Thursday, September 1, 2016

Hive 2 September tutorial Color Block

Good Day, fellow hive members!

I am a first time Stash Bee member and have been having fun making blocks for everyone. . . . .some of them have pushed me out of my comfort zone a little bit but I think all have been successful so far.

I live in NJ with my husband and one fur-kid. . . . . we recently lost our other pup and it has been hard for me to go into my sewing area without her. . . .she had been my shadow for the past 7 1/2 years.

Quilting has been part of my life for more than 30 years and it has taken me down some really interesting roads. . . . from collecting fabric, to collecting older quilts, to collecting older sewing machines (I think we own 13 machines now, including 2 treadles), to collecting quilting friends.

The quilting friends have come from guilds that I have been a member of and from students that I have had in classes I have taught over the years.

For September I thought it would be fun to do a color study type block.  Here are the details:

Size:   12 1/2"

Seam Allowance:  1/4"

Fabric needed:  8 pieces of fabric cut 3 1/2" x 6 1/2"

For the fabric please pick one color for your block (it can be any color) and cut 8 different pieces of that fabric color.    Please do not use all white or all black fabrics.

This is what you should have to start with:





Pick two pieces and sew them together lengthwise to create the center of the block. . . . like this:




Press the seam to one side.

Add a piece to both sides of the center piece:




At this point you should have 4 pieces of fabric left.  Make two pairs and sew them together on the short sides to create a longer strip, like this:



Press the seams to one side.

Add one of these strips to the top and the bottom of your block to create a square, like this:



Press your long seams to toward the outside of the block.  Your block should measure 12 1/2".

And there you have it, a completed block made up of 8 fabrics in one color!


Our guild did a block swap several years ago using a nine patch block done in a similar manner (each block being made up of one color) and I thought the idea was nice, but did not like the finished project because it looked too chunky.  I'm thinking that this will satisfy my desire for a "Rainbow" quilt but be a little less chunky.

If you have any questions please let me know.

Thank you for helping me make a fun quilt!

Best regards,

Sherry V.

2 comments:

Marga (MarPie) said...

This is an easy and nice one to make Sherry.
Will make it this weekend and I think it is going to be green.

Warm regards,
Marga♥

Unknown said...

Oh how fun..... Will want to get going on this right away... Now I have to decide on a nice color for it... LOVE IT