Honey Honey Layer Cake

July 11, 2014July 27, 2015 ~ lk529 ~ 1 Comment

As I continued to make quilt blocks for my Old Glory Fourth of July quilt I traded out a few blocks for others that I felt worked better with the personality of the quilt. This particular block I found on Pinterest. You can see a whole quilt made with this block here, it’s stunning!

Here is the how-to for the Honey Honey Layer Cake Quilt Block:

Note: These measurements are for an 8″ block. Sew using a scant 1/4″ seam allowance.

Cut fabric:

8 squares 2 3/4″ red
8 squares 2 3/4″ white
4 squares 2 1/8″ red
4 squares 2 1/8″ white

Use the 8 squares of 2 3/4″ red and white to create 16 Half Square Triangles (HSTs) trimmed down to 2 1/8″. Click here for my tutorial on how to make Half Square Triangles.

Lay out HSTs and solid blocks into the Honey Honey Layer Cake quilt block:

Assemble each row of five:

Attach the five rows together:

Ohio Star

July 8, 2014July 27, 2015 ~ lk529 ~ Leave a comment

For my Old Glory Fourth of July quilt I used two different blocks for the stars section of the flag. One of them, Sarah’s Choice, is a 16-patch of half square triangles and squares so I did not feel a tutorial was necessary for that block. The other star block, Ohio Star, is a little trickier. This 9-patch is a made up of squares and what I call hour glasses (quarter-square triangles).

Here is the how-to for the Ohio Star Quilt Block:

Note: These measurements are for an 8″ block. Sew using a 1/4″ seam allowance.

Cut fabric:

1 square 3 1/8″ blue
4 squares 3 1/8″ white
2 squares 4 1/8″ blue
2 squares 4 1/8″ white

Layer one white 4 1/8″ square atop a blue 4 1/8″ square. Mark the diagonal and 1/4″ on each side of the diagonal:

Sew on each of the 1/4″ lines. Cut on the diagonal. Open up your half square triangles (HSTs) and iron to the dark:

Sandwich the HSTs so that blue and white are opposite each other. Mark the diagonal and 1/4″ on each side of the diagonal:

Sew on each of the 1/4″ lines. Cut on the diagonal. Open up your hour glasses and iron flat:

Trim down each hour glass to 3 1/8″ squares by treating one of the diagonals as a straight line and trim off the top and right side to just slightly larger than 3 1/8″. It is important that you line your ruler up so that the 3 1/8″ line is touching the edge of blue-on-white: Flip the block and now align your ruler with the cut edges. Finish to 3 1/8″:

Repeat the hour glass process for the other 4 1/8″ squares of fabric.

Now the Ohio Star is simply a 9-patch:

Snowflake Block

December 20, 2013July 27, 2015 ~ lk529 ~ Leave a comment

Engineer Kate and I figured out how to create a Snowflake block for the back of Let it Sew. We tried surfing the web for tutorials to follow but were unsuccessful. We knew there had to be a way without resorting to paper piecing.

Playing off of a “square in a square” block and sashing we managed!

Here is the how-to for a Snowflake Quilt Block:

Note: These measurements are for an 6″ snowflake block with 1″ wide snowflake lines.

Cut fabric:

4 squares 3 1/4″ white
1 square 1 1/2″ white
4 rectangles 1 1/2 x 3″ white
8 squares 3 1/4″ blue

Layer one blue square atop a white square. Mark the center diagonal, 1/2″ off of the diagonal, and an optional another 1/4″ off of that. (A bonus half square triangle will result from the optional 1/4″ steps!)

Sew on the 1/2″ line. Also sew on the 1/4″ if using. Cut in between the two stitches.

Iron the blue away from the white fabric. Take another blue square piece of fabric and line it up with the white on top of the resulting “block” from the previous steps.

Repeat the above steps and again iron the blue away from the white.

If you used the 1/4″ lines you now have two bonus half square triangles to do with what you wish! (For a project this small I would skip this step, but if you’re doing something larger by all means enjoy your bonus blocks!)