I.  Needless-to-say, Marsha jumped right on that train and pushed out an adorable nine-patch quilt in no time.

Here is Marsha and her amazing nine-patch quilt, with the friendship star block right in the middle.  Oh, it matches her skirt!  She added more colors and a small variety of gray fabrics to break up all the gray polka dot blocks. She really contained the madness by using that dark border fabric.  

I still have to put the border on mine, and Jane still has to piece her twelve blocks together.  I am sure we will get these projects done soon.  Jane will want everyone to see her final result.  I am, Kirsten Larsen, signing off.

Jane's January Tutorial

Here is the humble, yet versatile nine-patch quilt block.  It is amazing.  All you need to make one is nine squares of fabric, then sew them together.  Besides this basic block, I will be showing you how easy it is to make other nine-patch blocks, just by adding in some half-square triangles.  

This first one is called the Shoo Fly, then the Friendship Star, and finally, the Musket Ball.

I am going to start by showing you the easiest way to make a bunch of the basic nine-patch blocks.  Then we will move on to making half-square triangles.

Choose fabrics that have contrast; either a light and a dark, or a light and a bright.  Sew one strip set with the light fabric in the middle, with the dark fabrics on the outside.  Sew the second strip set with the dark strip in the middle and the light strips on the outside.  Sew all seams with 1/4 inch seam allowances.  Press seams toward the dark fabric.

Sub-cut your strips, the same width as your squares, into as many sections as you can get out of the strips sets you made.

They should look like this.

Sew your sections together as indicated in the photo, above. Remember to use a quarter inch seam allowance.  Then refer to the pressing diagram, further down in the tutorial, before pressing them.  When pressing the basic nine-patch block, if you press all the lighter blocks (the ones on the right) seams inward, and the darker blocks (the ones on the left, above) seams outward, when you sew them to one another the seams will match up for perfect corners.

How to make half-square triangles:

• Cut some light and dark squares, one-half inch larger than the size of the squares you are using in your blocks.  There will be a seam allowance crossing diagonally through the center of each of the half-square triangle blocks.  This seam allowance will take in that extra half inch.
• follow these steps while referencing the diagram, below.
• Place a dark and a light square right-sides together (back of fabric facing out).
• Use a ruler to draw a line diagonally across from corner to corner.  A Sharpie marker works well.
• Line up the line with the center line on your sewing machine foot and move the needle 1/4 inch to the right of the line.  (do not sew on the line, or you will have to utilize Mr. Seam Ripper)
• Sew a seam parallel to the line, then swing your fabric around and do it again, but down the other side.  You should have a seam on both sides of the center line.
• Cut down the center line, using scissors or a rotary cutter.  It this is your first time, I suggest scissors.
• Repeat with all your dark and light squares.  You will get two half-square triangles out of each set.

You can feed one square after another into your sewing machine, then when you get to the last one, swing them all around and sew down the other sides.  They are all strung together when you finish.  Snip them apart and then cut them all on the center lines, as directed above.  This is a fun and quick way to make a lot of half-square triangles.

Here is my seam pressing guide.  I do not hold with the idea that all seams should be pressed to the dark side.  I believe in pressing in the direction of least resistance.  For example, on the Friendship Star, above, the arrows show pressing toward the pieces that have no seams in them.  If you press toward the pieces with seams, then the edge in the seam allowance is TWICE AS THICK.  You want to keep thickness to a minimum, so avoid pressing your intersecting seams back onto themselves.  

Notice how, if you follow the pressing guide, above, your seams will nestle and not be thick.  Pin the intersections of the seams before sewing, to keep them in place.  If your center block is a little poofy on the top side, you can pin it in the center, between the other two pins, to avoid puckering. This is called easing it in.  Sew your blocks together!  *Note: when pressing seams on the basic nine-patch block, there are no intersecting seams so you can press in either direction, so you may as well press to the predominately dark side.

Now is the fun part.  Play around with the arrangement of blocks and decide how you like them.  You can make more lights or more darks, or you may want it less checker-boardy.  I feel I need more of the Friendship Stars and a reverse of the Musket Ball (light colored Musket Balls).

