Nannycraft4u

Make your handmade dreams a reality - Just ask Nanny!

Home » TUTORIALS » QUILTING TUTORIALS » Page 3

Make a Churn Dash Block from Charm Squares

by 1 Comment

Today we are going to make a Churn Dash block from our charm squares.  The Churn Dash is a popular block and you will see many variations of it.

WHAT YOU NEED:

DARK: 4 x 5″ squares

LIGHT:  5 x 5″ squares

LET”S SEW:

1.  Trim 1 x Light  to 4.5″ square

2.  Take 2 light and 2 dark squares :

  •   Take the light squares and fold in half and finger press or draw a line down the centre.
  •   Place the light square and a dark square, right sides together and sew a scant 1/4″ either side of the centre line. (better too scant than not enough)
  •   Cut along the line between the two rows of stitching.

NANNY TIP:  If you are using a Directional fabric, you will need to join one pair of squares in one direction and the other pair in the other direction

3.  Take 2 x light and 2 Dark squares and make HSTs (Half Square Triangles)

NANNY TIP:  If using a directional fabric, fold the squares along the diagonal to check that you have the right direction before you mark and sew

  • diagonal line
  • scant 1/4″ either side of line
  • cut between the lines

4.  Trim all squares to 4.5″

5.  Organise your squares:

6.  Sew your 9 patch and press.

 

That completes our Churn Dash – Block number 8 of our 9 Patch Sampler.  We are now half way through and I am loving seeing your finished blocks so thanks for sharing!

Until next time

Nanny xx

Make a Contrary Wife Quilt Block from Charm Squares

by 4 Comments

For all the ‘contrary’ wives out there today we will make a Contrary Wife quilt block from charm squares.

Contrary Wife Quilt Block

WHAT YOU NEED:

LIGHT:  5 x 5″ squares

DARK: 4 x 5″ squares

 

 

LET’S SEW:

Nanny Note:   if you need more detailed instructions just follow the links for a quick reminder!

  1.  Take 3 LIGHT and 2 Dark squares and trim them to 4.5″
  2. Take 2 LIGHT and 2 DARK and make HST’s
  • diagonal line
  • scant 1/4″ either side of line
  • cut between the lines
  • trim  to 4.5″and press OR press and trim to 4,5″

3.  Organise your squares:

 

4. Sew your 9 patch and press.

Contrary Wife Quilt Block
Contrary Wife Quilt Block

How did you go with the Contrary wife?  Are you feeling a little contrary now?  I must admit when I saw the name of this block, I imagined a  frustrated quilter ( maybe with little ones crying “Whats for dinner?”) trying to make sense of her squares and HSTs and getting flustered – maybe she was having problems with her corners or maybe her directional fabrics!

Whatever it was, we have been left with a fun block in her memory!

 

Until next time

Nanny xx

Make a Friendship Star from Charm Squares

by 1 Comment

Today we are going to use the same combination of squares and HSTs as we did for the Shoo Fly block, to make a Friendship Star from charm squares.

WHAT YOU NEED:

Dark:  3 x 5″ squares

Light:  6 x 5″ squares

LET’S SEW:

  1. Trim 1 Dark and 4 Lights to 4.5″ squares

2.  Take the remaining 2 Dark and 2 Light and make HSTs

  • diagonal line
  • scant 1/4″ either side of line
  • cut between the lines
  • trim and press OR press and trim

3.  Organise your squares

 

4.  Sew and press your 9 patch  Friendship Star.

You are a STAR,  friend!

Let’s take a look at our blocks so far:

(I had to use 2 Friendship Stars to fill the space!)

 

Next week we will move on to more combinations of squares, strips and HSTs.  I hope you are enjoying the blocks.

Until next time

Nanny xx

Make a Shoo Fly Block from Charm Squares

by 2 Comments

Today we are going to make a Shoo Fly Block from charm squares.  Shoo Fly is a common block used in quilting.

WHAT YOU NEED:

Dark:  3 x 5″ squares

Light:  6 x 5″ squares

Nanny Note:  You will notice that I have used a directional fabric here, but because it is a busy print, I wasn’t concerned that it would spoil the effect of the block.  

LET’S SEW:

  1.   Trim 4 Light and 1 Dark  to 4.5″ squares
  2.   Take the remaining 2 Dark and 2 Light and make Half Square Triangles
  • diagonal line
  • scant 1/4″ either side of line
  • cut between the lines
  • trim and press OR press and trim

3.  Press toward the Dark

4.  Organise your squares

Nanny Note: I could have turned the 4.5″ squares to make it all directional but did it this way to demonstrate the difference.  If it offends you aesthetically, make sure you have them all facing the same direction!

5.  Sew and press your 9 Patch

Shoo Fly

Now, as that was so easy, I am going to post another block  this week using the same recipe!

Until next time

Nanny xx

 

Make Half Square Triangles from Charm Squares

by 8 Comments

Today we are going to make a Variation of the 9 patch .  We will make Half Square Triangles from Charm Squares and add them to the 9 patch.  This will add more variety to our 9 Patch Sampler.

 

WHAT YOU NEED:

  • 4 x 5″ squares  Dark and
  • 5 x 5″ squares Light

LET’S SEW!

We are now going to make a Half Square Triangle – this is another shape that is used in many quilting designs and with careful measuring, stitching and trimming you will have no troubles!

1.   Take one Dark and one Light and on the wrong side of the Light, draw in the diagonal.

2.  Place it right sides together with the remaining Dark and stitch a scant 1/4″ either side of the line.

3.  Cut between the lines

 

You now have two half square triangles! That was easy wasn’t it!

4.  Now comes the trimming:

To make it easier, I have placed masking tape along the 45 degree line on my rule.

Nanny note:  I am going to show you two methods of trimming – you might like to try both and decide which works best for you!

Method 1

Take one of the triangles and place your rule so that:

  • the 45 degree line is along the stitching line so you can just see the stitching
  • the 4.5″ line on the rule is running down the left and meeting the other 4.5″ line at the bottom left .

Now trim along the edge that is showing (top right – sorry I already trimmed)

Press seam towards the dark and you should have a 4.5″ square.

Method 2

Press the seam towards the dark

Place the rule 45 degree line along the seam, moving it along till you can see 4.5″ both ways – mine runs down the left side and along the bottom and meet where they meet the 45 degree line. (see the green pencil)

 

Trim the 2 sides – top and right

Turn the square around and repeat the process to square it up.

This trimming is an important part of quilting – we keep squaring, trimming and checking as we go and this results in blocks that go together easily and end up the size we are after!

5.  Trim the other squares  3 Dark and 4 Light to 4.5″ squares

6.  Organise the squares:

Nanny note:  

When you join a half square triangle to another square, you will notice that the diagonal does not join into the corner of the other square – dont panic!  That is what is supposed to happen- it is the 1/4″ seam allowance for when you join to the next row.

 

Nanny note – pressing:  when you join a HST (Half Square Triangle) to another square ,  press so that the seams including the diagonal seam lie flat even if it means it will be towards the light square.

Sew and press your 9 patch.

Well done!

Next week we will continue using charm squares, strips and Half Square Triangles to make variations of the 9 patch to add to our Sampler.  Don’t forget to show us your blocks – I’m loving the different fabric choices!

Until next time

Nanny xx

© Nannycraft4u

All content and images belong to Nannycraft4u unless otherwise indicated. You are welcome to link back to my blog, but you may not copy whole posts, tutorials or photos without my permission. Please give credit for my work and link back to the original post at Nannycraft4u.com If you use one of my ideas, I would love to know about it. Designs and tutorials are for personal use only.