A Verse or Two of Poetry, Civil War Letters block 15,

Block 15, #113 p. 243, A Verse or Two of Poetry

First off let me say that the best way to make this is by paper piecing. Copy picture, cut on both diagonals to see the ¼ quarter square triangle that is 1 unit. Don’t forget to add in the ¼” on the cuter lines.

The next best way is by making templates from the picture in book, drawing the shapes and drawing ¼” seam allowance round them.

That said, for any die-hards out there, here’s rotary cutting instructions. I’ll even post my block (before I fixed it) that’s a bit wonky so you can see what you’re up against!

3 colors, A (red), B (yellow tan). C (cream)

A (red in photo) --Cut 4 squares 2 ¾” and 4 rectangles 2 1/8” X 4 3/8”

B (yellow tan) 1 3/8” strip at least 26” long, cut 2

C (cream) 1 3/8” by at least 26” long, cut 2

1. place red square ‘on point’, measure done 1 3/8” from the top point on each side and make a mark. Cut from the mark to the bottom point on each side=1 kite shape, make 4

2. Sew the A and B strips together along long edge. Press seam open. Sub-cut into 2 1/8” X 3 ¼” rectangles. Placing yellow tan on the right side/cream on left cut from outside top corner points to center seam at the bottom on both sides. Repeat 7 more times.

3. Take red rectangles and put wrong sides together in pairs. Keep in pairs. Cut diagonally from upper left to lower right making mirror image triangles. Place triangle with short edge running across the top. Measure 1 ¼” down diagonal from top and make a dot. Measure 3/8” from right angle (where long straight leg meets short leg) towards the diagonal cut and make dot. Cut from dot to dot. Make 8 total ‘half-kites’.

Sew a yellow tan/cream triangle to each side of kite shape from step 1, extending the triangle shape above kite by about ¼”. Then sew red ‘half kite’ to each side of kite-triangles. Make 4. Sew 2 together matching kite/triangle and half-kite seams (picture is before I re-sewed to fix this--I didn’t pin to start with! LOL). Sew these 2 units together so that all the ‘kite’ shapes meet in the center, and triangles too--

Congrats if you get thru this one, it is not easy!!

Grandmother's Choice, new BOW

Barbara Brackman's newest freebie.  She'll be posting a new block every Saturday (see button to the right)  This will be 49 blocks with the theme of The Fight for Women's Rights:  suffragists on both sides of the pond, and Austrailia too!
http://grandmotherschoice.blogspot.com/
She's including the number from Block Base so you can easily make them 4" or 12", etc if you want with No Math! (I bought Block Base last week, what the heck--of course, Like EQ 7, it's not actually opened yet.......never did open EQ5) I'm doing 8" and will be using poison green, chrome yellow, chrome orange, other assorted greens and cheddars with shirtings, I think....we'll see if I have enough to get through the year! there will be 49 blocks.
Here's #1 Grandmother's Choice (of course!)

Block 14, A Pleasant Trip, from Civil War Letters Quilt

Block 14, A Pleasant Trip (#112, page 242)

3 colors:

A light: (center) 2 ½” square

B medium, total 4 2 ½“ squares cut on one diagonal:

2 @ 2 ½” square cut on 1 diagonal for center square in a square and

4 @ 2 ½” squares cut on one diagonal for the ‘border’

C dark 4 @ 3” square cut on 1 diagonal and 2 @ 2 ½ “ square cut on one diagonal

1. Sew medium triangles to each side of the light square, centering diagonal on opposite sides, press out and repeat on other two sides. Trim resulting ‘square in a square’ to 3 3/8”.

2. Repeat step 1 with the dark triangles from 3” squares for a ‘square-in-a-square-in-a-square’, trim to 4 ½”

3. Take 2 medium triangles and 1 dark triangle from 2 ½’” squares and sew along short sides so that the long diagonal edge is along longer length (med + dark + medium). Trim this unit to 1 ½” wide (triangles are oversized as you’ll have to off-set the triangles to make it straight with ‘¼” ears above and below triangles.) Didn’t measure the length--should be around 5 ½”

4. Sew units from step 3 above to each side of the unit in step two, the 4 ½” ‘square-in-a-square-in-a-square’.

5. Add corner triangles (from 3” dark squares) to the corners and trim to 6 ½”.
Here's mine:

 

Despair Not, Block 13 for Civil War Letter Quilt

Block 13, Despair Not (#111), page 241 (and 96) of Civil War Anniversary Quilt by Rosemary Youngs

This block requires 6 Flying geese for sides and a ‘square in square’ for the center.

