Secret Garden Block Tutorial

I posted this photo of my Secret Garden Pinnie on Flickr yesterday and had a few requests for a tutorial/how to for the squares, so seeing as the sun was shining (for a change) I took advantage of the light and, hopefully, put together a tutorial to help you create these little beauties with ease.  This is a simplified version of Cathedral Windows blocks of which there are quite a few really good tutorials out there for those, namely this one and this one amongst many.

For my 2" finished block you have to start with a 4" square of main fabric and a shy 2" square of contrast.  The math is very easy for any size of these blocks - finished square size x 2 (example 2" = 4" template, 4" = 8" template and always the finished size for the contrast fabric).  You will need to cut an exact square template for your square to begin (I use a good old cereal box, but your template has to withstand ironing so bear that in mind!)

Cut your main fabric 1" larger than your template - so a 4" template requires a 5" square and try to be tidy with your cutting lines as this will help things to be easier.  I cut my contrast fabric 1/8th short all round - so 2" becomes 17/8"

Now you will iron your main fabric over the edges of the template to get a nice crisp edge on the fabric and try to make sure the corners are as square as possible - slapdash will make things difficult.



Proceed to do an 'origami style' style fold with this square, fold over once, then again to make a small square, and press with the iron.

Open out your fabric and fold the corners into the centre along the crease lines, again keep this as tidy as you can and pin down as you go along

Once this is done you might want to press again with the iron just to give you nice sharp lines to work with (it does help)

Place your contrast fabric like so with right side up

Now fold those corners over to the centre and pin as you go 

You want to end up with a neat little square like this

I prefer to stitch these centre points together with little stitches so that it all sits square.  (I have used contrast thread here but you ideally should use matching thread- it does depend on your project)

Now you have to 'peel/roll' back the edges of the points to expose the contrast fabric, pin as you go.

It can help to use the edge of a pin to roll the fabric back on and keep things nice and neat

As you roll back sections, you can stitch these down with tiny ladder stitches as you go or pin everything first, but you may find that so many pins will get in the way.  Try your own method here.



When you get to the outside corners, you need to close this up by about 2/8ths, this encloses the corner of the contrast fabric and achieves the 'window' effect.  Continue around the square stitching all the sections.

Once completed you can use the blocks however you choose. I stitch mine together with little ladder stitches, pulled tight to give a firm, closed edge. 

You can even make big squares too.

I hope you enjoy my first tutorial - if you have any questions please mail me or leave a comment. 



I'm not blogging..........I'm SWAPPING!

I have really caught the Swap Bug of late.  It is rather nice though, making little bits of art for other people, strangers even!  I am now participating in 5 in total - all Flickr swaps.

Number One is the Doll Quilt Swap - fondly known as DQS10 and here is my work so far.

I am a bit further along now with the construction but I don't want to give too much away by posting pics

We can't post the quilts out until the middle of March at the earliest so I have plenty of time to make it lovely, not that it isn't already.

Number Two swap is the 3x6 Sampler Quilt Mini Bee.  This involves a group of 7 making a quilt block for the other 6 members.  I choose the design for the block and all 6 have to be the same but the member (or 'Beemate') chooses her colour scheme.  The idea being that at the end of a 12 month period you will have 24 blocks each and everyone different, made by someone else but in your chosen colourscheme.

Here are my blocks I have made for my 'beehive'.  (There are 25 'beehives' taking part in this, so that is a lorra, lorra swappers!

Number Three is the Scrappy Mug Rug Swap.  This is coming to completion now and we will be posting out mid-February.  It is a huge swap group, with secret partners, which is lovely because it keeps up an air of excitement, anticipation, lots of speculation and barrowloads of 'rug envy'.

Here is my completed rug.

Number Four swap is the Mini QT Swap.  This has just started, like yesterday, so no work has been done yet, except for some serious brain straining over a design.  These little quilts are just 12" square and the theme for this swap is 3D.  We have got to incorporate little embellishments, sticky out bits and other nicies on this art quilt. This swap is much smaller in numbers and I am partnered with Diane from Taiwan!!

Number Five is the Scrappy Pincushion Swap, again this has just started and will be a secret swap, where we don't know who is making for us, but we know know our partner?  Again lots of brain straining with ideas for this is taking place as their are some gorgeous mini works of art in this Group.

So at present  any spare hours of the days finds me feverishly sewing, snipping or ironing for these swaps.  I love participating in them as I really enjoy crafting but I don't necessarily need items for myself or have particular projects to craft for (that is why the crochet got a bit bleurgh for me, I have a pile of cushion covers sitting in a cupboard! for no particular reason!) so swaps are ideal platforms to create in, plus you get to chat with like-minded souls in the 'discussion' areas of the Swap Groups.  If you have not ventured over there yet, pop in and have a look, there may be something for you to join in too.

Finally, as a really big footnote - can I say a huge Thank You' to all of you who come to view and read and leave lovely comments on my blog.  I DO read them and appreciate them even more so, I'm just a bit of a lazy mare when it comes to replying! ((blushes)

I am away now to see if there are anymore swaps I can join!!!

I have got the Mug Rug Bug

In case you do not know of Mug Rugs or what they are let me describe them to you.  Simply they are oversized coasters, usually rectangular in shape with an area for resting your 'mug' of whatever and a place to rest cookies, treats, lunch etc.  The ones I have made so far are the results of practice.  The green one came about from my very first attempt at making a star block and I used the finished result to construct the Mug Rug around it (I also got to practice some neat quilting.  The hexie one again was a practice piece and I have earmarked a recipient for this one (except they do not know!) The chickens is a WIP.  I had the little stitchery made eons ago and have put it to use just because.

