Fabri-Quilt New Block Blog Hop - Summer Blog Hopping


Welcome to my Summer Blog Hopping Square.

Summer Blog Hopping
 
You may remember, how could you forget? I took part in a New Quilt Bloggers blog hop this summer, and was part of Quantum Quilters. Everyone was reluctant to see this finish, it had been fun making some new friends, reading new blogs and getting lots of inspiration. The hosts, Yvonne, Cheryl, Terri Ann and Stephanie suggested we get together (in a virtual sense) and make some blocks for charity quilts. Some 60 of us opted in and the fun began.



Watermelon Summer Color Palette
Watermelon Fabrics from Fabri-Quilt



Fabri-Quilt were the sponsors and each of us were sent a pack of 6 fat 1/8ths of solid fabric in a variety of colours. Yes, I know, I have said before, how can anything 1/8th be regarded as fat, but in fabric terms it is. The colours were lapis blue, turquoise, red, light green, white and chartreuse. Collectively the colours were referred to as Watermelon. Our brief was to make a 12 1/2" unfinished square (12" finished) and to write up the instructions.

all cut and ready to go


Already this sorted the sheep from the goats, relatively speaking. The forum was full of things such as EQ7 which I gather is a quilting design computer program. As Sandra from Musings of a Menopausal Melon, said in her blog post, she has SQ1 (Sandra Quilts 1). That means I must have HQ1 (Helen Quilts 1, or even Havoc Quilts 1).

My trusty pencil and back of an envelope system soon got underway. This is what I came up with.


I called my block Summer Blog Hopping. I love modern variations of log cabin and also the grandmother's path block. What better than a block showing the pathways and wanderings of this summer's New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop. These wanderings from blog to blog have taken me places and to quilters all over the world, some for a moment or two and some for repeated visits. There were so many, over 80, I still intend to catch up on some blogs I may have missed out on. Now to the method.

Cut
chartreuse
1 x 3 1/2" centre block
1 x 1" strip

turquoise
2 x 1 1/2" strip

red
2 x 3/4" strip (I actually cut 1 1/4" and trimmed to size after sewing)

lapis blue
2 x 1 1/2" strip

light green
4 x 1 1/2" strip, or broader if preferred for improv cutting

white
5 x 1" strip

Now for the sewing. Basically log cabin throughout. Sew the first white strip to the top of the chartreuse, then the right, then the bottom and finally the left. Iron and trim after each seam. I leave a smidgeon of fabric extending at the beginning of each seam then trim that also.

Sew the strips of turquoise, as before, keeping the correct order of the sides, top, right, bottom and left, Iron and trim as before.

keeping the top to the top!

Sew white strips as before.

Sew red strips and iron. Trim red strip down to 3/4" (1/2" finished stripe)




trimming the red strip to size

Add lapis blue strip, top, left, bottom and right as before. Iron and trim.

Add white strip as before.

Add the narrow chartreuse strip. Trim to 1/2".
adding and trimming the chartreuse strip

Attach the final round, the light green. I added 1 1/2" but feel free to make this broader for improvisation sewing.


At this stage your square should be around 14", slightly bigger if you are using a broader green strip
Cut in two lengthwise, keeping the log cabin the right way up. I made my cut 6" in from the left.
Sew in a narrow white strip.
deciding where to place the white strips

placing the cut

the first cut is the deepest

adding the white stripe


Make a widthwise cut, again I went down about 6" from the top. Sew in the white strip taking care to match up the colours on either side of the strip. *


lots of pinning to make the sides line up correctly


At this stage your square will be 15" (hopefully!). Trim this down to 12 1/2" either making your square off centre, or trimming off an even amount on each side, or squaring off your square on the diagonal.


* If you prefer you, can cut on the diagonal before sewing in your white strips or choose not to line up the colours. Just make sure you have a workable square of 12 1/2" at the end.


I made a second square, just sewed strips of fabric together and cut and added the white strip again, then cut to 12 1/2".



the finished squares

Today is the last of the blog hop. It has been exhausting trying to catch up with over 60 blocks, so a couple of bloggers  have made Pinterest boards gathering all the blocks together. Go check it out, I've set a link to Twiggy and Opal.