Cut 3 fabrics plus an fussy cut image for center: 2 darks, 1 light

Center
Image ‘on point’ @ 3 ½” square
First dark: 2” squares, cut 4 (for center square in a square), draw diagonal line on wrong side

Geese
Second dark
2” X 3 ½ “ rectangle, cut 2
2” squares, cut 8
Light fabric
2” X 3 ½” rectangle, cut 4
2” squares, cut 4

Center

Place 2” (first dark) square on corner of 3 ½” image, sew along diagonal line, trim ¼” from stitching towards corner, press our. Repeat for all corners.

Sides (Flying geese)

Place 2” dark square on side of 2” X 3 ½“ light rectangle and sew along diagonal line, trim ¼” from stitching towards corner, press towards triangle. Repeat for other side of rectangle. Make 2

Place 2” light square on side of 2” X 3 ½“ dark rectangle and sew along diagonal line, trim ¼” from stitching towards corner, press towards triangle. Repeat for other side of rectangle. Make 4

Or

You can make 12 HST rather than geese if you prefer:

Make them from 2 3/8” squares (6 dark and 6 light), sew ¼” on either side of diagonal drawn on wrong side of light, cut along diagonal (or cut all on diagonals and sew a light triangle to a dark triangle) or for ease of cutting and making them perfect: use 2 ½” squares, sew on either side of diagonal, cut on diagonals, press and trim to 2“).

Or

Use Quilt in a Day ‘Small Flying Geese Ruler’ (finished 1½” X 3” geese). Make 4 Geese using 6” square of light and 4 ½” square of dark and 4 Geese with 6” square of dark and 4 ½” of light (you’ll discard 2 of the geese).

Center 4 ½” square on top of 6” square with right sides together, draw diagonal line and sew ¼” from line on both sides. Cut on line and press towards the large triangle. Place resulting squares right sides together matching edges with dark-light opposite each other, draw diagonal line and sew ¼” on either side. Cut on line and press so that ‘geese’ are flat. Trim with ruler to 2” X 3 ½” ‘geese’. Repeat for other 6” and 4 ½” fabrics. See http://www.quiltinaday.com/freepattern/ if you lost instructions to ruler.
I used El's method!:

Home on Furlough (block 12 from Civil War Anniversary)

Home on Furlough, Block 12 (#110 on page 240 of Civil War Anniversay Quilts by Rosemary Youngs)

Cut:

Red 4 ½” square (cut 1)

Red 3” square (cut 1) then cut on 1 diagonal

Green 4 ½” square (cut 1)

Green 3” square (cut 1) then cut on 1 diagonal

Cream/background @ 1 5/8” X 6” (cut 4)

The pieces are over-size so block will finish at exactly 6 ½”. Sew with scant ¼”

Step 1

Layer 4 ½” red and green with right sides together. Draw both diagonals. Sew ¼” on left side of diagonal line to center (other diagonal line), turn and sew along second diagonal line to ¼” past intersecting lines in middle (approximately 6 stitches), turn and sew ¼” on right side of 1^st diagonal line to end. Repeat with second diagonal line. I’ll post a picture. This makes red/green triangles oriented the same for all 4. Cut on both diagonal lines. Press to red.

Or

Cut both diagonal lines on red and green 4 ½” squares. Sew red to green on short edge being careful to always sew red to the same side of green, see photo on page 240. Press to red.

Step 2

Sew cream strip to long edge of red and green triangles cut from 3” squares, centering the triangles. Press towards red on red/cream and towards cream on green/cream. Trim the strips following the angle of the triangles.