This one is a special one.  I have joined yet another Flickr swap.  This time it's the Scrappy Mug Rug Swap.  I have a secret partner and I can make a mug rug for her with only the details of her profile, favourites, mosaic and likes to come up with a suitable design that she might love.  The term 'stalking' is used on the Flickr swaps whereby your partner is gleaning info about you without any contact with yourself.  Any questions are done through a third party which is the person known as the 'Swap Mama'.  I think it is brilliant.  If you are not familiar with Flickr and have not dug deep into the site yourself - there is a swap or interest group for virtually every subject under the Sun.  Check it out.

Can't believe I made it

I have been one of the lucky peeps to be chosen to take part in this awesome swap over on Flickr  I consider myself to be amongst some excellent and very talented quilters in this swap and feel very challenged to produce a doll quilt that will, hopefully, look amazing and be appreciated as such by my partner.  Pop over and have a look at the work produced in the previous rounds and you will see what I mean.

Not So Quilt Along

So I have got to the stage where I need to join the blocks together to make the top but............I am not happy with the framing of the blocks that will ultimately be the sashing also.  I can't even bring myself to 'wonk' cut the blocks - my straight brain won't allow me to (not without feeling uneasy) I am every tradesman's nightmare when it comes to 'straight' and even!

So I ordered the solid blue (Moda Azure) from Pink Chalk Fabrics and waited for it to arrive, cut it up as per quilt along instructions and stitched it to the block.  Let's remember I am a 'quilting virgin' and don't know yet how to 'think out of the box' (but I am getting there with practice).  Now, when it comes to stitching the blocks together there is going to be a seam running throughout what is technically the sashing area and I just do not like it.

So this weekend I embarked on Project Rip and ReWork.

I have decided to half the blue border width which means taking strips off some of the blocks and inserting a small white square at each intersection - it is painfully slow to make sure all the new seams are matching, but, I am pretty sure the quilt will end up as I want it to look and not some expensive 'maybe it's okay'.

(OT - I am still awaiting my lovely Ottlite but it appears to have got lost in the post and I have to wait until Wednesday to secure a refund and re-order elsewhere!!  Bugger!)

Cushion swap

Whilst I am STILL waiting for my Ottlite to arrive ....(taps fingers) I though I would show a couple of photos I took of the cushion cover that I made for Kath of Juicy Fig blog. The swap was organised by the ladies of Dutch Sisters blog.  I am disappointed with my photography at present, seeing as I just use a point and flash camera, not something with all the bells and whistles, the light levels this last few weeks has been awful.

Ideally I would like to go back and photo them again but seeing as it is now sat on the sofa at Kath's home. that would be a problem!

I do have photos of the cushion cover that Kath sent on to me and will show that soon.  Thank you Kath.

Right, let me wish everyone a bright and happy New Year and here's to lot of cheerful and productive crafting.

Tools to go

I have got so fed up with taking shot after shot of really crappy pictures of my stuff because of the winter gloom that my relish for blogging is suffering - you take the shot, upload, sift, edit and it STILL is so not right that I have recently ordered an Ottlite lamp.  From looking around other blogs and Flickr these seem to be used quite a lot for the 'natural' lighting and colours they produce within a photograph.  So I await the postman eagerly to get on top of my WIPS and swappy stuff before I move on with them.  I have progressed a little more on my That Girl quilt and want to photo it badly. Plus I have loads of Flickr stuff that needs to go on for referencing for swaps.  Oh..........and I have got myself my OWN camera - Mr Neet got so fed with me changing the resolutions and whatnots on our shared camera - and him being TOTALLY 'gadget illiterate' that a solution of a personal camera each came about Yaaaaay - more stress free blogging for me.

Anyhow there is a very good chance I will not post again before Next Year!!  hahahah - so let me wish my readers - if I have any?? a very Happy and Productive and Creative New Year. xxx

Prairie Points and a Bee

This is the finished quilt top complete with Prairie Points.  It is sitting waitng now for me to complete my quilt along top which should happen quite soon now, as the fabric ordered from the US is awaiting me to pick it up from the Post Office. Apologies for the dodgy photos - Arctic weather conditions aren't condusive to brilliant indoor photo shoots.

I have also joined/been accepted to take part in the awesome 3x6 Sampler Quilt Mini Bee over on Flickr.  I say awesome because of the number of participants - there are 25 'beehives' with 6 members in each,  I am in #25 - I think this is because I took the plunge to join right on the point of sign up closure. I look forward to the challenge with great pleasure.

Quilt so far

Here are some pictures of the Pinwheel Baby Quilt so far ( I have actually got the prairie points and outer sashing done now).  This will be quilted when i get the top finished for the That Girl That Quilt quilt-along - I am awaiting fabric from US to arrive to complete it.

Granny mountain becomes a blanket

This is my 'ta-dah!' post for my granny mountain blanket.  It was finished a couple of weeks ago but I didn't get to take any shots of it.  I absolutely love it and it is by far my 'reach for' blanket of choice at present, especially in this Arctic spell we are experiencing here in the the UK at present. I finished it off with a border of 2 rows dc and a picot flourish!