Hi everybody, it’s Jenny from the MSQC. And I’ve got a fun project for you today.
Did I ever tell you that the first quilt I ever made was a log cabin quilt? And so any
take we can do on the log cabin quilt is just really fun for me. So this is a fun quilt.
So let’s take a look at this quilt behind me. Here’s your block right here. The center
of our block is a half square triangle with a log cabin side. And it just makes a really
fun quilt. There’s loads of ways you can set this as well. So to make this quilt what
you’re going to need is one roll of 2 ½ inch strips. And we have used Amy Butler’s
Soul Mate line from Free Spirit. Really pretty line. You’re going to need a yard of background
fabric. And we’ve used this white. And out of that yard you’ll get your half square
triangles and the first border. You’re also going to need ¾ of a yard of a contrasting
fabric or a pop fabric. And then you’re going to need this outer border out here.
This is a 5 ½ inch strip and you’re going to need a yard and a quarter. Oh the back.
Look at this cute back fabric. You’re going to need 3 ¾ yards of this backing fabric
right here and this is so cute with these tiny little arrows. Really fun. Alright let
me show you how to make this because this is fun.
First thing we’re going to do is make our half square triangles. So what we’re going
to do is we’re going to take some and cut some ten inch strips which we’re going to
sub cut into ten inch squares. We’re going to put those with a contrasting fabric. So
we’re going to do the same thing, we’re going to cut up our ten inch squares out of
our pop fabric and ten inch squares of our white. We’re going to line them up. We’re
going to draw a line diagonally both directions. Now I have one here that’s done and, and
so right here you can see I have my line drawn diagonally. And then I’m going to go to
the sewing machine and I’m going to sew a quarter of an inch on either side away from
that line. Then we’re going to cut this. This is the method for making the easy eight.
And we’re going to cut this. And we’re going to cut it four times and that’s going
to give us eight half square triangles. And so I’m going to come right in here. And
I’m going to lay my ruler right along the edge because this is a five inch ruler and
we’re dealing with ten inch squares. So we’re cutting halves this way and then we’re
going to take our ruler and do halves this way like this. And then we’re going to cut
right on the lines diagonally this way. So there’s one cut and then here’s our other
cut right here. Line my ruler up on the line and do this. Then what we need to do is we
need to press these open and then square them up. So let me look at my, my ironing board.
Let’s go to the ironing board here. I’m not looking at it I’m actually walking to
it. And we’re going to just iron some of these open like this. I’m going to lay the
dark side on the top and set my seam and roll it back. And set my seam and roll it back.
Now we really do want these to be the same size so we’re actually going to square them
up and I have a little square up ruler right here
I’m using the Block Lock ruler. I love it because it has that little groove and you
always make sure that your words are on the background. And you’re going to set it on
here. And we’re looking for a 4 ½ inch square. And I don’t know if you can see
this but it’s, you’re just, this is the size they come out when you do it with the
easy eight. But we’re just dealing with tiny little bits right here. And it just,
you know, some of them you won’t even have to square up. But you want to make sure that
they’re the same size because you want your blocks to come out the same size. And this
is, whoops, this is going to be the foundation, the beginning of your block. Alright so let
me make sure, let me square one more time here. Writing to the white. We’re going
to lay this on here. And this is a 4 ½ inch block lock ruler so we’re just going to
go along this edge and along this edge. And see it’s just tiny little bits that we’re
going to, that we’re cutting off.
Alright now we’re going to open up our strip set and we’re going to pull some strips
from here. Now the pattern is going to tell you exactly how many pieces to cut and exactly
what size to cut them. But when I sew like this I’m a scrapper so when I sew what I’m
going to do is I’m going to grab a strip. And I’m going to sew it down the side and
cut it off with my scissors and go down the other side. So it’s all, it all works out
the same but you, you know, it’s just different ways of doing things. So I want to show you
right here. You’re always going to piece to the colored side, ok? So I’m going to
lay this on here. I’m going to trim off my selvedge edge right here. And I’m going
to lay this on here and I’m going to sew this down. Now I know because I know what
size this block is that that piece right on this side is going to be a 4 ½ inch piece.
So you’re welcome to cut those if you want. I’m going to go over here to the sewing
machine and I’m just going to sew this down here right along this edge. And remember we’re
always adding to the color. And so then I’m going to come right here and I’m just going
to trim this off. And then I’m going to fold it back. Now I’m going to add a piece
to the other side and it’s going to be a different color. Make sure I have no selvedge
edge right there. And we’re going to add it to this side. And you saw that I finger
pressed that back, right? You can iron it back or you can finger press it. When I do
a block like this I have a little ironing table that I put right by my sewing machine,
right over here, so I don’t even have to move. I can just iron and sew and iron and
sew. Alrighty. Now I’m going to trim this off. And I’m going to go over and iron this
for real because I’m ready to put my next edges on.
So you see what we’ve got going on here? Now we’re going to add another one on this
side. And let’s go for this one, a little bit lighter. And then we’re going to add
another one over here and we’ll go . She has the most fun, just these fun, vibrant
fun colors. And so we’re going to go over and I’m going to add this piece on. Again
you add short piece, long piece, short piece, long piece. That’s how they go. That’s
how you build a log cabin. And that’s how you build this block. I don’t actually know,
I’ve never built a log cabin. I have to say I would like to live in one. I’ve stayed
in one a couple of times. And they’re beautiful. But, ya no, I haven’t built a log cabin.
But I’ve built lots of quilts with the blocks. Alright, again I’ve just finger pressed
this back and I’m going to add this piece to the side. And you can see I didn’t, I
didn’t clip this exactly right so what I’m going to do is I’m going to make sure that
I line it up with my long piece and keep my piece going straight so that I just sew a
quarter of an inch and don’t pull that out to the edge because I left a little bit there.
And I probably shouldn’t have but basically this is how I sew. And you guys know that.
Alright I’m going to trim this off right here. Alright now we’re going to iron it
back and see what our little block looks like. And this is our block right here. We are done
with our first block.
And so it goes together really quickly and fast. And so I want to show you some ways
to lay this out. Now the way we’ve got ours laid out here, what I had to do it lay it
out because I’m a little angley challenged, I have to start in the middle and build out.
Because you’re looking for those fun designs that appear. And so you know you can always
do this and start it where you color goes in the center right here like this. Now if
you look at my quilt right here behind you. My quilt is done with these to the inside
like this. So you’re going to put this on your design wall and you’re going to start
with this center section right here. So let’s look at this right here. . See what, see what’s
happening right there. And then you fill in with your other blocks. So as you put them
in this is going to come this way now. See how this goes. And you’re going to get these
corners right here. And it’s going to come out and going to come out. There will be a
diagram for you to follow. But it just makes it really, really fun to look at because it
starts framing up the block. Can you see that? I mean it’s just really, really cool. Let
me move this up here a little bit. And see if you can see this. And one more over here.
And I can’t show you the whole thing on my, on my table because it’s not big enough.
But you can see here, see how you got this whole center piece right here. And just add
them in and this one the blocks come together.
You know you’re just going to have to look at the diagram and follow it or make one up
of your own. It’s really a fun quilt to play with and a fun quilt to make. And let
me see what size this is so I can tell you. It’s 62 by 78. So it just goes together
quickly and fun. It’s a log cabin around a half square triangle so it’s a great little
block. We’re calling it Summer Camp because it’s not an actual log cabin but almost.
So we hope you enjoyed this tutorial on the Summer Camp quilt from the MSQC.