June and July, so busy!

 Well, it's been a busy couple of months, and I see no end to it at this point!  I am still smothered in wedding gowns and special dresses, but at least I have finished up the king sized customer  quilt and two quilts for upcoming Island Batik catalogs!

Yes, I quilted this on my Juki!  (TL200qi)  It came out great - I used the heaviest weight of cotton from Quilter's Dream - so heavy and lush feeling!  This is going to be an awesome bed quilt!

The pattern is upsized from my Blackberry Tea pattern.  Lots of piecing, but it was also fun.

Basting it was a challenge, but I put the extension in my dining room table, and it went without a hitch!

I've lost count of the wedding gowns, I think 6 at this point?  So many July/August weddings this year!  I'm hoping to finish the last three this week.  Luckily the alterations haven't been too intensive, but it still takes time and care to do a good job.  I've hemmed a lot of bridesmaids gowns, and worked on dresses for the moms as well!  It's all good, I've been able to help out my friend who had surgery so can't do the work right now and add to my vacation kitty.  Let's just say, I'm planning on visiting some quilt shops on our trip in August!  

Oh, I did finish a new shop sample from my Fast Lane pattern! We also took a weekend to go out of town, which was very nice.  Our Fourth of July was spent at home, so I haven't been totally worked to the bone!  I have missed sewing for fun, and haven't even thought about any of my UFO's - who knows where I am jon the list at this point.  Right now I am just concentrating on getting the Hometown Nostalgia Row ready for Tuesday, and hoping to get these wedding gowns done!  I just thought I'd drop a quick post to catch up, so you know I haven't dropped totally off the map!  

I hope you are having a good summer and getting some projects done!

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