Free Pattern - Passacaglia

In the year 1973, the British author Lucy Boston made a quilt for her friend, harpsicordist Colin Tilney.
As all of her quilts, it is fairly simple in it's basic construction, yet very intricate in its execution.

In early August of this year (2009), I was given a copy of Diana Boston's book "The Patchworks of Lucy Boston", and saw the picture of the quilt.

The book has no directions, just a few pictures, but since when has that stopped a determined quilter :-) I fell in love. Hard. Really, really hard :-) And started to make blocks to make my own version of this quilt. As of now (December 2009), I have finished 30+ blocks, all of which you can see on my other blog.

Then, a couple of months ago, I wrote Diana Boston, and asked her permission to make a pattern, and she graciously granted that. The quilt is not in her posession, however, but resides in Canada, with Colin Tilney.

When I started to write the pattern, it turned out to be very, very difficult to make lucid AND comprehensive, wherefore some very hard decisions were necessary. This is why the pattern I'm giving away this Christmas, is a pattern for a table-runner, and not a full quilt. Should you want to make a full quilt of your own, however, it should be possible to do with the information in the pattern.

The pattern turned out to be impossible to write it up for the blog, which is why you need to download it at Linda Franz Inklingo home-page. It is written for the Free Collection, so if money are low, but stash is high, you need not go out and buy anything at all.

You can buy Diana Boston's book direct from her, right here, or, if you are in North America, from Linda Franz, right here. Be aware, though, that there are no patterns in the book, just pictures of the quilts Lucy Boston made.

You can download your free Passacaglia pattern here : http://lindafranz.com/product.php?productId=55

Merry Christmas ! And if you don't celebrate that, then Happy New Year :-)

Hexagon bonus block # 9

"Diamond Cube"
Finished size : 3" to the side.
Uses Collection 1

Fabric 1 (background / outside pieces)
6 diamonds, 1" (p. 55)
3.5 x 6" (printed landscape
Fabric 2 (light)
7 diamonds, 1" (p. 55)
3.5 x 7.5"

Fabric 3 (medium)
7 diamonds, 1" (p. 55)
3.5 x 7.5"
Fabric 4 (dark)
7 diamonds, 1" (p. 55)
3.5 x 7.5"


Even though it doesn't much look like it, this block is really a Hexagon-flower with an Attitude.
There are basically two ways to make it.

Make 7 hexagon-shaped blocks, each from one light, one medium and one dark diamond. Make sure the values are placed the same way in each of the blocks.

After having done this, you can make it as you would a Hexagon-Flower block (Cathi's Tutorial is right here)

The other option is to do it in strips, laying out your pieces like shown on the picture.
I would then machine-piece the dark-and-medium-(and-background)-fabric) "strips", and hand-piece in the light fabric diamonds afterwards


Barbara Brackman's "Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns" #240

Hexagon bonus block # 8

Spiderweb ... well ... it is Halloween tomorrow :-)

Uses Collection # 1

Finished size is 3" to the side

Fabric 1
3 half elongated hexagons (p. 45), 4.75 x 5"
3 half hexagons, 1" (p. 26), 3.5 x 4.5" (printed landscape
3 triangles, 1" (p. 52), 4 x 5" (yields 6 triangles)

Fabric 2
3 half elongated hexagons (p. 45), 4.75 x 5"
3 half hexagons, 1" (p. 26), 3.5 x 4.5" (printed landscape
3 triangles, 1" (p. 52), 4 x 5" (yields 6 triangles)


This is one of the few hexagon-blocks that is easy to machine-piece, so hand- or machine is the same. Whatever feels the more comfortable to you.

Print and cut apart shapes.

Start by making 3 triangle-units in each of the two colourways, as shown on picture to the left, making each triangle striped.
Press to the dark

Join the triangles, alternating light and dark, into two half-hexagons, each with 3 triangles, like the picture on the right.
Press, so the seams all lie open.

Join the two half-hexagons to finish the spider-web.
Now, this final pressing involves you having to turn some of the seams on the centre triangles. There is no way one can make triangles press beautifully and perfectly, so there will have to be some turned seams in there.

Hexagon bonus block # 6

Texas Star

Finished size of block : 3" to the side.
Uses Collection # 3

The version on the right is made by Linda, and she has added half-triangles as a setting, from the Inklingo KISS 101 collection.

Fabric 1 (background)
6 diamonds (p. 122), 1.5"
5.5 x 6.25"

Fabric 2 (focus A)
6 starpoints, (p. 97), o.75"
5 x 6"

Fabric 3 (focus B)
1 hexagon (p. 82), 0.75"
Small scrap, or smallest piece that priter will accept. With my printer, that is 3 x 5", which will yield 2 hexagons.

