Row 6 of the Hometown Nostalgia Row Quilt

 Well, it's been a busy month!  At least I did finish my Row 5 blocks, and have the Row 6 sample and pattern ready to show you.  Hopefully my blog posts will resume a more frequent pattern soon as my quilting time gets back to normal!

Block 6 is a traditional Ohio Star!  I do love this block.  Since July 4 is approaching, I decided to make this version in Red, White and Blue. I'm using red for the dark, a dark blue for the medium and a light blue for the light fabrics.  If you are making a row in just one fabric for each color you will need about 3/8 yard of background fabric, 1/4 yard of dark, and 1/8 of medium and light fabrics.

You will need four 2 1/2 inch squares of your background fabric, and one of your medium fabric (the star center)

You will also need 3 1/4 inch squares, one of your background and light fabric, and two of your dark fabric.  

Draw a diagonal line on the back of your two dark 3 1/4 inch squares.  Layer one of these (right sides together) on a matching background and light fabric square.  Sew a 1/4 inch seam on each side of both sets.  Cut on the marked lines and press your seams toward the dark fabric.

Draw a diagonal line on the back of both dark/background squares. Place one dark/background square right sides together with a dark/light square, making sure the seams line up with each other and that the darktriangles are on opposite sides. Sew ¼ each to each side of the marked line, then cut on line. Repeat for the remaining two units. Press with seam going away from the background fabric. Trim to 2 ½ inches if necessary.

Assemble your units as shown and sew together!  

Isn't it cute? 

 I'm contemplating if I want to make half my blocks with blue points and red centers, then alternate them.  Hmmm - so hard to decide what to do!

What do you think?

Here's a bonus peek at the back!  

Download Row 6

Row 5 of the Hometown Nostalgia Row Quilt

 The last month has sure sped by!  I was hoping for more sewing time, but it did not materialize.  I am thankful that I got my blocks for last month done early!  I have been enjoying them on my design wall.

Now it's time for a new block!  Block 5 is Flying X.  I decided to use yellow for this row - I love the sunny look!

This is a nice easy block, two sets of four half square triangles and two sets of squares.  If you are making your blocks with the same fabric you will need 3/8 yard of background, 1/8 yard of medium and 1/4 yard each of dark and light fabrics.

My light isn't much different from my background, but it still looks good.  The first step is to sew the half square triangle units:

These will need the dog ears trimmed off, and make sure they measure 2 inches.  

To sew the pinwheel for the center, use the light/dark triangle sets.  Lay them out like this and sew the top and bottom pairs together.

Press the seams toward the light triangle.  Sew the pairs together.

At this point you will want to gently pick out the threads in the seam allowance at the point so that you can split them and open out in order to spin the center seam allowance.  I don't use this technique very often, but it allows you to press all these seam allowances toward the light triangles which makes the seams nest nicely when you assemble the block!

Plus it makes the center nice and flat!

Next you will sew all the dark/background half square triangles to the background squares:

Now you can lay out the block and sew it together.

Looks like sunshine to me!  It's going to be fun to dive into my yellow scraps and see how many combinations I can come up with.  

The instructions for the Flying Block are available to download now!  Time to get sewing!

Download Row 5

Row 4 of the Hometown Nostalgia Row Quilt

 This month has been a little short on quilting and long on home improvement projects!  Nevertheless, it is time for the next row in the Hometown Nostalgia Row Quilt!  This row is a fun little block called Linoleum.  Weird name, I'll have to see if I can find out the history behind it!

For this row I chose purple!  It's a nice spring color, and I have plenty of purple scraps for sure.  I've been  enjoying going through all of my fabric and organizing it!  I've been using pieces left from my 10 years as an Island Batik Ambassador.  So many pretty choices!

After sorting through fabric and making piles of light, dark and medium I chose these for my sample block.  You will need background, light, medium and dark for this row.

I decided to fussy cut my light fabric.  I had the perfect 2 1/2 inch square ruler to use for this!

Pieces are cut for my block.  You will need a 11 x 1 1/2 strip and eight 1 1/2 squares of background fabric, 11 x 1 1/2 of dark, four 2 1/2 inch squares of medium and one 2 1/2 square of light for the center. Start by sewing your background and dark strips together on the long side.  Press seam toward the dark and sub-cut into four 2 1/2 inch squares. (I didn't get any pictures of this step!)

Next, sew a 1 1/2 inch background square to opposite corners diagonally of the 2 1/2 inch medium squares. Personally, I am pretty accurate with this size of squares and don't need to draw a line, but please do so if you need to for accuracy!

I usually chain stitch the first side, then do the second side to speed up the process.

Then it's time to trim 1/4 inch from your stitching line and press out toward the corner.

That's it for all the units!  Now you can arrange them all in the correct positions and sew them together.

And now you can see what the block looks like finished!  You can download the pattern for this month's block now and get started on this month's row!  Row 5 will be available on May 15.  

I accidentally uploaded the wrong file, so if you did not get the instructions, try again - I have corrected the issue and uploaded the correct one.  My apologies!!!

Download Row 4 Pattern