Hi everybody, it’s Jenny from the MSQC. And I’ve got a great project for you today.
Take a look at this quilt behind me. Isn’t this fun? This is a wonderful old, antique
block. And I love this fabric line. It’s actually made by my friend Shannon Christensen
who designs for Windham Fabric. And the line is called Cottage Joy. So to make this quilt
what you’re going to need is one roll of 2 ½ inch strips which is 40 strips. You’re
going to need some background fabric. You are going to need 3 ½ yards and that takes
care of this inner border and the sashing and all these little squares. You’re going
to need some complimentary fabric for your baskets and your little cornerstones. And
for that you’re going to need a yard and a quarter. For your border fabric you’re
going to need a yard and a half because we did this nice big six inch border out here.
And then on the back, look at this I pieced it right in half because I just loved both
of these fabrics. I thought they were so cute. It’s such a cheerful line with that bright
yellow and pink, just really fun. So let me show you how to make this because this is
super easy.
Alright. So what we’re going to do is we’re going to take our strip and you’re going
to do this to all your strips. And we are going to cut this in several different measurements.
So the first thing we’re going to do is cut off our selvedges and I want to look and
make sure I’ve got my, oh I can’t cut with this, can I? I’ve got my pen in my
hand. Alright there we go. Alright so I’m going to move that out of the way. And these
are the cuts you’re going to make and you’re going to do this to every strip. You’re
going to do two 2 ½ so we’ve got two stacked up right here because it’s folded in half.
And so really you do one 2 ½ inch cut. And then you do two 4 ½ inch cuts. So you’re
going to end up with four of those pieces. Right here. And then you’re going to do
one 6 ½ inch cut. So we’ve got one, two, three, four, five, six and a half right here
like this. And then what you want to do is you want to separate these, keep your colors
together but separate them because each strip is going to make two blocks. So we’ve got
a 6 ½ inch strip, two 4 ½ and one two in each block. So you’re going to want to keep
your colors together but separate them into blocks.
Then we’re going to need some 2 ½ inch squares. Now for each, each 2 ½ inch strip
that you cut, and this is taken out of your background fabric, you’re going to get 16
of these squares. So for each block you need five. And I have five right here. And let
me show you how this is going to go together. Alright let me move some of this stuff off
of here. We’re going to start by sewing our two little 2 ½ inch squares together
just like this. So we’re going to do a quarter of an inch. Let me move that over there. We’re
going to do a quarter of an inch right down the side. And because we’ve already cut
our other pieces we want to make sure that, that these seam widths are pretty accurate
so look at your quarter of an inch and make sure it’s pretty accurate. And then we’re
going to press this open. I’m going to clip these threads and press it open. I lay my
dark to the top and just roll it back like that. Now I”m going to add my one 4 ½ inch
piece to this side. And right here, this one has a little fold in it so I want it to be
nice and straight so it’s easy to add on. And that’s going to go right here. And I
want to put my white fabric at the top and then add this onto the side. So let’s go
ahead and add that, just like that. We’re going to sew right down the side here, line
them up. Alright.
Now the next thing we’re going to do, well after we press. We’re going to press first.
Let’s see if I can get a good shot of steam here. Alright so the next thing we’re going
to do is we are going to put a 2 ½ inch square on each corner like this. And you are going
to want to draw the line or fold the line. I have mine on here so I’m going to go ahead
and draw a line right here. So we’ll just draw a line right here. This gives us a sew
line. We’re going to sew right on that line. And we want these lined up going the same
direction. Oop, slid a little bit on my fabric but I think I can do that. Alright so on these
corners, we’re lining this up like this, make sure they’re lined up exactly on your
corners. And we’re going to sew right on that line. Alright now we’re going to flip
this around and do the other side. Let me just get a little extra thread right here.
Maybe I’ll just trim it. Ok now what we’re going to do, oh that was a big sigh wasn’t
it? Alrighty.
So now what we’re going to do is we’re going to trim these off and iron them back.
I can’t trim with my pen so I better use my rotary cutter. Alrighty. Now let’s press
these back. Let me move some of this stuff to make sure you can see my ironing. Just
roll it back and roll it back. Alright so now that we have this all ironed nice and
flat we’re going to add our next two strips like this and this but we want these to be
snowballed on the inside of this block. So basically what we’re going to do we’re
going to draw our line on two of them like this. And then I’ll show you how we place
them. Alright here’s one more. Alright so now what we’re going to do is we’re going
to lay this block going this way because we want this to be a V right here. And we want
this one to be a V as well. So we’ve got this coming in so now I can pick up these
two pieces and you’ll see even when you get them together they’re going opposite
directions. And we’re just going to sew on these two lines. One here and then I’m
just going to stick this one in here and I know it’s going the right way because I
didn’t move it. Alright. Now what I’m going to do is I’m going to press these
back and I’m going to lay them back in there again just to make sure they’re going the
right way. So see how that red line disappeared right there? I don’t know if you caught
that. I’ll do it again on this one. I love how that happens. It just goes away. Alright
so now before we cut these we’re going to lay these on here and I already thought OH
but no it was right, here we go like this. So see how that goes. Alright so now we can
trim this little edge off on both of these right here because we know it’s going to
work. So we’re trimming that one and we’re trimming this one. Okie doke.