Step 3

Sew triangles from step 1 to triangles from step 3 along long edge, matching centers of each. This is oversized and needs to be trimmed. I’ll post pics. Using any ruler with a 45 degree line that goes to the corner, place 45 degree along red/green corner triangle seam with small triangle at corner. Slide ruler with 45 degree on seam so the 2” is at the cream/small triangle seam and the 3 ½” is at the center diagonal line (cream/red-green triangles).

  Trim right side and top. Turn block and trim to 3 ½” square.

 Sew the 4 blocks together as making a 4-patch.

Okay--I know this sounds confusing but it’s very easy to make it perfect this way. Feel free to cut step 1 and step 2 into triangle units measuring 3 7/8”  and then sew together, if you prefer.  If you follow the pressing instructions everything 'locks' together!

Sew Intertwined

http://sewhappygeek.co.uk/index.php/sew-intertwined-quilt-along/#comment-15697
cool quilt along!  Found it looking for Dresden plate quilt layouts (see my plate below, LOL, have 4 1/4 circles for coners, 5 full circles so far and 4 1/2 circles for sides so far--not sure how big this will get!)
To join go to:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/sewintertwinedqal/

Helping with rotary cutting instructions for quilt 3 in Civil War Anniversary Quilts

Hi all,
The woman who was doing the rotary instructions for this quilt is having personal issues so I've stepped in to help.  I'll be adding a block every week (possibly more)  Linda had done blocks 1-8 (available at Rosemary Youngs groups:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/civilwardiaryquilt/ under files)
Here are blocks 9-11 if you want to join in.

#9, block 107 Camp for the Winter, page 237 of Civil War Anniversary Quilt by Rosemary Youngs

Cut:

A 1 ¼ X 5 cream (4)

B 1 ¼ X 5 blue (4)

C 1 ¼ X 5 red(4)

D 1 ¼ X 5 yellow/orange (4)

E 1 ¼ X 5 lavender (2)

F 2 X 5 lavender (2)

G 1 ¼ X 5 brown (2)

Use scant ¼”. Sew 2 strip sets using A, B, C, D, E, & G. Press with Best press, starch or sizing (as edge will be on bias), trim to 5” square and cut on diagonal across strips from base (lower left) of A color (cream) up to upper right (G or F color) . Save the ones with a long edge with cream (discard other or make another block)

Sew 2 strip sets using A, B, C, D, F. repeat sets above

Sew the 4 resulting triangle units together with long cream strips in middle (pinwheel style)

To save fabric:

A 1 ¼ X 5 cream (4)

B 1 ¼ X 4 blue (4)

C 1 ¼ X 3 1/4 red(4)

D 1 ¼ X 2 1/2 yellow/orange (4)

E 1 ¼ X 2 lavender (2)

F 2 X 2 lavender (2)

G 1 ¼ X 1 1/2 brown (2)

Sew strip sets as above

Trim resulting triangular block on 45 degree with 2 straight edges at 5” (or larger, you can trim block to 6 ½ after sewing together). Sew together.

Block 10, No News of Importance (#108 on page 238, Civil War Anniversary Quilt by Rosemary Youngs)Cut:

Fussy cut 4 ½” square

4 @ 2” squares of lavender

4 @ 2 ½” squares of tan, cut once on diagonal

Sew 2” lavender to two triangles of tan, trim tips making sure you have ¼” sewing allowance beyond the lavender square. Make 4

Sew the triangle blocks in step above to each side of 4 ½” center square.

Block 11, The Keys of My Heart (#109, page 239
Cut 6 red 2” squares, draw diagonal on wrong side of 2 of these

Cut 6 blue 2” squares, draw diagonal on wrong side of 2 of these

Cut 4 tan 2” X 3 1/2” rectangles

Put red square with drawn diagonal right sides together at bottom of tan rectangle, sew on diagonal line. Repeat with other red square and with blue squares, making 4. Trim ¼” from stitching line towards point to reduce bulk and press colored triangle back to right side.

Sew red square to blue square, red on top then add the rectangle unit from step 1 above on the right side with red or blue small triangle at bottom (next to blue square) with diagonal of colored triangle sloping from bottom left to midpoint of tan on right. (see photo on page 239 Civil War Anniversary Quilts by Rosemary Youngs)