On my design surface are some cute little Churn Dash blocks for a swap. Barb from Fun With Barb and Mary has had an annual block swap for several years and this year added a modern category. I was lucky enough to secure a spot. The solids and prints were specified as jewel tones and low volume, and 6" finished in size. A trip to Superbuzzy was called for to choose a couple of additional colors besides the Flamingo Pink Kona and a length of a low volume print I had at home.
The colors are more vibrant than my nighttime lighting reveals. The swap requires 36 blocks of one colorway, and a second set of 18 blocks in another colorway. After washing and ironing all the fabrics, I started with the 18 block set, using the Flamingo Pink, by first making the HSTs oversized using 3" squares to trim down. The Bloc-Loc ruler is a great trimming tool, but generally I have to relearn using it each time I pull it out.
The HST is set up with the "pressed to" side toward the bottom, and the ruler with the lettering face up to lock the seam in the diagonal inset. After trimming the right and top edges, with your fingers you gently swirl the HST around 90 degrees without lifting the tool.
You can then slide the ruler, which is still locked on that pressed edge, down to the block measurement desired on the ruler, and trim the right side and top again. Perfect 2 1/2" HST with no dog ears.
Barb's tutorial cleverly required 11" lengths of both colors to subcut into the side pieces of the individual Churn Dash blocks. I used another trick to shorten the subcutting process.
By nesting the pressed strips, I could cut the subsections two strips at once. Nice and neat.
See more Design Walls at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.
4 comments:
Very pretty blocks!
If you can get a small rotating mat to use with your Bloc Loc ruler, rotating is much easier. Problem for me is that the Fiskars brand (which is the best size for this sort of thing) wears out quickly (I've worn out two of them). The Olfa mat lasts much longer, but they don't make as small a size. Their smallest is a little large to conveniently sit by my machine and still have room to rotate. I would like the best of both worlds, please. :)
Everyone raves about their Bloc Locs! One of these days I'll just have to get one. Your peach and white blocks are very crisp and clean looking!
your blocks look great - thanks for being so careful with the sizing!
You got a great start on those blocks. Very pretty in pink!
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