little red Scottie dogs, block construciton

 

Little red Scottie dogs
Pieced dog measures 6 by 5 inches finished.
With frame finishes 8 by 7 inches.
I am not sure what I will do with these blocks yet so I put a frame on only one to get an idea of what the finished block looks like.

I needed a calming and distracting activity on election day, so I decided to put one of my many Scottie Dog sketches to fabric. I've played with different proportions and construction techniques for a few years. There are many variations of the pieced Scottie. Here are the directions for my method, using the Easy Angle or Bonnie Hunter's essential triangle tool and Doug Leko's simple folded corner tool--mini size. 

Cutting
White background (I used Kona Snow): 
One rectangle 2 1/2 inches by 5 1/2 inches
One square 2 1/2 inches
Two rectangles 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches
Two triangles cut from 1 1/2 inch strip using the Easy Angle or Bonnie Hunter's essential tool.
(((Frames: Cut two 1 1/2 by 5 1/2 inch rectangles, two 1 1/2 by 8 1/2 inch rectangles)))

Red scraps
One rectangle 2 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches
One 2 1/2 inch square
Four 1 1/2 inch squares
Three triangles cut from 1 1/2 inch strip using the Easy Angle or Bonnie Hunter's essential tool.

First piecing
Sew two red triangles to two white triangles, press one to the red and one to the white.
Sew two red squares onto ends of a white 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inch rectangle
Press to the squares.

Time for the Doug Leko ruler! I love this ruler and use it often.
On the large white rectangle, place a small red square on the left side and larger square on the right. Use the angle to trim off the outer triangles and sew these seams. Press towards the triangles.

On a small rectangle place a small red square and use the tool to trim the left upper side.

With the small triangle square that is pressed to the red, use the tool to one side as shown. Scroll down to see how I did these in groups to be more efficient with these fiddly pieces.
There is only one in the block so it works well to do them in batches.
NOTE: all these pieces will be in a different orientation in the block.

I did these in groups to be more efficient with these fiddly pieces. There is only one in the block so it works well to do them in batches.
Sew a red half-square triangle to these pieces and  press away from the white.

Lay out all piece for block as shown.
Sew the small rectangle piece to the large rectangle keeping the ear and tail pointing up and upper face down. Press towards the ear.

Sew the fiddly piece onto the remaining pieced half square triangle--the opposing pressed seams nest nicely.
Press away from the fiddly piece.
Sew onto the white square. Press towards the white square.
Sew red body rectangle onto the legs. Press to the body.
Sew these two units together, press towards the body and legs.

Sew the top to the bottom, pressing towards the bottom.
Everything nests!
More process photos below.
My construction directions for a traditional block.
Use at your pleasure.

major units piece (back with pressing visible)

ready for final seam

final block pressing

14 dogs made before midnight

pavement, block construction

Pavement

Block finishes 10 inches
I plan to set 8 by 9, so will make 72 blocks to make a quilt 80 by 90 inches

Cutting
Solids:
Nine 2 1/2 inch squares

Prints:
Four rectangles 4 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches
Eight 2 1/2 inch squares

Layout block with the rectangles horizontal in the four corners

Sew into rows
Press top and bottom rows to the solid squares
Press center row away from the center square
Press second and fourth rows away the center square

Sew into block, press away from the center row

I will be rotating every other block when I put together the top so all seams will nest.

My directions for a traditional block. Use at your pleasure.

3 tatami mat, top completed

 
3 Tatami Mat
84 by 72 inches
top completed 2024
Block finishes 8 by 12 inches
63 blocks set 9 across and 7 down

The scrap rectangle in a unit-block/tatami shape is one of my favorite scrap shapes. When I cut down my scraps, this is one of my basic sizes, cut 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 to finish 1 by 2 inches. I have made at least 5 quilts using this shape. I'll try to gather photographs of them for a future post.

I love tatami mat layout guides and used the simple 3 mat layout for the basic units.

For one block:
Solid (I used Kona Ice Frappe): 4 pieces cut 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches
Print: 44 dark or bright scraps cut 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches

So, for the quilt:
252 solid rectangles
2772 print rectangles

Block construction is described HERE.  I made 16 units into a block, using my usual layout for 16-patch blocks.

