STATE BLOCK CHALLENGE INDIANA BLOCK 1

Sometimes simple is better. I have been doing these time intensive projects and needed to take a break and do one of my state blocks. This block is super easy. It only took me 30 minutes from cutting to completing the block.

Here is what the block looks like without fabrics.

Here are the fabrics I picked.

Here are the pieces cut.

CUTTING INSTRUCTIONS

Fabric 1 Main fabric
* Fussy-cut (4) Template B. (MM B9)
Fabric 2 (pink)
* Cut (8) Template A (MM B12)
or Cut (8) 2-1/2" squares
* Cut (1) Template C (MM B8)
or Cut (1) 4-1/2" square
Fabric 3 (yellow)
* Cut (8) Template A
or Cut (8) 2-1/2" squares
Fabric 4 (light)
* Cut (4) Template B
or Cut (2) 4-7/8" squares and cut each twice diagonally into (4) HST.

PIECING INSTRUCTIONS
1. Sew a four-patch with the Template A Fabric 2 and Fabric 3 patches. Make 4.

2. Sew the HST Template B Fabric 1 and Fabric 4 together. Make 4. Press to darker fabric.

3. Sew the (4) four-patch, (4) HST units, and Template C square together. Press towards the four patches and the center square.

Finished block.

Can't get much easier than that! I love the play of the fussy cut pieces and the background fabric. Creates a very interesting effect.

Here is the link to the templates.

Indiana state block templates

Take advantage of my spring cleaning sale on my website. All pink, purple, green, and yellow fabrics 25% off. Write "springcleaning" in the coupon box when checking out for the discount. Search by color to get to the fabric you want quickly.

As always: Do what you love and love what you do. Thanks for reading. Feel free to share with your friends. I would love any comments to see if you are participating or plan to participate.

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STATE BLOCK CHALLENGE HAWAII BLOCK 1

Well the groundhog did not see his shadow on Friday so that tells us there will be six more weeks of winter. Just gives me more excuses to stay inside and quilt! 

The first two blocks from Georgia were send to me by Jeannie S. Way to go Jeannie!

  
After making Georgia blocks 1 and 2 and writing the directions, I decided to devote each blog to writing the directions for one at a time. It makes for not so long of a blog and you can concentrate on making the blocks one at a time. If you want to make only one but aren't sure which one you want to make, then you can wait to see the next one which I will post in a couple days.

Both Hawaii blocks have quite a few pieces in them. It is difficult to say which one was harder. Block two has more odd shapes, but sewing either of them together is not difficult. Today's block has 65 pieces! With all of those pieces I can't stress how important that accurate 1/4" seam is. If you struggle with that consistent seam and you don't have my "Perfect 1/4" Seam Guide" then you might want to think about purchasing it. I have a Youtube video on how to use it. If you haven't seen it yet you can view it here:

Also since all of these blocks are 12" finished blocks, you can use Marti Michell's Template sets A and B for some of the shapes. I also carry those on my website. Set A / Set B. If I use them with any of the blocks I will tell you which ones work with the block.

Hawaii block 1 looks like this without fussy cutting the pieces.

Here are the fabrics I picked for the block.

Here are the templates I made (or used Marti Michell's). Remember to draw a center line on the ones that you want to use for fussy cutting. If you don't want to make templates for the triangles or squares, you can use the patch size cutting instructions.

Here are all the patches cut out!

BLOCK CUTTING INSTRUCTIONS. (QST=quarter-square triangles, HST=half-square triangles) Marti Michell templates = MM. When cutting the HST or QST be sure to follow the straight-of-grain line on the templates.

