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Monday 25 March 2024

March Block of the Month

 Little Houses

This month we continue our 10th anniversary festivities by sewing house blocks - because it takes a village to sustain a quilt guild for a decade.  

My inspiration is the Global Village Quilt from Gwen Marston’s book “A Common Thread”.  Made up of house blocks sewn in a riot of different colours and prints, they come together to create an eye-catching quilt. 


Fabric requirements

You will need four different prints for the house block.  No solids please.  Bold, colourful prints are encouraged!


From house print cut:  

1 - 6.5” square

From the roof print cut:  

1- 3.5”x 6.5” rectangle

From the background/sky print cut: 

2 - 3.5” squares

2 - 2.5”x 9.5” rectangles

From the ground print cut:

1 - 1.5”x 10.5” strip


Assembly (use a ¼” seam throughout unless otherwise noted)

  1. On the wrong side of each 3.5” square, mark a diagonal line from corner to corner.

  1. Place a 3.5” square on the 3.5” x 6.5” rectangle right sides together, as shown below. 

  1. Sew on the diagonal line. Trim the corner leaving 1/4”, and press the seam towards the corner. 

Repeat on the opposite side of the rectangle with the remaining 3.5” square as shown below. 

Roof unit is now complete.

  1. Sew the roof to the 6.5” square.  Press seam.  

House unit is complete.

  1. Sew a 2.5”x 9.5” background piece to each side of house unit.  Press seams.

  1. Sew 1.5”x 10.5” ground strip to bottom of unit.  Press seam.

The Little House Block is now complete!  Unfinished, it should measure 10.5”x 10.5”.



Monday 26 February 2024

February Block of the Month

 Number 10

This month we tackle the number 10.  Inspired by last month’s program on colour presented by Tara Faughnan, we will use only solids.  Also inspired by Tara, I’ve chosen a colour that I’m not drawn to and rarely use for the background - brown.  This block finishes at 10” square.

Fabric requirements

Background - any shade of brown solid

Contrast - any solid of your choice

From the brown background cut:

1 - 3.75” x 6”

3 - 1.25” x 9”

2 - 1.25” x 10.5”

From the contrasting solid cut:

2 - 2” x 6”

2 - 2” x 6.75”

1 - 2” x 9”

Assembly:

Use a ¼” seam throughout.  

  1.  Sew the 2”x6” contrasting solid strips to either side of the 3.75”x6” brown piece.  Press.

  1. Sew 2”x6.75” contrasting strips to top and bottom of the pieced unit.  Press.

  1. Sew one 1.25”x9” brown strip to one side of the assembled unit.  Press.

  1. Sew 2”x9” contrasting strip to unit, as shown.  Press.

  1. Sew the remaining 1.25”x9” brown strips to either side of the unit as shown.  Press.

  1. Sew the 1.25”x10.5” brown strips to the top and bottom of the unit.  Press.

You are done!  Block should measure 10.5” square.


Monday 22 January 2024

January Block

Raspberry Kisses 

For this month’s block, I reached into the Ottawa Modern Quilt Guild archives, and pulled out a favourite of mine from the winter of 2019.  That year Alison Harle, inspired by a tutorial on the Wooden Spool Quilt blog, offered us a block with a raspberry coloured cross at the centre. The cross or “X” fits our 10th anniversary theme perfectly.   


Fabric

Please use two different low volume fabrics for the background, and a raspberry coloured fabric for the cross.


For the Centre Block cut:

4 – 2 1/2″ background fabric squares
2 – 2 1/2″ cross fabric squares
1 – 6 1/2″x 2 1/2″ cross fabric rectangle


For the Corner Triangles cut:

2 – 5 1/8″ background fabric squares.  Cut each square in half diagonally to yield 4 triangles. 

(if you prefer, cut the squares a little bigger at 5 ¼” and trim the finished block back)


Block assembly - use a ¼” seam throughout


Sew the centre cross block together

Press.  The centre block should measure 6 ½” square.

Add the corner triangles.

To centre the triangles accurately, fold both the triangle and the centre block in half and finger press a crease at the centre.  Match the creases and sew.


Repeat the process on the opposite side so that you now have two triangles attached to your cross block.

Press.

Repeat the process with the two remaining triangles.

Press.

Trim.

Block should measure 8 1/2” square.