Thursday, May 30, 2019

Vintage Block Along - Week 19 - Picnic Block!!


Welcome to week 19 of the 
Vintage Block Along!


I have another block to share with you
 from my Grandma's pattern basket:)





I'm using Farm Girl Vintage fabric...



And Bee Backgrounds:)



I picked these five prints
 to make my block...


And then ended up switching one
 of the prints afterwards...
I'll tell you about that as we go along!


I chose to name this block 
PICNIC

When we were at grandma's house...
and when I say WE I mean that
 there were always some of my 
brothers and sisters or cousins
 there because we all lived
 in the same small town.

Anyways...when we were there
 and it was lunchtime grandma of course
 would make us lunch and when 
the weather was warm she would say 
do you want a picnic?


Of course we did!...
I love everything picnic!

Above is a photo from my upcoming book
 Farm Girl Vintage 2 
and you can see just a few 
of my vintage picnic baskets collection:)

I like to paint them in my
happy Farm Girl colors!


Grandma would prepare our lunch
 for outside in a basket or a cooler 
depending on how far we were going...
and of course she had
a colorful and well loved 
scrappy quilt or two for us to sit on:)



These kind of quilts were always made
 with blocks that could easily
 use up scraps and leftovers from
 sewing dresses and 
previous quilt making....


so many colorful prints!
This is probably the reason
 that I love vintage fabric and 
scrappy happy quilts so much:)


Okay...let's move on
 to making the Picnic Block:)


From the background you will need to cut 
8 - 3 1/2" squares
4- 3 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangles



From this fabric you will need to cut:
4 - 3 1/2" squares
This is the fabric that I
 ended up switching out:)


From this fabric cut
1 - 3 1/2" square



From this fabric cut
4 - 3 1/2" squares



From this fabric cut
4 - 6 1/2" squares



And finally from this fabric cut
4 - 3 1/2" squares



First step is grabbing these pieces...



And sewing them together like this!
You should have 4 segments 
that each measure 6 1/2" square.

Now take the remaining
 4 background squares...



And add an Easy Corner Triangle
 onto the blue square corner
using the 


Like this!
Do this on all 4 segments.



Mark a line down the center
 of the 6 1/2" squares.
This is your sewing line.



Pin onto the segment like this.



I like to use a small pin in the center  
(this one is my Pretty Applique Pins)
 that I can sew over if needed
 to pin right where the sewing line 
needs to meet the corner 
of the blue square.



Sew directly onto your marked line...



And it will look like this!
It's an easy peasy way to do this 
normally difficult on the bias 
segment because we are sewing first
 and then trimming...
no triangles to cut 
and to accidentally stretch out 
because we use squares instead!



Trim off the excess leaving 
an approximate 1/4" seam allowance 
and press towards the large triangle.

Do the same thing to all 4 segments.
They all should still measure
 6 1/2" square:)

By the way...
of course I always continue to 
cut my trimmings into 
useable squares sizes
 for my scrappy sewing.
Recycling at it's best!



Now take these two fabric squares...


And sew them together like this:)
Now all of your segments are completed
 and you are ready to 
sew your Picnic block together!


Lay it out onto your large
 design board like this.
Sew your block into 3 rows 
and then sew those 3 rows together.



Finished block:)
But wait!
I was not happy with the contrast 
of my lighter red floral print 
against the yellow fabric.
I mean...
I liked it and it was okay 
but I wanted to love it!

So even though it is one of my fave prints in the collection...
I grabbed my seam ripper
 and took out those squares.


And switched them for the red gingham.
The gingham has more red in it 
than the floral and so it has
 more contrast which is what I 
was looking for 
in this particular block:)
Gingham to the rescue!


So here is the block after switching 
and I'm really happy with
 how it turned out...
much better on the contrast.

I mean really...
what was I thinking when I 
in the first place 
didn't include gingham
 in a picnic block?
I really should have known:)
LOL


Here is the back of my block 
and how I did the pressing:)


PICNIC
15 1/2" x 15 1/2" before
 we sew it into our quilt:)

I really love this block...
it's great stash buster and a fun one 
to play with a lot of different colors
 within one block...
the kind grandma always made 
and used for picnic quilts.


Thanks so much for joining me 
along this journey of sewing vintage!!

Come back here next week for
 another fun block tutorial!
xx
Lori

If you are new and just joining in...
Click on each one block
to go to that tutorial:

8. Humble
15. Memory


Thursday, May 23, 2019

Vintage Block Along - Week 18 - Spool and Bobbins Block!!



Well hello and thanks for
 tuning in to week 18 of the 


I have another vintage block
 from my grandma's pattern basket 
that I'm excited to share with you!




I'm using my 
Farm Girl Vintage 
fabric collection...


And Bee Backgrounds:)


For this block I used 3 different
 colors and a background ...
as well as a medium print...
or what some call low volume 
and what I call a "busy background"


The name on this block 
pattern page was 
"Double Cross" 
I chose to name mine
 SPOOL and BOBBINS 
because that's what it looks like to me!


I have some of grandma's 
sewing supplies and tools...
and among them are 
vintage spools of thread and 
bobbins from her machine.

I also have several of her 
sewing containers that she kept them in.

I love the containers and 
their happy colors and vintage style.


This block is perfect to use
 2 1/2" squares from your stash.

I think it would be a 
super cute quilt with
 scrappy happy blocks 
of all different colors of
 spools and bobbins:)

Okay...now for the tutorial 
so let's get cutting!


From the background you
 will need to cut
14 - 2 1/2" squares


From the "busy background" 
you will need to cut
 4 - 2 1/2" squares


From the fabric for the spools
 you will need to cut 
6 - 2 1/2" squares


From the fabric for the thread 
you will need to cut 
1 - 4 1/2" square


For the bobbins 
you will need to cut
 4 - 2 1/2" squares


Start by adding an 
Easy Corner Triangle 
onto each corner of the thread square.


Sew the spool fabric square
 onto opposite corners first.


You can either draw a line
 from point to point or use the 


Trim the excess off and press seams open.


Now you can add the background squares
 onto the remaining two corners.
This segment should measure
 4 1/2" square at this point.


Okay.
Now you have 4 
of each color of 2 1/2" squares 
left for a total of 12... 
and you have 12 
background squares left as well.


Pair a background square up 
with each color print and 
sew from corner to corner...


And make 12 half square triangles that measure 2 1/2" square each.


Now make two each of these segments.

You should have a total of 6 
that measure 
2 1/2" x 4 1/2" at this point.


Lay all of the segments out 
and sew them together into 3 rows....


Like this:)


Now join the 3 rows 
together to make your block!


This is the back of my block...
I pressed all of my seams open.


I remember playing underneath 
the quilting frames at grandma's house
 when I was a girl and 
too young to put stitches 
in the quilt that was
 the roof over my playhouse.

I was fascinated by the needles
 going up and down...up and down...
making tiny stitches. 
I loved watching the designs 
that the tiny stitches made 
on the back of the quilt.

Grandma let me play with her 
thread box and sewing containers
(if I was careful)
 and I remember stacking 
the spools into towers lol.

It was my job to thread the 
needles for grandma and my 
great aunts because
 "my eyes were young and 
can see better than ours"


SPOOL and BOBBINS
should measure 8 1/2" square 
before we sew it into our quilt:)


Thanks for sewing vintage with me today!
I'll be back next week 
with another block to share.
xx
Lori

If you are just joining us...
here is the list of the 
Vintage Blocks that we have done so far.

Click on each one 
to go to that tutorial:

8. Humble
15. Memory




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