Vintage Block Along - Block Ten - Quilting Bee Block Tutorial!!

Good morning cute people...

it's time to sew vintage today!

I'm sharing another 

vintage quilt block with you 

from my grandma's pattern basket:)

I chose a red and a coral pink from 

Farm Girl Vintage 

to use for todays block:)

I added the pink vintage phone

 in the photo ...

And the pink thimble...

And I'm going to explain 

what these two things have in common 

and why I'm calling this 

traditional vintage block

"QUILTING BEE"

Of course you know by now 

that my grandma and all 5 

of her sisters were quilters.

Anytime that there was a special occasion happening 

in town like a wedding 

or a baby announcement...

well of course that meant that 

it was time to make a quilt!

Many quilt tops were already completed

 by grandma and my aunts

 and were just waiting

 for the right occasion:)

Grandma would get on the phone

and let everyone know when 

the quilt would be

 "on the frames"

Of course living in a small town...

back then we were all 

on a party line and so the word 

would spread quickly and within 

a day or so the 

Quilting Bee would begin!

Everyone showed up with 

their own needles...thimble and scissors.

I love seeing everyones

 "sewing kits"

And I still love sewing kits 

and containers to this day!

Of course everyone also brought a

 covered dish for the potluck:)

It was my grandma that most often 

organized the quilting bee because

 it was at grandma's house or at our house.

Both of our front rooms were situated

 so that you could walk around the frames 

and also have easy access to the kitchen.

Because the quilt remained on the frames 

for several days until it was completed ...

it was important to be able

 to get around it:)

I just love rotary phones:)

This pink one is just like the one 

that was on grandma's kitchen wall.

She had a pink desk top 

rotary on her bedroom side table.

I mentioned that we were on a party line

 when I was a girl...

 and most of the time you had to wait

 to use the phone because when you 

picked it up someone was already on there!

We would sigh and roll our eyes 

when we recognized the voice of

 certain people because we knew it would be

 a while until we could make our call lol.

This is what the phone on our 

kitchen wall looked like.

It had a super long cord.

Most of the time when mom was 

on the phone she held it up to her ear

 with her shoulder because she would be

 doing the dishes or cleaning

 the kitchen or baking.

When we wanted to go downstairs...

 we had to go through the kitchen and

 that meant we needed to 

lift up the cord and go under it.

But obviously to "some" of us kids

 it was an invitation to play jumprope 

and if we missed our jump...

 the phone would be

 suddenly snatched away 

from moms ear...whoops! lol

Anyhoo...sorry I was so "chatty"...:)

I named this block Quilting Bee 

because I think the red center looks

 like a quilt and the coral pink triangles

 represent all of us 

sitting around the frames 

and quilting and talking and laughing:)

That's how I grew up!

First...playing under those frames...

threading needles for grandma and my aunts...

until I was old enough to 

put my own stitches into the quilt:)

Okay...enough of the vintage memories...

let's talk about todays tutorial.

If you know anything about me...

you know that I love to sew scrappy.

That's how grandma did it.

She did it out of necessity...

I do it out of the simple pure love of

 fabric... color... and prints!

Scrappy patchwork is my favorite:)

This photo is from my 

Scrappy Project Planner 

and it's a photo of my 

scrappy stash baskets that I sew from.

CLICK HERE 

To watch this video if you want to

 see my sewing room and how 

I store my scrappy stash.

Whenever you see photos of my

 scrappy sewing you can bet all of the fabrics came from those baskets.

I usually buy fat quarters or half yards

 and then cut them into the strip sizes 

that I use most often...

And from those strips I can

 easily cut squares or rectangles 

or whatever shape is needed.

I have sewn all of the 

scrappy projects for my 

books from my baskets:)

I love my method and have done

 tutorials and blogged about it...

taught workshops about etc.

It works perfectly for me 

and I continue to sew in this way.

I outlined my complete how and why method

 in my Scrappy Project Planner 

that has been out for quite a while 

and I still use it everyday as well.

It has many different sections in it...

along with scrappy quilt patterns too.

CLICK HERE

if you want to know more about it.

This is a photo from one

 of my pages last year....

But what I especially want to 

show you today is this section 

where my scrappy method is and also my 

"short cut methods" 

for making popular quilting segments 

like half square triangles...

flying geese etc.

I'm telling you about this today because

 I'm going to use my 

half square triangle method 

from my planner for the 

Quilting Bee Block tutorial.

There are so many ways to 

piece a quilt block and I wanted to 

show you an example of that.

So far I have had you cut 2 squares

 that results in 1 half square triangle.

This time I'm going to show you how 

to cut 2 squares but get 

TWO half square triangles.

Sew...on to the cutting!

