Two Colour Quilt Tutorial

A few people emailed me and asked for the pattern to the blue and white lap quilt I made for my mother. You can see it here. I decided to put a little tutorial on this blog, because I do not have a pattern as such. I learned to make this quilt at one of our Bee Nights. It is a great way to use up scraps because pieces can be as small as 3 1/2 inches by 2 inches. This quilt is lap sized and will measure about 36in. by 48in. Block size is 6 inches finished.

Once you have decided on the colours you will be using, cut the fabric into 2 X 3 1/2 inch strips.
You will need 192 of each colour group. In my case, 192 pieces of red fabrics and 192 pieces of off white fabrics. Start by sewing two of the background or light fabric strips together. You can strip piece these if you like. You will need 48 blocks. Press seams to one side. It does not matter which way the seams are pressed. If you are using only one background fabric, you could make this unit by cutting a 3 1/2 inch square and eliminate this seam.Now sew a red or colour strip to each end of the first unit. Iron seams to the red or colour fabric.

Now piece a light strip and a colour strip end to end, like so. You can chain piece these also. You will need 96 of these. Now stitch these units to the rest of the block. Always have the red or colour piece at the top left of the block. That way you won't get them confused. The bottom strip has the red or colour piece at the bottom right, like this.

Sew 48 blocks like this. Each block should measure 6 1/2 inches square. (finished 6 inches square) To layout the blocks rotate every second block so that the red or colour units form a sort of cross or star-like pattern. I have laid these out so you can see the 'cross' but I would not recommend sewing them together in blocks like this. Rather, I suggest sewing them together in rows. That way you can make the seams all go in one direction on each row and blocks will butt together more easily. Good luck with your quilt. It is a very easy pattern. If you need any more information, just leave me a comment and I will get back to you. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. It is also good to have a helper like Oscar!

Tutorial - Making Leaves with Pointed Tips.

Applique can be fun! But it can be difficult to get nice pointed tips on flowers and leaves. This is a tutorial on getting those leaves to look great!

Trace the desired shape onto the paper side of the freezer paper and iron it to the wrong side of your chosen fabric. Cut out with a scant quarter inch seam allowance. This seam allowance will be turned to the back of the shape and basted in place.

Start at the centre edge of the shape. Notice that I have cut the top and bottom corners off so that there will not be too much fabric in the tips.

Continue to fold the fabric to the back while stitching it in place. Stop when you reach the point. Now fold over the tip.

Then fold the other side of the shape in so that a tidy point is made.

Now continue to baste the remaining side. Do the bottom tip the same way.

And....Voila! A basted leaf shape!

House Block for the Yokohama/Toronto Wallhanging - Instructions Part II

Here are more instructions for the Yokohama/Toronto wall hanging.

Start with the house piece first. Place and pin it onto the prepared background fabric about 1in. to 1 1/2in. from the bottom edge of the fabric. The top of the house piece is left open and unbasted. Using the applique stitch, stitch around three sides of the block, leaving the top of the house unstitched and unbasted and starting on one side. When you have finished stitching the piece, you can remove the basting stitches and pull the freezer paper out.

A few words about freezer paper applique that you might find interesting.

The freezer paper can be used again and again. If you iron it onto fabric and feel that it is not in the right place, you can remove it, replace it, and iron again. This re-use is also handy if you are doing a lot of one shape, such as leaves. You can do a few leaves, take the freezer paper out and re-use the shapes. It can mean a lot less tracing and cutting! Now let's get back to the appliqueing.

Place the roof section onto the block. Pin it where you want it. It should overlap the house piece by about a 1/4 inch. Now pin the chimney pieces in place, tucking the unstitched bottom of the pieces under the roof section by about 1/4 inch. The chimneys will be appliqued before the roof section, so do them next.

Now continue to place the rest of the pieces onto the block as desired. Applique them in place. Don't forget to remove the basting stitches and freezer paper when you are about an inch or so from where you started stitching the piece. Then continue to applique the rest of the piece.

Happy Stitching!

