Thursday, October 25, 2012

Quilt Block Sew A long

It's a BLOCK DRIVE!!!


I have been asked by many what they can do to help us make more Quilts of Valor - so I talked with Bonnie Hunter and she gave us permission to use her block -- Scrappy Trips around the World to do a block drive with!!

So... here's the block first:



Now the details - 
It should finish at about 12 1/2 by 12 1/2- 
That is the goal ;-)

You need 5  2 1/2 x 16 inch strips of Blues or Reds
and 1  2 1/2 strip of White

I then layed them out as shown and sewed them all together. 
The last seam I sewed the white to the top blue - so I had a tube.




Once they are sewn together I took the Tube to the ironing board and ironed the seams every other way. That is how Bonnie's Instructions said to do it, so that when you re-sew the segments together the seams interlock. AND!!! It works!!

After I pressed the tube I brought it back to the cutting table and cut 6  - 2 1/2 inch segments. Now here is the tricky part, you un-sew each segment at a different spot to prep it to re sew...


I unsewed the first segment so the white was at the top, then unsewed the second segment so that if took the second place, and sew on.... till the segments were all layed out like the picture below.


And Ta - Da - this is the block!!  Mine measured 12 1/2 by 12 1/2. ( success!!)

I think that if we lay them out 5 x 6  we could have some beautiful quilts!!
Our goal is 60 x 72 ish sizes. The minimum size requirement for a Quilt of Valor is 55 x 65, and the ma is 72 x 80 - but being a tallish person - I like the 60 x 72 size ;-)

So what do you think? Would you like to try a block or five? We have sew days here once a month, and we would love to put them together into tops, and get these quilts to our soldiers!  

If you would like to participate - I sure would love it!  And I am going to add a little incentive...

From today until November 15th 
*** for every 5 blocks submitted, I will enter you into a drawing for a 5 yard fabric bundle... Of course it will be Red White and Blue fabrics - ***

I want to entice you to fall in LOVE with these colors. My address is here - and you can always email me for info. Make sure when you send in your blocks you attach an email to them so I can 
1. Enter you in the drawing
2. Email you if you won, so I can get the fabrics to you!




10 comments:

heather said...

Great idea. I made a quilt with that pattern before. It is a lot of fun.

Kat Scribner said...

This is great encouragement, Alycia, and a great tutorial; just the nudge I needed to participate! I hope you get a huge response. Who will be finishing them into quilts?

Nancy said...

Great idea.

Terri said...

What a sneaky method! How fun! I've gotta try it, at least.
Hugs

QuiltinLibraryLady said...

Sounds like fun. I've made that block before. Will have to see what I can do.

Jessica said...

I'm in for a few! Taught this class so I'm pretty fast with these. Also, will see you Sunday! Forgot to tell you.

Nikki said...

Love this block. Do you want all blues in a block and all reds in another or can the blues and red be in the same block as long as the center one is white?

Thanks,
Nikki in VA
nikki_moshier at hotmail.com

Kevin the Quilter said...

Count me in!
photokevin@centurytel.net

Bonnie said...

That would work great as a leader ender for my current project. My hang up is I keep running out of blues and reds. But my plainer blues and reds would work great with your Americana fabrics? Hopefully I can make some for you.

Cyn said...

Nifty idea. I'll try and knock out a few. Have to ck and see if I have any r/w/bl fabrics left!