Another nice, traditional hexagon-block. It is basically a hexagon-flower with an attitude, and like the hexagon flower, it can be hybrid pieced, or you can use Cathi's tutorial.

Start by making the star.
The arrows on the picture on the left shows how I pieced mine.

First the green arrows, adding 3 starpoints to the centre hexagon
Second the orange arrows, inserting the remaining 3 starpoints into the mix, and finishing the star.
Finally the red arrows for the outside diamonds. They can be added with one, continuous thread.

























This block can be made in a version that is 4" to the side, if you use the 1" Starpoints and hexagon from Collection 1, and the 2" diamond from the KISS collection102.

Hexagon bonus block # 5

Hexagon Pinwheel
Uses Collection # 3
Finished size (of side) : 3"

Fabric 1 (background-fabric)
4.5 x 5.5" (for triangles)

Fabric 2 (focus-fabric)
4.25 x 10.25" (for half-hexagons)
OR
6 x 7.25

From p. 143 in collection 3, pick
the ink-colour that works best
with your fabrics.
Cut a 4.5 x 4.5" piece of
background-fabric and same size
freezer-paper.
Iron freezer-paper to front (right side) of fabric.
Print.

From p. 107 in collection 3, pick the ink-colour that works best with your fabrics.
Cut a 4.25 x 10.25" piece of background-fabric and same size freezer-paper.
Iron freezer-paper to front (right side) of fabric.
Print.

Start by joining the triangles to the half-hexagons, forming new triangles with a finished size of 3". Make 6.


Lay out the 6 triangles, so they form the pinwheel.

Join them in two sets of three.

Join the two sets.

Finished

Hexagon bonus block # 4

This one uses Collection # 3, and - again - Linda has helped out and made a block in a different colour-way to mine.

Finished size is 3" to the side.

Fabric 1 (background)
5.5 x 6.25"

Fabric 2 (focus A)
3.75 x 5"

Fabric 3 (focus B)
4.5 x 5.5"


From page 122 of Collection # 3, pick the ink-colour that will work best with your fabric.
Cut a 5.5 x 6.25" piece of fabric and same size of freezer-paper.
Iron freezer-paper to the front / right side of the fabric.
Print 6 diamonds with a 1.5" side.

From page 99 of Collection # 3, pick the ink-colour that will work best with your fabric.
Cut a 3.75 x 5" piece of fabric and same size of freezer-paper.
Iron freezer-paper to the front / right side of the fabric.
Print one hexagon with a 1.5" side

From page 143 of Collection # 3, pick the ink-colour that will work best with your fabric.
Cut a 4.5 x 5.5" piece of fabric and same size of freezer-paper.
Iron freezer-paper to the front / right side of the fabric.
Print 6 triangles with a 1.5" side.

Lay your bits out, so you can see that they are all there.

Join the triangles to the side of the hexagon, using one, continuous thread (green arrows on picture to the right)

Join the diamonds to the star, in another, continuous thread (red arrows on picture to the right).

Hexagon bonus block # 3

Uses Collection # 3 and finishes 3" to the side.

This one is called "Madison's Patch". I found the pattern in "The Romance of the Patchwork Quilt in America", and was fascinated, both with the hexagon shape, and the name.

In quilty circles, first lady Dolly Madison is quite well known, because she has her own star. What is less well known is, that her husband, president Madison, has a patchwork star too.

I am not aware of any other couple - presidential or otherwise - that have each their own quilt-block, so to celebrate the Madisons, here's the simplest of the two stars.

You can use any of the collections that holds both 60-degree diamonds and equilateral triangles; from 0.5" (where the star will finish with 1" sides), over the 1" size in collection 1, to collection 3, where you find the 0.75, the 1.50 and the 2.25" sizes.

I have chosen the 1.5" size from Collection 3, and it might be more economical to print for more than one of these blocks, since the minimum size that most printers can do, is quite a bit larger than what you need to print the measly few bits you need for this block. My printer's minimum size is 3.5 x 5", so I printed in excess for this block.

More versions of this block can be found here.

One block
Fabric 1 (background)
5.5 x 6.25" (6 diamonds)

Fabric 2 (focus A)
3.5 x 6" (3 diamonds)
4.5 x 5.5" (6 triangles)

Fabric 3 (focus B)
3.5 x 6" (3 diamonds)

Two blocks
Fabric 1 (background)
7.5 x 8" (12 diamonds)

Fabric 2 (focus A)
3.5 x 7.75" (4 diamonds)
4.25 x 7" (8 triangles)

Fabric 3 (focus B)
4 diamonds

On p. 122 of Collection 3, pick the colour that works best with your fabrics.
Iron freezer-paper to the right side of each of the 3 fabrics, and print your 3 different colours of diamonds.
On p. 144 of Collection 3, pick the colour that works best with your triangle fabric. Iron freezer-paper to the right side of the fabric, and print.





