Monday, July 17, 2017

Lucy Boston Framed Tutorial

Hello Everyone

I have been making a few more Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses blocks this past week and thought I would write a tutorial on how to fussy cut fabrics to make the frame around the outside round of a block.  

I am doing this tutorial for myself as much as I am those of you that want to get that "framed" look in your blocks.   Whenever I find a striped fabric that I think would work to frame the outside round of a POTC block, I have to puzzle just how to go about placing my templates.  

I like to make my own templates that I use for fussy cutting English Paper Piecing.  I simply trace one of my paper pieces (in this case 1" Honeycombs) and then add 1/4" to 3/8" around the outside.  I sometimes make extras of my templates to carry with me when I go shopping so I can audition a fabric in my window template.  If it gets lost along the way, it doesn't take a lot of effort to make another template.

A Lucy Boston block takes 24 paper pieces.  Most blocks use 4 different fabrics and have 4, 4, 8, and 8 of each fabric..  When you do a block with an outside frame you need 3 fabrics using 4, 4 and 16 of each fabric.  I chose the fabric on the right (Di Ford-Hall) with the flowers to fussy cut the center 4 blocks.  The other 4 cut from the pink are Kathy Hall fabric.  Both are by Andover.  The stripe is a Kaye England fabric (Wilmington I think) and is narrow enough to use for the outside frame.

I centered the flower in my window template.  I left a little bit of the pink flower below in the window at the bottom.  That will make a little pink flower in the center of the block where the pieces meet when it's stitched.  

I traced as shown below with a permanent marker.  I like to do my fussy cut EPP pieces this way because it makes good TV work in the evenings to cut them out with scissors.  You can always use an acrylic template and rotary cut your pieces if you choose.

For this tutorial I made 3 window templates.   You can see how I drew the lines on each template.  This is where you will line up the stripe on your fabric.  The lines on the templates are drawn approximately an inch down from the top.  The lines drawn on the yellow and pink template match along the edge where they will meet the green template (see arrow)  and stay parallel (note the 1" mark along the top of the template where you draw the line on the other side).



The line on the pink template bottom will line up with the next green piece the same as the yellow template.  Line your ruler where you see the pink arrow and keep it parallel to draw the other line.  



Then I drew arrows so I know which way the template will be placed on the fabric.


Cut 8 from the green template, 4 pink and 4 yellow from the fabric.  Note how the lines on the templates are all placed at the same point in the stripe on the fabric.

Here are the pieces cut out before glue basting to the Honeycomb papers.


Line up the corners of the paper to match that point in the stripe where you see the arrows.  


Here they are all glued and ready to stitch.  

This is the finished block.  I wouldn't want to do this to every block in my quilt, but I think a few fussy cut this way add some interest.  


Today I'm linking up with Design Wall Monday.  I'm glad that my friend, Judy from Small Quilts and Doll Quilts has taken over hosting Design Wall Monday.  

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

I hope you are finding some time to stitch today.  

Friday, July 7, 2017

Shipshewana Quilt Festival Part 2

Here are the rest of my photos from the Shipshewana Quilt Festival from last month.  The antique car museum is used to display antique quilts.  I love this hexagon quilt, and I think it would be fun to make.  It was really unusual.




These eight pointed stars set in a strippy setting with the big floral triangles made you do a double take.  The setting was really simple, but the quilt looked like it had a lot more going on because of the floral fabric.  



The clam shells look dimensional with a row of white shells in between the prints.


There are lots and lots of half square triangles in this quilt.   They finished about 1 1/4".


Love this mariner's compass.


This was just an unusual block, and the striped sashing just made the quilt.  


Blue Gate Restaurant is always a great place for lunch or dinner.  I met friends from Shipshewana for dinner there after the Quilt Festival closed.



The outside is just as pretty as the inside.




In the summer, there are several of these beautiful flower carts around town.  


The horse and buggy were in the shelter waiting for someone to take a ride.

Here's another flower basket across the street from the Blue Gate.

This buggy carried Amish coming into town.


This is what I bought at the festival.  The four wool packs on the left are from the Primitive Gatherings booth.  The three pieces of wool on the right are from the Carried Away Designs booth.  She has dyed wool to match the Sue Spargo thread that she sells.  I got a few spools of that, too.  


At Yoders I bought more Di Ford fabric.   I also bought fabric at Lolly's for quilt backings, but they are in use right now.  I'll show those quilts later.


Carrie also had the Sue Spargo Creative Stitching book.  Since I think I was the only person that loves to do handwork that didn't own this book, I bought it.


Hope you are finding some time to stitch today!


Thanks for stopping by for a visit.  

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Happy July 4th

Happy Independence Day to all of my readers in the US who will be celebrating today.  This is the traditional day to have a backyard barbecue, and that is what we are doing this afternoon with family.    Here is the center of my table.  

The pattern for this table topper is in my Etsy shop.   I have one of these for every holiday plus others I've made.  Several I've given as gifts.


This is my Charming Hexagon Pillow done in patriotic fabrics.  The pillow uses 1 mini charm pack so if you've collected those like I have, here is a good use for them.  I just realized that I don't have a red, white and blue quilt.  I'll have to take care of that before next July 4th comes around.

I've put some pillows on the porch because we sit out there a lot.  It's also a great place for stitching.  

The pillow on the left below was an idea from my friend, Michele.  She came to English Paper Piecing group at Back Door Quilts with a pillow done like this in pretty Moda fabrics, and she had done big stitch quilting around each square with embroidery floss (or maybe perle cotton).  That was a fun project that also uses a mini charm pack.  I made the pillow on the right with 2 1/2" squares and embroidered a flag in the center.  The two little quilts are from the Little Quilts All Through the House book.  I still have my copy- published in 1993.    

I've also displayed my tea towel, a gift from Fiona who comes from England to attend our Shipshewana retreat in the fall.  The towel commemorates Queen Elizabeth IIs reign from 1952-2012.   It is a treasure even though it has nothing to do with our holiday.  Notice I have it back in a corner where it won't be used.    

If you want to see some cute patriotic decorations go to Janet's blog (roguequilter.blogspot.com).  Under her header, she has a link with a tutorial to make a tumbler flag.  I have cut some tumblers and still want to do that.

Keep Calm and Stitch On

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!  

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