Tag Archives: free pattern

Connector Block Tutorial for Halloween / Turtle Quilt

It’s raining cats and dogs here today – and more rain is on the way. It’s the sort of day that would be nice to curl up  and just knit or read a book all day. But I promised a tutorial for this quilt so here are the instructions for the connector block. This is an image of the connector block with fabric.

 This is the block showing the piecing:

These are the cutting instructions using the EDeN™ System.

Fabric Unit # # Needed per Block EDeN™ Number # Needed for Quilt
Light A 2 REC-1½ x 8 26
Light B 2 REC-1½x5 26
Light D 1 SQ-2 13
Dark B 2 REC-1½x5 26
Dark C 2 REC-1½x2 26

EDeN Numbers give the shape and size for cutting. All numbers given are finished sizes. Cut sizes should be 1/2” larger than the number given, i.e., 1½x8 should be cut as 2 x 8½. The abbreviations used here are: REC = rectangle; SQ = square

You can find more information about the EDeN system on the website.

This is the way that I would cut this block. I am going to tell you as a narrative without illlustrations, so I hope it is understandable. If not, please ask questions.

Light Fabric:

For the A unit, I would cut an 8 ½ ” strip across the width of fabric. This is an 8 ½ x 40” strip. Then I would fanfold that strip across the 2” strip die. This would yield 18-20 A units. I would repeat this step to make the remaining A units. Note that you do not need to fanfold the entire strip this time as you only need 6-8 more units.

But this leaves a strip that is now 8½ x approximately 24 inches. I would cut this to 5 ½  x 24” and fanfold it across the 2” strip die to cut 11 B units. Then I would cut a 5 ½” strip across the width of fabric and fanfold that across the 2” strip die. This will make 18-20 B units and with the ones that you cut previously, you will now have all the B units.

The D unit is the last unit of the light fabric and it can be cut entirely on the 2 ½” strip die. Cut 2 strips that are width of fabric on the 2 ½” strip cutter and then fanfold those 2 ½” strips across the strip die to make squares.

Dark Fabric:

Cut the B units as described above leaving the 5 ½ x 24” leftover from the second strip to be cut down and used for the C units.

The C units are cut 1 ½ x width of fabric (1 ½ x 40”) and then fanfold across the 2” strip die. 
 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Come again soon.

Marjorie

 

More Beautiful QOV Quilts

I got a wonderful email over the weekend from Sue in Arizona. She’s been busy teaching AccuQuilt classes and working on Quilts of Valor. She used the Split Star pattern and created a beautiful quilt. I love the colors she used in this quilt. It really sparkles and will be a comfort to a very deserving service man or woman.

 This block pattern makes a 12 inch finished block.

I’ve been doing lots of things besides quilting for the last month, but this inspires me to quilt again. After our trip to Cincinnati in late July and before my trip to visit Mother the first weekend in August, my embroidery machine jammed while stitching. I had stepped out to get something from downstairs – and when I came back everything had come to a halt and the computer screen was blank. After that it didn’t work at all. While I don’t use my embroidery machine every day, something about not having it around has left me unexcited about quilting.

So, a big thank you to Sue for getting me back on track. The machine should be back where it belongs this week. Fortunately it was under warranty and Mike at McKinney Sew & Vac in Greensboro is working on it. 
 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Come again soon.

Marjorie

 

Linda’s Beautiful QOV Design

Linda in Arizona sent me this photo yesterday. I’m in love with this quilt. It is so beautiful with the rail fence blocks and the bordered star blocks. Linda used four strips on her rail fence blocks and rotated them around the center for a design that has a lot of movement and really focuses her star blocks at the same time. She used the machine embroidery stars that I designed – this is an update – at first I thought she used them without the applique shapes, but here are photos – she used a light blue fabric and the closeups show the blocks and stitching better.

 

 

 

 

Linda also sent the EQ7 file. Each block is 16 inches square, including the borders. The rail fence blocks use 2 inch strips and you can see that part of what makes this quilt so interesting is that the outer borders on the star blocks are different widths than the borders on the rail fence blocks. If you would like to have the EQ7 file, just leave a comment and I’ll send it to you.

And, I haven’t forgotten that you want to see my progress. Will give you photos tomorrow.

  
 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Come again soon.

Marjorie

 

Another Eight Pointed Star

This Quilts of Valor GO! for a Star has made me try things I never thought I would do. This 8 pointed star is one I have admired for years. I even bought the Accuquilt die. But I’ve always been intimidated by triangles and even more intimidated by these triangles. Well, I tried it anyway—so here’s a quick photo essay on putting this block together. The finished size is 9 inches, so if you make blocks to send for a Quilts of Valor submission you can add sashing to the sides to make it come up to 12-1/2 inches. If you’re going to make a top or a quilt, you don’t need anything except the minimum quilt / top size of 55 x 65 inches.

Here’s the finished block:

 

 These are the dies that I used for a 9 inch finished block:

 

This the number of pieces needed for each block:

This is how I constructed the star points:

 
 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Come again soon.

