Scrappy Happy Summer Sew Along - Summer Skies Block!!! ...

Yay!…it's Sew Along Monday

and time for a new

 Scrappy Happy project:)

This next project is a 9 block quilt!

It's perfect for using up 

leftover yardage from another project.

Maybe you have a favorite collection

 of fat quarters that you

 have been hoarding or even 

been afraid to cut into.

Be brave quilters!

Now is the time:)

Summer Skies 

88" x 88"

24" blocks

So lets talk about yardage and fabrics.

I'm using my Vintage Happy 

Cloth Yardage #DC3781 in green 

for my background.

Background needed - 5 1/4 yards

 I decided to use fabrics

 from a few of my collections

 along with my stash of 

Denyse Shmidt fabrics.

They play so well together!

Colors I used; aqua-blue-orange-yellow-pink-green.

I used 9 fat quarters (or 1/4 yard cuts will work too)

and

27 fat eighths (or 1/8th yard cuts will work too)

Our manual for the sew along is my pattern

Cut.Press.Sew.Quilt

We are using the Scrappy Happy block in the 24" size.

My pattern includes cutting for a 6" - 12" - 18" and a 24" block

and directions for sewing all four sizes are the same.

I chose 9 of the fat quarters and cut 9 sets of the (S) rectangles.

Then I chose 9 fat 1/8th's and from each I cut;

 1 - (R) square and 4 (V) squares

From the remaining fat 1/8th's (18 of them);

I cut the (T) and the (U) squares

When I was finished…

I had 9 - 24" Scrappy Happy blocks cut and ready to sew!

Now here is where the fun begins!

At this point my block is not sewn together all the way.

I have sewn it into the 9 sections right before

 completion and laid it out on my design board

just like the block in the pattern.

But wait!!!! …

Remember that I told you we would be doing

 four different settings during our sew along?

Of course I like this setting but the point of this

 sew along is not only to play with

 scraps and colors from our stash…

and also to play with my Scrappy Happy block settings.

YaY!

And just by simply turning the 

rectangle sections upside down …

a star is born!!!

It's amazing how the look of a block can change

by just a slight turning of the pieces:)

So this is my Summer Skies block

in a 24" finished size…

Just  8 more for the Summer Skies quilt:)

Easy Peasy!

I'll be showing you the rest of my

 blocks over the next few weeks-

and of course posting them onto our 

Scrappy Happy Summer Flickr group:)

But wait!!!

What about the 

Easy Corner Triangle trimmings?

Of course I have 

saved those for our next

Scrappy Happy project…

and here is how I did it.

Before I sewed my ECT's…

I did a little marking:)

I used my 1/2" wide ruler and marked a line 1/2" away 

from the center line that goes point to point like this.

I marked my lines in the direction that

 they needed to be sewn to form the block:)

I sewed directly on both of my marked lines...

and cut them apart which left each

 with an exact 1/4" seam allowance.

Then I pressed the ECT out as usual.

For the part you cut off…

 you will need a 3 1/2" square ruler.

Either one of these will work…

it just needs a diagonal line going across the center.

Place the diagonal line of 

the ruler onto your

 STITCHING LINE...

And trim off all excess fabric like this.

Using a mat that turns 

makes this little job fast and easy.

My favorite is this cute pink round one by 

Busy Fingers. (Sue Daley)

After trimming…press these seams open.

You will end up with a 

3 1/2" half square triangle

from each one of the ECT trimmings!!!

YaY again!

I LOVE not wasting fabric:)

This is all the waste that there is…

impressive to say the least!

So now that you have an ECT on

 one end of the rectangles...

Go ahead and do the same thing when you add the ECT

onto the other end.

And you will have 8 more

 3 1/2" half square triangles:)

Continue doing the same thing with 

EVERY ECT TRIMMING ...

And press the seams open on all of them.

Because you will get 24 from each block ...

By the time you have your 

9 Summer Skies block finished ...

you will have 

216 - 3 1/2" half square triangles

 for our next Scrappy Happy summer project:)

I can't wait to show you

 what we will be doing with them:)

Are you having fun yet?

Do you like my Summer Skies block?

I love seeing your photos on

 our Flickr page…

keep them coming!

xx

Lori