Wonky Star Block Tutorial

This block is easy, fun and quick.  It's also a great block for beginners.

It finishes at 12.5" and is basically a 9 patch.
To make it you will need:

8 x 4.5" squares background colour ( I've used cream)
1 x 4.5" square for the center. (blue)
8 x rectangles in a contrast colour.

The rectangles can measure anything from 2 to 3" wide and any length.  It's a great block for using up scraps and you don't need to be too fussy about measuring the rectangles.

Start by taking a background square and laying a rectangle across as shown in the photo.
Make sure you leave at least 1/2" at the top so as you do not loose your points when putting the block together.   The rectangle can be laid at any angle - in fact vary on each of the 4 squares as it makes for a more wonky star.

Stitch using a 1/4" seam.  Do 4 of the background squares like this. Chain piecing makes the block go together quickly.

Trim the excess on the squares and press the seam.

Square up to 4.5".  Do all 4 squares like this.

Next take another rectangle and lay it across on the opposite side as shown in the photo.
Stitch as before ....

Trim off the excess and press.

Square up to 4.5"

Now lay out the block like this using the other 4 background squares and the center square.

Sew together in rows then sew the rows together.  I press these seams open.

Et voila!  the finished block.

These blocks can be made to any size you wish.

The blocks in this quilt are 12.5" and I've set them on point with simple 9 patch blocks.

I used the same method to make the cute little cornerstone blocks.

I used 2" squares to make up this block and they finish at 5".

This is another wonky star baby quilt I made. .

I snowballed one corner to create the diamonds in the middle and set them straight.
A great block for using up charm packs or scraps.  I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and have fun making your stars!

Viking Longboat Wall Hanging

Hi there,
 I don't have a finish to show you this week, instead I have a new beginning.
This is a project I was inspired to make by a thimble!

My husband brought it back from Shetland for me ( I like to collect thimbles).  It's made of pewter and has a viking longboat on it.  I thought it would be a great subject for a wall hanging and something a bit different.

It's a bit difficult to see because its a pencil drawing, but this is the artwork I did for it.

I'm using bondaweb to do the raw edged applique.  The background fabric was begged from a quilter friend and is perfect for the effect I wanted.  It's by Makower UK and is called Ombre.  I think it's quite an old fabric because I couldn't find it online except in a post from 2008.

                                                            Slowly, adding the detail.

The sea was by far the most challenging part.  I just started playing around with some shapes to see how they looked.

Eventually I settled on this......

This is a raven on the sail.  I will add the detail with hand embroidery.  Did you know that the vikings trained ravens to search for land?  I thought that was really interesting.

Again, I will be doing hand embroidery to get the detail I want.

So that is it so far.  I will post about this from time to time so I hope you'll come back to see how its coming along.
Have a super Sunday.
til next time....
Rhianon.

Kindle and ipad Covers

Hi everyone.

This week I finally got round to finishing off the assortment of covers I'd been making.
Here they are:

They are all free motion quilted with feathers and a few have flowers.

                                                             Showing the lining inside.

                                                                     The lilac one.
                                                                 

                                                                          ipad cover

                                                              This one is a Kindle cover.

                                                        Suffolk puff to decorate the tab.

This was one of the first ones I made, where I used a band over a button to close it, but I prefer the tab - it has a neater finish.

                                                       Back of the previous cover.
I'll finish with some close ups of my free motion quilting.
See you all next time.
Rhianon.

Children's Bed Runners.

Hello there,
This week I finished these two bed runners.

They are for twin 6 year old boys.  Duncan likes dinosaurs and Lachlan likes tractors and diggers, hence the feature fabric.

I used my favourite method for applique - bondaweb and kept the design pretty simple.
I didn't want to cut the feature fabric so small that the design was lost.

The quilting was kept simple too.

I enjoyed making these but now its onto something much bigger.
See you all next time.
Rhianon.