another random sampler tutorial - some small blocks to fill the gaps

I told you about the random sampler here. I now have mostly 6 inch blocks and a few 9 inch ones. So I thought we'd need some 3 inch fillers!

A lazy girl tiny nine patch

Two make two tiny 3 inch (finished, 3 1/2 unfinished) blocks you wil need:
- color 1: three 4 1/2 x 1 1/2 inch rectangles
- color 2: three 4 1/2 x 1 1/2 inch rectangles

Sew these strips together as laid out in the picture. Iron the seams to one side.

Cut them in 1 1/2 inch strips lengthwise:

Lay them out into nine patches:

And sew them together:

Make a few pairs to help your puzzle later-on.

A lovely variation on this theme will be the + block.

A lazy girl tiny + block

Two make a tiny 3 inch (finished, 3 1/2 unfinished) block you wil need:
- color 1: two 3 x 1 1/2 inch rectangles
- color 2: two 3 x 1 1/2 inch rectangles and on 3 1/2 x 1 1/2 inch rectangle (for the center)

This time you will sew together the three 3 x 1 1/2 inch rectangles, Iron and cut in half lengthwise. Put the two halves next to the center rectangle like this:

And you sew them together!

Hope you like them! See you soon!

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And the girls are playing double dutch - a churn dash block tutorial

My dutch quilting "group" Double Dutch have started a "random sampler quilt along" some time ago and we have decided to bring it to life again, because random samplers are so much fun and even more fun when doing them together.

A sampler is a classic quilt design in which you use several quilt blocks of different designs or patterns, but in the same size. Usually in some kind of grid. Like the farmers wife quilt for example. The grid or lay-out can vary but the blocks are the same size in a classic sampler. In a random sampler there is no grid, you improvise all kinds of blocks together in to a quilt. For this random sampler there is a rule: The blocks should be 3, 6, 9 or 12 inch (finished), that makes the puzzling a little less challenging when you want to put it together.

We all enter designs or tutorials for this quilt. I you like the design you make one, or a few of these blocks. I have entered a tutorial before, you can find it here. You can find all the tutorials for the double dutch random sampler here. You can join us at any time and even contribute block tutorials if you want. Feel very welcome.

I've decided to add a tutorial to the list for a churn dash. It is no original design, but a very nice addition to any random sampler I think.

For those of you who can't read my handwriting:

6 inch finished (6 1/2 inch unfinished) churndash block

Cutting instructions:

Color 1:

- two 3 inch squares

- one 2 1/2 inch squares

- four 2 1/2 inch x 1 1/2 inch rectangles

Color 2:

- two 3 inch squares

- four 2 1/2 inch x 1 1/2 inch rectangles

Sewing instructions:

- make 4 half square triangles (HST's) using the 3 inch squares, trim to 2 1/2 inch

- pair the rectangles

- lay-out the block and sew it together

For the second one I used 3 different fabrics as a variation

If you would like to make a smaller churn dash, you could use some really small scraps! And they would make nice fillers when you are ready to puzzle the top together. These are the measurements I used:

3 inch finished (3 1/2 inch unfinished) churndash block

Cutting instructions:

Color 1:

- two 2 inch squares

- one 1 1/2 inch squares

- four 1 1/2 inch x 1 1 inch rectangles

Color 2:

- two 2 inch squares

- four 1 1/2 inch x 1 inch rectangles

Sewing instructions:

- make 4 half square triangles (HST's) using the 2 inch squares, trim to 1 1/2 inch

- pair the rectangles

- lay-out the block and sew it together

Hope you like it, see you soon!

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Epic Finish! My farmers wife quilt all done!

I promised you the revelation of my epic quilt! A long adventure and I enjoyed every minute of it (okay almost all). And needless to say I learned a lot from it too! The end result is far from perfect, but I am totally in love with it!

In the last three years I paperpieced 100 farmers wife blocks (there were 111 patterns in the book). I used all kinds of fabrics, no theme really, just what I put my hands on and was into in the moment. Some weeks I disciplined myself to make two every week. I Sewed two and cut the papers and fabrics for the next two. This helped me to have a little job waiting for me in my sewing room, even if I had just a quarter of an hour to spare. I had such fun wit them. When I started out I was a very inexperienced paperpiecer. I had to unpick a lot of times and there are still visible mistakes in some of the more difficult blocks. I decided to love them anyway.

About half way I discovered I was cutting the blocks down a little to far... They were about half an inch smaller than they were supposed to be. After some swearing and a few weeks of sewing depression I decided to just go on from there and tot trust myself I would find a way to fix this. When I had about 80 blocks I brought them to a meeting with my quilting friends and told them about my problem. I couldn't make my self throw out 50 blocks I painstakingly made. After a few ideas we settled on lining them and alternating putting the blocks "en point" and straight. That way I gave my self room to fix the size difference. I decided to do that with a beige linnen so the very colorful blocks would bee toned down a little. After some evenings of lining blocks and hanging them on my "design wall" I decided it to be just a bit boring. I ordered som ice blue linnen to. I conferred with my quilting friends on instagram. Would I put in a row of light blue, or some scattered blocks, or even alternating colors? I decided on scattered crosses.

The quilt is pretty big! 2.20 meters square. How would I back this monster. I decided on leftovers in muted blues, grey and whites. I also got out a pile of discarded shirts from Alexander I kept to use in quilts and started ironing and cutting them up. I made a big jigsaw of it on the bed and put it together. The sandwiching was a bog job of course, but I smelled the finish so I got right to it.

After another input round I quilted it with my free motion foot on my home machine using a dogwood pattern in a light grey thread. This was hard work and I felt like a wrestler at times. Again not perfect, but I wasn't disappointed by myself at all! I love the allover effect.

Last but not least the binding. I love striped bindings but black and white was to much for me here. So I used a coupon from Ikea in a blue and white stripe. After three evenings of sewing the binding to the back by hand, this lovely monster is finished.

Thank you for a lovely adventure Laurie Aaron Hird and all the contributing farmers wives. I've already started the next farmer's wife 1930's sampler quilt to be finished in 2018!

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Goodmorning sunshine - how about a blog come-back

For some weeks I am contemplating a come-back since I miss blogging a lot. There is of course Instagram and Flickr to keep in touch and share about my making self. That is absolutely ok too, but to me it feels a little flighty. There's lots of showing and little talking. I miss that. Just talking to my computer and to who ever will or will not read what's going on in my making-mind. It helps me structure my thoughts. It helps me to set goals. I also like keeping track of what I make and my progress this way.

Not blogging does leave more time for making, I admit. But maybe I could let go of my maniacal me who says I must blog twice a week. A little less rules maybe. Just sharing something if I feel like it.... Let's say I will show you my finished Farmers Wife Quilt next week (What? You started that 3 years ago! That's right, I am stitching back the binding as we speak...!) and we'll take it from there....Pin It