Patchiqué Week 2 – Blocks 3 and 71

Block 3 in "Japanese Taupe Quilts" by Susan Briscoe is called Sakiori shima which translates to ‘rag-weave stripe’. 

Block 3 - Courtesy of Susan Briscoe

The book instructs you to cut 27 small rectangles and stitch them together.  But I’ve got a simpler, quicker way.  Cut ten 12" x 1½” strips – five from one fabric and five from another.  Stitch them together along the 12" length using a perfect ¼” seam.  You should end up with a block that measures 12" x 10½” and looks a little like this:

Your block should have ten strips

From this block cut three 3½” wide strips.  Remove one rectangle from each strip so that, when you stitch them together, you will have alternating blocks. 

It sounds a lot of work but it is actually very quick.  If you cut and stitch accurately you will find Block 3 goes together really easily.

As for Block 71 (Mizuno kengata rokuyō) – it is rated as a medium difficulty.

Block 71 - Courtesy of Susan Briscoe

But this is not true – it is an easy block – a very, easy block.  You don’t even need your protractor to set the appliqué leaves at 60 degrees apart.  All you need to do is position the top and bottom leaf so that they are in the middle of the block and approximately ½” from the outer edge.  From there, position the remaining leaves so that the edges line up in straight lines – as shown in this photo, leaving a small gap between each leaf.        

And do you see what I see?

 

Yep – a flower.  The gaps between the leaves make a secondary flower pattern.  Very clever.  (It was hard to see this in the book due to the fabrics used.)

Be sure to check out Susie’s Sunroom and Sew Crooked in the next couple of days.  Susie is making some awesome blocks using turquoise and mocha.  And Helena, at Sew Crooked has set out to make every block in the book and, if the first few are anything to go by, you’ll want to be checking each and every one!

The next two blocks I intend to make are Block 4 (patched) and Block 72 (appliqued).

Sew until next time ......

Fabric Jack-o-Lantern Pumpkins

Jack-O-Lantern and Pumpkins



I did warn you it might happen!

Martha's Stewart's fabric pumpkin gets a Patchsmith make-over! 

If you fancy making your own fabric jack-o-lantern then click on the links for the Martha's free tutorial and my free Halloween face pattern.  I cut my fabric at 5.5" x 11" but on reflection another inch or two bigger would've been better.  And for a nifty way of making the stalks check out my previous blog.

Sew until next time .....

Acorns and Pumpkin Stalks

 

Sometimes a little piece of heaven passes by and if we are lucky enough we notice it, scoop it up and smile each time we catch sight of it.  So it was with Susie’s first paper-pieced pattern – an acorn.  It seems like such a little thing but as soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to make it.  And that is just what I did.  

 

 

I whipped up this lovely little acorn coaster in less than an hour.  And now, each time it catches my eye (and how could it not?) - I smile.  It reminds me that we never know when something we create will touch the lives of others.  (If you fancy making your own little patch of autumn heaven then pop over to Susie’s Sunroom and download her free pattern.  And if you’re new to paper-piecing check out Carol Doak’s easy-to-follow tutorial.)

 

 

And whilst we are on the subject of autumn – this lovely little coaster needed an autumnal setting for its photo-shoot so I whipped up two fabric pumpkins using this free tutorial from Martha Stewart.  I followed the tutorial exactly – up until the stalks.  Instead of using fabric, I created felt stalks that included a base so that they could easily be stitched to the top of the pumpkins, covering any gathering stitches.  Here is how .....

 

To make a pumpkin stalk for a small pumpkin all you need is a 3” square of wool felt.  Make two cuts in the square of felt 1” down from the top on both sides but leave ½” uncut in the middle as shown.

 

Roll up the (larger) bottom piece of the felt tightly and slip stitch it in place so that it doesn’t unroll.  



 

Fold the top (unrolled) section in half and stitch the cut edges together as shown.   Finally trim the corners to create a round stalk base – all ready to slip-stitch in place on the top of your fabric pumpkin.

 

You can easily adjust the size of the stalk dependent upon the size of your pumpkin. 

 

Of course, it is only a matter of time before Martha Stewart meets the Patchsmith in the form of Scary Fabric Pumpkins!! 

The Patchsmith's FREE Pumpkin Face Pattern

Now that will be interesting!