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


5 comments:

  1. Thanks again for another pretty vintagy block! Yes, I like the first red print but love the red check better too! Love the quilt from your book and all those fabric samples for 14 cents per yard! Thank you for the warm memories from your story too.

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  2. Really like this one, and I have some 3 1/2" squares to see if I can use them up when I sew this one. I've admired your baskets for so long, and have a couple of that style - I wondered what paint you used to paint them, I know they have been painted a long time. I am constantly asking the husband to pick it up by the handles, as he is bending the the side trim!!! Uh!!!

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  3. Beautiful - and love how those corners come together!! I still remember when fabric was often 99 cents a yard, and mom and I would search for any fabric that would work for garments - then it was off to cut 4-5 yards of each, because we had no pattern in mind yet, but that should do for whatever came up later :)! Your block reminds me of all the lovely quilts we could have made from those remnants, if only we had known how to quilt then! Another lovely vintage block, Lori!

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  4. I read these blogs and mostly fail to comment. Gratitude. Working on that. I am so thankful for your time and efforts.
    Your work is gorgeous and I too liked the gingham and the $.14/yd piece. So cute.

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  5. Your work is absolutely beautiful and so fun to look at! I love your vintage look fabrics and the country feel to your blocks. I am working on my very first quilt, teaching myself from youtube and other online resources. You are so unbelievably talented and so generous with sharing your patterns and instructions. Thank you for all you do! Hope to finish what I'm working on so I can try a Lori Holt block next!

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