Welcome to week 10 of the ‘The Desperate Housewife’s Quilt’. Todays block is all about taking a traditional block, cutting it up and making a new one. Remember, this is not a quilt-a-long. Just follow the blog every week and pick and choose which blocks you would like to make. I will be injecting some uniqueness into traditional blocks, applique, three dimensional, crazy and thread-art blocks. If you make a block you can post it on the Flickr group for everyone to enjoy. Also, I have this nifty button under each post that allows you to save the post as a PDF.
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Be sure to visit this week’s Guest Blogger and their wonderful block.
My guest this week is Lorraine from The Balancing Kiwi blog spot. Lorraine’s block is called ‘Inspired by Peacock Feathers’.
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New from Old
We often need to take something old and breath new life into it. Whether it be clothes, meals, friendships or they way we just look at life …….
Techniques explored
- Playing with original blocks.
Materials
I have dived into the scrap basket and pulled out some reds, tans and creams from a French General charm pack. I tried to breath life into the good old churn dash block by using different tones within the block for each piece.
Cutting
To make this block you will need to make 2 x 6.5″ unfinished churn dash blocks.
- Cut 8 x dark rectangles 1.5″ x 2.5″
- Cut 8 x light rectangles 1.5″ x 2.5″
- Cut 2 x light square 2.5″ x 2.5″
- Cut 4 x light square 3.25″x 3.25″
- Cut 4 x dark square 3.25″ x 3.25″
Making the Churn Dash Blocks
- Sew a light 1.5″ x 2.5″ rectangle to a dark one
Making the HST (Half square triangles)
- Draw a diagonal pencil line on the wrong side of the lighter fabric.
- Sew a 1/4″ either side of the pencil line.
- Cut on the pencil line to make 2 x HST’s
- Press open seams and trim back to 2.5″ x 2.5″ square
Joining the rows
- This block is sewn in three rows as per the diagram below. Remember to pin intersecting seams for accuracy.
Repeat for the second churn block and you will have two 6.5″ unfinished blocks
Now the fun part –
- Cut each block once across the diagonal to yield two pieces.
- Arrange the four pieces as shown below.
- Sew in pairs and then sew pairs together. Remember to handle with care. We are now working with bias edges and they will be stretchy!
Stand back and admire your handiwork. One 8.5″ unfinished block.
Let’s play with some settings.
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| Horizontal layout with alternating solid squares |
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| On Point with alternating solid squares |
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| On Point |
Try different cuts and rotations.
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| Original |
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| Cut in 4 across centre and each piece rotated |
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| Cut in four across centre and each piece rotated |
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| Cut into four across centre and then each piece on the diagonal |
I hope you enjoyed cutting up a perfectly good block. Next week, pucker up for a big smooch of a block.
*** Please remember that these blocks and any blocks designed by guest bloggers should not be used for commercial purposes ( sold as a pattern, published etc) without the written consent of the owner ***
SewLindaAnn says
Sep 1, 2011 at @ 16:30I love what you've done with the colors. I'm working really hard to get comfortable with fabric choices and combining prints, solids, etc.
Sarah Craig says
Sep 1, 2011 at @ 16:51This is amazing! Who would have thought you could get such an interesting design by cutting up a churn dash block!! Definitely going on my list….
Linda says
Sep 1, 2011 at @ 17:38What a great block! Thank you!
Me and My Stitches says
Sep 1, 2011 at @ 17:50Very cool and so creative! So many possibilities.
Jan says
Jun 5, 2013 at @ 14:36Wow…these blocks are amazing. Thank you so much.
Cara Bulger says
Nov 15, 2014 at @ 14:54This is beautiful! I'm just starting quilting and I was wondering what dimensions the raw squares would need to be to have a 16 inch finished block. Thanks so much for this!