As I previously shared, I've started a new quilty project, a yearlong "Year of Potholders". I realized, though that i didn't give the full backstory and didn't show the final potholder for week 1, so I'm revisiting that post with additional information.
First, the backstory. In mid-May, a quilty friend and I took a bit of a mini-quilt hop. Statewide hop magazines in hand, we headed out to quilt stores in Rogers, MN and then up to St. Cloud.
In Rogers, I found this book, that provides 52 different patterns for potholders, all which use 8.5" square blocks. I'm loving my other quilty sew-a-longs, so I decided I would give this a try!
I still have so much fabric left from finishing the butterfly quilt from my sister, that all I needed was to purchase some reflective batting from the Quilt Cove, and I was all set to go!
Week 1:
Called "The Anvil" this block utilizes half square triangles and a bit center block, good for fussy cutting. I discovered, however, that the pattern left a lot to be desired. The author likes to cut triangles and sew on the bias, which is not my preferred way of making HSTs. Plus, this quilt needed 16, so instead i took four 5" squares and used the 8 HST technique to make them and then trip them down to size.
I also discovered another thing that is a must for me in patterns: tell me the size of each section of the block, so I can check sizing and accurately trim it where necessary, or make things intentionally bigger and trim down for accuracy. So, each HST should be trimmed to 2.5", each row should be 8.5" wide, and the top and bottom rows should be 2.5" and the center should be 4.5".
I did a lot more top quilting on this than I normally do, using the new spacing guide on the Juki... and really liked how it turned out with some fun variegated thread in tans and browns. I think this center block would also look great with a more complicated 4.5" square, for instance, with a pinwheel or sawtooth star or something!
This week, I started on Week #2, again with leftovers from the fig tree butterfly quilt (Boho Chic fabric by Moda, circa 2013).
This block also featured directions with a lot more bias-cut half square triangles, so I made an hourglass or quarter square triangle technique, that eliminated the bias sewing, and results in two 4.5" QST blocks. While I did lose a point or in this block, I'm overall happy with how it turned out. I tried a new binding technique, which will take some practice to get used to, and did more top sewing using my sew liner pencil to mark quarter-inch quilt spacing;.
Thanks for stopping by!
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