Sunday, November 1, 2015

Hive 1 November Tutorial from Bev

Hello! My name is Bev and I blog at 44th Street Fabric. I was born in Oklahoma and am a true "Okie"! I have an online fabric shop and I am getting ready to move so you can imagine what I'm going through....soooo much stuff! I live with Blossom, my little rescue dog. I've quilted since the 70's and sewn since I was 5 or so. My grandparents had a White Sewing Machine dealership and they taught me to demonstrate the new zig zag machines. Women would say, "well, if that little girl can do it so can I". I've been so busy moving that I'm borrowing a tutorial from oh so talented Jennifer Pickett from Clover & Violet. I'll add a link below for her tutorial. Thanks to her for graciously giving me permission to use this block. Here's the block I selected made from Flower Sugar fabrics:
It's called the Quatrefoil block.It's easy and fun to make! Here's another version I made using the Bloom & Bliss fabric line:
This is a great block to use scraps. These blocks finish 12.5" x 12.5". I would only request that you use a bright, white background. Not beige or cream or egg shell. The white I use is one from Choice. Here are the colors I love to use and you can use any prints or solids in these colors:
I'm sorry about the lighting...it has been raining for the last 2 days and is super dark and cloudy today (plus I have to use the camera on my phone right now). The colors are aqua, pink, lime green, orange, yellow and red. I use these colors all the time. I try to go to another color group but I always come back to this. I'm going to give you the cutting requirements for this block because when I printed out the tutorial from Clover & Violet, the sizes were different when they printed out. Might have just been my printer but they were not right. Trust me, these sizes are correct. Using the first block shown for color reference, cut the following:

Fabric A (Aqua):

4 - 4.5" x 4.5" squares

Fabric B (Pink):

4 - 2" x 2" squares
2 - 2.5" x 1.5" rectangles
2 - 4.5" x 1.5" rectangles

Fabric C (Yellow):

5 - 2.5" x 2.5" squares

Fabric D (White Background):

8 - 2" x 2" squares
4 - 2" x 3" rectangles
4 - 3: x 4.5" rectangles

Here's how I put mine together. First sew the 2" background squares on the diagonal on the Fabric A squares. As you can see in my photos, I have a seam guide on my machine so I don't have to mark my squares. If you don't you can draw a diagonal line on the squares and stitch on that line.
Then add another background square on the opposite side of the aqua square like this and then press the squares open:
Make 4 of these and  they will look like this:

Next I make the center square. Sew the 2 shortest rectangles from the B fabric to the top and bottom of the center square (fabric C). 
Then add the 2 fabric B long rectangles to the sides so that you have a square in a square like this:
Next I sew the 4 -2" fabric B squares to the top of each 2" x 3" background fabric rectangles (Unit 1):

Next sew 2 of the Fabric C squares diagonally on 2 of the Fabric D background fabric 3" x 4.5" rectangles (Unit 2). Then do the same thing with the other 2 but on the opposite corners of the rectangles. They will look like this:
At this point, sew each Unit 1 to each Unit 2 with the square and the triangle on opposite sides of the little block you are creating.
At this point, you can lay out your block in a 9 patch configuration:

This photo doesn't show the corner blocks sewn together but they should be at this point. Now is when I press each little component and use spray starch. After that, I trim each component to 4.5":
Next I sew the little block components into rows and sew the rows together. I then trim the block to the required 12.5" x 12.5" size and that's all there is to it!
Here's another Quatrefoil block I made out of our Black Cherry Farmhouse fabrics just to show you how versatile this block can be. You can find Jennifer's tutorial HERE. You will probably like it better than mine but with both, you will get the idea. My question for you is this: What is your favorite color combination for making quilts (at the moment-lol)? I already showed you mine and asked you to make blocks from it. I'd love to see what new fresh color combinations you are using! Thank  you for making my blocks! This year has been lots of fun! Cheery wave from Bev




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