{QAL} Block 5: Jack in the Box

This weeks block for the How Far Will You Go QAL is called Jack in the Box. All of the techniques used in this one have been covered in other blocks, so hopefully you should find it pretty straight forward.

This block ends up as a 10 1/2" unfinished block. All seam allowances are a scant 1/4" unless otherwise indicated. As for all the blocks I have pressed open throughout the block, but if you prefer to press to the side it will work perfectly as well :o)

Like several of the other blocks I've written tutorials for, this one could be made using HSTs for the corner units - I like the continuity of the fabric pattern that you get when constructing it using my method, but if you wanted to use HSTs instead (which would waste less fabric) you'd need them to be 2.5".

Cutting Instructions:

This block uses four different print fabrics (noted as A, B, C and D).

Background fabric: Cut 17 squares, measuring 2.5" x 2.5"

Print fabrics:

Fabric A: Four 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles.
Fabric B: Four 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles
Fabric C: Two 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles
Fabric D: Two 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles.

Making the corner units:

The four corner units in this block are made using a flying geese unit, and a diagonal unit (the same as those we made for the pieced star centre pinwheels). 

Remove ONE of your background squares and set it aside. For the remaining 16 squares, draw a diagonal line through the centre:

Take your four Fabric B rectangles, and set them out vertically. Place a background square at the top of each piece, aligning the top and sides, making sure the drawn lines are at the same angle.

Sew along the drawn line:

Trim 1/4" away from your stitching, and press your seam.

Take a second background square and align it with the other end of the rectangle, making sure the diagonal is at the same angle as the one you just sewed.

Sew along this line, trim 1/4" away and press. You will end up with four identical units like this:

Next, take your Fabric C and D rectangles (four total) and place a background square on each, again aligning the sides and end. Sew along this line, trim 1/4" away and press.

Take your remaining background squares, and place them on the opposite side, but this time the drawn line should cross the first sewn line - to make a flying geese unit.

Sew along this line, trim 1/4" away and press. You'll end up with FOUR of these units, two in each of Fabric C and D.

To finish the corner units, pair one of your flying geese with one of the diagonal units as shown (it's important to keep the orientation the same in each.)

Sew these together and press:

You will end up with four of these corner units. The corner units should measure 4.5" square.

Putting the Block Together:

Lay out all the fabric for your block as below. I've separated the rows in this photo, so you can see how the rows go together.

Sew each of the rows, and then sew the rows together.

And you'll have a lovely Jack in the Box block!

There are two of these in the Twin sized quilt (and I haven't made my second one yet - see, I'm already in danger of falling behind in my own QAL...)

As ever, if you have any questions or problems, please just shoot me an email or leave a comment and I'll get back to you. Please add your blocks to the Flickr group :o)

Have a brilliant weekend!

xx Jess

WIP Wednesday - Quilting Along

Not a huge amount of progress this week - although I have finished putting together the quilt top of Sweary Tula (I'm stealing that one, Katy. Slightly more grown-up than Rudey Tula :oP) and it's basted and waiting for me to have an 'ah ha' moment and start quilting it. I made the mistake of looking at how Angela Walters quilted Tula's Love version and I'm trying to stop thinking of its brilliance and just get going... What's really got me stumped is how to quilt the letters - I'm using poly batting with quite a high loft (which I wanted so the quilting really pops) and I'm tossing up whether to quilt the crap out of the letters, or to leave them fairly unquilted. Suggestions welcome!

Apart from that, I made the Weathervane block for our QAL, using Jess's revamped method. It's a 10 1/2" block, and it's a 9 patch so it was going to be very tricky anyway - but Jess has done up some paper pieced templates, and I'm stoked with how well it's worked (thanks Jess!).

All the blocks so far (they are actually square - dodgy warped design wall's fault!):

And I've paper pieced the sections for my St. Louis Star:

Hope everyone is having a great week,

xx Jess

{QAL} Block 4: St Louis Star

Just a quick note to say Jess put up the tutorial for Block 4 - St Louis Star on Friday.

You can find the tutorial here.

Have fun! It's paper pieced, but Jess has given some great instructions on how to paper piece.

xx Jess

I don't have a fabric addiction...

I've had a few parcels of fabric-y goodness arrive this week. I might just add that I have been a *little* more responsible with my fabric purchasing of late (although I have just destashed via the Aussie Facebook destash group, which has pretty much already enabled a restash. Go figure?!?)

Anyhoo, on to the pretty pictures. I joined the Indian Summer Charm Swap run by Jenelle - and they are so gorgeous! I'm not sure what I'll do with these - but they'll make an awesome quilt when I work it out :o)

The fabulous Lizzy House has done several destash sales through her shop - but I've always been too slow (or not awake at the right time) to nab any. A month or so ago, she put up a few bundles of scraps from her personal stash and I actually managed to get one (yay!!) Lots of Lizzy House goodies, a few large pieces of really lovely Japanese prints, and poking out at the top a full FQ of one of Amy Butler's Wallflower prints from her Lotus collection - one of my all time fave prints, and I'd never actually seen it in this colour way. There may have been a bit of squealing and happy dancing involved ;o)

And finally, a little gem of an Aussie modern quilt shop on Ebay - Quiltopia. I've purchased quite a few fabrics from Ann, and I am so impressed with her shop (disclaimer - this is not a sponsored post, I just really like her stuff!). She stocks some fantastic prints - lots of which are really hard to find in Australia, and she posts stuff SUPER fast. I nabbed a full yard of the grey text print by Sweetwater (Sunkissed I think) - this is such a great print! And then half yards of the others (how awesome is that dressmaking fabric from Homespun Chic? no idea what I'll use if for, but I absolutely adore it!)

