Thursday, February 3, 2011

The Making of a Block

I started piecing the February Civil War Chronicles BOM, this month consists of four identical 16 inch blocks.  I decided that I would show you how I go about putting it all together......I'm hoping that some of you might realize that most blocks are not that difficult.  When I see a quilt that I really like and might want to make I  break it down to each individual block and the components that make up the block, then I can decide how difficult it will be for me to make. 

This is a photo of the entire quilt........
Civil War Chronicles by Homestead Hearth
Fabric by Marcus Brothers
The center block was the BOM for January, this month's blocks are the four around the center block.  Here's how I did it........


As I cut the pieces I place them on a paper plate and mark each plate with the "piece number". The plates can be stacked and set aside when I'm not working from them, and of course you can reuse them!



Marking the backs to get ready to make my half square triangles (HST), I had to make a total of 128 of them, 64 in one color combination and 64 in another combination.
  

Chain piecing the HSTs.

  
After sewing on each side of the line that I drew on the back, I cut it in half on the line and now I have two HSTs.

Then it's over to the ironing board to press them open. 
Next they go to the table to have the "ears" cut off and check to be sure they are the correct size. Then they are placed on a plate until they are ready to be put into the block.



Now I check the directions to see where all the pieces fit.

Here are the pieces laid out, now I just need to sew them all together.





This is one of 16 that I will make, of course I check to be sure it is the correct size,  I try to remember  to check the size of each pieced section to save myself frustration later,  especially when there is a lot of piecing.  Each of the 16" blocks is made up of 4 of these blocks turned in different directions 

 
One block done, three to go!


Hope I inspired you to challenge yourself to try something new! 

P.S.  Sorry about the spacing of the photos and words, I was having a terrible time laying this out for some reason!

7 comments:

  1. You make it all look so easy! :0)

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  2. Thanks.......that is so interesting and helpful.
    I love how organised you are, and using paper plates is a fantastic idea..........it's true what they say, it's all in the planning and preperation.........well worth it though, beautiful quilt.

    florrie x

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  3. You make it look like something I could manage. I just might try those HSTs some day. The last few I tried were a disaster. That quilt is going to be awesome when it's completed. Glad you were able to spend some quality time with your sewing machine. That's one of the few good things about witner weather. Being able to stay inside and play.

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  4. The Civil War quilt came out really nice!! You are nifty like that. Can't wait to see more. Love, T

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  5. That is amazingly beautiful. Thank you for explaining so clearly

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  6. looks terrific! enjoying watching your progress on this beauty...i thought about taking it on but i still have civil war diary quilt ahead of me, so declined, but doesn't mean i'm not tempted big time

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  7. Denise, the quilt will be beautiful! It looks very complicated, but once you break it down into steps and parts, its fairly simple. I have a problem with accuracy, after the block is finished. I am working on that. I bought a 1/4 inch piecing foot and am measuring after sewing more. I bet your blocks come out perfect!

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I really enjoy hearing your comments, sorry I had to turn on the "word verification" but I got my first comment from a "non-person".......I prefer comments from people.