Category: QUBE

Orphan Quilt Blocks and a little leftover fabric

Just a little post about how I used the leftover quarter square triangles from my sampler quilt. What do you do with leftover scraps from your finished projects?

Have I mentioned the loaves and the fishes? The New Testament story of Jesus feeding the masses is the way I feel about fabric when a quilt is finished. There’s always fabric left that needs purpose – or at least in my mind it needs purpose. And after quilting for 40 years I still am trying to decide what to do each time.

After finishing the Sampler quilt, there were quite a few quarter square triangles left from the 4″ Qube as well as many from the 8″ Qube. What else would one do with them except make a Star in a Star block. Believe it or not, I was able to make 12 blocks. They’re not all finished, but they are well on the way.

And while I was doing the side project of the star in a star block making, there was a red quilt to bind so I changed the thread on my machine and when the top thread was changed, the bobbin somehow didn’t get changed.

The red stitched pieces sat beside the machine for several days. And then during the weekend, I decided to take out the red stitches and restitch them together. Unstitching doesn’t bother me – maybe because when the girls were in 4-H, I took out stitches for a lot of the sewing group so they wouldn’t be discouraged by their mistakes.

Here are the “in progress” star in a star blocks – two are finished. They finish at 8″, but will likely get a border of some sort to make them bigger since there are only 12 of them.

Hope you have a happy day and can do a little quilting for fun.

Oh, and by the way, what do you do with the leftover scraps from your finished projects? 
 

Block 12 – Summer Posies Qube Workout QAL

Wow – 12 weeks and this is the last block. We started in May and ending in August. This block is called Summer Posies as there is a strong center with some petals in the corners. Each center is different and uses dies from a different Qube (Mix & Match, Angles, or Corners). Enjoy this last block and get ready to put those blocks together into a quilt top or if you only have a few – how about a wall hanging or a table topper or table runner. Click on the blocks below or follow the link in the top menu to get to the instructions.

Block 12 Summer Posies
Block 12 Summer Posies
 
 

Color Challenge – Block 7 of the Qube Workout Sampler

This week is going to be fun. We’re taking the Blocks from last week’s Sampler and doing a color challenge. Sometimes when drawing these blocks, I look at the uncolored diagrams, and without color, a completely different block appears in my mind. That happened with last week’s blocks when I was creating them and thus, we got this week’s blocks from that. It was so much fun that I almost couldn’t keep it a secret. But here they are. I hope you love them as much as I do. You will find instructions here.

 
 

Vortex – Block 5 of the Qube Workout Sampler

New blocks have been posted on the QAL page. This block is called Vortex because, again, it rotates around a Square on Point or Economy Block subunit. There are three versions – one for the Mix & Match Qube, one for the Angles Companion Qube, and one for the Corners Companion Qube.

This has been an interesting week. I thought that when school was out last Tuesday that it would be smooth sailing, but one of the days was spent getting Ezri’s covid vaccination. It took over half an hour on the phone to register her for the vaccination and then when we got there, they had no record of it. However, we had been given a registration number over the phone and also via text message so there was no problem with her getting the shot. Except that we were the only ones there and they wanted to wait to open a vial until more people came. After waiting quite a while and no one else came, they opened the vial and gave her the shot. Everyone was very pleasant and when Ezri came over the next day she seemed to suffer no side effects from the vaccination.

Ezri also came over every day last week because she wanted to sew. It is wonderful to see her stitching away and finally using the iron and pressing her own piecing. She still lets that right arm hang at her side instead of using two hands for things, but she’s getting the job done.

Have a happy quilting day! 
 

Star Soiree – Block 4 of the Qube Workout Sampler

Block 4 is here. For this design I started with a simple friendship star for the Mix & Match Qube and worked into some additional stars for the Angles and Corners Companion Qubes. While the friendship star design is fairly traditional, the piecing of it is not. Usually one sees this done with all half square triangles. This block presents a challenge because some of the seams can be eliminated to give a smoother, more cohesive block using shapes like the quarter square triangle and the parallelogram.

In the Angles Companion block, the trapezoid is repeated for a double trapezoid block. Color placement will dictate unique designs in this block. And in the Corners Companion, a simpler design is used that looks similar to a variable star, but because it is a six-patch, one gets more points and accents of the center points of the star with the bowtie units.

In other news, we went to my nephew’s wedding this weekend. It was so much fun and fairly non-traditional. They wanted simple and chose to have the wedding venue as a tent in a pasture on the bride’s grandfather’s farm. The bride has her own animals there, so it was truly “home” for her. It was delightful and we feasted on BBQ prepared by the groom with beverages served from a bar made of stacked hay bales while cattle and a few donkeys and horses grazed nearby. Here’s a picture of the bride and groom.

 
 

New QubeWorkout Sampler Quilt Starts Monday

I am so excited to post the new blocks tomorrow for the new QAL. And even more so, it’s exciting to tell you that the blocks will be completely different from the AccuQuilt block sets. For me, this week has been one of much thought and deliberation into the design of this quilt. I loved the last QAL because of the beautiful quilts every one made and am excited for a new QAL. However, I want it to be something unique and exciting and for each of you to have a quilt like no other. It’s the same idea as that I never buy a dress off the rack because I always want to wear something no one else has.