House Block for the Yokohama/Toronto Wallhanging - Instructions Part I

Here are the instructions for block #4 of the 'Tale of Two Cities - Yokohama/Toronto" wall hanging. The finished block can be seen here.

First, prepare the background fabrics. Mark a rectangle measuring 3 inches by 9 inches. Cut out leaving a fairly wide 1/4 inch seam allowance. (The applique might make the piece smaller when it is finished and you want to be sure that you have a piece measuring exactly 9 inches square plus seam allowance.)

Next Mark a rectangle measuring 6 inches by 9 inches. Cut out, again, leaving a fairly wide 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Sew these two pieces together to create the background.

Now prepare the applique pieces.

Trace the pattern pieces onto the paper side of the freezer paper. Cut these out on the line.

Iron each piece onto the appropriate fabric. Cut them out leaving an extra 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Now it is time to baste the pieces. First clip any inside curves. For this block you will need to clip the tree pieces.

Now baste the pieces. Fold over the seam allowance to the back of the piece. Stitch in place using a long running stitch.

Lay the pieces out on the background. You are now ready to start appliqueing. I will continue on the next post because Blogger will only let me download these photos.

House Block for the Yokohama/Toronto Wallhanging

This is the 4th block in the Yokohama/Toronto wall hanging. As you can see, I didn't like the way the windows kind of disappeared in the block, so I embroidered a small blanket stitch around the windows and a stem stitch to mark the window panes.
The instructions are here.

Block #3 of A Tale of Two Cities

This is the completed block #3 for the Yokohama/Toronto wall hanging. It is called 'Maple Leaf'. Sorry I did not post it yesterday, but I did not have a picture of it. As you can see, it is another simple block in the nine-patch category. You will need the same templates as block #2 - a 3inch square and a 3inch half triangle.

You will need to:

• mark and cut two 3in X 3in squares of background fabric.
• mark and cut four triangle units of background fabric.
• mark and cut three 3in X 3in squared of your choice of fabric for the leaf
• mark and cut four triangle units of leaf fabrics

Complete the stem applique piece by following the applique instructions mentioned yesterday. Sew triangle units together into squares. Lay your pieces out to match the photo. Sew them together.

If you have any questions, just e-mail me. Happy Piecing!

Continuation of Freezer Paper Applique Method

Freezer Paper Applique - Part II

Continue to take small stitches along one edge of the applique piece. End off.
Start in the same manner on the other side of the piece. When you have gone about halfway, you will need to take out the freezer paper. You do this by cutting and removing the basting stitches. Then slide something (I use a small knitting needle) to separate the freezer paper piece from the fabric. Then pull it out.



Carefully fold the applique piece back on its original fold and continue to applique to the end of the piece. End off.
The stitches should look something like this on the back.


The front should look like this. You are now ready to attach this piece to the Maple Leaf Block.

Block #3 Maple Leaf

We will now do Block #3. It is called Maple Leaf. Maple trees are abundant in our country. In fact, we even use it on our flag to symbolize our nation. Japan has maple trees too. I love the lace-like leaves of the Japanese Maples! I have included this block to show our similarities. We will begin by hand appliqueing the stem to one of the corner units of this block.

Hand Applique - Freezer Paper Method - Part I

Hand applique is a lot of fun. This is the method which I use for beginners. First find the pattern piece that you wish to applique. Next take the freezer paper. You will notice that it has a waxy side and a dull side. Place the freezer paper waxy side down over the pattern. Trace the pattern onto the back of the freezer paper with a pencil.

Next, cut the pattern out on the drawn line.
Place the freezer paper piece onto the back side of the fabric you wish to use for the stem. (green) With an iron set to the cotton setting, press the freezer paper to the back of the fabric. (The nice thing about freezer paper is that it can be re-used. If you have made a mistake placing the freezer paper piece on the wrong fabric or if you want to re-position it, you can just take it off and iron it again.) Then cut the piece out, leaving a scant 1/4inch seam allowance around the entire piece.


Now turn the edges down over the freezer paper and baste. Use a large running stitch. Some people like to press the piece at this point, but I find that isn't really necessary.