You can hand-piece this block, without breaking the thread at all !
First follow the green arrows, then the red arrows.
Remember : no sewing into seam-allowances. Stop and pivot at the cross-hairs on every corner.












And as an added bonus : here is Elly's way of doing this hexagon, entirely by machine.

Start by making the centre diamond, and two units each of diamond-triangle, and diamond-triangle-diamond.


Add the diamond-triangle unit to two opposite sides of the centre diamond.

Add the diamond-triangle-diamond unit to the remaining two sides.

Finished !

Hexagon bonus block # 2

The Hexagon Star or Starflower.
Finished side is 3"

- and again Linda has joined me, and have stitched this hexagon in a different colourway.

For still more ways to colour this block, you can see right here.

This block uses collection 3.

Fabric 1 (background)
5.5 x 6.25"

Fabric 2 (focus)
5.5 x 6.25"

This block uses the 1.5" diamond shape found on p. 122 in collection 3.

From this page, pick the ink-colours that work best with your fabrics.

Iron your fabric, to a piece of freezer-paper the same size.

Print.

This block is made like the LeMoyne star, only with 6 star-points rather than 8.

As with the LeMoyne star, to me, the simplest way to do this star, is by hybrid-piecing. I piece the star on the machine, and do all the inset seams by hand.

Machine-piecing :

Join two diamonds.
Press seam to one side.
Add a third diamond.
Press to the same side.

Repeat, making certain that you press the diamonds in the second set, the same way you pressed the diamonds in the first set.



Join the two star halves.
Press, and twirl the centre where 6 seams meet.


Hand-piecing

Join the outside diamonds in one, continuous seam, to the star-shape.

Press.

Finished.

Hexagon bonus-block # 1

To satisfy the hex-lovers out there, I've decided to put in a few bonus-blocks that finish as hexagons. I will strive to make them so that they get 3" finished sides, and thus should be able to fit together in the end. BUT, as is the case with the square blocks, I make no promises.

You can see more interpretations of this block right here.

And Linda from NY is making hexagon blocks with me, her version of this block is to the right.

The first hexagon bonus-block is a flower ; the basic flower that you use for Grandmother's Flower Garden.

Cathi Godwin has a tutorial on how to do this flower the old-fashioned way, by hand-piecing, so I thought I would use this space to show my way of hybrid-piecing of this block.

As you can see, this block does not only sport the flower, there are some "leaves" around it to make it into a regular shaped hexagon.
If you make it by hand-piecing only, make the flower first, and then join the leaves in the "holes"

Fabric 1 (background / leaves)
3.5 x 6" (printed landscape)

Fabric 2 (focus A, flower petals)
6 x 8.5"

Fabric 3 (focus B, center)
1 charm / scrap the size of your printer's minimum size. Mine is 3.5 x 5"

From p. 22 of collection 1, pick the ink-colour that works best for your petal-fabric. Cut a piece of fabric 6 x 8.5" and freezer-paper the same size.
Print

From p. 55 of collection 1, pick the ink-colour that works best with your leaf-fabric. Cut a piece of fabric 3.5 x 6" and freezer-paper the same size.
Print, and remember to print in landscape.

From p. 22 of collection 1, pick the ink-colour that works best for your center-fabric. Cut a piece of fabric the smallest size your printer will accept, and freezer-paper the same size.
Print.
... or use one of your printed petal-pieces as a template to cut the centre hexagon from a small scrap. 2.5" square should do the trick.

You can make this block the same way you would any hexagon flower block, and then add the diamonds to "fill in" the edges of the block and make it a straight-sided hexagon with 3" sides.
You could also make it by hybrid-piecing. The below is one way of doing that. There are more, but this is the one that works best for me.

Machine-sewing :

Join 3 petal hexagons to the central hexagon (picture left)

Join 2 diamonds to each side of the 3 remaining hexagons (picture right)




Hand-sewing :
Join the leaves+petal units to the centre-unit.
If you click on the picture, you can see some green arrows, showing you what seams to join.

There are lots of inset seams here, so hand-piecing is the logical option ... unless you are extremely good freinds with your sewing-machine ... in which case, you probably would not join the flower as I have here.

Answer to Leslie's Comment :
Yes, I go from cross-hair to cross-hair when I machine-piece hexagons or other seams that needs to be opened (diamonds, both 60- and 45-degree ones come to mind). If you don't want to do that, leave a short end of thread before and after each seam, and then unpick the stitches that are in the seam-allowance. The slightly longer thread-end is, so that the seam will not unravel on you, the unpicking so that you can fully open the seam when pressing.