Fabric 1 Main Print
* Fussy cut four (4) Template G (MM A3)
* Fussy cut one (1) Template H (MM B10)
Fabric 2 Light
* Cut eight (8) Template C or cut two (2) 4-1/4" squares and sub-cut twice diagonally into eight (8) QST.
* Cut eight (8) Template B (MM D29) or cut four (4) 1-7/8" squares and sub-cut once diagonally into eight (8) HST.
Fabric 3 Light blue
* Cut eight (8) Template C or cut two (2) 4-1/4" squares and sub-cut twice diagonally into eight (8) QST.
* Cut eight (8) Template A (MM B12) or cut eight (8) 2-1/2" squares.
* Cut four (4) Template F (MM B14) or cut one (1) 3-1/4" square and sub-cut twice diagonally into four (4) QST.
Fabric 4 Dark purple
* Cut eight (8) Template C or cut two (2) 4-1/4" squares and sub-cut twice diagonally into eight (8) QST.
* Cut eight (8) Template F or cut two (2) 3-1/4" square and sub-cut twice diagonally into eight (8) QST.
Fabric 5 Red
* With fabric folded wrong sides together cut four (4) Template D. You will get a right and left section at the same time.
* With fabric folded wrong sides together cut four (4) Template E. You will get a right and left section at the same time.

PIECING INSTRUCTIONS

Corner units
Step 1. Sew a Fabric 2 Template B HST to each diagonal corner of both Template D and Template E patches. Press to red. You should have 4 right and 4 left of Template D and Template E sections.

Step 2. Sew the pieced Template E patches to the sides of the Fabric 3 Template A squares as illustrated. Press to squares.
 

Step 3. Sew the pieced Template D patches to the other side of the squares as illustrated. Press to Template D. They should equal 3-1/2" square.

Edge units

Step 4. Sew a Fabric 3 Template C QST and Fabric 4 Template C QST together. Press to Fabric 4. Make 4. 

Step 5. Sew a Fabric 2 Template C QST and Fabric 3 Template C QST to each side of a Fabric 1 Template G. Make sure to make the fussy cut piece facing in the correct direction. Press to Fabric 1. Make 4.

Step 6. Sew Sew a Fabric 1 Template C QST and Fabric 4 Template C QST together. Press to Fabric 4. Make 4. 

 











Step 7. Sew the units together, matching seams. Make 4. The unit should equal 3-1/2" x 6-1/2".

Center unit
Step 8. Sew a Fabric 4 Template F QST to each side of a Fabric 3 Template A square. Press to Fabric 4. Make 4.

Step 9. Sew a Fabric 3 Template F QST to each side of the pieced unit from step 8. Press to Fabric 3. Make 2.

Step 10. Sew the units from step 8 to each side of the Fabric 1 Template H square. Press to fabric 1.

Step 11. Sew the units from step 9 to each side. Press to corner units.The center unit should equal 6-1/2" square.

Putting sections together
Step 12. Layout the 4 Corner units, 4 Edge units and Center unit together as shown. Sew across each row. Press rows 1 and 3 to corners and row 2 to center. Sew rows together. Press seams out.

  

Here is the link to the templates. Hawaii block 1.

As always: Do what you love and love what you do. Feel free to share this blog with your friends and please leave a comment if you like it. If you have any questions about the directions or if I made a mistake, use my contact form to let me know. Thanks for reading. Toby 

STATE BLOCK CHALLENGE - GEORGIA

WELCOME OR WELCOME BACK!!!

 

This is not just for those who were following my state block challenge last year but for anyone wanting to participate. You can either start here or if you want to go back to previous blogs to see the other blocks and do them that is fine. The only rule in this challenge are that you fussy cut some part of the block. You can do one or all of them, choose certain ones you like, skip some, it makes no difference. I do hope that when you do get the blocks done you will send me the images of them, I love to share them on my social media pages. I will be talking about how to take good pictures of them when the time comes. I will also be having occasional prize drawings to encourage you to finish them. 

I am going to add a special incentive to those who will be doing this for the first time .... you will receive my Perfect 1/4" seam guide to help you get that consistent 1/4" seam allowance. So if you will be participating for the first time, email me with your address using the Contact form on the left side of this blog so I can mail it to you.

I ended on Florida last year so now I am on Georgia. The only two blocks I could find of that state were very similar. As in my previous challenges I try to do an easy block and a difficult block. Here is what the two blocks look like (with no fabric in them). This time I will be posting blank blocks instead of showing what my finished blocks look like. That way you will not be influenced by where I put my fussy cut patches.