You may want to cut a strip of sashing and see how adding sashing may make your quilt top look.  You may want to audition a few different colors or shades, before deciding on sashing.  The nice thing about adding sashing is you don't have to worry about the seams in the blocks jiving up, since they will not be sewn directly to each other.  

This layout is known as on-point.  It is not as tricky as it looks, just look at it sideways.  Cut some solid pieces of fabric for the four squares in the center, just make them the same size as the rest of your squares.  For the triangles around the outside, cut squares a half inch bigger than all your other squares, and cut them in half, diagonally.  There is more about this on my January 31, 2019 post, Session 3, where I taught how to make Sixteen Patch Quilts.  Hmmm . . . am I going in reverse?

Or the beginning of a fun and magical Nine-patch quilt!

What's on the Design Wall in January?

Edna has been visiting us since Thanksgiving.   She really enjoyed all the medallion quilts, so she decided to start another one.  She used some cute monster fabric for the center and has been building it outward.  

She is using the "liberated" piecing style.  She made it deliberately wonky.  It gives the quilt a lot more interest and character.  I can hardly wait to see it when it is finished.  She promised to send us more photos.  Edna is leaving us tomorrow, to return to Sacramento.  We have very much enjoyed her visit. 

Six Medallion Quilts Completed in 2021

Greetings and well wishes to all in this holiday season.  I am happy to say it has been a productive year, as it concerns quilting and blogging.  If you remember back to January, Jane did her annual "Jane's January Tutorial" on medallion quilts. I, Kirsten, was the last one to finish.  That being said, we have six amazing medallion quilts to show off in this post.

Yesterday was Christmas, and we all got together and had a fun time.  I put up my quilt and Jane took a photo of me with it.

Someone rumored that I had used one of the centers that Jane had on her board last January, and they would be right.  I used the basket block.  

November, Edna showed us her medallion quilt.

In the high heat of June, Marsha showed us her medallion quilt.

In March, Jane completed her second one, and showed it off for us.

In February, Astrid finished her fancy pink medallion quilt.

This is the first one Jane did, as the main one in her tutorial, last January.  She taught us a lot, and I am impressed with all the different versions of medallion quilts we came up with.  Each one is unique.  If you would like to try making one, please visit the January 2021 post to learn all about it.  Merry Christmas and happy New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

No turkey quilts here!  But we had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Edna made it out here, to see us for the holiday, and we had so much fun!  We had a wonderful dinner, some relax time, and lots of visiting.

It was so good to see Edna.  Astrid came; I had not seen her in a little bit.  Marsha and Willa came, and Willa wore her pilgrim lady bonnet.  She is so cute!  Then, of course, there is Jane and I, too.

We had a lot of show and tell.  Edna brought her medallion quilt to show us all.  Her fabric choices are fabulous! I have to get my medallion quilt finished, then I think we will post all of them in one post, so everyone can see them all together.  

Red and Green Quilts in October

Remember this past July when I visited with Kirsten, and she was working on a log cabin quilt?  She finished the version she was working on, then she made another and oriented the blocks the opposite way.  She got them both completed and they look marvelous.

They are both very distinctive, but I think my favorite is the one with all the color in the center, instead of on the outside edges.  Kirsten calls them her red and green quilts.  They are not Christmas quilts.  It seems to me, Kirsten has not completed her medallion challenge quilt yet.  Keep checking back to see what is new with Kirsten, Astrid, Marsha, and me (Jane). 

Quilts at the Fair!

Jane and Astrid entered quilts in The Fair.  Guess what?!  They both won first place ribbons, and Jane also won a bag of batting.  It was so fun looking at all the quilts. There are so many creative people in the valley; especially quilters.

Here is Jane with her amazing sixteen-patch on-point quilt and blue ribbon.  One of the remarks on her grade report was about the nice grid-work quilting.

Here is Astrid with her amazing Civil War nine-patch quilt, made completely with Japanese fabrics, and her blue ribbon.  The judges liked the Japanese fabrics.

We also ate caramel apples and rode the Ferris Wheel.  Marsha took the photo, below, of the setting sun, while we were on the Ferris Wheel.  We were wondering if it was named after Ferris Bueller.  If I had a day off, I would spend it at The Fair.