Hope everyone has a fab weekend (and that my own is a bit more chilled out) - I'll announce the giveaway winner later tonight :o)

xx jess

WIP Wednesday - the kinda rude one.

*** If you're looking for the Giveaway from Sew Me A Song, head over here ***

We had a rather dramatic weekend last weekend (as in the type where Chris came home from working interstate on Friday night, and went into emergency on Saturday night and stayed in hospital until yesterday). All good now, but I'd rather forget the weekend ever happened.

The last week has been a flurry of block making. These are for the big item I'm making for the Sailor's Mouth Swap (which I probably won't show you more of, I really don't want to offend anyone. If you're of the not easily offended persuasion, you could pop over to the Flickr group and check it out more fully ;o) ) It won't take much imagination to work out what these are for anyway... there is a 'k' and a 'u' that I forgot to photograph ;o)

It's heading toward being a rudey version of Tula Pink's Love quilt (mini version). I've also made a few bee blocks, a few blocks for our QAL and started cutting for my next tutorial in our QAL.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!

xx Jess

{QAL} Block 3 - Pieced Star

I can't believe it's week three already! Today's tutorial is for a traditional block called a pieced star. I seriously loved making these blocks. I really think I'd like to make an entire quilt of them one day... possibly sooner rather than later...

This block is 10 1/2" unfinished. All seams are a scant 1/4". I would probably recommend starching your fabric for this block - I didn't and my points are pretty good but not perfect. I think with starch you could get a really perfect block.

There are three of these blocks in the Twin quilt.

Please read through the whole tutorial before cutting your fabrics. I've said press as desired - I pressed open throughout the entire block and I'm really happy with my blocks. But if you're happier pressing to the side it should work perfectly as well.

Cutting:

You'll need four different print fabrics for this block - two for the central pinwheel (prints 1 and 2), one for the other star triangles (yellow in the above block - print 3) and one for the corner triangles (print 4).

Background fabric:

• Four 4" x 4" squares
• Eight 3" x 3" squares

Print Fabrics:

From Prints 1 and 2 (for each of the centre pinwheel fabrics), cut TWO 3" x 5 1/2" rectangles.

From Prints 3 and 4, cut TWO 4" squares.

Making the Half Square Triangles

Draw a line diagonally across the four 4" background squares.

Take your four 4" print squares (prints 3 and 4) and pair each of them with a background square. Sew 1/4" away from each side of the drawn line:

And then cut along the drawn line. Press each of the resulting half square triangles (HST) as you prefer (I've pressed open)

And then trim each of them down to 3" square. To do this, line up the 45 degree line on your ruler with the seam, making sure the 3" measurement is within the fabric square. Trim the side and top.

**NOTE - the reason I have only a small amount of excess to trim away is I accidentally cut my squares at 3.5". It did work, so if you're confident in accurately sewing HSTs you could cut smaller squares as I did. 4" just gives a bit more wiggle room if they're a bit wonky - and you'll have a fair bit more excess to trim away **

Turn the HST around and line up the 45 degree line, and both sides at the 3" mark. Trim the side and top.

You'll end up with eight HSTs - four each of both your prints.

Next you'll need to pair up your HSTs, one from each print:

The orange fabric is my corner fabric, and the yellow is part of the star. You need to ensure your sew each of your HST pairs in this orientation. Sew them together using a scant 1/4" seam. I find if I start at the corner where the points meet, I get a far better point.

You'll end up with four identical HST units.

Making the Pinwheel Points

Take your 3" background squares, and draw a line diagonally through the centre as you did for the HSTs. 

Take all four of your 3" x 5.5" rectangles and lay them vertically in front of you. Place one of your 3" background squares at the top of each of the rectangles, carefully lining up the top and sides. Make sure your drawn line is at the same angle on all of your rectangles - this is critical in your block working. 

Sew along the drawn line on each of your rectangles (I recommend pinning) - chain stitching works well here.

Trim 1/4" away from your sewn line

Press your block as desired (again I pressed open).

On each of your rectangles, place the last four background squares, ensuring the drawn line is at the same angle as the one you just sewed.

Sew along this line (sorry about the fabric change here!).

Trim 1/4" away from your seam,

and again, press your seam.

You should have four of these units, two in each of your pinwheel fabrics.

Assembling the Block:

This block is essentially a four patch. To make each of the units in the block, take one of your pinwheel points and one of your HST units and orientate them exactly as below.

 Sew them together (pins really help here) and then press.

You'll end up with four units. Lay them out like so:

Sew the top and bottom rows together and press :

And then sew the two pieces together. And there you have a finished pieced star!

There are three of these blocks in the Twin sized quilt - these are my other two.

As always please add your blocks to the Flickr group! There are some really amazing quilts being made. And if you have any problems with the tutorial please just leave a comment or email me and I'll get back to you. 

I hope you all have a great weekend!

x Jess