Stashbee August

This month is my month for stashbee. I've designed my own quilt and I am excited to have my bee mates make me blocks for it.  Here is my tutorial for this quilt if you are interested in creating this for yourself.  I am a lover of circles, which is where this idea came from. 

We are going to low volume with colorful circles.

This is my vision for this quilt.  As you can see there are blocks with circles and some without.

For the low volume I would prefer more white based than cream.

For the circles I would like teal, aqua, light green,... colors like in this selection

To make this block you will need 

2 different - 6.5” x 12.5” low volume rectangles 

Small pieces for circles. (I’m showing reverse appliqué, but you can do your favorite method) 

Using freezer paper, cut circles in the sizes wanted.

Iron the freezer paper, shiny side down, to the back of the the low volume fabric.  (Make sure to leave enough room on the sides for seam allowance so we don't cut the circle when the blocks are sewn together.) 

Cut a hole in the middle of the freezer paper in the low volume fabric leaving a half inch border.  Snip the fabric almost to the edge of the freezer paper.

Glue back the tabs of the low volume to the freezer paper.  Then, glue the circle fabric to the tabs. 

Flip the low volume over and pull up the fabric. You will be stitching in the folded edge between the front low volume and the tabs, your presser foot will be on the freezer paper.  

Trim the circle fabric to match the half inch of the tabs and remove the freezer paper.

Give the fabric a good press and you have your circle block.  

You can do as many circles as you would like on the fabrics.  Two on one side, one on the other or one and one, or three and none.  I will leave it up to you.  

At this point you can sew the two pieces of low volume together or you can leave them separate for me to mix into the quilt.

I'm excited to see all the circle blocks you all come up with.

Interfacing method for circle applique 
Raw edge applique method

Every Which Way Pinwheel Tutorial

So I love playing with new blocks and seeing what I can come up with.  So for stash bee 2017 and 2018 I had my bee mates make me my Every Which Way Pinwheel block that I came up with. 

For the color pallet I am chose mustard, navy/dark blue, and dark gray. 

The background pieces are low volume. Since it is super scrappy block you can use a mixture of these.

Fabrics to be cut:
12 assorted 5.5" x 3" colors for goose body
12 matching pairs of low volume (background) 3"x 3 " for flying geese (24 blocks in total)
4 assorted low volume (background) 3" x 5.5"
4 assorted low volume (background) 3" x 3"

To make the geese we will be using the flip, flip, and finish method.  Draw diagonal lines on the back of the 3" square pairs for the geese.  With right sides together align a square with the side of the goose fabric, stitch on the drawn line.  

Cut 1/4" away from drawn line and press out.  Repeat with matching square for each goose.  

Lay out the blocks for each quarter of the block.  You can press the seams to one side as you assemble.  

Once you have all 4 quarters together, press the last, middle seam open to reduce bulk.  The block should measure 15.5" x 15.5".

And there you have my every which way pinwheel.  Thanks so much!

Hope you like the block.