Now it is time to gather your fabrics. I chose two symmetrical fabrics with a dark and light background. These fabrics are from the Imperial Paisley collection with Quilting Treasures. They are both available on my website.  Click on the names to take you to them. You should get at least 1-1/2 yards of two different symmetrical fabrics or 2-1/2 yards of one symmetrical fabric. You don't have to use them for all of the rest of the blocks but you want to make sure you have enough for at least 16-20 blocks. Also pick a fabric with lots of colors.

   Set Paisley Navy                                   Set Paisley White

 

Here are the fabrics I chose to go with them. I can always add more if I need to but this is a good start. Your coordinating fabrics should be tone-on-tones, batiks, or solids. Start with 1/4 yard or fat quarter of each. If you have some scraps that go with them, then use those. This is a very scrappy quilt so the more fabrics you use the better. The blocks' focal point should be the fussy cut patches so don't choose fabrics that will "fight" with the symmetrical ones.

You will need to print out the templates so you can cut your pieces. I am including the templates in this post so you can get them cut out ahead of time. Be sure to use heavy template plastic. The best way to make them is to cut around the paper template. Tape them to the template material and then cut them out. That way you don't have to trace them and it will give you a more accurate template.

In the next post I will be showing you the fabrics I used in each block, the sizes of the pieces to cut and the sewing instructions. When you print out the template PDFs be sure to print at no scaling or at 100%. To check on the scale, the corner squares on both blocks should equal 3" to the outer edges or 2-1/2" on the inside lines. Please let me know if you are having problems printing the correct scale.

Click on the links and when prompted, save the file in a folder with the title State Block challenge. If you have any problems getting the PDFs please contact me on my Contact form on the left and send me your email. I can email them to you directly then.

Georgia Block 1

Georgia Block 2

So gather your fabrics, print and cut out your templates and start to think about where you will put those fussy cut pieces in the blocks. 

As always, Do what you love and love what you do. Please feel free to add any comments and share my blog with anyone that might be interested.

STATE BLOCK CHALLENGE/FLORIDA BLOCKS 9A AND B

I'm baaaaack! I apologize for the long delay in posting the next state blocks. If you saw my last post (in December) I showed you a photo of my newest family members. Two Belgian Malinois puppies. Well after that post, my husband and I were getting very little sleep! If you know anything about that breed, they are very high maintenance. Super intelligent and super hyper. They weren't difficult to train, but trying to keep up with all of that energy was exhausting. Even though some people thought we were crazy to get two of them, we found that to be a blessing, because they entertain each other to get rid of some of that energy. If we had gotten only one puppy we can't imagine how much crazier our lives would have been. Here is the most recent photo of them. They are now 6 months old.

We got them at 8 weeks. The largest one (Burke) back then weighed 11 pounds. He now weighs over 50! Hare was 9 pounds and he now weighs about 45. They still act like puppies, but they certainly don't look like puppies! We are enjoying them so much. Even though we still miss Lucy (our other Malinois) they do fill a big void that losing her left.

Now to get back to business. I had taken a break after that last block, because of the holiday and after the first of the year I fell into a quilting funk. I really had no interest in doing any quilting at all. I kept telling myself that I needed to get back to these blocks but I started watching the "Outlander" series with my new DVR with Direct TV and I couldn't stop. So I watched 26 shows in about 3 weeks! 

I'm not a big TV addict, but because now that I could tape whole series of programs I had never had a chance to watch, I started watching TV more. It almost became an addiction. It was just like when I start playing a new game on my iPhone or iPad, I can't put it down. It's a good thing that I'm not addicted to gambling or something that costs a lot of money. (I'm not including collecting fabric!)

It was really hard to find 2 Florida blocks that were doable. Block A has 69 pieces but they are all triangles and squares. Block B is a little more complicated but still not a hard block to make.

BLOCK 9A

I chose both light and dark focus fabrics, a light background, and a medium purple and medium green coordinating prints. 

Here is what you need to cut. Instead of making my own templates, I chose to use  Marti Michell Template set B and my Cutting Corners template set to cut out most of the pieces. Her template sets are available for purchase on my website. Sets A and B should cover most of the blocks that I have made and will be making because they are 3" and 4" sets which go with any 12" block. Some of the more odd shapes I still have to make my own. 

