Sunday, March 5, 2023

Calico Garden Sew Along - Picket Fence/Grass and Soil Blocks!!



"Picket Fence"
and 
"Grass and Soil"


Welcome to the first part 
of week six in the 
"CALICO GARDEN"
Sew Along!
Join me here each week 
when I will be doing tutorials
 on the blocks for the quilt.

Of course because we are all sewing 
from all around the world  
we all have different time zones...
But I will be posting each Monday 
right here on my blog 
and you can follow my tutorials 
any time each week that 
 is convenient for you.


We are making the 
Calico Garden Quilt
90" x 90"


The quilt is made with my latest fabric
 collection called Calico...

I hope that you all have all 
received your templates and 
fabric kits by now...
 and that we are all ready to begin!!


If you still need them ...
just do a quick google search for 
"Calico Garden Quilt Kit"
to find shops who still have some left.


We are also using the
Calico Garden
Sew Simple Shapes

I have posted the
 post which details all of the supplies
 for the sew along and how it works.
I have also given the link there 
for the free PDF Download 
of the Sew Along Guide

to download the sew along guide.


As per the sew along guide 
cutting instructions
 you should have everything for your
  Picket Fence and Grass/Soil Blocks 
 all cut and ready to go!
I will also list the cutting 
for these blocks here:)

As per usual for week one in my 
Sew Simple Shape Sew Alongs
 the FIRST week tutorial is a video.

Because I now have my own 
 I have posted the 
 Blue Coneflower Block
Tutorial there.
to visit my channel and watch the 
tutorial and I hope that you love it!
Pretty please leave me a comment
over there and let me know:)

If you like what you see 
and my other videos there...
click on subscribe and click on the bell
 to be notified whenever
 I post another tutorial:)



Here's my Blue Coneflower Block 
that I showed you 
how to make in my video:)


for the tutorial on my
PURPLE CONEFLOWER BLOCK



to go to my tutorial for the
CALICO STAR FLOWER BLOCK

to go to my tutorial for the
Morning Glory Blocks


to go to my tutorial for the 
PRIMROSE BLOCKS


to go to my tutorial for the 
RED ROSES and MUMS BLOCK


to go to my tutorial for the 
Forget Me Not Block



 For Week Six I decided to post the 
pieced blocks in a separate post 
and also post them a day early.
Today I'm showing you how I made my
 Picket Fence and Grass/Soil Block
and in tomorrow's post I'll
talk about prepping the Hens and the 
Root Veggies for applique.

Let's get started!!


Here I have all of my fabrics cut for 
Picket Fence and Grass/Soil Blocks
all together on one of the large 
Calico Design Boards.

For the Picket Fence:
Cut 18 Fence Posts - 2 1/2" x 6 1/2"
Cut 36 - 1 1/4" squares (green fabric)
Cut 1 - 6 1/2" x 10 1/2" (green fabric)
Cut 1 - 2 1/2" x WOF (green fabric)
Cut 2 - 1 1/2" x WOF (green fabric)
Cut 2 1 1/2" x WOF (brown fabric)

For the Grass/Soil:
Cut 1 - 5 1/2" x 34 1/2" (green fabric)
Cut 2 - 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" (green fabric)
Cut 2 - 5 1/2" x 14 1/2" (brown fabric)
*NOTE about this last cut...
In the guide I had asked you to cut
2 - 7" x 17" 
One for the Roots and Veggies Block 
and the Garden Girl Block
I called for that because normally
 when we are going to appliqué 
as you know I cut the background 
larger and then trim down after 
applique is completed...
but as I was doing this tutorial
 I could see that it was going to be
much easier to cut these two pieces 
from the brown print the size that they 
should be when piecing.


The reason is because
we won't be able to applique anyway 
until these background blocks
 are sewn together (you can see in
 quilt photo applique overlap)
and you can also tell in the
 sew along guide page for finishing of
 the sections of the quilt 
how those sections go together.
So if you happen to have pre-cut 
these 2 pieces 7" x 17"
simply cut them down to measure
5 1/2" x 14 1/2"

Sew sorry for the long explanation
but I wanted to explain it
completely...I hope it makes sense!!

Okay...with that being said...
 lets start by sewing the Picket Fence!


Start by adding easy corner triangles
 to both top corners of the pickets.


Remember that I showed you how to make
 easy corner triangles in my tutorial
 for the Calico Star Blocks 
and you can always watch my many
 quilt block piecing tutorials 
on my YouTube channel. 
Bee sure that you sew each one with
 the diagonal going the correct way.


Trim and press towards the
 easy corner triangles.
Set them aside...
 and let's do the fence rails!
You should have 18 fence rails that 
still measure 2 1/2" x 6 1/2"
but now they have a pointy top!
*NOTE*
When Grass/Soil Block is sewn
 to the top of this block 
you will sew across the points 
of the fence so that they DO NOT
 finish pointy so don't worry!!!


We are going to use an 
easy strip piecing method 
for speed and accuracy:)

Sew all five of the
 Width of Fabric strips together 
in the order pictured above.
The 2 1/2" green strip is the 
widest and so it goes on top.

Bee sure 
and use an accurate 1/4" seam allowance:)


Press the seams open 
so that they will lie flat.


The five strips together should
 measure 6 1/2" tall:)
All pressed and ready to sub-cut!


I used my 1 1/2" x 6 1/2" 
Cute Cuts Ruler to sub-cut.
It's very handy because 
that's the exact size that we need!

As you go along make sure that the
 seam lines line up with the 
straight lines on the ruler 
so that your fence rails are not slanted.

You will have plenty of room 
from this strippy segment to cut 
16 - 1 1/2" x 6 1/2" 
fence rails



Now it's time to 
sew the pickets to the rails:)




Sew two fence sections like this!
Each should measure
 6 1/2" tall x 26 1/2" wide 
at this point.


Now sew these two sections together 
with the 6 1/2" x 10 1/2" green print 
in-between so that you can walk through
 to get to the Potting Shed lol
This block should now measure 
6 1/2" tall x 62 1/2" wide
at this point.


Okay let's make the Grass/Soil Block.
It's easy peasy to sew with 
only 5 pieces of fabric...
start with these four.


Because these squares are 5 1/2" 
they are large enough that you will 
need to mark a diagonal line 
on the back from corner to corner 
instead of using the 
Seams Sew Easy center line as a guide.


Sew directly on the line 
to form your easy corner triangles.
*NOTE that you are sewing each 
in a different direction like this.
Trim away excess and press towards
the easy corner triangle...


like this:)
Each soil section should still 
measure 5 1/2" x 14 1/2" 
but will have a 
triangle of grass on the corner!


Now add the
 5 1/2" x 34 1/2" grass in-between... 


like this!!!
Press seam allowance towards
 the center grass section.
Your Grass/Soil Block should
measure 5 1/2" tall x 62 1/2" wide
at this point:)

You can go ahead and sew it
to the top of your Picket Fence Block
I just didn't do that yet because
I wanted to show them to you 
separately for the tutorial.
Bee sure to use an accurate
1/4" seam allowance and I will 
press towards the Grass/Soil Block. 


YaY!!!
We have now built a fence...
planted our grass and laid our sod
for the bottom of the quilt. 


It makes me happy to sew 
these 2 blocks plus the applique blocks
that we have done so far
 on my design wall.


I'm slowly but surely working on
 getting all 23 of my 
Calico Star Flower Blocks sewn:)
Join me back here tomorrow
and I will show you how I prepped
the Hens and the Root Veggie 
Sew Simple Shapes for applique!!
xx
Lori

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