Nannycraft4u

Make your handmade dreams a reality - Just ask Nanny!

Home » Quiltalong » Page 2

Make a Chevron Quilt Block from Charm Squares.

by 3 Comments

Today we are going to use our Charm Squares to make a Chevron Quilt Block.  This is a very popular design and you will see, that it  too, is easily made from charm squares and the 9 patch layout.

WHAT YOU NEED:

DARK: 5 x 5″ squares

LIGHT:  5 x 5″ squares

 

LET’S SEW!

  1.   Pair the DARK and LIGHT squares and make into HST’s

NANNY TIP:  use chain piecing

2.  Cut the HST’s

3.   Press

4.  Put one square aside and then trim the other 9 squares to 4.5″

5.  Organise your squares:

6.  Sew your 9 Patch

NANNY TIP: To match your seams and to get nice points, you will need to nest your seams AND sew just to the raw edge side of the seam line.  Take a look at the photo:  The needle  is pointing to the point where the HST seam met the seam joining it to another pair.  I am sewing toward that point but will sew just to the right of that point – about a needle width.  This will mean that when I press the seam, I will retain the nice points!

Before:

After:

 

7.  Press and admire your Chevron Block!

That leaves us five more blocks to go!

Until next time

Nanny xx

 

Make a Greek Cross Quilt Block from Charm Squares

by 3 Comments

Today we are going to make a Greek Cross Quilt Block from charm squares.  You will notice how similar it is to a Churn Dash. It is an example of how we can, by varying the fabrics and the direction of each square within the 9 patch,  achieve a totally different block.

 

WHAT YOU NEED:

DARK:  4 x 5″ squares

LIGHT:  4 x 5″ squares

OTHER:  1 x 5″ square trimmed to 4.5″

LET’S SEW!

  1.  Trim the OTHER square to 4.5″
  2.  With 2 x Light and 2 x Dark squares make make HST’s
  • diagonal line
  • scant 1/4″ either side of line
  • cut between the lines

3.   Take the other 2 x Dark and Light squares and

  •   Fold the light squares 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:  Don’t forget 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

4.  Trim all squares to 4.5″ squares

5.  Organise your squares:

6.  Sew your 9 Patch and press.

That leaves us only 6 more blocks to complete for our 9 Patch Sampler.  Have you started to try them out to see how they will look all together? How about sharing a photo of your blocks – I would love to see them!

Until next time

Nanny xx

Make a Formal Garden quilt block from Charm Squares.

by 1 Comment

We are now half way through the blocks for our 9 Patch Sampler so I thought I might take the dog for a walk and show you how to make a Formal Garden block from Charm Squares – I love the little paw prints and decided to pair them up with the string or leash – I just know what a little dog would do to a formal garden!

NANNY NOTE:  Our first Nannycraft4u Quilting Retreat that was scheduled for this weekend has had to be cancelled due to the flooding associated with Cyclone Debbie.  We are therefore holding an online ‘Retreat’ on my facebook page and I have decided to publish this post early so that members can complete it during our sew in.  Our overseas friends are welcome to join us!

WHAT YOU NEED:

DARK:  4 x 5″ squares

LIGHT:  4 x 5″ squares

OTHER:  1 x 5″ square

LET’S SEW!

1.  Pair up the LIGHTs and DARKs  5″ squares and make HSTs – you will be HST queens after this!

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

2.  Trim all squares to 4.5″ and press.

3.  Organise your squares

NANNY TIP:  You will notice as you join half square triangles in different ways , it is not always best to press the seams the same way.  Experiment a bit with your seams – you may find it less bulky if you press your seam open.  There is no rule – you do what works best for you!

NANNY TIP:  If you want to press a seam open, press it to one side first and then it is easy to get the tip of the iron under one side to press it open without burning your fingers!

4.  Sew your 9 Patch and press.

 

I think my little dog has behaved perfectly as we walked around the garden – he stopped and checked each corner and continued on his way!

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

Make a Railfence Variation Quilt Block

by 4 Comments

Today we will be making the 2nd block of our sampler  – a Railfence Variation.

Last year we made a Railfence block using three strips and today we  are going to make a Railfence Variation using two strips.

 

BLOCK 2 – Rail Fence Variation

BLOCK 2 - Railfence Variation

What you need:

Dark:  5×5″ squares

Light:  5×5″ squares

Let’s Sew:

  1.   Take the light squares and fold in half and finger press or draw a line down the centre.
  2.   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)
  3.   Cut along the line between the two rows of stitching.

 

4.  You now have a nice pile of rectangles!  Take to the pressing board or ironing board and press toward the dark.

 

Nanny tip:  If you are not confident with your measuring and cutting try this – I have put a strip of masking tape along the 2.25″ line.  Why 2.25″?  This is half of 4.5″ and we are going to trim our squares to 4.5″

 

5  Place the 2.25″ side of your rule on the dark side and you will notice how the tape butts up against the seam line.

 

6.  Trim the squares – made easy with a 4.5″ rule, but the same process for any size rule.

7.  If you are using for example, a 6.5″ rule,  place the rule with the 4.5″ line along the bottom and the tape running along the seam.

 

8.  Trim the right hand side and along the top

 

9.  Turn it around, check that you have the 4.5″ mark both ways on the corner (see pen) and the tape running along the seam

 

10.  Trim the right hand side

 

11.  Lay out your squares following the photo – you will have 1 square left over.

 

12.  Complete your 9 patch.

 

I hope you enjoyed the measuring and trimming – both are really important skills in quilting!

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.