The Free Trade Pattern was published in the Kansas City Star in 1933. The example quilt layout shows how the blocks interact with each other. I especially like the diamonds that appear as the points of the stars come together. AccuQuilt GO! Dies and rotary cutting instructions are provided.
Fabric A - Cream or Tan fabric
Fabric B - Green fabric
Cut 6 Fabric A Squares - GO! Square 2 1/2" 55059 or Value Die 55018 or use 55014 or 55017 2 1/2" Strip Cutter, then rotate 90° and sub cut into 2 1/2" squares
Cut 10 Fabric A Triangles - Go! Half Square 2" Finished Triangles: Die 55063 or Value Die 55018
Cut 10 Fabric B Triangles - Go! Half Square 2" Finished Triangles: Die 55063 or Value Die 55018
This block is simple and straight forward when piecing the squares and half square triangles. The example quilt layout shows how the blocks interact with each other. AccuQuilt GO! Dies and rotary cutting instructions are provided.
Fabric A - Light Lavender fabric
Fabric B - Purple/Green fabric
Cut 4 Fabric A Squares - GO! Square 2 1/2" 55059 or Value Die 55018 or use 55014 or 55017 2 1/2" Strip Cutter, then rotate 90° and sub cut into 2 1/2" squares
Cut 4 Fabric B Squares - GO! Square 2 1/2" 55059 or Value Die 55018 or use 55014 or 55017 2 1/2" Strip Cutter, then rotate 90° and sub cut into 2 1/2" squares
Cut 8 Fabric A Triangles - Go!Half Square 2" Finished Triangles: Die 55063 or Value Die 55018
Cut 8 Fabric B Triangles - Go!Half Square 2" Finished Triangles: Die 55063 or Value Die 55018
Giving is in the air this time of year and we've been busy. We got together and made a dozen heart pillows for charity. The pillows are given to breast cancer patients to put under their arm to help protect their tender surgery and/or injection points. It's also a comfort pillow since it's a handmade gift to help them through this difficult time.
We chose calm soft cotton fabric and polyfil for the pillows. We heard about the charity from our quilt guild and found out our local quilt shop, Sylvia's Quilt Depot, accepted the pillows and passed them on to the charity representative.
We had a lot of fun making them. I remember commenting to Mom that this was the first time I had sewn curves on my machine. It just never came up until then and it wasn't really that hard, so it was great getting to learn a new skill. We hand cut the heart pillow patterns out, stitched them together on our machines leaving a hole for turning and filling, snipped the curves and turned them right sides out, filled them with polyfil, and then hand stitched the opening closed.
It's that time of year again and we've been out shopping, baking, quilting, and busy, busy, busy. One of the highlights this year was getting to go to the Valley Quilters' Guild meeting. We had a potluck, ornament exchange, the usual fat quarter raffle, the quilt basket (fabric, tools and other fun things) raffle, and door prizes. It was a really fun night.
Mom made Cream Cheese Tortilla Roll-ups and I brought some locally made Bullseye Rye Bread from North Star Bakery. We were in the bread and appetizer group for the potluck which was great since this was our first potluck with the guild and we weren't really sure what everyone liked. Turned out to be lots of finger food and desserts, which was great.
Mom and I each made an ornament for the exchange. She created a beautiful appliqued holly ornament and I made a mini disappearing nine patch block. My block turned out a little off, since quilting when you're tired and on a block pattern you've never done before isn't the best idea, but with a little bit of embellishments I think it turned out nice.
The ornaments were wrapped when we exchanged them, little packages full of surprises. There were lots of really neat ornaments and an amazing amount of techniques used. Pretty much anything was allowed as long as the ornament was handmade so there were beaded ornaments like icicles, lace angels, stockings, quilt blocks, paper art, and more. Mom received an intricate wool appliqued ornament and I got a neat green stocking.
One great idea we want to remember for next year is wrapping the ornament in a piece of fabric. It was a really nice touch! We added chocolate to our ornament packets which the recipients seemed to like.
In addition to the ornament fun, Mom won one of the fat quarter raffle prize packs (she never wins things so that was the highlight of the night for me) and I won one of the door prizes. It was a fun night and a great way to celebrate the holiday season.