burdock, top completed

Burdock
90 by 80 inches
90 blocks set 9 down and 10 across
Block finishes 8 by 10 inches

My block piecing directions are here.
*NOTE, I kept all blocks oriented with the burs section pressed south throughout my layout.
This is not required, but helps it all lay flatter.

Assembly 
Set aside 10 blocks.

Remaining 80 blocks
Press half with to the burs, half to the sides.
*Note, the pressed in blocks do not like to be pressed in. I do this mainly to nest, and allow the centers of the blocks to twist back to their prefered status. Twisted sisters seams I call them!
Pair and piece vertically into twos then four vertical block units. alternating the pressings so they are pressed in then out.
Set aside 10 of the units.

Take ten 4-block units and pair into five 8-block units, pressing the left one up and the right one down, and sew. Lay out these 5 units for the top portion of the quilt.

Take remaining 10 units and the 10 set aside blocks. Press those single blocks towards the burs and sew one onto the bottom of each unit.

There are now ten 5-block units
Pair these to make five 10-block units, again pressing the left of the pair up and the right one down.
Lay these five 10-block units out to be the bottom portion of the quilt.

Sew the units into rows, press top row to the right and bottom row to the left and sew the two rows together.
Everything will nest.

My design, use at your pleasure.

Backing by Miriam Bos for Dear Stella

burdock, block instructions

Burdock block
Finishes 8 by 10 inches

I liked the zip quilt I made several years ago. And I like rectangle blocks. This is a design I came up with that made me think of the burs of the seed heads of burdock.

Burdock is an invasive species here in the midwest and a difficult weed.
We loved playing with the seed heads as children and used them to sculpt animals. My mother told the story of her friend Gert who, when they were children, sculpted a hat with them and proceeded to see if it fit. Gert had to have her hair cut very short to remove the burs.
I remember that once the burs got into a sock, they were there to stay but we had to continue to wear those painful socks as they were not worn out.

Cutting
Solid: five 2 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch rectangles which will be cut further later
Print: two 2 1/2 by 10 1/2 inch rectangles; ten 2 1/2 inch squares which will be cut further later

Using Doug Leko's Mini Simple folded corners ruler, use the print squares and the solid rectangles to make the burs.

First bur placed using Doug's ruler 

Second bur placed using Doug's ruler

Press to the print
Sew the five burs together
*NOTE: I found I have to take a scant 1/4 inch seam in putting the burs together. I measure when they are in pairs to make sure they are 4 1/2 inches, then in 4s to measure 8 1/2 inches, then when adding the fifth, 10 1/2 inches. This extra step takes time but saves frustration with the thread ripper later.

Press all burs in one direction. I chose to have my seams all go south. Could also be pressed open
Add sides--do not press at this stage
*NOTE; I found it best to have the long side pieces on the top going into the machine, the burs on the bottom.

Burs and sides ready to sew

Bur pairs measured and are ready to put center together

Once blocks are made, I press some blocks to the burs and some to the sides. Sew into vertical pairs nesting these seams, leaving some blocks unpressed until finishing the last row if making an odd number of rows.

I plan to set either:
9 by 9, 81 blocks, to measure 72 by 90 inches

or

10 by 9, 90 blocks, to measure 80 by 90 inches

I like how these blocks are coming together.
My design, use at your pleasure.

eggplant alphabet, based on a design by Alyce Blyth, top completed

 
Eggplant Alphabet
81 by 61 inches
Top completed 2023

My 8th alphabet quilt.
Alyce Blyth has a free quilt-along on her blog Blossom Heart Quilts from 2013, Easy as ABC.
https://www.blossomheartquilts.com/easy-as-abc-qal/

It has delightful chunky modern looking letters for which I used eggplant-range purple batiks on a subtle horizontal washed greyed pale lavender ground.
(I learned not to purchase batiks online if I expect a specific shade. The ground was purchased for another project and was not what I expected. It worked well for this quilt.)

I pretty much stuck to Alyce's letters with a few alterations and construction changes.
I did re-scale letters from a 2 inch (2 1/2 inch cut) grid to a 1 1/2 inches (2 inch cut) grid. I also changed construction techniques on some of the letters. I resorted to my nemesis of paper piecing (freezer) for the X and the Y.
You can read about how I scaled down Alyce's pattern and how I framed the blocks here.

With this alteration, my letters measure 4 1/2 by 6 inches,  finish 7 1/2 by 9 with the background, and my framed blocks finish 9 1/2 by 11 inches.

20 Vertical sashings are cut 2 by 11 1/2 inches.
Three horizontal sashings are cut 2 by 54 inches
One horizontal sashing is cut 2 by 43 inches (goes under ABCD)
One horizontal sashing is cut 2 by 21 inches (goes above YZ)
Top left corner is cut 13 by 11 1/2 inches (goes left of A after horizontal sashing is on)
Bottom right corner is cut 13 by 33 inches (goes right of Z after horizontal sashing is on

At this point, the vertical length of the top measures 73 1/2 inches plus seam allowances of 1/2 inches, so 74 inches
The horizontal width of the top measures 53 1/2 inches plus seam allowances of 1/2 inches, so 54 inches (*61 once side borders are attached)

I cut 4 inch borders
Cutting:
74 inches for sides
61 inches for top and bottom
I will bind with the light.

With borders, top measures 81 by 61 inches
I try to take careful notes as I sew, but be aware I may make mistakes in my measures.

