The Coverlet quilt I finished last month is a really neat pattern to make.

It's strip-pieced, and it's a counter-change block; that just means that the lights and darks are reversed in adjacent blocks.  The strip-pieced sections are so easy to make and sub-cut, and then the slices are swapped to build the blocks.  Even the border is strip pieced from the same sections.

I used  scrap strips in my quilt, but to explain the method I've used two fabrics; you could use the same two for the whole quilt, or mix it up as I did.
 *These instructions make two blocks at once, a dark centred one, and a light centred one.*

Two 13.5" blocks require

• two light strips, 3.5" x 25"
• two dark strips, 3.5" x 25"
• one light strip, 1.5"x 25"
• one dark strip, 1.5" x 25"
• one light strip, 1.5" x 17"
• one dark strip 1.5" x 17"
• one light strip, 2.5" x 17"
•  one dark strip, 2.5" x 17"

Sew the1.5" x 25"strips between the 3.5" strips, pressing towards the dark fabric, and layer them on the cutting board.

The narrow strips should snug together nicely, keeping the two strips stable as you cut.
When crosscutting, always check that the lines on your ruler are parallel to the stitching lines, and the edges, so that the pieces you cut have nice square corners.  Trim the end square again if you find the ruler doesn't line up after a few cuts.

Cut the strips into slices;

• two 3.5" slices
• four 2.5" slices
• five 1.5" slices

 Use a 1.5" slice to join the 3.5" slices to make the centre blocks.

 Sew the remaining 1.5" slices to the 2.5" slices.

Corner Units

Sew the remaining 1.5" strips to the 2.5" strips, press towards the dark fabric and layer on the cutting board.

 Cut

• four 2.5" slices
• four 1.5" slices

 Swap the narrow slices, pair up with the wide ones, and sew that seam to make 8 corner units.

 To make sure the seam allowances all nest properly, press the corner unit seams to both dark fabrics, splitting the seam allowances over the intersection.

Some people cut their seam allowances to allow them to press in opposite directions, but I'm not comfortable doing that.  This works fine for me.

Lay out the pieced units to make a dark centred block,

 and a light centred block.  Make sure all the seams are pressed to the dark fabric, so that the blocks will fit together nicely.

This is such an easy block to piece, have fun with it.

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Just a quickie post for Charmaine, who asked about the sizes in the Puss In The Corner quilt in my last post.

I made this using charm squares, so the measurements are not a standard PITC.

The little corner squares are 2" cut, finishing at 1.5".  I cut all 4 out of one charm square.

The central square is 4.5"cut, finishing at 4".  I cut this from one charm square.

The rectangle is cut 2" x  4.5", and finishes at 1.5" x  4". I used two charm squares for each block.  You can see in the closeup photo that there are two different fabrics in the rectangles of each block.
The setting squares were cut 7.5", as the block measures 7"finished.  First border was 2" cut size, second was 6" cut.
 I truly hate those pinked edges on charm squares, so these measurements let me cut the pieces for the blocks and discard the edges.  I wasn't fussed on these Kansas Troubles fabrics, so I didn't mind the small amount of waste.
Kim M in PA asked about the quilting pattern, but her profile is set to No Reply; hope she reads this.....
The quilt is quilted with a panto of mine called Spiral Scales. 

It's similar to Baptist Fan, but has a bit more movement due to the spirals.  The pattern is a digital file, not a paper pattern.  There is double stitching, and that's not successful with a hand-guided longarm. 

I have the binding ready to go for this one, so hopefully I'll be able to count this as completely finished very soon.

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I love cutting these house shapes in one piece.

 The 'quick & easy' way is to piece it out of 2.5" rectangles and squares, or squares and HSTs, but I really love that shape without a centre seam.

(I had to do it with this fabric, only had a jellyroll strip of it, but I wouldn't do it from choice.)  I find it's a lot more accurate without extra seams, easier to press, less bulky to assemble, and cutting it in one piece is about as quick as it gets.


Of course, there's the method of using 4.5"squares, and adding 2.5"squares to both top corners with the flippy method.

