Pinwheels & Oven Pad

It took a few days to make, but I made 5 of the 4th pinwheel block this week.  It looks like a simple pattern, but there was a lot of work in making 5 of them.  There are 20 half square triangles in each block, multiply that by 5 and you have 100 half square triangles that needed to be cut, marked, sewn, ironed, recut/squared, sewn, ironed, sewn, ironed, and squared, etc.  I'm really happy that I finished it weeks before I need to turn it in to get the pattern for the 5th block.

I pieced four of them together like I did with the previous pinwheel blocks.  Its not perfect, but that is ok.  

I've been following a blog on making things out of fabric salvages.  So I've started saving my salvages separately from my other fabric scraps.  After saving 4 salvaged pieces, I made this oven pad / hot pad.  The two pictures show the front and the back of it.  I used some pink girlie skull ribbon for the hanger.  It seemed to fit with the color scheme.  Now I want to make another black and white quilt but with pink as my 3rd color.  The binding is far from perfect, however I am fine with that.

Smart Baby Quilt

I was looking through pictures of my quilts when I realized that I never made a blog post on my favorite one.  I made this log cabin crib quilt when I was pregnant with my 2nd son.  I love black and white prints.  They say that black and white patterns stimulate a baby's brain.  So I went to the store and bought a bunch of black and white printed fabric, whatever stood out to me.  I also bought 2 different red and white prints to give it a little pop.  The picture above was taken just before I quilted it.

All the blocks were sewn the same, as far as fabric/pattern placement went.  The only difference was that I alternated the red middle square between the two red fabrics.  The closer to the center of the block, the smaller the black and white print that I chose to use.  I used the darker red fabric for the binding.

I made this quilt at the same time that I made my father-in-law a California King sized quilt.  They were the first quilts that I had hand quilted.  I really enjoy hand quilting.  I feel that I have more control over the fabric that way.  Plus I was able to quilt them while traveling.  The picture above is the back of the quilt.

My son is now 3, and he is to big for his crib quilts.  However he still likes sleeping with them.  Maybe one day they will become wall hangings.

April's Block of the Month - 9 Patch

April's block of the month is a 9-patch.  It is called this because it is made up of 9 squares.  Here are the two that I made for this month.  Notice how you can create a different look by where you choose to place the colors.  The following are a few different looks that you can get from a 2 colored 9 patch block.

For a 12" squared block, you will need to cut out nine 4.5" squares.  How many of each color depends on which color arrangement that you chose to do.

For these directions, I am making this arrangement.  So I cut out 4 purple squares and 5 floral squares.

I laid the middle squares right side together over the squares on the left side.  Then I sewed them together using a straight stitch with a 1/4" seam allowance.

Then I laid the right side squares over the center ones, right sides together, and sewed them.

Next I ironed them.  Iron the light sides towards the dark fabric.  It is also good to remember to iron each section so that the folded ironed sides face different directions.  For example, the top and bottom sections was ironed towards the center square.  The middle section was ironed away from the center square.

Now lay the bottom section over the middle section, right sides together, and pin in place.

Notice how where the fabric was ironed, that the two sides' folded area butt up against each other nicely?  That helps to line up the block just right.  After you have pinned the 2 sides together, then sew them together.

You are going to repeat that with other section over the middle section.

Then iron the back of your block.  I have ironed all the lights sides to the dark sides.  This can be a little more tedious, but I did not want the dark fabric to show through the light fabric on the front of the block.  However you can just pick one side to iron toward and do that (example: iron all parts to the left).

Then trim your edges so that they are all straight.  Your block should be about 12.5".  It will be 12" once sewn to other blocks.  Enjoy and I look forward to seeing everyone's block :)  If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me.