Fabric 1 - Light focus fabric cut:
* Either 16 similar repeats with Template A or two sets of 8 similar repeats with Template A. (I used Marti Michell's B13, from template set B.) You can get it here:

Fabric 2 - Dark focus fabric cut:
* Fussy cut one using template F. (I used Marti Michell's B10, from template set B.)

Fabric 3 - Light background cut:
* Four Template A. (I could use my triangle template from my Cutting Corners template set.)
 * Four Template C. (I used my square template from my Cutting Corners template set.)
* Sixteen Template E.

Fabric 4 - Purple cut:
* Four Template C.
* Eight Template A.

Fabric 5 - Green cut:
* Eight Template B. (Marti Michell B12 template set B.)
* Eight Template D.

BLOCK CONSTRUCTION

1. Make four half square triangle squares with the Fabric 1 template A sets. I have two different repeats. It is really hard to see the seams but they are there. Press to one side.

2. Make four half square triangle squares with the four of the matching sets of Fabric 1 template A and four of Fabric 3 Template A. Press to the Fabric 1.

3. Center square. Sew a matching set of the remaining four Fabric 1 Template A sets to a Fabric 2 Template F. Press to A.

4. Make four Flying Geese with the four Fabric 3 Template C and eight Fabric 4 Template A. Press to A. 

5. Sew a Fabric 5 Template D square to each side of a Fabric 3 Template E. Press to E. Make eight.

 

 6. Sew a unit from step 5 to each side of a Fabric 4 Template A. Make four. Press to Template A. 

     

7. Sew the unit from step 6 to the step 4 Flying Geese unit. Press to unit step 6. Make four.

8. Make a four patch with two Fabric 5 Template B squares, one pieced triangle from step 1 and one pieced triangle from step 2. Make four.

9.  Layout the sections as illustrated. Sew sections together across then sew rows together. Press to the side of the least number of seams.

When I started Block 9B I had picked out different fabrics and a different center for it. I wasn't happy with the color selection or the way the center looked so I changed it. Here is what it looked like before I changed it. It really changes the whole look of the block. What do you think?

BLOCK 9B

For this block I chose just the dark focus fabric, a medium pink, medium green and dark green.

Here is what you need to cut. If you kept the templates from previous blocks you will not have to make another Template D. Check through your templates and lay them on the paper images to find the right one.

Main Fabric 1 cut:

* Eight similar repeats with Template B.

* Four similar repeats with Template D.

Medium Pink Fabric 2 cut:

* Fold the fabric wrong sides together and cut out four left and four right Template A/C.

Medium Green Fabric 3 cut:

* Four Template E. 

Dark Green Fabric 4 cut:

* Four template F.

BLOCK CONSTRUCTION

1. Sew a left and right Template A/C to a Template D. Press to A/C. Make four.

 2. Sew two Fabric 1 Template B triangles together as illustrated. Make four. Press seams open.

 3. Sew the Fabric 1 pieced B triangles to the step 1 unit. Press to Template B.

4. Sew a Fabric 3 Template F to a Fabric 4 Template E. Make four. Press to E.

5. Sew two sections together from step 4. Press in same direction as the other seams. Then sew the halves together. Split the center seam and press in the same direction as the other seams (either clockwise or counter clockwise).

6. Sew the center section to each large end of the remaining two units from step 1. Press to center.

7. Sew the two units from step 3 to the sides of the step 6 section. Press seams out. (If the image looks funny, I started with a different center so I had to replace it but didn't take the whole thing apart.)

Here are the links to the templates. Remember to save them to your folder first then open them with Acrobat Reader. Let me know if you have any problems opening them.

TEMPLATE 9A 

TEMPLATE 9B

Please feel free to leave a comment at the end. I would love to hear from some of you even if you do not participate. It is never too late to join in. You don't have to start with block 1. You can choose to make as many or few as you want. Also send me the images of the blocks when you get them done. Send them to my email at tlischko@yahoo.com. Be sure to take the photos as a "flat" shot. Tape it to a wall to get it straight on.

As always, Do what you love and love what you do.