Once the piece has been basted, place it on the background fabric as directed in the pattern. In this case it will go diagonally across the piece. Pin it in place. This is the bias of the background fabric so be careful not to stretch it.

You are now ready to start sewing. Work from right to left if you are right handed. Try to use a thread colour that closely matches the colour of the piece being appliqued. I am using a contrasting colour so you can see it. At least I hope you can see it! Knot the end of the single thread and bring it from the back to the front catching the applique piece by about two threads. I know this doesn't sound like much, but you don't want huge stitches to show on the front. Next, bring to needle down into the background fabric right beside where you just came up in the applique piece. Run the needle along on the back, coming up a short stitch farther and again taking about two threads of the applique piece.



Please go to Hand Applique Part II for more photos. Blogger would only let me put this many on this post.

A Tale of Two Cities - Lesson #2

It is time for the next block in our Toronto to Yokohama wall hanging. This one is called "Friendship Star". It is a fairly easy block. It belongs in the nine-patch category. Can you see why? In this lesson you will continue to sew squares together and also learn how to piece triangles.

Here is the block:

You will need some template plastic. Cut the pattern piece to measure 3 inches by 3 inches. You will need one of these. Then cut another piece of template plastic to measure 3 inches by 3 inches, then cut this piece diagonally to create a triangle. (This will make two pieces, but you really only need one)

1. background fabric: Trace and cut 4 squares from the fabric you have chosen for the background. As in the first lesson, make sure you leave enough space as you trace around each piece for a 1/4in. seam allowance.
2. centre of block fabric: Trace and cut 1 square from the fabric you have chosen for the centre of you block.
3. star points fabric: Trace and cut 4 triangle pieces from the fabric you have chosen for the star points.
4. background fabric: Trace and cut 4 triangle pieces from the fabric you have chosen for the background.
   

You should now be ready to sew the pieces together. Pin in the same manner as lesson #1.
Start with the triangle pieces. Sew a star point piece to a background piece. Repeat for the other three star points.
Now sew pieces together in rows as shown in photo.
Sew rows together and you have a finished block.

You will only need to make one block.

Good luck! Happy Sewing!
Email me if you have any questions.

A Tale of Two Cities - Lesson #1

We are about to embark on a journey - a quilting journey from Canada to Japan! I call this quilted wall hanging, "A Tale of Two Cities - Toronto to Yokohama". It is a beginner quilt. You can join in if you want to. It will be fun. For the time being this will be a sort of mystery quilt. That is because I have not totally finished all the blocks for this wall hanging. I will post a photo as soon as I do. But don't hold your breath! It may take awhile.

Instructions:

First place the fabric you wish to use, right side down, on a piece of fine sandpaper. This is so that the fabric won't slide too much as you trace your pattern pieces.

Now place the template on top of the back of the fabric. For this first lesson you will use the 1 1/2 inch square. Trace around the template using a very sharp pencil or one of those mechanical pencils with a very thin lead. You do not want a lot of dark pencil lines on your fabric. They may or may not wash out, so press lightly - just enough so that you can see the line.

Leave about half an inch of space between your pattern pieces. This is the seam allowance. The pencil line will be the stitching line. Then cut your pieces apart through the centre of the space between the pieces. This will give you a 1/4 in seam allowance on all sides of the piece.

Take two of whatever colour you like and pin them. Right sides must be together. You will use the pencil line to place the pins.


Thread a needle and knot the end. Start at one corner. Take a small backstitch if you like. This will help to keep the knot from pulling through the fabric. Now do a line of running stitches as small as you are comfortable with. Check every now and then to make sure you are stitching on the pencil line on both the front and the back fabric. If not, take the stitches out, adjust the pins and try again. When you get to the end of the pencil line, finish off by doing a couple of small stitches while catching the thread in order to make a sort of knot.


You now have two pieces sewn together. Sew another two pieces in the same manner and then pin these two blocks together and sew on the line to create a 4-patch block.

Press the seams in one direction.

Continue in this manner until you have 3 4-patch units. Now sew these together to get a block measuring 3in. by 9in.


You're done! Make three more blocks like this. That is the end of lesson 1.