Quilts

Traveling Threads Bee Block: Woven Star

June 12, 2015April 10, 2025 Elizabeth E.3 Comments

I recently made two blocks for the Traveling Threads Bee I’m in, and while we don’t show the completed sections as we go, I thought I’d share the blocks I made here. The first one is Woven Star, which finishes at 10 inches (trimmed, it will measure 10.5″).

Lisa loves bright colors and sent along that floral as her signature fabric, including some of the solids. I added the polka dot for a punch of light in the set of blocks I was sent to work with.

Here is a PDF of the templates for the block. I am happy to provide them to you as a free downloadable file, but please don’t distribute these blocks to your mother or your friends. Send them here to get their own, please. Thanks. Click to download: Woven Star 10inch

I always like to simplify my cutting, so I tape together the triangles, then measure them, as shown here:

I always then tape them back onto the first sheet, as it shows the diagram. While this is shown in black and white, I also take colored pencils and color in the diagram so I know what goes where. My quilt software is made by QuiltPro. It’s a native application for the Apple (they also have PC versions) so it runs very smoothly.

Track which color of what you need. For me, it was like this:
Cut one 3 3/8″ square of yellow (then cut in half diagonally)
Cut one 3 3/8″ square of bright pink (then cut in half diagonally)
Cut one 3 3/8″ square of floral (then cut in half diagonally)
Cut one 3 3/8″ square of bright green (then cut in half diagonally)

Cut one 2 5/8″ square of yellow (then cut in half diagonally)
Cut one 2 5/8″ square of bright pink (then cut in half diagonally)
Cut one 2 5/8″ square of floral (then cut in half diagonally)
Cut one 2 5/8″ square of bright green (then cut in half diagonally)

Then it was one 2 1/4″ square of each color.

Background:
Cut four 3″ squares of background color, and two large 4 3/8″ squares of background color (cut in half diagonally).

All the parts. Lay them out, as shown below.

I started by making the four square in the center. Stitch two squares together, pressing the seam allowances to the side, then stitch those two units together, making sure the seam allowances are “opposite”–one falls one way and one falls the other, so they nestle together. To get the nifty little square shown above, pop open the stitching (a little tug will do it), then press those in a swirl around the center, each seam allowance going a different direction. The block center lays pretty flat if you do it that way.

Fail. Make sure when you are stitching those corner triangles together you do it correctly, and don’t flip them. In this duo, needed the yellow-green to be on the right, not the left.

Better now (I restitched it, obviously). Make your flying geese units at the top, bottom and sides. Stitch your corner triangle units onto your center square, matching seams.

Stitch the two side 3″ blocks onto the top and bottom flying geese unit. Stitch the two side flying geese units onto the center block, then stitch the three sections together. Give it a good steamy press on a well-padded ironing board (if you don’t have a well-padded ironing board, press it face down on a towel, unless you are one of those who believes that the flatter a block is, the better. In that case, go ahead and press the life out of this thing.) Let it cool, then true up your block to 10 1/2″ square.

Next post: Peaceful Hours Bee Block

Quilts

Sentimental Journey: Bee Blocks for the Mid-Century Modern Bee, part II

June 5, 2015April 27, 2019 Elizabeth E.14 Comments

I’m back to the Sentimental Journey–a round-up of all the bee blocks I’ve made, and the quilts or collections where my blocks ended up. Carla, of Grace and Favour, inspired by Jen Kingwell’s Green Tea and Sweet Beans, asked us all for a sampler block with a texty background.

Here’s mine. Of course, I loved this quilt so much, I copied it for January 2015–now I have one too.

Another year, Carla dreamed up this terrific tutorial for making an arrow, and she combined it with a couple of other blocks, some neutral backgrounds to make this quilt.

Here was mine. This was fun because I was able to use a lot of stash fabrics and it still looks interesting and modern-ish.

A feather block, this time for Susan of PatchworknPlay, from a now-defunct tutorial by Anna Maria Horner. Susan sent us the greige background fabric, and asked us for the two-color combo shown above.

She ended up having some feathers in different sizes (probably because of some printer scaling not set to 100%), but I loved the way she set them all on the diagonal, making this beautiful quilt.

Inspired by a quilt she saw on Pinterest, one round Susan asked us for brightly colored solids with black background; above is my block. It took me forever to get her my signature block (I really miss my mind when it wanders) but she waited for me and added it to the back. Here is the front of her gorgeous quilt:

Linda of Flourishing Palms asked us for strip-pieced diamonds. The tricky part is to get the strips going the right way (trust me on this).

She also asked us for pink and green “bar” blocks, which she has now used to complete her “Strawberry Fizz and Lime Pop” quilt.