From the background cut:

6 - 4 1/2" squares

5 - 3 1/2" squares

3 - 1 1/2" x 20" strips

From the medium print cut:

6 - 4 1/2" squares

From the dark print cut:

3 - 1 1/2" x 20" strips

Let's make the half square triangles

 first using the short cut method.

Mark two lines 1/2" apart onto the 

back of the background square 

and pair it up with a print square 

with right sides together.

You will sew on both marked lines.

Or you can do like I do and instead

 of marking lines I just place the point

 of the squares on the line to the left of my

 Seams Sew Easy Guide 

and follow it while sewing...

And then flip it around and

 sew the other seam.

Because the lines on the guide

 are 1/4" apart...

I automatically have 2 seams 

sewn 1/2" apart without marking:)

Easy Peasy!

Cut them apart like this.

Grab a 3 1/2" Trim-It Ruler 

and lay the diagonal line on

 the ruler directly onto 

your stitching line like this...

And trim all the way around 

holding the ruler in place and

 turning the Cute Cuts mini mat 

as you go.

Press it open...

and repeat for the other one.

You now have two half square triangles:)

You could also press first and then 

trim like this...

but I find it faster to trim first

 before pressing open.

Continue trimming up for all

 12 half square triangles.

They should each measure

 3 1/2" square at this point.

This method causes some fabric waste 

just like the one I have been 

having you do before when you 

trim off one half and discard.

The only difference is ...

the shape of the waste!

You could cut triangles and 

sew them together and 

there would be no waste...

but that is cutting and sewing

 on the bias and is very difficult 

to get accurate.

I would rather have easy cutting and

 a little fabric waste and be accurate...

as well as enjoy my sewing!!

You of course are free to do

 any method out there that you like best!

Okay lets work with the strips now.

Sew a 1 1/2" background strip

 onto each side of a print strip.

Press your seams open for 

accuracy and less bulk. 

Measure in 1 1/2" and cut.

Do this 8 times for 8 segments 

that measure 1 1/2" x 3 1/2"

Now sew two print strips 

onto each side of a background strip.

You will need to cut

 4 - 1 1/2" x 3 1/2" segments.

You will also need

 4 - 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" segments

 that look like this. 

I had you cut an extra set 

of strips in case you need it:)

All of you segments are almost ready

 to make your Quilting Bee Block!

First you will need to 

sew the strips together 

into 4 nine patch blocks like this.

These four segments should measure

 3 1/2" square at this point.

 Double Pins 

come in handy when piecing

 to line up the seams perfectly.

Just giving you another option:

If you wanted to cut 

all of these squares separately

 instead of using the strip method 

you would cut each square

 1 1/2" x 1 1/2"

You would cut each rectangle

 1 1/2" x 3 1/2" 

and sew them together.

You would cut 2 squares

 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" 

and sew them together to make

 ONE half square triangle

 like I have been showing you 

in my other block tutorials

 in this series.

Of course...the other 5 background 

squares would still be cut 3 1/2".

I'll continue to show you how to cut 

in this simple way that 

I have been doing from the beginning 

for the remaining block tutorials.

Today I just wanted to tell you about

 my shortcut methods that I use

 in my Scrappy Project Planner 

so that you could choose.

I always use those shortcut methods 

when making several blocks

 at a time for a quilt or runner...

but when I'm just making just 

one or two blocks...

this simple cutting and sewing is

 the way that I love the best!

Lay your segments out onto

 your design board like this.

There are 5 rows to sew across.

After sewing those...

sew those 5 rows together 

to form your block!

Here is the back of mine 

in case you want a peek:)

I LOVE this block!!!

I have so many fond memories of 

sitting around the quilting frames with family and friends.

Perhaps this corner of my block can

 represent grandma.

I miss her so!!

QUILTING BEE BLOCK

should measure 15 1/2" square

 before we sew it into our quilt:)

If you are just joining us and want to sew vintage blocks with me...

click on each block 

that we have already sewn

 for that tutorial:

1. Grandma's Star

2. Pattern Basket

3. Around the Corner

4. Little Farmhouse

5. Rhinestone 

6. Vintage Lily

7. Star Shine

8. Humble

9. Egg Money

Thanks so much for chatting with me 

today on our own 

Vintage Block Along Party Line...

and for sewing vintage!

I'll be back next week 

with another vintage block 

to share with you:)

xx

Lori

P.S. Inside of my book 

SPELLING BEE

I have a block pattern for

 a vintage rotary phone...

just in case you feel 

the need to sew one:)

It looks like this and there are

 instructions for both a 6" and a 12" block.

I'm making an entire quilt 

out of the 12" size in all

 different colors and calling it 

"PARTY LINE"

I'll show you someday when it's finished!