September BOM - Sunset

This month we are shifting our focus to a low volume block. Sherry McConnell defines low volume fabric and provides some hints when selecting low volume fabrics in her post on the  Craftsy blog.

Shelly's example block in the sunset palette.

We are using NY City Metro Mod Quilters' block pattern "Sunrise/Moonlight" and we are going to make it Sunset block by using these low volume sunset inspired hues.

Use this color palette as a guide when selecting your fabrics.

You can choose your own fabrics, or there is a fabric bundle available from Stitchcraft - four quarter yards for the guild discount price of $10 (normally $12).

SFMQG bundle available at Stitchcraft

We hope that we'll have a lot of participation as usual in our block lottery. If you use the fabric bundle please write your name on the back of your blocks (masking tape is good, or one of those erasable pens).

See you in September!

August BOM - Wonky Pinwheels

A dip in the pool with a tall lime drink is just what we need to beat the heat, or just make our August block for a refreshing change.

Our August BOM is wonky pinwheels by Greenleaf Goods, in the refreshing hues colorway from Design Seeds.

Here are some tips from Shelly: The tutorial is well written but make sure you follow the directions exactly. I tried improvising and had to cut additional fabric. Make four blocks and sew together to make 12 1/2" block.  Use her diagram to layout your block. If all blocks are laid out like hers, it creates a nice secondary pattern in the quilt.

Additionally, she calls for neutral fabric for the background, but you should use the light green or blue instead. The colorway is called refreshing hues.  

You are welcome to use your own modern fabric stash to make this block. If you don't have fabric in these colors, or if you just want to add onto your stash, bundles in this colorway are available at Stitchcraft. Bundles have 5 fat quarters of modern fabric, and are offered at a special discounted guild price of $12.50 for members (regular price is $15.00).

These bundles are a great modern stash builder! They also make it really easy to make sure your BOM (and jelly roll strips) fit in with this month's color palette.

As a reminder, you can make as many BOMs as you'd like to enter in the BOM lottery. The winner of the BOM lottery gets to take home all of the blocks!

Our August meeting will be at Stitchcraft on Saturday, August 15th from 10am-12pm.

July Block of the Month

Our July BOM is appliqué circle blocks based on the demonstration that Shelly Recicar gave at our May meeting. This block actually combines Shelly's appliqué method with the strip piecing method demonstrated by Kate Yates in April. 

Our colors for July are the "freshly picked" palette – don't forget you can buy a lovely fat quarter bundle in those colors from Stitchcraft, with a special SFMQG discount of 15%! 

Shelly's demo blocks.

Shelly gave us a handout at the meeting with some written instructions for creating the appliqué circles block, but if you missed that meeting, or (like me!) misplaced your handout, here are the instructions for you!

1. Make a 10 inch background using the strip method demonstrated by Kate in April. There is a step by step tutorial available on her blog. 
2. Cut a 10 inch piece of light grey fabric. Trace a dessert plate or any other circular object on the back of the fabric. You want the background fabric to show.
3. If the circle is grey on your block, 
• Cut a large ¼ inch outside of your drawn line on grey fabric
• Trace the plate on poster board or a food box such as cereal box. Cut the circle on the line.
• Prepare fabric, using this tutorial.
4. If the circle is a color and the background is grey,



Freshly Picked, our July palette.

• Cut a large ¼ inch inside your line on the gray fabric. Clip from cut inside edge to seam line (¼ to ½ inch) . Do not cut through the seam line. Stop just short of the seam line.
• Trace the pattern on poster board or a food box. Cut the circle on the line. You will need the outside edge of the circle so go ahead and cut into the circle.  You will not be using it.
• Prepare fabric using this tutorial.
5. Sew circle onto background fabric using a buttonhole or zigzag stitch. Use grey thread that matches the fabric.  The circle can be placed anywhere on the fabric.  You can even place only part of the circle on the background and trim the excess off the block.
6. Trim block to 9 1/2 inches.

Many thanks to Shelly and Kate for the demos and instructions.

Don't forget, the more blocks you make the more chances you have to win. Let's hope Jennifer gives the rest of us a chance this month! LOL. Can't wait to see your blocks at the meeting on the 18th July!

June Block of the Month

The June block of the month is easy peasy to make.  If you want to make one of each kind of block at the same time, cut three rectangles of color, three rectangles of white, (rectangles are 2 3/4 by 7 1/4) 2 squares of white and 1 square of one color and another square of another color (squares are 6 inches). String piece by sewing, do this twice, one color to one white rectangle. Iron seams and add one color to the white side of one block and white to the color side of the other block.  Iron seams. Cut the squares into half triangles.  Fold each square in half to find the middle. The tricky part is to make sure you put the  triangles to the proper side so that the quilt is uniform. If the colors are on the outside of the block, the colored triangles are attached to the top and bottom with the strips running vertically.  If white is on the outside of the block, the white triangles are attached to the top and bottom with strips running vertically. Then add remaining triangles.  You can find a link to the tutorial on our BOM Page.

Cracker Scraps block in the June colorway 

The colors are white, mint green, navy blue, deep red purple and light red purple.  

June Colors

Remember that you can purchase bundles of fabric in the colorways at StitchCraft, with a special discount for guild members - just ask at the front desk!

New BOM Fabric Bundles

We have been having so much fun with our BOMs lately, haven't we? From what I've seen online, it seems like there will be enough French Macarons in this month's lottery for a king-size quilt!

We wanted to make the BOMs as usable as possible for the lucky winner, so going forward we are going to be choosing a color palette use each month. You can see the blocks, the colors, and links to tutorials, on our BOM page.

And now we are excited to announce that we have teamed up with the wonderful folks at Stitchcraft to put together fat quarter bundles in our monthly color palettes. Each bundle is made up of four fat quarters of modern designer quilting cottons especially selected with our BOM in mind. That's more than enough fabric to complete several blocks for the lottery, and have some left over! Every month there will be two options available. Below you can see the top two bundles which are June's palette of "flora hues", and on the bottom two bundles in July's palette of "freshly picked" hues.

Each bundle is available from Stitchcraft at the special discounted price of $10, which is more than 15% off the regular price. You can buy the bundles now - just ask the lovely ladies there to help you find them.

We hope these bundles will make it even easier for our members to participate in the BOM raffle, which has become a highlight of our monthly meetings. And what a great stash builder!

May 2015 Block of the Month

For our May 16th meeting we are working on a cute raw appliqué block called French Macarons.  It's a small block that comes together really easily.  It's proving popular and many of our members are going nuts with this!  Remember the more blocks you make, the more chances you have to win the block lottery.

The tutorial can be found on the Empire BOM blog, and we have not got a color theme this month, so go crazy with whatever you fancy!

Linda Johnson's four blocks

Here are my six bids for the win!

Charlotte Noll's bright blocks include some bees. 

These are only SOME of the many blocks that Ivy Bagnall made.

Carolyn Rhodes Miller picked some lovely background fabric.

We'd love to see all the blocks made by members - please drop by our Facebook Group and show us what you've done!

For information on upcoming BOMs head on over to our BOM page.