Fundamentals Sew Along - Week 19

Hi everyone:

I hope you are all enjoying the lovely spring weather we are having. We have been very busy in the store lately.  Lots of new fabric coming in and lots of changes to the store.  We have had two classes in the bright new classroom.  Keep your eye on the blog,  Carol will keep you updated on the renovation.

Since there are so many triangles in the this quilt I thought I would do a short tutorial on Thangles.  Thangles are small strips of paper that you pin to your strips of fabric so that you may accurately chain piece  your triangles together.   They come in many different sizes.  If you need 2" finished squares that are made up of 2 triangles,  you will need to use 2 1/2" strips of fabric.

Thangles Templates

The dotted lines are the lines that you will stitch on, and the solid lines as well as the double solid lines are your cutting line.   First layer the strips with the right sides together.   Then  pin the Thangle paper to the strips, keeping the long edges aligned.  Now you are ready to stitch on the dotted lines. 

Stitch On The Dotted Lines

Once you are finished sewing you may cut apart the triangle segments.  It is best to press your triangles open with the paper still attached to prevent stretching of the fabric.  To remove the paper pinch in the seam allowance and pull on the triangle of  paper.  It will pop free.


Cut Your Segments IntoTtriangles

This week's block is called Philadelphia  Pavement.  The block has a shoo fly centre surrounded by sashing bars corner squares. It is a lovely block and both colourways have a bit of gold or yellow to brighten them up.

Philadelphia Pavement Block

If you have any 1 1/2" finished Thangles, they will come in handy next week!  See you then.

Look at our Spiffy New Floor!

Lots of work got done this weekend on the new floor for the expanded store. Karen's husband Pete came down to help Fred and Lynn and here's the fruit of their labour.

Laying out insulation

Cutting the floorboards to size

Almost there...

Ta da! 

What do you think?

Build your Solids Stash with our Kona Club!

Kona Cotton Solids are the quilter’s first choice for solids. Manufactured by Robert Kaufman, there are 215 beautiful colours in the collection. Have 4 Fat Quarters or 4 Half Yards of Kona Cotton Solids delivered to your doorstep each month!
Choose between 4 Fat Quarters for only $10.99 per month or 4 Half Yards for only $21.99 per month!

Clickhere to register for the Kona Club.

Fundamentals Sew Along - week 18

Hi Everyone:

     I have to admit when I first saw this block it didn't do much for me.  Maybe it is because most of the blocks that we have done so far,  I have seen in a quilt.  Once the block was finished  and I saw it in colour the wheels started to turn.  I thought, what if I added a third colour and reproduced the blocks it would make a lovely quilt.  The triangles in the corners will create a lovely secondary pattern.

Sister's Choice Block Reproduced 16 Times

 

     This week's block is called Sister's Choice.  There is a small error in the pattern.   If you look closely at the 2 diagrams on your pattern the colours are different.   Your piecing diagram is correct, the 4 squares  are a medium value on the perimeter of your block.  The first diagram in your pattern has them as a light value. The cutting directions are correct.    I laid them out both ways to see which I liked better and took a photo for you.

The  Right Version

The Wrong Version

 

     If you decide that you prefer  the other colour way,  you can scrounge around in your scraps.  You should have enough cream colour in your left overs.  The piecing is pretty straight forward, but the pieces are getting smaller.  We started with 4 patch blocks and now we are doing 25 patch blocks.

Sister's Choice Block

These are the finished blocks.  Very pretty, I think!!  Happy stitching everyone, see you next week.

Expansion Update

This is what the store looks like right now but we are happy to say we are functionally normally even with the hole in the wall. Look at all that space behind the cover... that's going to have more fabric! 

You can still find what you need.

So after the wonderful young men moved all the concrete blocks Fred (Judy's dad) and Karen ripped out the carpet. Can you see the long blocks of floor boards in the kitchen? They're waiting to be laid out. 

We're happy to say our classroom is up and running. It's bigger and brighter and seven wonderful ladies took a Machine Quilting class there this afternoon.

Stay tuned for more updates! Like us on Facebook for more pictures and giveaways.