QAF Block of the Month
September 2006
Autumn Borders
10 1/2" (unfinished), 10" (finished)
We are starting
Autumn with a BROWN BOM. It's still a really
simple block to make, but we are calling for BROWN. Did you know that brown
is IN this year? You can hardly miss it - in the fabric stores, in ready-to-wear
- it's everywhere! So we thought that it might be fun to make something
just
in brown to start off the 'season'.
Many of you probably have some interesting and rich brown fabrics
in your stashes, and if you don't, you will be able to find them easily for
this September Block of the Month.
You will need one
TAN, BEIGE, or light BROWN print for the Main part of the block, and one
DARK brown TOT (tone on tone) or solid for
the skinny strips in the borders. The Main fabric may have a teeny
bit of another color within, such as tiny rosebuds,
or leaves, in your small print, but the background should be the tan, beige
or light brown, and be predominant. Geometrics would work well for this block
as well, if the print were small and light enough in color. You will
want to make sure that you have a good amount of value difference between
the
fabrics
you
choose
so
that
the 'paths' in the borders show up well.
You may use reproductions
for this block, or calicos, or even more modern prints if they fit the
criteria, which is in the light brown
family, and it is to be a small print. If in doubt, look at the quilt image
below, and/or ask in the forum.
CUT:
First make the strip set for
the sides of the block. Lay out the 11" strips
you cut, with 1 dark, 1 main, 1 dark, 1 main, 1 dark, side by side. Stitching
with a 1/4"
seam, and starting from the left, sew two strips together down the long
edge, repeat with the second two strips. Press to the dark. Now stitch these
two sets together, as they will appear in the block, and press to the dark
again. Add the last dark strip, and press and the strip set is done! Measure
across the width of it, it MUST measure 6 1/2", before you slice it,
so that your pieces will fit together with your center square.
Cut (4) 2 1/2" slices from
this strip set. Be sure to line up the seams to your rotary ruler's lines
so that you get nice straight cuts. These slices must measure 2 1/2" x
6 1/2".
Sew two of these slices or borders
to opposite sides of the 6 1/2" square.
Press to the center square.
Next, sew a 2 1/2" square
of the Main fabric to each end of one of the two remaining borders. Press
to the corner square. Repeat. Sew these two borders
to the top and bottom of the block. I found that pinning where the corner
squares touch, and sewing with the pieced strip on the bottom helped in
this particular piecing, even though everything measured as it should have.
Using a square-up ruler, measure and trim your
block to 10
1/2" square.
Wasn't that easy?
You may make up to 3 of these blocks from the same set of fabrics to enter
in the BOM, but using different fabrics, you may enter as many as you like.
Here's an idea for setting some
blocks into a 60" lap quilt:
And yet another idea for a table runner:
Courtesy
of:
Quilting
Arts Forum
www.quilting-arts-forum.com
Please
visit us on the web!
