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....Basic directions.

Now that you have all of your fabrics ready (or not), let me go over the basics. (You can click on any of the yellow highlighted links to take you to the product, except this one.)

Fussy cutting

You will need some heavy template plastic to cut out the pieces needed for both fussy cutting and any odd pieced  patches in the blocks. Copy the template image, cut out around it and place it on the template plastic. Cut on the outside lines. Using a ruler, draw in the 1/4" seam allowance. Then place some rolled up tape on the back of the template so that it will stick to the fabric. Use that template to place on your fabric to determine which design you want to use. Once you have determined where you want to place it, use a smaller rotary cutter (I sell the 18mm and 28mm cutters on my website) and cut out around the template. If you want perfect repeats, leave the fabric on the template, find that same design, line up your template so that the background fabric disappears into the design. Then cut out your next repeat. I did this with Block 1b. Continue to cut out the number of repeats that you need. I cut out different designs for Block 1a.

If you would like to see what your design would look like when pieced together, you can use a set of mirrors. I use Marty Michell's Magic Mirrors. Place your template in the mirrors, close the sides of the mirrors around the template and put a piece of tape over the top of the mirrors to set the angle. (The tape is difficult to see but it is towards the folded end.)

Then place the mirror on your fabric and move it around until you find a design that you like. If the fabric is an overall print, this will give you an idea of what it will look like, but you are seeing a mirror image so it might not look exactly like the images in the mirrors once you sew them together. If you are using a symmetrical fabric (one that has a center line and is exactly the same on both sides) and line up the mirror on the center line, what you see in the mirror is what you will get when you sew the patches together.

Overall print

Symmetrical print

Once you find a design you like, make sure your design is within the seam allowances of the template so you don't lose the design you found. Then follow the instructions above for cutting out your repeats.

1/4" seam allowance

When I first started quilting, I had difficulty with consistency of my seam allowance plus I was not sure exactly what a "scant" 1/4" was. Everyone has their own definition of a scant 1/4" so if you ever do blocks with other quilters, none of the blocks end up the same size. After taking some classes from Sharyn Craig and Sally Collins, who showed how to get a consistent seam, I devise my own method. I have designed a seam guide that is used just for this purpose. It has a hole at 'exactly' 1/4".

If your sewing machine has a needle right position, use your regular sewing foot and move your needle over to the furthest right position. Place the needle in the small template hole. Using a small piece of molefoam (I use Dr. Scholls Molefoam Foot pads), place it snug against the ruler. Now you have a guide for the edge of your fabric. If it is touching the foam, your seams will always be at 1/4". If your machine does not have a needle right position, place the foam in front of your foot along the edge of the guide.

  

Now you are ready to begin!!!!! The next blog will give you fabric requirements, cutting instructions, and piecing instructions for the next two blocks. 

SPECIAL.....If you do purchase something on my website for this challenge, I will include a FREE seam guide with every purchase of $25 or more. Just mention that your purchase is for this challenge in the comment box to receive the guide.

As always: Do what you love and love what you do. Thanks for reading, Toby Lischko (Please share and forward to your friends.)

STATE BLOCK CHALLENGE

 

Moose Jr. and Ginger

Now that I have your attention (everyone loves pictures of cats) ... I know I have been extremely negligent about writing my blog. I keep making promises to myself that I will post at least once and week and life just seems to get in the way. So..... I have decided to do something that will force me to write in it once a week. A FREE STATE BLOCK OF THE WEEK CHALLENGE!

Most of you know that I love to fussy cut ANYTHING! I have seen many weekly and monthly challenges with different themes. So I was brainstorming and thought about state quilt blocks. I looked on a variety of blogs and websites and saw that there were some that had free state blocks listed. My thought is, I will do a weekly free state block pattern once a week for 50 weeks. But there is a twist (you know how twisted I am). I want to challenge you to fussy cut some part of the block. What I will do, is once a week post two different blocks of a state. (I found these in some of my block books and on line.) One will be fairly easy and the other a little more challenging. You will get step by step photo and written directions to piece them together and my wonderful quilting tips and tools that I will use with many of them. I will even start out by showing you how to get that "perfect" 1/4" seam allowance and the tool that I had made to do it with.

Here are the fabrics that I chose to make my state blocks. I picked an overall fabric design that comes in two different color ways (one black background and one cream). Then I chose 2 to 3 coordinating prints (mostly tone on tones or small prints) in each color that I found in the fabrics plus a very dark (black) and very light (cream). I wanted a print to fussy cut that had lots of colors in it so I could have a large variety of fabrics to pick from. I tried to find a dark, medium, and light of each colorway. The main print also has to have some large and smaller designs in it so I can cut a variety of sizes to fit the blocks. You will want to have at least 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 yards of one print to fussy cut or 1 to 1-1/2 yards of two different coordinating prints. I carry lots of prints for fussy cutting on my website if you are having trouble finding something. Then choose 1/2 to 3/4 yards of the coordinating prints. I also carry a wide variety of blenders. You can find them by color on the website. Since this is somewhat of a scrappy quilt, if you run out of a fabric you can always pick another coordinating print.

I don't know how big my project will, be but the blocks will be 12" finished. So if I make it 6 x 8 blocks (I know it only equals 48 blocks) the minimum it would be is 72" x 96" without borders. I could choose just some of the blocks that I like to put in the quilt or use all 48 and then the extra two to make into pillows. I am leaving the creative choices up to you. I will simply give you the directions, show you my samples, and you have the option to do what you want with them and how many you want to make. The more creative the better! There are no requirements to complete all of the blocks so if you miss one that is not a problem.

Now here is the great thing about this challenge. Anyone who participates (and I hope we get a lot of people to join the fun) will be eligible to be in a drawing for a weekly prize. Even those who live overseas can be eligible (there will be no postage involved). I will not be picking the winner. It will be your fellow quilters who will be voting. They do not have to be participating in the challenge to vote. So get your friends to follow along to vote for your block. The quilters' names will not be listed with the blocks (but you are free to tell them which one is yours).

To get your juices flowing here are my first two blocks. I will be doing the states alphabetically so these are blocks of Alabama. (The second one I modified slightly to make it easier to piece.)

I will begin this challenge on September 4 and each Sunday I will post two new blocks. You have a week to make the block and send me images to post on my blog, along with my other social media (Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram). People will have a week to vote and I will announce the winner on the following Sunday when I post the next set of blocks. So if I post the first 2 blocks on September 4, then you have until the 11th to get me the image(s) of your block(s). Voting will take place that week and I will announce a winner on the 18th. The whole process will take 2 weeks.

Please, please, please share this with your quilting friends! The more that participate the more interesting the blocks will be. If you have any questions about how to send your images or don't understand the directions feel free to email me or post a message on my blog. I know we all have busy lives, especially before the holidays, but I hope you will find a few minutes a day in your schedule to make a block.

Since this is a new endeavor for me there may be some glitches, so be patient with me while I work through this process and figure out the best way to vote that doesn't involve too much confusion.

As always, do what you love and love what you do!!! Gather your fabrics for this challenge and come back next Sunday, September 4 for directions on these first two blocks. Thanks for reading, Toby.