Mini Charm Pack Quilt Block

Ok, November is my month to be queen in our Instagram #quiltbeenewbees quilt be and I decided I wanted a Sweetwater quilt.  I had a lot of mini charm packs I'd been hoarding so I started playing around with layouts and came up with this! 

So, for this block I sent everyone a different mini charm pack of Sweetwater fabrics.  You'll also need

Solid white fabric-

2 strips 1.75"x16"

2 strips 1.75"x19"

a light colored fabric that coordinated with your mini charm pack (preferably reads solid but isn't)

2 strips 4"x1.5"

2 strips 2.5"x1.25"

2 strips 8"x2.5"

2 strips 12.5"x2.5"

You'll be using all but one of the squares from the mini charm pack so pull one out and set it aside (feel free to keep it if you think you'll use it or send it back with the block if you don't think you will and I'll use it!)

Next pick out a square to use for the center of your block.  You'll be sewing your 2.5" strips to the sides of this, then press and add the 4" strips to the top and bottom.  Press and then trim to 4.5x4 if needed.  You should now have something like this:

Now pull out some more of your squares and arrange them as desired.  You'll need to sew 4 of them together into a strip (x2) and then two together (x2).  Press your seams and you'll have strips as shown below.  

Now sew the strips of two blocks to the sides, press, and sew the strips of 4 to the top and bottom.  You'll now have block as shown below.   It should now measure 8.5"x8".

I forgot to take a picture of this next step but you're going to take your other light colored strips and sew them around the block, after you've done this it should be 12.5"x12" (sorry I forgot a picture of this step!)

Now you're going to sew together 2 strips of 6 blocks and 2 strips of 8 blocks

sew these around the block as you've done with the other strips and then trim to 16.5"x16".

Finally, sew your true white strips around the edge!  Trim as needed and then the final block should measure 19"x18.5".  That's it!  Thank you!!!

Flag Quilt Block Tutorial

I'm participating in the #tripleblockbee this year over on Instagram and I'm the Queen Bee in February!  

Last summer I was really liking all the Stars and Stripes quilts  I kept seeing but then I saw Sweet Littles Handmade version (shown above) and I totally fell in love!  I'm using the image above as my inspiration photo for my blocks.  

Now, I'm sure that the Thimble Blossom pattern (linked above) is amazing but there were several things that stopped me from buying it.  First and foremost, if I wanted to use it for my bee block I would have had to buy it 12 times so everyone could have a legal copy!  That was a bit too expensive for my blood.  Secondly, the finished blocks are something like 10x14 and for our Triple Block Bee we're supposed to have 12x12 blocks so I didn't feel like I could ask people to make ones that were bigger.  All that said, I decided to just figure out my own measurements for a block that would fit my purposes.  

 So, Triple Block Bee ladies, you're going to see two different prints and a solid white (true white.  I used Kona White on mine) for each block.  Be creative and have fun with the prints you use!  Use the inspiration photo and the two blocks I've made already to see where to go.  I'd prefer if you didn't use any novelty prints and no royal blue or RED RED either please.  Think fun colors in the red or blue families.


You're going to need:

"Stars" - 1 block that is 5.25"x4.25"
White Stripes - 1 strip that is 7.75"x1.75"
                          - 2 strips that are 12.5"x1.75"
"Red" Stripes - 2 strips that are 7.75"x1.75"
                       - 2 strips that are 12.5"x1.75"

You can obviously cut each "red" strip individually if you want to or you can cut a rectangle that is 12.5"x7".  Then cut that rectangle lengthwise at 1.75", 3.5", and 5.25".  

Now remove two of the strips and set aside.  Cut the remaining two strips down from 12.5" to 7.75".  

Now you'll need to cut your white rectangle to 12.5"x5.25" and then cut it into 1.75" strips (that will be cutting at 1.75" and 3.5" again.)  Remove two of the strips and cut the third down to 7.75" in length. 

You now have all your pieces cut!  

Now sew your three 7.75" strips together.  

 

Press the seams away from the white and then sew this section onto your "stars" block.  

Press the seam toward the "stars". 

Almost done!  Sew the bottom four strips together.  I chain pieced these (if you can call doing it with just two sections chain piecing!  lol).  If you had all three of your blocks cut you could easily chain piece all of the strips.  

Press away from the white again and then sew the bottom stripes onto the top section.  

You're done!  This is actually a really quick and easy block.  It should finish at 12.5"x9.5".  Because I'm never quite precise enough I'm squaring them up at 12.25"x9.25".  Thanks ladies!!!  :)