The other blog links are listed here below, got the energy to check them all out, or cherry pick a few?

Monday, August 31st
Host – Yvonne @Quilting Jetgirl
Kelly @Quilting it Out
Martha @Once a Wingnut
Irene @Patchwork and Pastry
Cassandra @The (not so) Dramatic Life
Andrea @The Sewing Fools
Bernie @Needle and Foot
Silvia @A Stranger View
Wanda @Wanda’s Life Sampler
Sandra @Musings of a Menopausal Melon
Vicki @Orchid Owl Quilts
Jess @Quilty Habit
Diana @Red Delicious Life
Chelsea @Patch the Giraffe
Margo @Shadow Lane Quilts
Renee @Quilts of a Feather

Tuesday, September 1st
Host – Cheryl @Meadow Mist Designs
Wednesday, September 2nd
Host – Stephanie @Late Night Quilter
and by no means least, my own day:
hosted by Terri Ann
Thursday, September 3rd
Host – Terri Ann @Childlike Fascination
I would like to thank all the hosts, Yvonne, Jet Quilting Girl,  Cheryl, Meadow Mist Designs,  Stephanie, Late Night Quilter and Terri Ann, Childlike Fascination,  for all their hard work and also Fabri Quilt for their donation of fabrics. I wish the hosts all the best in making up the blocks into hopefully 3 or 4 quilts for children and teenage charities. 

Helen x




Comments

  1. Great block - love it! I can see so many possibilities with these, especially the log cabin one!

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  2. I love the narrow frame of red - it suits it perfectly!

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  3. Love your block! Was it hard to make the first slice through the block to add the white strip?

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  4. Great block with so much potential depending on were you slice it.

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  5. That's such a fun block! A whole quilt of them would be quite interesting.

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  6. Your block reminds me of looking out of a window and enjoying the scenery. Thanks for sharing. ;)

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  7. I love the name of your block; thanks for the nod to everything you've been up to this summer with the blog hops! This has been such an inspiring week and I am so excited to get all the blocks made into charity quilts now. :)

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  8. Both of your blocks turned out great. I've always like log cabin like block with the layers being different widths, I think it adds more interested. And great proof you don't need fancy software to write a great tutorial! Just some good ol' paper, and pencil and maybe a calculator. Great job!

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  9. Both of your blocks are great! Your directions were easy to follow!

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  10. Cute block. This would make a cute baby quilt. Good job!

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  11. I love how you can get a different look depending upon where you decide to place the strips and how to cut them.

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  12. I really like this block, Helen! The placement of colour and width of each round is perfect!!

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  13. How fun!!! Man, it always takes me a lot of courage to make that first cut, though!!!
    X!
    Lori

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  14. What a great idea. This blog hop has been fun.

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  15. What a fun variation of a log cabin! I hope to catch with visiting more bloggers too.

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  16. More modern blocks, thank you so much. crystalbluern at onlineok dot com

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  17. Glad you mentioned the option to not line up the squares! I think a wonkier block is nice sometimes, and this would be perfect for using up a box of strips. I think a solid would do a nice job of delineating the concentric squares like you've shown, but there are lots of options with this block. Nice job!

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  18. Great block - I love how you've combine two inspirations sources. Your bonus block is a lot of fun too, it reminds me of the old TV test-patterns from back in the day.

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  19. Great idea to slice the block...I really like the way it turned out!

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  20. I like the slice through the middle, simple but effective; it works really well with the lines of the rest of the block.

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  21. Love this block. It would be so cool in a whole quilt. Great job!

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  22. Great Modern blocks Helen. I'm seeing possibilities with that offset version (pre sewing photo) Very good tutorial as well. Still lovin those slippers.

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  23. Well it is with red face that I admit publicly that I missed this post!!! I love how you chopped it into 4 and added the white! Pencil and envelope, HQ1-havoc, ha ha, NOT! your quilts and creativity are both in the fab range!

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