Goodbye 2015 and a Tutorial

The last day of the year and my grandson Griffin's 11th birthday! This is probably not a block you expect to see on my blog. It is going to be a Legends of Zelda quilt for Griffin's birthday, though it will be a little late. I have to thank Jamie from my Penn Oaks guild for setting me on the path to find the patterns. If you are interested you can go to www.corasquilts.com and get the patterns for free.

The pattern is made up entirely of 1 1/2" squares. Needless to say I was not looking forward to cutting them out. I saw this in my LQS,  the Quilt Block in Exton and decided it was worth a shot after one of the owners, Jan gave me a little tutorial in the shop. All I can say is Oh.My.Gosh how did I not know about this before now? Not only can you make squares but diamond too.

It is so simple to use too, that is what makes it special!  Take a piece of fabric, this is about 1/2 yard and fold it in half so both of the the selvedges meet at the right hand side (do the opposite if you are left handed). I did iron the fabric well before I started so the squares would not be wrinkled. That bugs me but it is not required.

Next lay the ruler on your fabric with the fold at the bottom and the selvedge at the right, with the fold on the "0" line, see above.

Trim the selvedge edge to get a nice clean cut.

It will look like this. I moved the selvedge edge so you can see but in real life I would not disturb it.

The grooves to cut are marked in 1/2" increments but there are directions to be able to cut 1/4" too. To make it easy on myself, I used washi tape and marked every 1 1/2" so I could just cut and go without thinking. Next cut all your strips every 1 1/2".

Once all the first cuts are made, you carefully pick up the ruler and turn it so the lines are running perpendicular from the cuts you just made, making sure the bottom edge is on the "0" mark. You will do exactly what you did the first time, making a clean cut first and cutting every 1 1/2".

Voila! I have 196 squares cut! Each stack was 4 pieces (remember we folded the fabric in half) and for this demo I cut 7 strips. I dare say I think it is one of the quickest methods I have ever used. The best part is there is no waste!

They came out perfect! If you only buy one new thing this year (or next) make it this one! I have a million ideas swirling in my head! Think about cutting up all your scraps!

Back to the blocks.....As you can see even the white sections are pieced individually.

First you will cut out a piece of lightweight fusible interfacing (I used Pellon 906F) I don't remember the kind she recommended but I couldn't find it. The key is you want it to be very lightweight to reduce bulk.
Draw a grid on the FUSIBLE side using a Sharpie every 1 1/2". Following your pattern lay the corresponding color on the grid.

Press it with the iron, make sure you press or the squares will get all mangled up.

Now you will start by folding on the lines of the interfacing (right sides together) and sewing a 1/4"seam allowance.

Continue all the way across until it looks like this.

The next step is to trim off just a smidge of that edge that you just sewed so you can press the seams open. The directions say to use a ruler but I found it easier to do it freehand.

Press the seams open all the way across the piece (not my favorite thing to do).

It will look like this. Turn it and do the perpendicular lines exactly the same way you did these.

The one on the left is before it is sewn and the one on the right is after it is sewn.

This is what it looks like from the back. This method is such a time saver, imagine trying to sew all those little squares together one by one, ummmm no!

On to the next block. I am trying to finish this up by the end of January. My first goal of the new year!
If you have any questions ask and I will try to help.

Cameron, Finnegan and Jaxon with mom mom

Happy New Year!

Kelly