Here’s a great little block for all of you beginners out there!
The Broken Dishes block is a classic traditional block made up entirely of HSTs*.
Its design aesthetics are endless and it is insanely quick to make!
So if you’re looking for an easy block design that is the next step up from a Four Patch Block then you’ve come to the right place!!
Measurements & Cutting Instructions…
From the GREY fabric cut:
– x2: 5″ squares
From the PRINTED fabrics cut:
– x1: 5″ square of each
The finished size of the block is around 22cm square or 8&5/8″ square.
Things I used in this video:
– Printed Fabrics: ‘Piccadilly’ fabric range by DS Quilts Collection
– Clover Finger Presser: http://goo.gl/IOXilY
– Brother Innovis 200QE sewing machine
– Fiskars rotary blades, cutting mats and scissors
– Sew Easy quilting rulers
And here’s a great example by Red Pepper Quilts using the traditional Broken Dishes block in a very modern way! (Personally, I love the use of all the solid colours working so harmoniously together!)
Do you have any quilt blocks you’d love for me to demonstrate? I’m currently in the midst of organising my tutorials schedule for next year and would love to add your suggestion to the list! Comment below with your marvellous idea! 😊
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been busy cutting, piecing and quilting this beautiful little quilt for my future niece, due next month.
For this quilt, I wanted to merge traditional with modern by using this Bear Paw Block as the central design while featuring fresh colours and modern quilting lines.
I also have to admit that it was joyfully wonderful to finally work in the colour pink! After making quilts for four nephews, the change in colour palette was like a beautiful breeze of fresh air!
I gifted this quilt away yesterday at her baby shower and I can only hope that she will find comfort and warmth in it always!
I thought it would be fit to dedicate this particular block to all of my friends (that’s you!) who live in the Northern Hemisphere who are welcoming the coming months of fall/autumn!
I hope you enjoy the cooler months!
#totesjealous
So this block, just like others I’ve demonstrated in the past, is super simple and is ideal for the beginner quilter who would like to stretch their legs a bit and give HSTs (that is, half square triangles) a go!
Learning how to make HSTs is an essential skill to learn if you’re serious about patchwork. It will become one of those knowing-how-to-write-without-thinking-about-it type skills that you’ll forever be falling back on again and again.
So if you feel unsure about making HSTs or just have no clue what a HST is, watch the tutorial and you’ll know!!
(PS. You can find all of the measurement and cutting instructions for this block at the end of this post!)
If I’ve inspired you to make this block, then here are just a few creative ways this block can be used to make a beautiful quilt!
Here are the links of where you can find the makers of these darling quilts!
I feel as though I’ve been a little mysterious of late…
Lots of big changes and ideas have been happening on this side of the monitor and I feel as though I need to write them all down, just so I can get my head to process it all!
So, shall we start?
(I have a fresh cup of tea to my right, notes in front of my keyboard and a gentle rain falling outside. I think the timing is perfect!)
First of all, I’m not sure whether you’re aware of the fact that for almost two years I’ve been ‘unemployed’. Although I’ve been studying here, there and everywhere and I’ve been writing my blog, creating quilts and making YouTube videos, I haven’t been in a paying job for almost 24 months. And it hasn’t been for a lack of trying either! For the past year or so, I’ve been actively job searching/applying and being actively passed over, rejected and/or ignored.
So where is this all leading to, you may ask…?
I got a job! I finally, finally, FINALLY bagged myself a job!
Now, it’s nothing fancy, permanent or local (40 minute train trip into the city!)… It’s a simple casual retail job (my only type of work experience) at one of the big department stores we have here in Australia. Although it may seem simple-ish to some, it’s a huge deal for me, especially after searching for any type of employment for more than 12 months!
I start tomorrow (induction and store orientation) and then I start sharing my ‘happy retail face’ to the world again!
There’s something quite nice and strangely normal about finally having a job… It’s a calming peace-of-mind feeling that you’re contributing to society just that tiny bit more again and that you, as a whole, and your skills have some sort of worth.
I now also have peace-of-mind in building up my Savings again! Boy, has that taken a hit over the past few months!
(Luckily I still live with my parents! They truly are the best parents this girly could ever ask for!)
Next, is new University units! This semester, I’ve opted to study online at home so I could have the flexibility to work (see above!) as well as to concentrate on creating better content for my blog and YouTube channel.
I’m still on a Fine Arts Degree kind of track, concentrating more on Art History as well as Theory and Practical Arts along with Web Media and Communication.
I started two units last week, the same week I received my new job invitation, and am loving the flexibility it gives me to work at my own pace and when my mind is up to the task! (Plus it allows me to save money on travel AND I can sleep-in! No early classes for me thank you!)
So moving on from that, I’ve also been brainstorming some new ideas in reference to the content I want to create and share with you here and on YouTube.
I still want to continue with my Quilt Block Tutorial series as they are the most popular and most loved by my viewers. But I’ve also been contemplating on perhaps creating a crafting/DIY-ing type of series where I show you how to make nifty little projects, knick-knacks and thingys.
I would also like to start, maybe, filming/uploading weekly vlogs, but I’m feeling a little shy and self-conscious about that idea at the moment. Naturally, I’m a pretty quite person (introvert alert!) and I lead a pretty boring, non-dramatic and sheltered kind of life, so I can’t really envisage what exactly I would vlog about.
