BOW #33 King's Crown

Another block that uses the Flying Geese "block" is King's Crown; if you can make a Flying Geese (Goose?) and cut a square, you're ready to go!  If you need to review how to make a Flying Geese unit, check out BOW #6 .

For a 12" finished block you'll need:
(4) 3-1/2" x 6-/12" Flying Geese units, with light background and Dark 1 as the geese
(4) 3-1/2"  Dark 1 squares
(1) 6-1/2"  Dark 2 squares

Arrange as shown:

As with many blocks, combining multiples of the blocks creates secondary patterns.  To me, it looks like tiles, perhaps floor tiles.  This might be nice as the central part of quilt, with borders that are appliqued or embroidered swirls and flourishes and twining branches.  Or maybe evocative of decorative iron railings.  (I am intrigued by quilts of architectural details. I have photos of decorative and architectural details in the Iowa State Capitol building, that would make a beautiful quilt!)

MK: This block creates interesting secondary patterns when paired with other blocks, such as the variable star.

BOW #32 Double T

Double T combines two common blocks that we've visited several times before, and creates a wonderful secondary pattern when combined with each other.

The two familiar blocks we'll be using are HSTs /Half Square Triangles (for instructions see BOW #1) and Flying Geese (for instructions see BOW #6).  The Flying Geese units have a "twist" to them that you'll need to watch for--not difficult, you just have to make sure you get color placement right.

For a 12" finished Double T block you'll need:
(1) 4-1/2" square Background color
(2) 4-1/2" HSTs that are half Background and half Color 1
(2) 4-1/2" HTTs that are half Background and half Color 2
(4) 2-1/2" x 4-1/2" Flying geese arranged with Color 1 on the left and Color 2 on the right
     (see below)
(4) 2-1/2" x 4-1/2" Flying Geese arranged with Color 2 of the left and Color 1 on the right
    (see below)

Arrange the HSTs and Flying Geese as shown, with the Background square in the center; be careful about the placement of the Flying Geese so the pattern is correct.

When you put four of these blocks together you get a secondary pattern, which is the same pattern, really:



















This would be a wonderful quilt in red and green and white (or cream) for Christmas.  It might even be kind of interesting as just a two-color quilt, like blue and white, or red and white.  (And then you wouldn't have to worry about the color placement on the Flying Geese!)

BOW #31 Attic Windows

Attic Windows is a wonderful framing block, to showcase photos, pieces of special fabric, or other blocks.

Traditionally, Attic Windows was made with the dreaded "Y seam," i.e., a seam  that requires a quilter to make a diagonal seam fit in the corner of two sides at right angles.   I can do Y-seams, I have done Y-seams, but I avoid them when I can!  (Tip,  if you do a y-seam:  mark the 1/4" seams carefully, and sew only to the point where 2 seams meet/intersect. That's the only way to set the y-seam accurately.)

But for our Attic Windows we're going to use squares and our old friend the HST, or Half-Square Triangle. (For instructions for making HSTs, see BOW #1)
 For a 12" block you will need:

(4) 3-1/2" squares light (or a photo, or fussy-cut piece of a favorite fabric)
(4) 3-1/2" HSTs Dark1
(4) 3-1/" HSTs Dark 2

The two dark fabrics are going to form the frame of the window, with a shadowed side.
Arrange the pieces as shown:

You could rearrange the dark pieces to put the shadow to the right, instead of at the bottom, if you like. You get to choose where the light is coming from.  :-)

Here's an example of an Attic Windows adaptation to form a frame around blocks in a sampler quilt. In this case I used rectangles in place of the dark squares, but still used HSTs for the corners.
(You may see some familiar blocks in this quilt....)

And here's an Attic Windows that is really a sort of double window (and I remember that I did Y-seam construction on this one, which has been in my collection for about 30 years):

BOW #30 Pinwheel 2

Another Pinwheel block uses units that are a combination of QST and half square triangles:  a QST becomes one of the half-square triangles.

For a 12" finished Pinwheel you will need:

(4) Light/Dark1 Quarter Square Triangle units--or half units (a triangle), made from 7-1/2" squares
     (See BOW# 28   for instructions for making Quarter Square Triangles)
(4) Half-square triangles, made by cutting (2) 6-7/8" squares in half diagonally

Arrange units as shown below.
















Multiples of this block make a very nice secondary pinwheel:

This unit that combines a quarter-square and half-square triangle is useful in any  number of blocks or designs.  Here's a wreath design, from Karen Krause at Kanesville Quilting, that uses the units both in the wreath and the bow.  Can you find the units?

BOW #29 Yankee Puzzle

All right, we took a week off for the holiday.  Hope yours were all wonderful!  

Yankee Puzzle is an easy segue from the Hourglass block, as it's just 4 Hourglass blocks, but with 2 different darks on opposite sides of the hourglass, which forms a pinwheel in the middle.

For a 12" block you'll need 4 Quarter Square Triangles of each color (paired with a background color).   You'll start out with:
(1) 7-1/4" square of Dark 1
(1) 7-1/4" square of Dark 2
(2) 7-1/4" squares background


Make 4 QSTs (Quarter Square Triangle units) --well, half units, I suppose--of each color (see BOW #28 for instructions); combine a Dark 1 unit with a Dark 2 unit to make squares......

And arrange those into the Yankee Puzzle block.

This is a good block for secondary designs--or, rather a secondary color design.  When you put four of them together you create a second pinwheel, in the other color.   Very nice design feature!

 And before I close, here's a little construction variation that you might find useful.  Once you have created the Half Square Triangle units for the first step in the QST, you can put a Dark 1 HST and a Dark 2 HST, right sides together (with the Darks opposite each other), draw on the wrong side a line that is perpendicular to the first seam on the HSTs, and sew 1/4" on either side of the line.  When you cut on the drawn line you will have two QST units with the two colors opposite each other.

Have fun!!



     

BOW #28: Hourglass

You should have the hang of HSTs (Half Square Triangles) by now, and have used them in many blocks.  Now it's time to get started on QSTs (Quarter Square Triangles).   Take heart:  they start with HSTs!

Half Square Triangles are squares made of 2 triangles so, as you might expect, QSTs are squares made of 4 triangles; the Hourglass block is a single QST unit.

To make a 12" finished Hourglass block

(1) 13-1/4" light square
(1) 13-1/4" dark square

Use the squares to make 2 HST units. (Remember, draw a diagonal line from corner to corner on the wrong side of the light square.  Place the light and dark squares, right sides together, and stitch 1/4" inch on either side of the drawn line.   Cut on the drawn line, fold back the dark triangle of each and press.  Square up to 12-7/8"

At this point, there are 2 ways you can proceed:

Now, cut the HST units from corner to corner, at right angles to the seam of the HSTs:

Then put two resulting triangles together, making sure that dark is next to light:








Just as with the HST, there are many blocks that use QSTs, so it's a good block to have in your toolbox.  We'll be looking at some other blocks, in upcoming weeks, that use QSTs or easy variations of it.  By itself, though, the Hourglass makes a great filler block, or alternate block in quilts.    Hmm... Some Hourlgass blocks in baby colors or bright colors would make a great baby quilt....


MK: Right on cue -- ta-dah! I forgot I had this baby quilt, until Karen mentioned it.

Greek Cross Pairings

Did I see a request for some favorite pairings with the Greek Cross? I came up with about a dozen, but I'll limit it here to 2 from recent BOW entries. The Bear's Paws has a nice diagonal feel, and the Churn Dash creates an interesting secondary pattern with the HSTs in the corners. Do you have a favorite pairing for this block? Let us know!