Little Blue Basket

The block for week 13 of Barbara Brackman's Civil War Sampler is called Little Blue Basket.

I'm sure you can make it in any colour you want :-) But the story about 'Little Blue' on her blog is very interesting.

Unfortunately, the block - as shown by Brackman - is on a 5x5 grid (is based on a 25-patch, if you will) and that grid does not translate well into a 6 or an 8" block. It does translate quite well into a 5" and a 7.5" block, so that's what I give printing-directions for. And for the log-cabin strips you need to add all the way round to make the block into the correct size.

When I finally got around to actually sewing the block, I saw my way to make it a true 6" block ... and I added a handle too. There are printing-tables now, both for Brackman's and for my version of the block.

Rather than the 3" strip used in the original, this version uses a 4" strip, which is trimmed after joining it to the basket proper of the block.

Brackman's post, with piecing directions.
Printing-table 1. (for the 5" version that is visually like Brackman's)
Printing-table 2 (for the emended, 6" version shown in the pictures of this post.)


P.S. If you're doing the 8" blocks, you can make the smaller triangles (that 'should' finish at 1.6", with the 1.59" HST found in the Storm At Sea, 6.75" collection and in the Feathered Star 30" collection. OR you could use the 1.625" HST found in the (relatively) new HST 00A-collection.
You're on your own (or rather : with Brackman) on the rest of the bits then.

Flying Geese

Flying Geese are extremely simple to make with Inklingo, so, this month I'll be doing a number of Flying Geese blocks. The first one is Barbara Brackmann # 1967 which is simply called "Flying Geese"

Block uses Collection 2 or the new, downloadable HST collection 00B

Fabric 1 (Background)

1 square, 1" finished,
cut 1.5"

24 HST, 1"
6 x 8.25" printed landscape

Fabric 2 (Focus 1, light)
3.25" square for making 4 Flying Geese
unprinted

Fabric 3 (Focus 2, medium)
3.25" square for making 4 Flying Geese
unprinted

Fabric 4 (Focus 3, dark)
3.25" square for making 4 Flying Geese
unprinted

Make the 3 sets of Flying Geese, using Linda Franz fast method.

Make 3 strips, as shown on picture to the right.
Please note, that the background-fabric square goes between two light Flying Geese, pointing in each their direction.

Join the strips to form a finished block

If you want the block to finish at 5", cut 2 strips that are 1 x 5.5", and join them to two opposite sides of the block.
Then cut two strips that are 1 x 6.5" and join to the remaining two sides. If you - like me - are not good freinds with your sewing-machine, you might want to cut the strips 1.25. It is easier to trim than to add :-)

Garden of Eden

or Economy Patch

This block finishes at 5". Check here (link to the Cake Stand block, published September 4th), what measurements to cut strips, in order to make it into a 6" block

This block can be made exclusively with pieces from the Lucy Boston / Inklingo Lite # 4 collection. You can also make it with Collection # 2 and some old-fashioned cutting of squares and rectangles :-), or, if the cutting of squares scares you, use Collection # 1 to print those.

Using the POTC collection

Fabric 1 (background)
4 rectangles, (p. 68), 1 x 2"
3.5 x 5.75"
4 squares, (p. 54) 1.41"
4.25 x 4.5"

Fabric 2 (focus A)
1 square, 1" (cut 1.5")
... don't bother to print this one, just cut it out, 1.5"
16 HST, (p. 58), 1"
5 x 6.75"

Using collection 1 and 2

Fabric 1 (background)
4 rectangles, 1 x 2" (cut 1.5 x 2.5")
4 squares, (Collection 1, p. 59) 2" (or cut 2.5")
5.75" square

Fabric 2 (focus A)
16 HST (Collection 2, p. 62), 1"
4.5 x 8.5"
1 square, 1"
... don't bother to print this one, just cut it out, 1.5"

The way to make the Economy-patches that go on each corner of the finished block is different for the two collections.

2" Economy-patches using the POTC-collection
Join a triangle to each of two opposite sides of each 1.41" square.

Press.

Join a triangle to the remaining two opposite sides of the 1.41" square.

Press.

Repeat, until you have 4 economy patches.


2" Economy-patches using Collection 2 (and 1)
Lay out a 1" triangle on opposite corners of a 2" square, as you did when making the X-quisite block.

If you have printed the 2" squares, you can use the match-mark on the side as a guide for placing your triangle.

Join, trim and press.

Add a 1" triangle to each of the remaining two opposite sides of the 2" square.

Press.

Repeat, until you have 4 economy patches.

Making the rest of the block, is the same, disregarding which collection you have used to prepare your patches.

Take a rectangle, and add an economy patch to each side of it. Do this twice.
Make a long strip, adding the two remaining rectangles to each side of the 1" square.

Add the three strips, so the slim strip is between the two strips with economy patches.

Finished.

If you know of patterns or books that uses this block in this size, please let me know, and I'll make links to each of the ones I'm aware of. miz_pal (at) hotmail (dot) com.

Barbara Brackman's "Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns" # 1873 (5")

Cake Stand

This block uses collection # 2.

You can see other versions of the block right here.

This one is very similar to the previous block, Cactus Basket, and is made in much the same way. However, since it is made with a 5 x 5 grid, it is not possible to make it a 6" block with Inklingo. Therefore, this block finishes at 5"
And the challenge of it is - naturally - to move into a smaller size of HST.

It is, however, very easy to make a 5" block into a 6" block
Cut
2 strips, each 5.5 x 1"
2 strips, each 6.5 x 1"
Add the shorter strips to each side of the block.

Press.

Add the longer strips to the two other sides of the block.

Press.

If you - like me - are not particularly good freinds with your rotary-cutter and your sewing-machine, you might want to cut :
2 strips, each 5.5 x 1.25
2 strips, each 7 x 1.25"
and trim to the correct size after putting them on.

You will want to print on the Focus-fabric for this one, because you need two more of the smaller HST in focus-fabric, than you do in background-fabric.

Fabric 1 (background-fabric)
2 rectangles, 1 x3" (cut 1.5 x 3.5")
One 2" HST
One 3" HST
One 1" square (cut 1.5" square)

Fabric 2 (focus-fabric)
two 5" charms for printing


Make six HST-squares, 1" finished size.
Make one HST-square, 3" finished size.

Lay out your block, so you can see how to join the bits

Join the 1" HST-squares, in rows of 3.
Join the 1" (1.5" cut) square to the (correct) end of one of them.

Join the shorter of the strips to one side of the 3" HST-square
Join the longer (the one with the background-fabric square at the end), to the other side.
Add the rectangles to each of the remaining two sides of the basket.
Add the 2" HST to the bottom of the block.
Finished.

If you know of patterns or books that uses this block in this size, please let me know, and I'll make links to each of the ones I'm aware of. miz_pal (at) hotmail (dot) com.

Barbara Brackman's "Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns" # 707