Again, letters were designed by Alyce Blyth. She gets all the credit for her delightful design.
Scaling down and setting are mine--use at your pleasure.

red and white: patience corner, top completed

Patience Corner
92 by 78 inches
Block finishes 7 inches
Top completed 2023

120 blocks set 10 across and 12 down
4 1/2 inch cut border

Patience corner is one of my favorite blocks and I have used it in at least 4 quilts. Proportions can be altered for different effects. I have made it all scraps and have used it as the setting for a sampler quilt.
In this quilt, the constant white (Kona Snow) gives a scattered look to the reds scrap squares. 
I like how the white borders let the field look like the red squares are floating.

Block finishes 7 inches

Cutting:
Red: four 2 1/2 inch squares (480 total)
White: four 2 by 2 1/2 inch rectangles, four 2 by 4 inch rectangles (480 each)

Sewing and Pressing quarter-blocks:
Sew white 2 by 2 1/2 rectangle to squares
Press towards the red square
Orient as show, sew 2 by 4 inch rectangle to the previous piece.
Press towards the larger rectangle

Press towards white rectangle

Sew 480 quarter blocks into 240 half blocks as shown
Press to the one side (left from front, right from back).

Half block, front and back sides showing pressing

Rotate one half-block and sew two into 120 full blocks
Do not press horizontal seam yet



Sew into 60 2-block units, making sure to keep the units center seams horizontal.
Do not press yet.


Then make 30 4-block units.

Press half the 4-block units horizontal seams up and the other half down
(You can just press them all in one direction, then rotate every other one)
Sew into fifteen 8-block units and lay out the quilt. Mine is three rows of five 8-block units.

Press top and bottom rows left and middle row right
All seams will nest

Cut side borders 4 1/2 inches by 84 1/2 inches
Cut top and bottom borders 4 1/2 inches by 78 1/2 inches

My design, use at your pleasure.

I intended to make a small quilt, but loved the red squares too much to stop

The dalmation and the airport are two favorite fabrics

That Ritz cracker!!

Backing is from Dear Stella

summer quilt, quilt completed

Summer Quilt

2023
94 1/2 by 81 inches
Quilted by Sue Divarco

378 blocks.
Adapted from the delightful pattern I Spy Low Volume of Allison Jensen of Woodberry Way
Here is her blog post about it.
Here is a link to her printable pattern
Here are my notes on changes I made in construction.

It is a calming, fresh quilt. Feels like summer. It is more beautiful in person than it photographs.
The fabrics are mine plus from an exchange with my small group. We laughed and said many of our low volume fabrics were not using their inside voices.
Some of my mom's scraps made it in here too from her 1960s sewing.

Use my modifications of Allison's great pattern at your pleasure.

red and white rail fence/basket weave, top completed

Red and White Rail Fence
95 by 75 inches
221 blocks

I saw a vintage rail fence quilt made with two fabrics and loved the basket-weave effect. I decided to use the idea for another red and white quilt and had fun using lots of reds, most of my own but also some from friends. Also some shopping happened. I have made 5 red and white quilts in the last year and there is a net gain of red fabrics in my house.

Remember, 3 reds clash. 100 reds are fabulous.
The white is Kona Snow.

I wanted the patchwork to have the same orientation of blocks in each corner, requiring an odd number of rows and columns. The lay-out is a bit complicated to describe, but is simple in execution. 

Block finishes 5 inches
13 blocks across
17 rows
Borders finish 5 inches

Cutting
Red: three 1 1/2 by 5 1/2 inch rectangles
White: two 1 1/2 by 5 1/2 inch rectangles
(for 221 blocks, 442 white rectangles. I cut the white into 5 1/2 inch strips then subcut into the rectangles.)

Pressing
Press away from white to red

Make 221 blocks.
*Set aside 13 blocks
Orient blocks alternating horizontal and vertical seams
Sew blocks into 104 pairs then 52 fours
Press towards the blocks with horizontal seams

*Set aside 16 of the 4-block units
Sew the remaining 36 into 18 8-block units
Take two 4-block units and rotate one, sew together, seams will nest

Sew these into 3 rows of six 8-block units. Add one of the set aside 4-block units at the end of each row.

Take the remaining set aside 4-block units and add the set aside single blocks to make 5-block units, MAKING SURE to add a horizontal block to 6 of the units and a vertical block to 7 of the units. 
Make six 10-block units and finish the row with the remaining 5-block unit.

There are 4 rows of units.
Press odd rows left, even rows right
All seams will nest

Borders
Cut 5 1/2 inch strips of various red fabrics*

*Border planning for scrap borders:
I cut the lengths to nest in with the blocks.
SO, for this quilt with 5 inch finished blocks, the 5 1/2 inch wide fabrics are cut into lengths that are multiples of 5 inches: 10, 15, 20, PLUS a 1/2 inch seam allowance, so 10 1/2, 15 1/2, 20 1/2. This allows the border seams to nest into the block seams. AND, I don't have to pin!
By varying the length, they look more random than if they were all cut the same length. 
When my borders are wider or narrower than the block size, there is a bit of figuring for the top and bottom borders, but it is pretty simple math.
I also like to have the corners wrap around so I make sure I use fabric I have plenty of for corners.
This scrap border method allows places to celebrate fabulous prints that are cut up in the patchwork. Look at these dalmations! And the airport!

My design, use at your pleasure.

Backing from Michael Miller