This is super easy, and quick, apart from the drawing of lines and the trimming etc. Much better than a seam up the centre, but I don't get enough accuracy for my liking.  Some people hate triangles, so they love this method; personally, I love the triangles.

I prefer to cut the house shape with my Easy Angle ruler, either the 6" or the 4" one, because they are always on the cutting table anyway.  The numbers aren't relevant for this sort of cutting, so to find the line I want, I use a strip that is the size of that corner triangle; 2.5" triangle, so a 2.5"strip.

 I stick a post-it note to the back of the ruler, close to the line but not too close.  I don't want to obscure that line, just highlight it.

Then I trim off the bits of paper that show around the edge, so they don't get in the way.

I start with a 4.5"square, and trim off the top corners to make my house shape.  I'll cut the one on the right, then flip the squares over to cut the other side.  I can flip the ruler, but then the markings are on the top of the ruler, and that drives me nuts because it's not accurate; I ALWAYS cut with the markings on the bottom, right next to the fabric, not floating an eighth of an inch above it.

There are other rulers that you can use to cut this shape; an oldie but a goodie is by Trudie Hughes;

the Rotary Mate has these Speedy shapes along the edge, and they are for trimming off corners, very useful for making house shapes, or octagons.  The ruler is so easy to use; if you have this in the cupboard it's really worth dusting it off.

The marked sizes are finished sizes; my 2.5"triangles finish to 2", so that's the size speedy I use.

Then there's this ruler, from Creative Grids.  It works fine too, but it's more expensive than the other two rulers.

I don't understand the markings on this one, and rather than work it out, I'll just use it the way I want to.  I know my piece is coming from a 4.5" square, so I just line up the top and make sure the ruler is centred and away I go.  I cut all the lozenges for my Elongated Hexagon with this ruler.  (This is the same quilt that Bonnie is doing as a Leader Ender;  my measurements are here.)

Of course, once I have my house shape, I need 2.5"triangles to add to the corners.  I cut mine with the Go Cutter, but if you don't have one,  cut them with the Easy Angle.  (Not from jellyrolls, those pinked edges drive me insane.)

If you want to get rid of the dogears, stack the triangles and put the 2.5" line of the ruler against the edge, then nip off the dogears.

I add the right-hand triangle first, lining up the flat tips with the top of the house shape and the side, and pressing the seam towards the triangle.

Then add the left triangle, lining up the flat tips with the triangle that's just been attached, and the side.

The finished unit should measure 4.5" square,

and the point of the house should be right at the junction of the quarter inch line and the 2.25" line.

I might have to trim a skerrick of the triangles away sometimes, my piecing is never completely accurate, but I'm getting pretty good at it.

If you want to make other sizes, it's easy to figure out.  The triangles will measure half the square; for a 3" finished house block you would need 1.5" triangles; the cut sizes would be 3.5" squares and 2" strips for the Easy Angle.  For a 6" house unit,  6.5" squares and 3.5"strips, and so on.

I might just go through Blockbase and see what patterns I can find with this shape;  I'm not sick of making them yet, and it's a nice shape to use charm squares.  Heaven knows I have enough of those hanging around.

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This is how I attached the border print and made the design flow uninterrupted around the ecge.  This works for patterns that are symmetrical, but would have to be modified for a border that didn't have mirror-image symmetry, like a floral vine or something.


I cut the printed border from both sides of the yardage, giving me two long strips.  I left a couple of repeats of the pattern and then formed the first corner, just pinning it at this stage.  ( Ideally there should be the same amount of fabric on either side, but I didn't have enough to do it that way.)

 I pinned the corner in place on the quilt, and measured the strip along the side of the quilt until I got to the next corner.  I made sure I had more fabric than I needed along the side , which meant going to the next repeat, and made the next  mitred corner.
I did this with both strips, so I had all the mitres pinned roughly. 

I didn't take proper pictures of the corners when I did the border, so I made a simple mitre from scraps to show how it's done.

