Bathrobe blocks Progress update

I took a quilt (needing to be washed) and laid it white side up on the floor. Then I got my box of blocks and started laying them out to see how much space they would cover. The quilt in the photo is 78 x 78. I'm about halfway through making one each of the Free Patterns on the Quiltville Quips & Snips website so there will be many more blocks to come!!! This arrangement was just to see how much area the blocks occupied. I didn't try to make this attractive at all! And of course I would need some sashing to help set this together. So don't despair that I have an ugly quilt happening. This is a work in progress.

I think maybe I will have to either make one huge sampler quilt or make a two sided sampler. 

I'm not sure I can make a bathrobe out of these blocks. Maybe I will just choose a few...

While I was laying the blocks on the quilt I instructed my two "helpers" to just watch:

And they did watch. They were very patient. So sweet!!

Bathrobe block 36--Out On A String

OK now this challenge is getting to be a challenge! Remember how I said I don't care for triangles? Well bias edges take a close second! This block was tough!!

Out On A String

The star points are pieced on a foundation paper cut from a telephone book. 

My first problem was that I didn't have the same ruler the directions called for.

My diamond ruler had markings and numbers so I used the #3 and cut my foundation papers.

All was peachy keen until I made the corner units. Too small for my diamonds!!

(The finished block should be 10.25" but mine is 12".)

Somehow my diamonds are too big so I had to figure out what size the corner squares were.

Once I got the corners figured out I needed the side triangles. Got that too.

So I carefully pieced the whole block being very careful not to stretch the diamonds.....

Look at the center lift I've got going! 

I could hide a spool of thread under this block.

It's not supposed to do that.

My solution for now was to get it wet and press it flat.....

Challenging....

Bathrobe block 35--Oklahoma Backroads

To clarify my mission: I'd like to make a bathrobe out of lots of different blocks like a sampler quilt. The Quiltville Quips & Snips web site had loads of wonderful FREE patterns under the link at the top labeled Free Patterns! There are about 62 free patterns and I'm going through them alphabetically making at least one of each. I have a feeling that I will have way too many for a bathrobe and might need to make it into a sampler quilt but for now it's called the Bathrobe Challenge.

Oklahoma Backroads!

The style of this block is usually called Road To Oklahoma but Bonnie Hunter changed the darks and lights so she called it Oklahoma Backroads.

Very easy to piece because it was all squares and rectangles. Even the White triangles started as squares. This is an 8" block.

Bathrobe block 34--Ohio Stars & Rails

Ohio Stars & Rails

This is a 6" Ohio Star block that alternates with a 6" block of rail fence. 

When done in the red white and blue it is very dramatic and beautiful.

Bathrobe block 33 Ocean Waves

This Ocean Waves block took a while to put together since I'm not a fan of triangles.

Ocean Waves

It was easy to cut 2 1/2" squares from my  bali pop strips for the dark triangles. 

I can see now why Bonnie Hunter has her scrap system of pre cut strips of various sizes.

It took a bit of time to cut a bunch of the different white squares since I didn't have pre cut strips.

Bathrobe blocks 31, 32--My Blue Heaven, Nine Patch Split

Back from spring break where we visited family and toured some houses, did a little sewing and a lot of dog walking. Sasha was a terrific traveller. She didn't whine once on the long car ride. That's more than I can say for the humans in the car, myself included.

My Blue Heaven

These are the two blocks that comprise the "My Blue Heaven" quilt. I did my blocks in blues also because it just wouldn't be right if my blocks were Red or Green when the pattern is Blue!

Nine Patch Split

This nine patch block is half darks and half lights. I only made one of these blocks but I might do a few more to get the feel of the pattern when they are put together.

This is the pretty braided border for the Nine Patch Split block. The directions for this are on the lower section of the page. It is really easy to piece but it gets a bit unwieldy when it gets long so I rolled it up and pinned it to keep it from flopping around. This would make a nice lower bathrobe border. I didn't trim off the excess because I might make it longer once I determine where it will go.

Vacation Project

I'm taking a break from Bonnie's Free Pattern blocks on Quiltville while I'm in NC searching for a new sewing room to call home......  But I did bring a project to work on.

This will kinda be like the Scrappy Trips block but I am using rectangles instead of the traditional squares. The finished rectangles are 1" x 2". These are what I call the UP Hill blocks.

These are my Down Hill blocks. If you use squares you don't have to worry about up and down because they can be rotated sideways. All these blocks will have the black diagonal thru the center and then white 2 rows over. 

Sasha is tired from a long walk around the golf course in the heat. 

She was an excellent traveller driving down here. 

We were in bumper to bumper traffic from DC to Fredericksburg, VA. 

We left after school at 2:22 and didn't arrive until 10:45! 

It's usually 5 1/2 hours driving plus a 1/2 hr eating stop.

We stopped for dinner at 6:26 BEFORE we even got to Richmond!! UGH

But it's SO beautiful here! Sunny and hot--just how I like it. Smile...