So I think I’m still in the very, very early planning stages on that one, but my little crafting/DIY series has a very promising future to it!
(Side note: Do you have any ideas/contributions of what I could make or would like to see me make? Tell me! Comment below or email me at 3and3quarters@gmail.com)
And lastly, I actually put a little bit of interest in my life last week (I admit, I’m not totally boring and yawn-ish all the time!) and went to see the Vivid Sydney Light Festival!
(Last week was a week of lots of things just happening!)
I made a little vlog of the night in semi-preparation for my maybe/maybe-not weekly vlog idea (which at the moment is border-lining the ‘maybe-not’) and I want to share it with you just in case you’re not really into the ‘YouTube Scene’.
Here’s a little story: The last time I went to this was 2012 and we went on a Saturday night, which was a BIG mistake! The quay-side was absolutely packed, I felt like a human salmon, swimming against the stream! I like to think that I’m a very patient person in all aspects of life BUT, when it comes to being trapped in a crowd of people, my patience deserts me and I get very irate and annoyed very quickly! Then you have to deal with people on the train home…
This is the third tutorial I’ve posted in row here on my blog – it’s as though I do nothing else!
Anywho – requests came through for me to demonstrate this block after the quilt I made this block with received a prized ribbon at the Sydney Royal Easter Show in April!
I’ve been a busy little bunny these past few days.
And I can finally present to you a finished quilt top!
I like to the think of the star blocks as
‘Like Diamonds In The Sky’…
So pretty!
Admittedly, the whole thing needs a good press – especially around the edged sashing – but still, it looks good!
So it’s now onto the next stage!
Basting!!
I used to dread when it came to this part…
Lying all over the floor and busting my back sticking pins into a quilt. It’s wasn’t my cup-of-tea so to speak.
But to the rescue came Quilt Basting Spray!
And now, what was a whole day job has become a 15 minute job! (That is: basting and ironing times combined together!)
I plan to back the quilt with this floral print that I have literally a whole ton of and am desperate to use up as quickly as possible! And then bind it with the white/navy stripes.
I’m also trying something new with the thread I’ll be using to stitch my quilty lines.
I’m going to give this a go…
It’s a spool of Gutermann Sulky Machine Embroidery thread (100% Cotton) that has variegated shades of navy blue/turquoise/purple/maroon.
I’m hoping the shades will blend well with the fabrics that make up the quilt top.
Although the thread seems a little thick than usual, I have my fingers crossed that my machine can take it and feed it through evenly enough as we go along!
So for the rest of the week (and no doubt the weekend too!), I hope to be parked permanently in front of my sewing machine!
…you make a soothingly warm lemony drink powerful enough to banish all unwanted weekend sniffles.
Yes, that’s right, all my weekend plans went out the window when I was struck down by one of those pesky not-yet-a-head-cold-but-soon-will-be yucky feelings.
So I pumped my body full of some good ole vitamin C, a healthy dose of Ibuprofen and snuggled down under a quilt with a book: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green.
And blamed the abrupt change of the weather for my sudden bout of illness!
One day it’s hot and sunny, the next cold and rainy – welcome to autumn: Australian style!
Anyway, enough about feeling sorry for myself…
I had planned for the weekend to begin filming a video tutorial (VT) I had promised about Foundation Paper Piecing – obviously didn’t happen – as well as to continue on my way with my Friendship Star blocks.
Foundation Paper Piecing Video Tutorial | Pattern Sneak Peek!
Now the latter did happen: four more pretty little blocks are adorning my design wall, giving me ample encouragement to keep-on-keeping-on with this quilt because the end result is going to be FABULOUS!!
(If I may say so myself!)
Top: 14 blocks completed! Bottom: The perspective shot!
So the next few days I hope to concentrate on getting said VT on it’s way, taking onboard all of your wonderful suggestions, thoughts and opinions on how I can improve and make my VTs better for you to watch and learn from.
This past weekend I was invited to demonstrate some quilty techniques and projects at my local Spotlight, in celebration of their National Craft Month.
Although the crowd was small, I had a lovely relaxing time sewing, chatting, learning and sewing some more.
Among many things, I demonstrated how to cut, piece and join these three 9-Patch blocks:
– The Shoofly
– The Snowball
– The Friendship Star
And it’s with the Friendship Star block that I found myself unexpectedly started a new quilt…
One of the projects I was asked to make was a quilt featuring the Friendship Star block as its focus.
So I chose these colours: Navy and Cream Homespun paired with an awesome Cynthia Rowley Prism print.
The print fabric really helps the ‘star’ part of the block to pop out! I love it!
So I’m six blocks in from a potential 25 to be made.
I’m not sure when that will actually happen…
Uni started back this week and I’m already crushing under a new wave of assessments and deadlines.
This weekend is out as I’m taking a mini-break to our nation’s capital – Canberra – to get me some culture! (We’ll be visiting lots of art galleries and exhibitions!)
I’m so impatient to get this quilt going, as I know it’ll be a beauty once it’s finished!
Plus I’ve already promised it as a display piece for my lovely friends at Spotlight…
Hmm, I think I see some late nights looming in the future!
3and3quarters 