So now we’re going to add our 4 ½ inch one on first. And it’s going to go like
this. And so when you fold it over you want to match up this corner and you want to pay
a little attention to where this comes together right here because you want those two to match
up or be fairly close. So here we go. Alright now we can add the other piece on the other
side. Let’s go ahead and iron this and make sure it lined up pretty good. And it did,
it did a pretty good job. Alright now this one is going to go this way. So let’s put
that on. And again I’m starting at the corner, making sure my corner lines up. And then I’m
going to hold my other two ends together and make sure that my, where the two little white
squares are snowballed, that that matches up. Alrighty. And it’s pretty good. That’s
pretty good. Alright so this is our little block right here. And now we need to add the
basket part to the flower. So to do that we’re going to take a four inch square. I have some
cut here. And again we are going to sew the, or draw the line so right on the line because
we want this to look like a little basket. So we’re going to lay this right here in
the corner and sew this line right here. Alright so now what we’re going to do is we’re
going to trim this off right here. And this is a pretty big piece. If this is one you
want to sew down on the other side and save it for something you can do that. We didn’t
use it for anything on this quilt but you know I always have a baggie of those going
so that I have those cute little half square triangles to use whenever.
So now we’re going to take four of these and put them together because this is the
block we’re looking to make right here. This makes our little blooming baskets. So
we’re going to put this one. Now these are kind of the same print so I’m going to move
this over here and I’m going to put this like this. Just like that. So for our sashing
what you’re going to need to do is measure the size of the block. And then your little
cornerstone is going to be a 2 ½ inch square. So that’s going to go in there. And then
we should have two little pieces right here for this side and this side. And because we’re
calling this whole unit a block, let me show you how we put that together. So first we’re
going to take these and we’re going to lay this on here and we’re going to sew this
a quarter of an inch right down the side and add the other piece. And here we go with that.
Whoop. Oop, I’ve got a little roll, there we go. Then I’m going to add my green to
the other side. And you always make sure that your baskets come into the middle because
that’s where your little, your little cornerstone is going to go in there. And it’s going
to match up. Alrighty now we’re going to do this to the bottom two as well so I’m
just going to fold my, my piece on over there. Make sure that I’m sewing it to the basket
part in the middle. And we’re going to add the other side. Isn’t this fun? This just
goes together so quick and easy.
Alright then what we’re going to do is we’re going to put these back up here like this
so you can see how this goes. And then we’re going to sew this middle sashing piece. So
we’ve taken a sashing block so it’s the same size your block is, added a 2 ½ because
that’s the width of these borders and then put it clear through on the other side. So
we’re going to go ahead and add that, add both sides to this and that will make our
whole big finished block. Now you want to just put a few stitches down and then make
sure that your middle cornerstone lines up with your sashing strip. And then once I cross
that seam line and I’m sure those are lined up then I put my finger on the other one because
those are the two I want to be together. Alright then we’re going to add our other blocks
to the other side. Let me clip these threads right here. Lots of little threads. Whenever
I take a quilt to quilting I’m always like, please clip the threads. I have a bunch of
threads on there. There we go. Alrighty. Now we’re going to add this one to the other
side. So we’re going to go ahead and put this on here like this, flip it over right
sides together and just start sewing. And we’re going to, again I do those couple
little anchoring stitches I call them and then make sure that my middle seam lines up.
Now if you ever have one seam that’s a little bigger than the other then you want to put
the bigger seam on the bottom because the bottom, the feed dogs will take in more, more
fabric and then that will make it better. Alright then we’re going to come across
this one. Make sure we match up at the end.
Alright now let’s press this open. See what we’ve got here. Oh that looks pretty good.
I always check my middle first because that’s what I’m looking to match up. And then we
just look and see how things laid out. Alrighty. Now if you’re worried about which directions
your seam goes you can always flip this over and make sure that they’re laying the way
you want them to. I’m always looking for a flat block so as long as it’s pretty flat
I’m not too worried about which direction they’re going in. Alright so right here
I want to show you this right here. This right here, see how this sticks out a little bit.
We’re going to want to just shave that off. I like to even up those edges of those blocks.
So what I’m going to do is I’m going to put my ruler on the edge of this block and
on the edge of this block. And then I’m just going to trim the tiny bit in between.
So just by taking that off it cleans that whole side up. And that little, you know where
it didn’t come together exactly, that’s all going to be hidden in the seam now. And
this one I’m just going to basically cut off these threads. That one looks pretty good.
This one has a little bit where it pokes out and sometimes that just, you know just kind
of goes out like that because. You know your fabric gets pulled one way or the other or
maybe it’s just this little piece right here that’s a little bit too long. Maybe
you didn’t cut it exactly right. But all that can be taken care of and then you have
this great little block.
So now let me show you how this fits together in the quilt right here. Here’s our block
right here. Now when we were putting this together we looked at adding an additional
sashing in between the blocks. But we didn’t love it, we thought it looked cool how they
just came together like this. So we put ours together. And what that does right here is
it makes a secondary block right down here where this white comes together here. And
so it just makes fun little baskets kind of all pointing together. We gave this a basket
look. I love that it makes a little shoefly block in the center of our, of our big block.
And so there’s just a lot of different things going on with this. And a lot of fun. So we
hope you enjoyed this tutorial on the Blooming Baskets from
the MSQC.