To get a perfect mitre I marked a 45° line on the fabric, using an easily recognisable part of the pattern as my guide, so I could do all four corners the same.  In this case I used the centrre of the sunflower motif as an easy point of reference.

 I then marked a quarter inch line on the inner edge of the border, so I would know to stop my seam short of the seam allowance, which is the key to a successful mitre..

 I made sure the pattern on the underneath strip was lined up exactly with the one on top, and pinned in several places on the mitre line. I stitched all four mitres (backstitching at the inner edge to keep the stitching from coming undone later).  The extra fabric was trimmed off to give a quarter inch seam allowance.

That mitre looks pretty good to me..

To join it to the quilt, I made a dot a quarter inch in from both sides of the corner of the quilt.

I pinned the start of the mitre seam to this dot, and sewed the seam for a few inches.

 Then I sewed the other side, for a few inches only, again matching the start of the mitre seam to the dot.

 The reason I do this is because I want those corners joined correctly before I do anything else.  If I need to unpick and reposition, it's only a few inches that I have to rip out.

This is what it looks like on the back;

and from the front.

Once I had both corners joined, I pinned the first strip to the quilt working from each corner in towards the centre; as I got closer to the centre the excess fabric became apparent. 

Then I kept pinning carefully, until a pleat could be formed to take up the extra fabric.  I did this carefully to make sure the pattern was symmetrical either side of the pleat.

I unpinned it from the quilt, for about 10" either side of the pleat, and pressed the pleat to one side, so there was a  crease to follow as I stitched the seam.  The extra fabric is trimmed away and the seam pressed open.

 And there you have a border print that is perfect in the corners, and meets halfway forming a little joining pattern.
Add the other strip to the other long side, and then join the side borders in exactly the same way.  You'll be working with two strips on the side borders, instead of making a pleat you'll be forming a seam between the two strips, but the process is the same.

It's a simple thing to do, but awkward because you're working with all the quilt bundled in your lap or on the table, but the key is to take it slowly and carefully and the result is well worth it.

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The Colonial Squares is just about the easiest patchwork to make, one simple square repeated, but I followed a few simple rules to make sure it went together easily and with no fuss.

I decided to make four patches from my squares, and sew them together later. They made the perfect leader-ender project; I just picked up a light and a dark square and fed them through. The seams were pressed to the dark side.

When I sewed the four patches I made sure that the darks and lights were aligned the same in every single one; the dark patch underneath on the right, dark patch on the top to the left.
The seams were fanned, by unpicking the few stitches in the seam allowances on each side, and then pressed open. By doing that all the seams of the fourpatches nest, no matter how you rotate them, which allowed me to twist and turn them when laying the whole thing out and I never had to worry about seam allowances. When I joined the four patch blocks I fanned those seams too.I didn't worry about colour or balance or anything until I had amassed a large pile of four patches; then I laid out what I had and decided if I needed more black, or red, or tan and made more blocks accordingly.

I made the centre square first, then made corners to turn it on point. To make the edge pieces I cut triangles using the Olfa triangle ruler; I used a 2.75" strip and put the 4 1/2" line on the edge of the strip. (If I wanted to cut them as quarter square units I'd start with a 5.5" square and crosscut diagonally into 4 triangles.) These might be a smidgeon too big, but that's a good thing, it will allow a bit of leeway when it's time to trim the quilt edges.

Two sides of the quilt needed light triangles, and two needed dark. I could have had it dark all round the edge by adding a single row of squares on two sides of the central four patches, but I didn't care enough. I quite like the light and dark edges.
I checked which way the seams wanted to go in the triangle unit, and then pressed them all alike. Then it was just a matter of piecing each corner, and adding it to the central part. And adding two triangles to complete the corner of the corner.

My quilt measures 78"square; the central piece had 81 four patches. Each corner took 19 four patches and 8 triangle units, four dark and four light. Hmm, 157 four patches, plus the edges; that's more than 628 individual squares, what a lot of fabric. More than 5 metres in fact. I'm thrilled to have busted all that stash, and so painlessly. I'd definitely make one again. I have enough squares left over to make a good start.

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