Marjorie

 

Star with Flag Center Quilt Block

This quilt block was sent to me by Colleen over at http://colleens-sewinspired.blogspot.com/. Colleen is a new blogger, but has been a stitcher for many years. She asked for cutting instructions for making this in an 8 inch finished size, but I have also included cutting instructions for the 12 inch finished size. I am not going to include block construction because you can use the Split Star instructions for making this block. The only difference is the center unit – one is a flag and the other is a half square triangle.

Click on the image below to access the adobe pdf file with cutting instructions.

  
 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Come again soon.

Marjorie

 

Split Star Tutorial

Still working on that t-shirt quilt — but found a little time to cut and stitch this block. The pictures and instructions are below. You can find the adobe pdf version of the instructions here.  

Errata: On the original post, the D block was the wrong size. It has been corrected in both the adobe document as well as on this post. I apologize for the error.

Split Star Block

Cutting Instructions

Unit

Accuquilt GO Instructions

Rotary Instructions

Light

Medium Light

Red

Blue

A

Die # 55009

GO! 3” Finished Half Square Triangle

Cut 3-7/8” square and cut each square diagonally to make 2 triangles

2

2

4

4

B

Die # 55002

GO! Triangle -4-7/8”

Cut 7-1/4” square and cut each square diagonally from left to right and from right to left to make 4 triangles

2

2

0

0

C

Die # 55006

GO! 3-1/2” Square

OR

cut 3-1/2” strips with GO 3-1/2” strip cutter (55032); then rotate 90 degrees and subcut into 3-1/2” squares

Cut 3-1/2” squares

1

1

0

0

D

Die 55001

GO! 6” Finished Half Square Triangle

Cut 6-7/8” square and cut each square diagonally to make 2 triangles

0

0

1

1

 

 

Step 1: Stitch 2 background triangle units

  

Step 2: Stitch flying geese units, 2 red and 2 blue

  
 

Step 3: Stitch center triangle

  

Step 4: Stitch top and bottom rows together

  

 

Step 5: Stitch middle row together

  

Step 6: Stitch rows together.

  

  
 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Come again soon.

Marjorie

 

Split Stars

Did I get the quilt from last week made over the weekend? No – another “best laid plan”. Hopefully one of you made one. I’m working on a t-shirt quilt for a customer which is a graduation gift. There are 25 t-shirts and this is a humongous quilt. I have been appliqueing the small printed parts of the t-shirt onto the larger blocks. It seems t-shirts are always printed with the date on the opposite side of the shirt as the main design. And if a t-shirt quilt is a ‘memory’ quilt, someday the owner of that quilt might want to recall the exact year and place those memories happened. So, I take the extra time to make sure the dates and places get appliqued somewhere on the main block.

Now, back to Quilts of Valor ideas:

One of the patterns I have never made, but have always dreamed of making, is the Split Star. There are several versions – and you can make your own using the star of your choice. The key is to split the star diagonally from corner to corner and then use light and dark backgrounds and/or star colors on either side of the split. Here is an example. The split star is alternated with a half square triangle made with light and dark. Both blocks are 12 inch blocks. The patches on the star block are made based on a 3″ patch with four patches across and four patches down. I’ll show you how to make this block using rotary cutting or the Accuquilt GO in my next post.

12 inch finished block

 

Quilt finished size is 60″ x 72″

 
 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Come again soon.

Marjorie

 

Connected Stars – Tutorial

With all this cold weather, it’s nice to be inside and working on a quilt pattern. Today’s tutorial is for the Connected Stars Quilt that would be a great one to make for a QOV. And you will see that it can be made with pieced or appliqued stars. I have used Ebony’s EDeN™ cutting system. There are instructions at the bottom of the table to help you understand it as well as complete cutting instructions and die numbers in the table too.

Found an error from the table yesterday, so have corrected it on that image and also in the table today. The error was in Unit B which should be a rectangle cut 6 1/2″ x 3 1/2″. Somehow, in the stream of things, I wrote 8 instead of 6.

Hope you enjoy!

 

Click HERE for a Printable Copy of these Instructions

CUTTING INSTRUCTIONS

Unit #

# Units Needed

Unit*

Accuquilt GO! Die

Cutting Instruction

Notes

A

28

SQ-4

55054

or

 Cut 3 each 4 ½” x WOF using the 4 ½” strip cutter, then rotate 90 degrees and subcut into 4 ½” squares

55060

or

 Cut strips 10” x WOF for use with the GO! Square 4 ½” Multiples

55018

 Cut strips 5” x WOF for use with the GO! Value Die

B

24

REC-6×3

55032

 Cut 2 each 6 ½” x WOF using a rotary cutter, then fanfold across the 3 ½” strip cutter

C

24

REC-12×3

55032

 Cut 2 each 12 ½” x WOF using a rotary cutter, then fanfold across the 3 ½” strip cutter

D

32

SQ-4

55054

or

 Cut 4 each 4 ½” x WOF using the 4 1/2” strip cutter (55054), then rotate 90 degrees and subcut into 4 ½” squares

55060

or

 Cut strips 10” x WOF for use with the GO! Square 4 ½” Multiples

55018

 Cut strips 5” x WOF for use with the GO! Value Die

E

10

REC-12×4

55054

 Cut 2 each 12 ½” x WOF using a rotary cutter, then fanfold across the 4 ½” strip cutter. Save leftover fabric from the second strip to cut the last F piece below.

