Saturday, February 25, 2012

What To Do If Your Blocks Aren't the Same Size

Honas52's blocks were probably all the same size, but I thought her set was a smart way to set sampler blocks or blocks made by a group, which are never the same size.

She added corners to the 8" blocks,
rotating the sampler blocks so they are on point.

She used scrappy pieced corners all in this pattern.
You could also use a plain triangle.

The good thing about the math is that if you make the corners a bit large you can then trim the new blocks to a consistent size. No one (not even YOU) will notice that some sampler blocks are a little bit larger than others.

Getting out my blue card, my Fons and Porter's Quilters Need to Know Card (indispensible). I see that the 8" finished blocks will now have a finished line 11-3/8" across the middle. I figured out a pattern with a little to spare in EQ.


I'd cut squares 6-3/4" and slice in half for the triangles.
That will give you a finished square 11-3/4" (12-1/4" with seams). Then you can trim to a conisistent size, which would probably be 11-3/4".  Make the triangles bigger if you want a finished 12" square.

Now adding that piecework pattern to the corners is a different thing. Too much for my math skills.
But didn't Terry do a lovely job?
Here's her photostream:

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Patchie's Tiny Blocks

"Patchie" in France did the blocks at 2" by hand.

It was fun each week to see her block next to her thimble for scale.

She made tiny quilts (about 5" x 9") of 8 blocks each.




She showed us the back so we could see how she did it---with stitching lines in pencil



 See her Flickr photostream here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58287794@N07/5946045685/in/photostream/

It's not only her sewing that's admirable. Her fabric choices are very clever.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Pinterest Board on Civil War Quilts

Sampler by Dorothea Klein Lemley,
Sheboygan, Wisconsin, blocks 1861-1865,
possibly assembled later,
 from my book Civil War Women.

Over the past year I've been collecting photos of quilts actually made during the Civil War by Union and Confederate quiltmakers. I've also got a file of commemoratives made after the War. 


Mary Rockhold Teter's quilt
from a pattern in Peterson's Magazine in 1861
---now in the Smithsonian collection

When I discovered  the online bulletin board Pinterest I thought a board might be a good way to display these. Each picture is linked to the website where I found it.

Click here:
http://pinterest.com/materialculture/quilt-civil-war/

I'll add to it as I find more pictures.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Medallions

This is MagpieMemories's 2nd quilt from the block series.

TeaCat had trouble taking the photo so she had to stand on a ladder. I did a little digital cropping to her snapshot.
Check the Flickr discussion group here for finished tops
http://www.flickr.com/groups/civilwarquilts2011/discuss/72157628470947195/

Here's Sunday Bee's.