3x6 Block Exchange

I <3 this Flickr swap! Sign ups are every 3 months and participants are put into groups of 7. You pick what 3 colours you would like your blocks to be and then everyone else makes you a block in those colours. You pick a pattern (or make one up) and make a block for everyone else in the group with that pattern and their colours. The blocks are amazing and so creative. Take a look here.

This is the block I'm doing for the 2nd quarter.

Purple, yellow & gray

It's a simple block - easy enough for the very beginner and has a great modern look to it. Here's the how-to:

You will need:
9- 2.5" squares of desired colours (red, black and gray here)
1- 2.5"x6.5" strip of background (I used white) - Piece A
1- 2.5"x8.5" strip of background - Piece B
1- 4.5"x8.5" strip of background - Piece C
1- 4.5"x12.5" strip of background - Piece D

Arrange your 9 coloured squares until you have an arrangement you are happy with.
Sew together in rows, then join the rows together to get a 9-patch as shown.
Add Piece A to one side of your 9-patch.

Add Piece B to adjoining side as shown

Working around your block, add Piece C and Piece D.

And you're done - easy peasy!

Happy Quilting!
--Ann

Circles and Curves Swap

There are lots of tutorials out there for similar circles. Here's how I did it:
Cut 2 squares of each colour - mine are 7.5 inches square.

Layer your squares, both right sides up.

 Use a circle template or household item to draw a circle on your top square and then stitch a decorative stitch on that circle. Go slowly and your fabric should stay lined up without pinning.
Make one with purple on top and gray underneath and another with the gray on top.

Cut both your prepared squares into 4 pieces.

Very carefully, cut away the top layer as shown.

Arrange your pieces to form a pleasing pattern and sew together. The seams on the circles will probably not match up exactly, but don't worry about it - the effect of the circle is there even with the imperfections.

Although I liked the purple and gray combination with the yellow/green stitching, this little quiltie still needed a touch of pizzazz. I did have some green that was the same fabric line as the purple print, but not enough to do this next step, so I found something else in my stash and cut some 1" strips. These were folded in half lengthwise and pressed. Using a 1/8" seam (just needs to be narrower than the 1/4" seam for the border), sew these strips around your blocks.

Adding a green "zinger" strip.

 The border is made from 1.5" strips and sewn right on top of the "zinger" strip with a 1/4" seam.

And a purple border.

Layer and pin your top to batting and backing.

Now it's time to quilt - because these mini's are not large, they are a great place to practice your machine quilting skills. The gray reminded me of paving stones placed in a flower garden, so I decided to quilt pebbles on the gray fabric and stipple quilt the purple. I had some great variegated purple thread and went to work.

Click on pictures to see the quilting close up.

And the final touch was a double-fold binding in gray. Hope my swap partner likes this one! It turned out to be a similar pattern and colour to the one she sent me, but they say "great minds think alike"!

Happy Quilting
--Ann