F

10

REC-8×4

55054

 Cut 1 each 8 ½” x WOF using a rotary cutter, then fanfold across the 4 ½” strip cutter (55054). Use the leftover fabric from the E cuts to make the last piece in this set.

Border

290 inches

3” finished

55032

 To cut border on lengthwise grain: Cut 30 inches across the width of fabric. Fanfold this across the 3 ½”  strip cutter and make 10-11 strips.To cut border on crosswise grain: Cut 30 inches across the width of fabric. Cut 8 strips across the width of fabric.Piece these strips together on the diagonal to make one continuous border strip.

Binding

290 inches

1 ½”cut

55014 or 55017

 To cut binding on crosswise grain: Cut 22 inches across the width of fabric. Cut 8 strips across the width of fabric.

*using the EDeN™ Cutting Nomenclature

SQ = square

REC = rectangle

all measurements are given in finished sizes so ½” should be added for ¼” seam allowances on each side.

 

 

 

Block and Quilt Construction
You will need 12 pieced or appliquéd 6 ½” blocks (finished size will be 6”.    
Step 1: Stitch unit B to either side of your pieced blocks.  
Step 2: Stitch unit C to the top and bottom of your pieced blocks. You will have 12 completed blocks.  
Step 3: Piece 16 sashing strips
Step 4: Piece sashing rows
Step 5: Piece blocks and sashing rows together.
Step 6: Sew block rows and sashing rows together to complete quilt top.
Step 7: Borders Lay completed quilt top (minus borders) out flat and measure from top to bottom through the center of the quilt. Use this measurement length to cut the two side borders for the quilt. Laying the quilt out flat, pin the borders to the side edges, easing in any fullness as needed. Stitch the borders to the sides of the quilt with a ¼” seam. Press seams in the direction of the border.Lay quilt top with the side borders out flat and measure from side to side through the center of the quilt. Use this measurement length to cut the top and bottom borders for the quilt. Laying the quilt out flat, pin the borders to the top and bottom edges, easing in fullness as needed. Stitch the borders to the top and bottom edges of the quilt with a ¼” seam. Press the seams in the direction of the border.
Step 8: Quilt as desired
Step 9: Bind.

 
 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Come again soon.

Marjorie

 

Connected Stars

Thus far, we’ve made some applique stars and some pieced stars. They’re all six inch blocks. So, just playing around this morning with settings, this is another setting that would be nice. It only requires 12 six inch blocks and is a quickie top to piece. I am going to try to piece this one over the weekend because I already have a dozen appliqued star blocks that I made when working with the machine embroidery set. If you have a nice fabric with stars on it or just want to sit down and stitch around some applique stars from the Accuquilt Star die – you’ll be set to go.

Work on your stars today and I’ll have the instructions ready for you tomorrow morning. I have worked out all the cutting instructions already and if you know Ebony’s EDeN™ system, you can follow the cutting instructions below.

If you’re working on a quilt for the GO! for a Star QOV Challenge and would like to have the star ME set, let me know and I’ll send you a sampler set.

Connected Stars

Finished Size 58 x 74″

 

Click on the thumbnail below for a full-size image with readable text:

  
 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Come again soon.

Marjorie

 

Piecing the Quarter Square Triangle Units on the Ohio Star Block

Several people asked me how I would make the six inch finished Ohio Star block for the quilt that was shown in the post on Friday if I wanted to cut it using the Accuquilt GO!™ cutter. Using the rotary cutter to make a quarter square triangle unit to finish at 2″, one needs a square that is 3-1/4″ x 3-1/4″. That square would be rotary cut corner to corner to make quarter square triangle units. So that is where I started.

Using the Accuquilt GO!, the closest units to the 3-1/4″ square are the 3″ finished half square triangle and the 3-1/2″ square. My preference was to use the 3″ finished half square triangle even though there is more waste from trimming with it. The triangles stitch together so well with those dog ears cut off, that it makes it more fun to sew than if I used the square. (I used the  GO! Half Square-3″ Finished Triangle (55009); but you can also use the GO! Bountiful Baskets (55048).

I will show you both ways, and you can decide what works best for you. Instructions are on the photos – just click them for a step by step slide show.

Update: – if there is no image below, just a line – click on the line. IE9 seems to have a problem displaying the image. But the slide show really is there!

 

ohio_star_six_inch_diagrams

  
 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Come again soon.

Marjorie