Our video demonstration this week is a six-pointed star, perfect for Hanukkah. This star is fairly easy to sew, although there are several bias edges to sew, so you’ll need to be careful not to stretch them, otherwise your block will be sorely mis-shapen.
If you head on over to www.QuiltBlockLibrary.com, you can get a free download of the pattern for this block, as well as several other quilt blocks.
You also might want to sign up for the email series – “Understanding Quilt Blocks.” This weekly email is an excellent resource for learning how quilt blocks are drawn, how to choose fabric for your quilt blocks, as well as how to sew
Even though this block uses only two different fabrics, it is relatively challenging to sew together. It could be because almost every seam is on the bias, since virtually every patch is a triangle.
In any case, you’ll see how to sew the block together! I’d reserve some time and focus for this one
Visit www.QuiltBlockLibrary.com to see other quilt block videos and get free patterns, including free fabric postcard patterns for Penny’s Postcard Posse.
With this week including Sewing Machine Day, I thought it would be fun to demonstrate the Spool quilt block. This block is an old and well-loved block – probably because it is very easy to sew and makes some fun designs.
In this block, I have used a brown fabric that has a wood grain for the spool portion and a white fabric with a kind of strip for the center square – making it look like thread on the spool.
These blocks can be lined up so the spools all face the same direction – like soldiers standing at attention. Or, often the blocks are rotated so that some of the spools are standing and some laying down.
This Grandmother’s Star quilt block pattern is a relatively simple 9 patch that can be pieced together using some speed piecing techniques.
There are 5 little 4-patches that I sewed together using a strip piecing method which you can see in the video.
The challenge, if any, in this block is to sew the isosceles triangles together without stretching the bias edges. With careful matching and sewing, you can do it!
Did you know that June 27 is Happy Birthday to You Day? It must be for celebrating a birthday without having to count the years.
Or maybe it is for all of the pets in the world whose owners don’t know their real birthday.
Whichever it is, here is a Birthday Cake quilt block which is easy to sew.
Visit www.QuiltBlockLibrary.com for a free download of a pattern for the block as well as a pattern for a fabric postcard with the Birthday Cake quilt block on it.
