Annie's Choice

October Swap Block

I have joined a 6 month Block Exchange Swap with my quilty friends at the Quilt & Needle.  I am a Stitchin' Sister.  The block my friend Sherry chose for October is Annie's Choice in white and bright medium blue tone-on-tones.  These blocks are beautiful.  My hubby is wishing I would make more and they would stay here, I think.  After I get my scrappy swap blocks I may be making him a quilt.  ;)

my method

I used a different method of making the HST blocks using what I have learned here about making 4 HST at a time from That Girl ... That Quilt  As usual, I did find I personally had to cut my beginning squares a tad on the large size to get accurate 1/4" seams and the correct finished block size.  The math of this site would call for cutting 5.5" squares to make unfinished 3.5" HSTs.  I found if I cut my beginning squares are 5 and 5/8ths (5.625) and set my Janome on the 3.8 needle setting and used my standard 50/2 ply cotton thread for piecing that I would get what I call accurate 1/4 inch seam and is more commonly referred to as a Scant 1/4 inch seam.  Click on this link for a good explanation of  Scant 1/4" Seams by  A Quilting Life .  This way I would get the correct 3.5" size HSTs with only trimming off the dog-ears with my snips.

Here are my how-to photos below ...

sew 1/4" seam on all 4 sides

 

cut on diagonal

 

cut on second diagonal

yields 4 HSTs

 

 press to dark fabric

 

check sqaure for correct size and trim
 

if HSTs are correct size, just snip the dog ears
 

chain piece squares together

 

press in opposite directions

 

 check alignment of sub units

 

nest center seams / pin if needed

 sew quarter square sub units together removing pins as you go

 

 check for accurate 1/4" seams

 

press
 

 

check and square quarter units for size

 

make 4

 

nest diagonal seams when sewing square units together

 

correctly pressed back showing all seams in opposite directions

 

check finished block for size and squareness

 

6 swap blocks plus 1 charity block

 

We are exchanging blocks in groups of six and we are making one extra block to make a group charity quilt for a children in crisis center.

 

Although I found these blocks challenged my HST skills, I really loved the fabric and block choice for this month and I am looking forward to receiving my squishy in the mail with my Stichin' Sisters' beautiful blue and white blocks.

 

Time to do some painting in my new sewing room and to get ready to make next month's block!

 

Have a happy quilty day!

 

:-)