Erica's Stitches

I discovered I'm not good at numbering.  The first 2 blocks I called 1 and 2.  Then I did 2 and 3.  Now that I've noticed my mistake, I've skipped 10 and gone on to 11 and 12. These next two blocks are made on the diagonal which introduces triangles along the edge.  Both finish to be 10 inches. The first block I couldn't find a good name for.  It was in EQ 7 as "A Snowflake" and "Wide Cross X" but I couldn't find pictures of  similar blocks with the same name. So, I'm going with "Wide Cross X" because it is shaped like an X.  The 4 pink triangles come from one 7 1/4 inch square that is cut in fourths on the diagonal.  This leaves the straight of grain on the edges of the block.   The center square is 3 3/8. For my modern version I switched the values making the triangles darker than the cross.  Wouldn't a quilt made of alternating light and dark versions of this block look striking? For the ...

As I do more blocks in this sampler quilt, the difficulty increases.  Actually, the blocks aren't that difficult.  But, since there are more pieces and more seams, the 1/4 inch seam allowance becomes more important.  If you are not accurate, the blocks will be too small. First is a 9 inch Rail Fence Block. The strips are cut 1 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches so that each square ends up at 3 1/2 inches. For the bright version, I switched the light and dark values.  Wouldn't a quilt look great with just this block but alternating dark and light? Next is a 25 patch block because, you guessed it, it has 25 squares in a 5 x 5 grid.  Luckily this block finishes out at 10 inches which makes cutting easier.  Each square is cut 2 1/2 inches. Notice how all the light squares are not all the same fabric?  I really like that variation - I don't know if there is a name for that color variation.  All the 25 patch blocks I saw...

The next two blocks in my quilt are good practice for making half square triangles. My favorite method of making these come from Eleanor Burns.  I have made her Pioneer Sampler quilt multiple times and have blogged about it   here .  I use the instructions in the book for both Half Square Triangles and Flying Geese but any Eleanor Burns book will have the instructions. Another favorite more recent book is Teach Me to Sew Triangles by Pat Sloan which is a great reference for multiple types of triangle blocks.  It also has some cute quilts I'd like to try sometime. On to the blocks!  Both finish out to be 10 inches square and are made with four HST's.  The HST's need to finish to 5 inches and I make 2 at a time with 6 inch squares of fabric. The first block is Broken Dishes (above and below). The traditional colored block is pink and purple.  This color scheme was used multiple times in the original quilt.  I ...

This next block looks like a 9 Patch but it isn't.  Look closely, the center is one long rectangle (but it could be pieced as a 9 Patch).  I found this block called Red Cross - just image it in red and white. I would have made this block 2 but the block is 10 inches square and 3 does not divide evenly into 10.  The squares were cut 3 7/8 inches which is not an easy number to deal with and I usually try to avoid. As I'm progressing in the blocks I'm having more fun with the modern versions (after all, the traditional colors are a bit dull). How's that for an explosion of color?  I love the different circles crashing up against each other. Now, back to the traditional colors.  The next block is a variation of the traditional Shoo Fly block and it is a 9 inch block so no 7/8's to cut! Both of these blocks (and many others) are made of brown and tan stripes.  I had the hardest time finding stripes in these colors resemb...

The next two easy blocks in my quilt are Hourglass and Square in a Square.  Both finish out to be 9 inches.  They are good starter blocks for working with triangles.  As the quilt progresses and the blocks get more complicated there will be many more triangles. The Hourglass is also known as a Quarter Square Triangle Block or QST.  It is easier to make 2 blocks than it is to make 1 so that's what I did.  The picture is of 4 blocks, not one block made up of 4 units but it is fun to combine multiple hourglasses in one block. For both colorways I used a directional print and it's easy to see where the quarter squares are in the block.  Since you want the edges on the straight of grain making one would waste fabric and by making 2 blocks at once, you can deal with piecing squares together instead of triangles. There are plenty of QST tutorials to be found.  I started with 10 1/2 inch squares to yield the 9 inch blocks. The s...