Block 5 is here and I love it. This block looks so very different based on the color placement. Have fun with this block but don’t use up all your fabric making multiples in different color layouts!!! Here are some pictures:
Block 5 Turnstile
QAL Block 4 is a beautiful Chisel
This is one of the prettiest rows ever. It is made up of the chisel in two colors. It is very simple but a great one to know because it will add so much to many of your quilts. There are two ways to make it: one uses the AccuQuilt GO! Corners Companion Qube Shape 9, and the other uses a square and a rectangle from the AccuQuilt GO! Mix & Match Qube. Here’s a picture of the quilt with the Chisel row added.
Snail’s Trail Quilt with Block Layout
Someone asked yesterday for the block layout on the Snail’s Trail virtual quilts that I posted yesterday. It’s especially hard to add the block layout on the Storm at Sea quilts because the sashing and cornerstones are actually the Storm at Sea shapes and EQ doesn’t give me the option for dark outlines. However, if you look closely, I think you will see them. You can also click on the pictures to see a larger image.
I know many want a “pattern” but this takes so much time in writing and testing that it’s not something I can do for free. The individual block patterns can be done fairly quickly, and I am happy to offer the information for constructing a block as a printout (see the Free Patterns and How-to list on the right). And I will work on creating patterns using AccuQuilt dies and the Qubes for a couple of these at a later time as many seem to want a pattern.
Snail’s Trail Quilts with a Twist
Last week I uploaded some instructions for creating the Snail’s Trail blocks using the AccuQuilt GO! BOB Snail’s Trail as well as instructions for making the Snail’s Trail in any size using the AccuQuilt GO! QUBE system. There are so many fun quilts that can be made using the Snail’s Trail as a “connector” or “chain” block. And when you look at these quilts I created in Electric Quilt 8, you will see that it’s all about color. Choose your colors, cut your shapes, lay them out on a felt block board and stitch.
The Storm at Sea Snail’s Trail uses the SAS shapes as sashing. The Snail’s Trail Stars use alternating Snail’s Trail and Star blocks. Here are some ideas.
Block 3 Pinwheel 4-Patch is ready to stitch
The block for this week is a Pinwheel set in a 4-Patch and this will complete the first row of pieced blocks. Now we have a border row and a row of pieced blocks. It’s really optional as to whether you want to put this row together with sash or wait until you have more parts of this quilt.
Instructions for cutting all the parts are included in the instructions this week and also the same information is in the original instructions for layout and yardage. This is a picture of where you are right now.
Click a picture below or follow the links on the menu at the top of the blog page to find the instructions for download.
Tomorrow – 5/17 – AccuQuilt is introducing some new dies. I am excited because I got to try out one of the dies back in January and it is so much fun. Here’s a link to the signup.
Snail’s Trail Quilt Blocks using AccuQuilt GO! dies
In the AccuQuilt Qube Facebook group last week someone asked about the Snail’s Trail Quilt Block. The last post I wrote about Snail’s Trail was in 2016 just after the Qube dies were introduced. Since then there have been many new AccuQuilt GO! dies introduced that will make a Snail’s Trail in many different sizes and in different configurations. When searching the Internet for Snail’s Trail quilts, you will see the Snail’s Trail with the center four patch set on point and you will also see it with the center four patch set straight. And in mathematics, you will find that the Snail’s Trail quilt block is the simplest of baravelle spirals.
AccuQuilt has a Snail’s Trail BOB (block on board) that will make an 8″ finished Snail’s Trail. I love the BOB’s because they give you everything you need to quickly make a block. There is also a BOB for the GO! Big cutter. The GO! Big Snail’s Trail BOB makes a 12″ finished block.
And if you don’t have one of the BOB’s, you can still make a Snail’s Trail using individual dies or one of the Qubes. There are two ways to make the Snail’s Trail with these as shown by the diagrams below. The Snail’s Trail with the center set on point can be made with any size Qube and uses only that Qube. However, the Snail’s Trail with the center set straight requires two coordinating Qubes. The 4″ and 8″ Qubes work together for a finished 8″ Snail’s Trail quilt block. And the 6″ and 12″ Qubes work together for a finished 12″ Snail’s Trail quilt block. And there may be more Qubes in AccuQuilt’s future that have a coordinate.
Check the list of free quilt patterns in the right hand column for downloadable instructions for these quilt blocks.
It’s a lot of fun to use these with other blocks to make a quilt. I love that I can make a 12″ Snail’s Trail and have a quilt finished in no time. Later this week, I will show you some pretty quilts you can make with this block mixed with other blocks. There are also some color changes you can make that will create entirely new blocks with these same shapes.
Block 2 – Quarter Square Triangle Pinwheel
This week’s block is one of my favorite blocks because it uses Flying Geese and Rectangles and is so easy to make. The nice thing about it is that if you are setting blocks side by side rather than adding sashing, it is much easier to match the seams. In this case, you have sashing all around, but it’s a block worth adding to your repertoire.
Click the image below to go to the QAL page.
You will make three of these blocks for Row 1 of Pieced Blocks. And next week we will add the other two blocks and finish the row with sashing between blocks.
Starting with a Ribbon Border
This is the first week of the new Pinwheel QAL and I debated whether to start with one of the pieced borders or a Pinwheel block. That beautiful pieced ribbon border won. It is a border that can be used so many ways and is a fun thing for beginners to learn and for experienced quilters to enjoy making. You will find the block on the QAL page by clicking on the menu link at the top of this page or click here.
These are the dies that I used from the 8″ Qube – a shape 4 Quarter Square Triangle and a Shape 3 Half Square Triangle.
These are the shapes after cutting. I stacked and arranged them in the order of stitching.
It is so important to keep the light and medium quarter square triangle shapes in the same position in each block so I like to put them all together before I start stitching. See below how I use a pin to mark the side that will be stitched. I go ahead and put the triangles together with a pin in each one and stack them and then chain piece the triangles.
And once the triangles are stitched together, here are a couple of options for arranging them. I love both of these configurations, but can you come up with some different arrangments?
Here are possible configurations as you might put them into the quilt. But wait! You may want to see what the other pieced borders look like and use this one somewhere else – there are four possibilities for this one.
       