It's May Day! Sure doesn't feel like the first day of May to me. I'm at the cottage, it's pouring down rain and I'm listening to the furnace run for the umpteenth time since I arrived. I'm ready to plant some flowers and enjoy a little sunshine!
I do have some interesting blocks for you today. I'll admit they have taken me longer than usual to write the patterns because this group is challenging to construct within our 12" and 5" measurements. Let's just dive in and you'll see what I mean.
Block 11
Things started right off with a challenge with this block. It's a 12" block but if you look closely you'll see the block is a 5-patch block. If you divide 12 by 5 what do you get? - 2.4 inches. That's not on any ruler I work with. What should I do? This happens a lot with antique quilts and many times I'll foundation paper piece the block but I really didn't want to do this with a 12" block. Here's what you'll find - A block with a finished size of 11 7/8" can be rotary cut. That leaves us short by 1/8" overall. I made the executive decision to present a rotary cutting pattern for a 11 7/8" block asking you to use an extra scant 1/4" seam allowance when sewing the block sections together so we can get that 1/8" we need. Don't let this scare you - you can do it. Many times we can press a block into submission and get an extra 1/8". If you feel you need a foundation pattern for the 12" block please email me and I'll send you one but I truly don't think it'll be necessary.
On the positive side, there are lots of beautiful indigo prints and an amazing red, striped ombre background fabric to looks at.
Block 12
This is a pretty little basket filled with maroon print diamonds. The blue check homespun check is perfectly matched in the construction of this block. This quilter continues to amaze me with her attention to detail. I would choose to hand piece this block but know many of you would prefer an easier machine pieced version. I've included patterns to make the block in two ways and you can decide which one is right for you.
Block 13
I love the way the quilter took care with how she positioned the strips and the squiggles in the shirting when constructing this block. At first glance this looks like an easy block to put together but it has it's challenges soooooo once again I'm giving you two options for putting this together. One that's an easy machine pieced version and a second one just like the original block.
Block 14
Oh my goodness! Just look at that purple and black print! I wish I had yards and yards of that one. The red polka dot is pretty cute too. All in all, an adorable block you'll sew together with ease.
Block 15
A basket block - what's not to love about a basket block? It's adorable and just look at all those pretty fabrics. Look closely and count the half square triangles along the edge. Yup, we have a 5" block with 6 units. It just doesn't divide out for rotary cutting and with all those small pieces I'm not going to ask anyone, including myself to try and fiddle with seam allowance to get this one to work so we're going to have to foundation paper piece this one. There are three red fabrics in this block even though it looks like more. Three different parts of the cornerstone fabric was used along with a red solid and an interesting red textured print. Have fun with this one. It really is a sweet little block.
Cheddarback - Month 3 Patterns - CLICK HERE
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