Jaftex 85th Birthday Celebration and blog hop

Jaftex is the parent company of Henry Glass & Co., Studio e Fabrics, and most recently Blank Quilting Corp. An exciting blog hop starts tomorrow to celebrate their 85th birthday! The co-sponsors of some wonderful prizes are Aurifil threads, Janome, and Schmetz Needles!

Please join me on September 7th for the blog hop and all of these wonderful designers working under the Jaftex umbrella!

September 1 - Kim Diehl guest posting @ American Patchwork & Quilting

September 2 - Pepper @ Pepper at the Quilt Studio 

September 3 - Anjeanette @ Anjeanette Klinder 

September 4 - Leanne @ The Whole Country Caboodle   

September 5 - Mark @ Mark Lipinski's Blog

September 6 - Heather @ Heather Kojan Quilts  

September 7 - Heather @ Trends and Traditions  

September 7 - Martha @ Wagons West Designs  

September 8 - Linda @ Linda Lum DeBono 

September 9 - Heidi @ Red Letter Quilts 

September 10 - Jill @ Jillily Studios  

September 10 - Dana @ My Lazy Daisy  

September 11 - Penny @ Sew Simple Designs  

September 12 - Ida @ Cowtown Quilts 

September 13 - Liz and Beth @ Lizzie B Cre8ive  

September 14 - Melissa @ Sew Bitter Sweet Designs

September 15 - Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl    

September 16 - Amy @ Kati Cupcake 

September 16 - Barbara @ QuiltSoup2 

September 17 - Erica @ Kitchen Table Quilting 

September 18 - Leona @ Leona's Quilting Adventure 

September 19 - Margot @ The Pattern Basket  

September 20 - Sylvia @ Flying Parrot Quilts   

September 21 - Lorna @ Sew Fresh Quilts  

September 22 - Kim @ Aurifil Threads  

September 23 - Rebekah @ Don't Call Me Becky   

September 24 - Julie @ The Crafty Quilter 

September 25 - Mary Ellen @ Little Quilts  

September 25 - Mary Jane @ Holly Hill Designs 

September 26 - Daisy @ Ants to Sugar

September 27 - Melissa @ Happy Quilting

September 28 - Janet @ One S1ster

Applique and Quarter Triangle Squares

Recently, I had the pleasure of working with fabrics from some upcoming fall Moda fabric collections, such as Alice's Scrapbag, Eliza's Indigo, Hawthorne Ridge, and more, some of which I incorporated into my new quilt. I can't unveil the entire quilt yet, but here is a portion of the pretty swag border:

Blocks made with "Quarter of a square" triangles, or quarter square triangles, for short, are also incorporated into the quilt, and here are a few blocks that didn't make their way into the quilt:

I think these blocks are so much fun to make (much more so than triangle squares, in my humble opinion), so I thought I would add this little tutorial on 2 different ways to make a 4 inch finished quarter square triangle block, just in case you haven't made one yourself yet.

METHOD 1

The first method will yield two finished 4 inch blocks. You will need 1 - 5 1/4" square in a light fabric, and 1 - 5 1/4" square in a darker fabric. On the lighter fabric, mark a diagonal line from corner to corner with a contrasting marking tool (in this case I used a pencil), and again from the opposite corner.

Place the squares right sides together, with the marked square on top. Stitch 1/4" away on both sides of ONE marked diagonal line as shown:

Next, cut apart on BOTH marked diagonal lines.

Open each unit and press seams towards darker triangle. You will now have four units. Arrange two units so that light and dark are opposite and place right sides together. Stitch a 1/4" seam along the long edge of triangles.

Press seam to one side. Pressing the seam open works, too.

METHOD 2

  

Here is a second way to make 4 inch finished quarter triangle squares. This method yields one block. I like this method for using 5 1/2" charm squares. The only drawback to this method is that the four sides of the finished block are on the bias. I wouldn't make a whole quilt using only blocks with bias edges, but incorporating a few here and there is fine, especially when those bias edges match up to an edge on the straight of grain.

You will need to cut 2 - 3 3/4" squares, one light and one darker (or to contrast). Place right sides together, and stitch a 1/4" seam on opposite sides of the square.

The gray 2610 Aurifil thread that I used to blend with scrap patchwork worked all too well for this photograph. Sorry!

Next, cut the sewn squares in half ONCE diagonally as shown:

There will be a small amount of thread on one end of each unit, but when you open the unit up, the thread will pull out very easily.

Just as a reminder, the edges on the square using this method, will all be on the bias, so carefully press the seams to one side. Place each unit right sides together, and sew a 1/4" seam along the long edge of triangle. Open, and press seam.

The block will be slightly larger than 4 1/2" unfinished, so using a ruler with a 45 degree angle marked as shown, match the 45 degree angle to the diagonal seams, and trim the block to 4 1/2".

Trim one corner

 

 

 

Flip square around and trim the other corner

More beautiful blocks to add to my orphan block drawer!

Until next time!

Martha