The original sketch I posted was for 24 blocks of the usual AccuQuilt block sets, and no matter how I tried, it just didn’t make me happy. In addition, 24 weeks is a long time to do a QAL and I wondered how many would drop out along the way.

So I thought and thought about all the quilts I’ve seen and made over the last 40 years. And I decided to go back and look at some antique blocks and redesign them to fit the AccuQuilt GO! Mix & Match and Companion dies. And the blocks are wonderful! They are different! They are six-patch, not four-patch! And every quilter will have a unique set of blocks that she can call her own! I am so sew very excited that I want to make all of these blocks in many different colors and ways. It will be such fun to do this vicariously through all the participants in the QAL.

This quilt will be twelve blocks and will last about 12-15 weeks including making the blocks and adding the sashing and borders. The yardage will be the same as what has been posted. The quilt dimensions will vary slightly because the block sizes are different due to the change from four patch to six patch. An updated chart that includes the original yardage and with additional information about block sizes and sashing and border widths can be found here. 
 

Designing a Sampler Quilt

The Facebook AccuQuilt Qube group has asked to do a block of the week Sampler quilt. Sampler quilts are a lot of fun because each block is different. They’re also nice as a teaching tool because there are many different shapes and practice in joining those shapes can be used. However, sometimes a Sampler quilt can begin to look like jumbled up blocks – or at least in my way of thinking. I like clean lines and clear colors in quilts. So that is what goes into my thinking in designing a Sampler Quilt.

One way of doing this is simply to use the background fabric for the sashing and to make the sashing wide enough to give the blocks a background so that each block stands out on its own. Another way of doing this is to use background fabric strips to frame the block – I call this a floating frame. The result of this is a larger block than the original block design. In this case, I use a light or medium fabric sashing between blocks and often make it narrower or the same width as the floating frame. The floating frame makes either a larger quilt or a quilt with fewer blocks. For the same number of blocks, this requires a lot more background fabric.

These are just my thoughts about it all. Below are EQ examples of a Floating Frame block as well as a layout with a color sashing and a layout with a background sashing.

Quilt Block with Floating Frame
Quilt Block with Floating Frame
Sampler Quilt with Background Fabric Sashing
Sampler Quilt with Background Fabric Sashing
Sampler Quilt with Color Fabric Sashing
Sampler Quilt with Color Fabric Sashing
Sampler Quilt with Floating Frame Blocks and Color Sashing
Sampler Quilt with Floating Frame Blocks and Color Sashing

Have a Happy Day!

  
 

New QAL and Broken Dishes QAL Finishes

Today is the first day of the new QAL requested by members of the Facebook AccuQuilt GO! Qube group. This will be a sampler quilt. The goal for me of this QAL is to provide some skills challenges and to use every shape in the Mix & Match Qubes as well as every shape in the Corners and Angles Qubes. There are 24 blocks and each week will bring three blocks, one from each of the Qubes (Mix & Match, Angles, Corners). Look in the top menu on this b-quilts.com/blog page and you will find the QAL and a link to the yardage instructions.

But I have to say that the finishes we have seen from the Broken Dishes QAL have been spectacular. Here are some of the first finishes or near finishes. Some do not have the final border – will change the photos as the final border pics come in.

Alison

 

Debora
Judi
Julie
Mrs. Sandlin
Marjorie
Carol Ann M.
Lucie
Andrea
Carol
Carol Ann F. with her own original border
PJ R.
Edie
Cindy B.
Cindy B. (2)
Cindy B. (2)
Judy V.
Lupe
Cathy W.
Russanne P.
Russanne P.
Mary Ann W.
Mary Ann W.
Molly W.
Molly W.
Shauna G
Shauna G

Lori Ann R.
Lori Ann R.
 
 

Block 4 Broken Dishes Qube Workout

The new block is posted and ready to go. This block will finish the second border around the four center Broken Dishes blocks. It is the connector block for the stars that we made last week. Can’t wait to see what you do with this.

Here’s the link to the QAL Page: It’s Part 6 Block 4.

This is what the 8″ Scrappy version looks like after the border is added. It is very bright, but I like bright. Will work on the 12″ one this week and see if I can get it ready.

And I’m going to do some screen shots of the ones that are done on the Qube Facebook group and post them in a separate blog post.

 
 

Block 3 Broken Dishes Qube Workout

The block this week goes in Border 2. There are 8 star blocks and 8 connector blocks in Border 2. This week we are making the star blocks. There is a choice of two different stars. One is a Broken Dishes Star and the second is a Diamond Star. They are very similar in appearance, but different in the way they are pieced. The Broken Dishes Star is made up of all triangles and the Diamond Star includes flying geese units and a square on point unit.

You will find links to the instructions here.

Below are diagrams of all of the Borders showing the variations and the stars:

Diamond Star Variation 01

 

Diamond Star Variation 02

 

Broken Dishes Star Variation 04

 

Broken Dishes Star Variation 03

 

Broken Dishes Star Variation 00