Ornate Star - Alternate block for Square in a Square Unit for Quilter's Recipe Box

Sorry to be so late today with my post.  I usually like to get the blocks worked up early so I can write my post over the weekend, but that did not happen this week.  I was busy doing some secret sewing for Island Batik!  I'll be sending my quilt out for the Fall Winter Catalog tomorrow, but I can't share about it until September.  That't the hardest thing about making projects for fabric companies - you work so far ahead and have to keep the fabric hidden until the appropriate time!  But it is fun, too!

On with the block!  This one is Ornate Star from EQ7.  It uses four Square in a Square units as well as four Quarter Square Triangle Units.  You will need to cut five 3 1/2 squares of a focus fabric, and sixteen 2 inch squares of a light fabric.  Then you will need two 4 1/4 squares of a secondary fabric, one 4 1/4 square of a light fabric, and one 4 1/4 square of background fabric.

Sew four Square in a Square units using the light 2 inch squares and four 3 1/4 inch squares of four focus fabric.

Sew four Quarter square triangle blocks using the secondary fabric, light fabric and background fabric as in the Twinkle Star instructions.

Lay them out like this:

And sew them together to complete your block:

I love how this one came out!  I wasn't too sure about using so much of that vibrant green, but it looks great with the darker green and blue.  These fabrics are from the Dotalicious line from Island Batik.  Click here to see them all - really lovely colors and designs!   If you can't find them locally they are available online in a variety of places including Hancock's of Paducah.

Come back next week - I'll have another block using the Square in a Square unit - I can't believe that just a couple more blocks and I'll have hit the halfway point for this project!  Lots more great blocks to come, so I hope you are following along.  You can find links for all the blocks at the top under the Quilter's Recipe box tab if you've missed any or if you want to catch up.  Lots of great blocks and ideas for quilts available there.

Hopefully I'll have more quilting to share this week - I've caught up on most of the urgent deadlines and am ready for some serious quilting!

Time for Winners!

It's always fun to get to this part of a giveaway!  When I woke up this morning I had rafflecopter randomly draw my winners - Donna won the fabric giveaway and Lee won the patterns.  Congrats, Ladies!  Check your e-mail for more information!

This is one of my projects from yesterday.  I believe it is going to be a raffle quilt for a local group.  It's pretty awesome, but it isn't your typical quilt!  The motorcycles are all that rubbery t-shirt transfer fabric, and the black is pleather (imitation leather).  It has a layer of poly batting and is backed with black fleece.  Quite an interesting combination to work with!

You can see the gorgeous texture in the pleather.  That's the way it came, not from quilting!  The only quilting I did was to outline each of the motorcycle squares.  With all the thickness of the fabrics there was a small amount of puckering on the back, but it's not that bad.  The backing was turned to the front for the binding.  A bit of a challenge, but it came out pretty well!

The binding clips were perfect for the job!  You can really see the texture in the pleather with this shot - so pretty!

I also started working on the Vintage Embroidery quilt.  I got it basted - this is my first quilt using two layers of batting.  The top batting is Dream wool and the bottom layer is pellon cotton.

I got the stitch in the ditch done to stabilize it and have started to quilt the blocks!  It's going to be stunning, I think!

 I was so nervous to stitch on the blocks, but I love the results!  It takes about 5 minutes to do a block and there are 42 in the quilt, so I have a few hours of quilting ahead of me.  Each block is 4 1/2 inches plus 1 inch borders framing it.

Today is grocery shopping day, so I suppose I'd better get off the computer and get my day going.  Congrats to Donna and Lee!  Thanks to everyone for your comments and participation - it was really fun hearing about your favorite blocks.  It made me want to sew them all up!

Quilter's Recipe Box - Square in a Square Unit, Rolling Stone Block

Ready for a new unit?  This month I'll be using the Square in a Square unit.  This is one of the units I usually like to use a shortcut method even though it does waste a bit of fabric.  I think the accuracy of doing them this way makes the waste worthwhile.

This block requires quite a bit of cutting!  You will need sixteen 2 inch squares of your background fabric, plus four 2 x 3 1/2 inch rectangles.  Cut four 3 1/2 squares and four 2 x 3 1/2 rectangles from your dominant fabric, and one 3 1/2 inch square for the center of your block.

Start by marking a diagonal line on the back of all the 2 inch squares.  You can mark them with a pencil or other marking tool, or finger press them in half diagonally.  Place a 2 inch background corner on one corner of each 3 1/2 inch square of your dominant fabric.  I like to chain piece them, line them up on my cutting mat and cut off the extra fabric.

Press the corner triangles out.  Then sew the opposite corner in the same way and trim.

Then press:

Continue in the same manner until you have all four corners sewn.

Then use the two sets of rectangles to make four split square units:

Lay out all your units like this:

And sew together.  I usually take a peek to make sure the corners of my square in a square units line up with the seam in the split square.

Then, when I sew them together I make sure to sew a hair to the inside of the intersection on the square in a square point.

This ensures that your point doesn't disappear in the seam line:

Once your block is complete it will look like this:

You can purchase the entire set of 12 Quilter's Recipe Box unit patterns in my Etsy shop!

Today is the last day to enter my giveaway - if you haven't already completed your entries, be sure to do so before midnight - tomorrow I'll be announcing the lucky winner of thirteen 10 inch square and a roll of 5 inch strips!

a Rafflecopter giveaway