Layout:
Make 63 blocks and sew into 9 block rows.
Make 7 rows.
Press alternating rows left or right
Sew together rows then press rows in one direction. I pressed down.
All seams nest.
Make sure you stay-stitch around the perimeter right away!

My 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inch rectangles darks and brights bin is greatly diminished.

Starting bin contents

After!
Used much more of that bin than I anticipated. 

My design, use at your pleasure.

Backing is this great corn fabric by Create It. In honor of our corn harvest going on right now. I purchased this on the secondary market but I think it is sold by Walmart.

paths and stiles, block construction

corn fabrics celebrating harvest!

Paths and Stiles
Block finishes 9 inches
I plan to set 9 by 10, so will make 90 blocks for a quilt to finish 81 by 90 inches

Cutting
Solids:
Four rectangles 1 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches
One 3 1/2 inch square
Four  triangles cut from 3 1/2 inch strip using the Easy Angle or Bonnie Hunter's essential tool

Prints:
Eight rectangles 1 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches
Four triangles cut from 3 1/2 inch strip using the Easy Angle or Bonnie Hunter's essential tool

Sew together triangles, pressing away from the solid triangle

Sew together rectangles; with two sets, press towards the center solid and with the other two sets, press away from the center solid

Layout block with the vertical stiles pressed away from center rectangle at the top and bottom and the horizontal stiles pressed towards the center rectangle at the sides
Sew into rows
Press triangle rows away from the triangles
Press center row away from the center square

Sew into block, press away from the center row

I will be rotating every other block when I put together the top so all seams will nest.

My directions for a traditional block. Use at your pleasure.

sample blocks

A busy semester, a bit of sewing going on behind the scenes.
Working on pressing plans for Paths and Stiles and for Pavement. Quite a few blocks already cut out, so I am ready to go when more sewing time opens up in later October.

Kamala quilt

The Democratic National Convention was just down the street from us last week.
Lots of motorcades, helicopters, street activities.

I found this wonderful pattern by Berene @happysewlucky who shared her great Kamala block on her Instagram. I scaled it up to the letters to be 4 inches tall finished and eliminated many seams by making flying geese for the K and M and modified half square triangles for the A. Machine quilted in curved lines on my Bernina Record 930. I chose pink because it is a happy, strong color. Three pink solids used.
The back is a pink paisley from the stash of a late friend who I am sure would approve of its use. And a bit of cat fabric because, well, just because.

Thanks Berene!

3-tatami mat, block construciton

 

Block measures 12 by 8 inches and contains sixteen 3-tatami mat units.

I love tatami mat layouts and use the very simple 3-tatami mat layout as the basic unit for this block, using scraps from my 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inch darks and brights coins bin.
The solid is Kona Ice Frappe, K001-1173.
I use my basic 16-patch construction method once those units are sewn.

There is Unit A and Unit B
Unit A: cut three scrap rectangles 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches
Unit B: cut two scrao and one solid rectangles 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches
Sew scraps into pairs and press to one side. I kept these seams consistant in the units construction. 
Sew scrap onto top of Unit As and solid onto top of Unit Bs.
Press towards top rectangle, away from the pairs.
For a block, make 8 Unit A and 4 Unit B.

Sew units into pairs, for the block, 4 all scrap Unit As and  4 with a Unit A and a Unit B, keeping the solid rectangle at the edge of that pair.
Press towards the edge that ends with a single rectangle.

Take two of these and sew together into units with the solid in the center. 
Press consistent to previous pressing.

Flip one row and sew into block halves.
Then sew two halves together to one block.

Press block to one side.

This will be a longer-term sewing project over the fall as faculty week starts next week. Thinking of 120 blocks set 8 down by 10 across for quilt to measure 96 by 80.
Block is my design--use at your pleasure.

I am also playing with doing this block on a larger scale with 2 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch red rectangles and white as the solid. ALWAYS room for another red and white quilt!
Block finishes 24 by 16 inches. What a different in scale.