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 

Seams Sew Easy Guide

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:

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

10. Quilting Bee

11. Sunday Star

12. Sweet as Honey

13. Bear Hug Block

14. Front Yard Flower

15. Memory

16. Farmers Daughter

17. Potluck

18. Spool and Bobbins