A gifted domestic-machine quilter, she has now started to quilt it. These photos are taken from IG, so aren’t that great, but click on the link to her quilt name and see many more!

Mary of Molly Flanders asked us for this set of triangles (above) as well as this set of blocks (below), but is planning on making a larger quilt using both, so doesn’t have a grouping to share.

These two fun pink Cross-X blocks were for Mary, of Mary on Lake Pulaski. She turned our blocks into this quilt:

And this is her collection of the Union Jack blocks she asked us to make for her. I won’t tell you where mine is, because even though I ripped it out three times, I still don’t think it was very good. It looks fine in this grouping, though, proving there is strength in numbers, even if the numbers are quilt blocks.

The final set of blocks and quilts are for Anne Deister, of SpringLeaf Studios. I loved making Anne’s blocks because I always felt as if I were in on a big secret, as she is a pattern designer and we were helping her figure out, and pattern test, her designs. So here’s one set of blocks, above, which turned into the quilt top below:

Which she then refined, and made up in her stash, turning out this beauty, above. She calls it Matrix, and it should be released soon (she gave me permission to post these photos). It was easy to make, and fun to see the finished product.

And then this block turned into this terrific quilt:

Anne calls this Tumble, and again, the pattern should be released soon. We’ll probably do a blog hop/giveaway, so I’ll keep you posted.

She has an artist’s eye for staging her quilts. I love this photo.

So that’s it for the originals. We have had some leave our group, and some newbies join us, which I have written about as I’ve made their blocks. It’s been a rewarding experience working with all these women!

Quilts

Elizabeth’s Lollypop Trees Hit Print!

June 3, 2015November 8, 2023 Elizabeth E.25 Comments

The Lollies hit print! Diane, a reader of this blog, recently sent me a note telling me that my quilt was in QuiltMania’s May-June issue. I thought it might be a pitch for Kim McLean’s fine pattern, so at first I didn’t think it was mine. She wrote back: “It’s yours!” and then she sent me photos to prove it.

I about fell over.

Bless you, Diane, for letting me know (as I received no notice from the magazine). It was a part of a spread for Road to California this past year, and I was thrilled to be included in this article. I ordered a copy from Fat Quarter Shop and it arrived via post today. What a lovely surprise!

Quilts

Wonky Baby Baskets and Narrow Stem Applique

May 25, 2015May 22, 2015 Elizabeth E.12 Comments

(momentos left at the Wall–I am grateful to those who have fought in service of our country.)Happy Memorial Day, to those of you who are in the United States. We spent a year back in Washington, DC some time ago, where I toured every monument I could (going to the Vietnam Wall on Memorial Day and waving on the East Coast Rolling Thunder motorcycle riders on the bridge near the Lincoln Memorial; today I’ll be waving on the West Coast Rolling Thunder). I also joined a lovely little quilt guild, named the Mt. Vernon Chapter of Quilters Unlimited (which covered the entire state of Virginia), where I learned this technique.

I recently made a wonky basket quilt with some baby baskets (below). Here’s some basic guidelines for the baby baskets.

Follow the directions for the Wonky Baskets, cutting the base pieces smaller, as the finished size is shown above. So maybe cut the upper part in the 5″ by 3″ range, and the lower part the same (it will be bigger after you splice in the basket).

Follow the instructions for the bias strips for the bigger basket, but sew these narrower–about 3/8″ wide. I’m using leftover handles strips for the big baskets. The woman who taught me this. in our Mt. Vernon Guild, made very narrow stems for her flowers by using this method. So I call this the Narrow Stem Method.

Trim close to inner stitching.

Laying the basket below (to gauge for the width), pin on the handles with the raw edges facing towards the outside. Place the handle edges at least 1/2″ inside the basket to allow for turning.

Stitch on sewing line.

Now press the bias strip outward–letting the fabric fall back over the stitched line and the raw edges.

Stitch down both edges, then finish block as for the bigger wonky block. If you were doing a stem, you would hand-stitch down that outer edge invisibly.

Trim as shown in above photo–to 4 1/2″ by 5 1/2″. I combined two to fill out those rows without the wider basket blocks.

I had some leftover little baskets, so used them to make tiny Dumpling Bags, using a free pattern from Michelle Patterns.

One of my favorite memorial sites in Washington, D. C.

My mother remembers this day not just for the Veterans, thinking instead of its original purpose: that of taking a day to remember our own deceased relatives. She still calls it “Decoration Day.” My parents would go around to all the graves of their deceased ancestors and leave flowers.

I went up last year to see them on this weekend, but they’d already done most of the graves. I did get to go with them for a couple of my great-grands, my father anchoring the pot of mums with bamboo skewers so it wouldn’t tip over.