Charm-ing Chevron Tutorial

Zig Zags are so HOT right now, are they not?  I think I could go dizzy walking the aisles of Target with how much I see them.  Still, they are so fun and timeless.  Everyone needs a touch of Chevron in their home.  Even me!

Back in January I posted about going to my first Quilt Show, here.  And I picked up this lovely 6" Charm Pack of Reproduction prints with out a hint of what I would do with them.  99 prints = scrap quilt I guess, but what kind of pattern?   Then I saw the quilt pattern 40s Chevron by McCall's.  

40s Chevron by McCall's

 

I contemplated for months how to cut up the charms since they were only 6".  I knew I'd have to break a few rules.

Since I didn't have the same size fabric available for the pattern I ended up coming up with a plan of my own using what I had to make the half squared triangles.   I thoughtfully paired prints that would both compliment and contrast each other.  Its possible too much thought went into this step;-)  Running out of options, left me with a couple blocks I don't particularly like, but thats fine, its a scrap quilt, right!?!

Anyway, taking the first two blocks I layered them right sides together.  You can do this two ways.  Sew along all four outside edges, then cut from corner to corner.  And then corner to corner again.  I know this isn't the best technique in quilting.  But, again its a scrap quilt, so I said to myself, "what the hey!"  Not every block turned out super square, but I just tried to not let that bother me this time around.

Option two is to cut corner to corner first then sew your 1/4" seam along the longest edge of each triangle sandwich.  Either way you get the same result.

Next press seams open trying not to stretch the material.  Trim your dog ears, and square up the half square triangles as best you can. 

Next lay your chevron out the way you want it to appear.  Sew the top two HST together first, then the bottom two.  Press seams open for the least amount of bulk. 

Now sew the top and bottom rows together.  I pinned in this step, using the center as my guide to align the top and bottom rows.  Press seam open.  Be sure to square up, trimming off any irregularity. 

Here is my first finished block.  

Honestly, I wasn't loving the scrappy randomness of these prints at first.  The prints were a little busy for my taste, so I grabbed a few 30s Kona solids (lapis, bubblegum, canary, black, red, and turquoise) to give the eyes a bit of a rest.  It'd be too busy if not for the solids.  You'll see...

Up next I'll have my quilt top to share with you.

hugs,

lindsay

Garden + New Stuff

Oh I'm so excited to share a few fun things with you.  Today Mr. Postman brought me some things that have been on my 'want' list for a while.  This Fiesta pitcher for one:

Got it on eBay for like $30 and I love it.  Its not quite the aqua vintage color, but I can't find one under $60.  So Turquoise it is.  Isn't it pretty?

I've been looking for some craft to put on my sewing corner walls.  Not really knowing what to look for, I stumbled across this cross stitch pattern called Home of a Quilter by Told in the Garden.  And...its Amish!  Bonus, I know!  

I just got home from the craft store and got all the DMC threads and cloth.  Now I just have to learn to cross stitch.  Any tips out there? 

Next I scored on Jeni's Destash shop on Etsy and found this fabric:

I was just thinking someone should reproduce the Amish Pyrex bowl print on fabric.  Thank you Henry Alexander!  Its called Harvest Town.  I have no idea when it came out, but I'm so happy to own one whole yard of it!  The colors are super fun too!

Okay, bare with me.  I've got a few more photos to share.  

This lovely stack of fabric was graciously given to me by my very good designer friend.  It's called Vintage Butterflies by Christine Adolph. 

Aren't these pastels and brights pretty?  There are two panel prints too.  This will make a precious little girl a pretty quilt.  I think I love the butterflies and script prints the most.

Okay time for a garden update.  Today we had a small harvest:

 Red Beets

 Tomatoes are ripening

 Cauliflower doesn't seem to love my late planting, but there is one little head forming.

Corn!  Jack is especially excited about the corn.  What kid doesn't like corn?

Sadly, I caught a opossum eating 2 of the 4 apricots on my tree.  Little rascal!  He better not come back...or else!  

We thats all for this week.  I do have a quilt top finished, by haven't taken the time to snap any shots of it.  Have a great weekend my friends!

Linds

Week Away :: Completed

I've just returned from a wonderful trip to Baja California.  It was very relaxing as I read a few Amish romance short stories. I know silly, but I haven't read anything good since Hunger Games.  The Amish romance novels are actually quite good.  I've been enjoying the Jacob's Daughter series by Samantha Jillian Bayarr on Amazon.  The kinde edition is only $1.99 each.  Can't wait till the next one is released.  Anyway, I also took a few hand sewing projects with me on my trip.  

I received a crochet edged flannel blanket when I had Jack and have thought about it for three years.  Then I stumbled across a pin on Pintrest for a cute pillowcase crochet edge tutorial by You Go Girl.  Needless to say I ran to Joann's bought the flannel and the yarn from Michael's.  I am so not impressed with the flannel selection at Joann's but I didn't have time to order any.  This was truly the only print I liked.  Then when I went to pick out the Crochet yarn they only had white and off white in size 3.  Weird.  So I went to Michael's Craft store and they had several colors to choose from.  Thankfully, I had a baby in mind who was actually born yesterday.  It's already on its way to wrap around her.  

Also got a few more Hexagons done.  19 to be exact.  Finally get to update that little Hexagon counter in my side bar.  Paper piecing truly is a good traveling sewing project.  When I can't take the machine with me that is.

  

Now I have 69 hexagons completed and a few flowers are being arranged.  Aren't they fun?

Ooo, and I could hardly wait to get home and open this Vintage Amish Children embroidery transfer pattern.  I bought it on Ebay just before we left for Baja and now I can't wait to try out the hand embroidery stitches. I was practicing on my vacation as well.  Sorry too boring of a picture to show you my practice stitches.  But I do promise to share as I work on these in the future.  I didn't know about Aunt Martha's patterns until recently and I think I'm gonna love doing them.  Any of you ever tried these patterns?  I looked on Flickr and didn't find a group, so I've started one.  Join in if you'd like.  Patterns are under $2 at JoAnns.