Block by Block

This is going to sound odd coming from a quilter, but piecing is not my favorite part of quilting. I prefer the design and free-motion quilting parts the best. I piece to see my design and to get something to quilt. This weekend I spent my time piecing guild blocks.

This is my design for a quilt "strip" 9"x 72". Eight others in my guild are also making a "strip". We will put them all together for the MQG/QuiltCon Charity Challenge

Here are some of the elements of my strip

The two blocks below are the last two blocks for my guild's scrap bag/block exchange. Both are enlarged variations from Tula Pink's 100 Modern Quilt Blocks. You can see how to resize a block here.

At this point I'm ready to find something to FMQ! Alas, I have more piecing to do! 

Today I'm linking up with A Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday and Free Motion by the River for Linky Tuesday.

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Fabric Tuesday

I have been busy the last few weeks, but not much to show for it.

I did get two more guild blocks done. I have been resizing some of Tula Pink's 100 Modern Quilt Blocks from her 6"x 6" to 12"x12". I have to say that so far my resizing tool, that I posted here, has worked like a charm. I showed it to the IMQG yesterday and they seemed to love it. It takes the need to do math away.

I also received the cutest Halloween postcard from my partner at the Rochester Modern Quilt Guild, five little pumpkins. Here is a link to the postcard that I made and sent out.

The Postcard I received

 

Here is a collection of postcards from the IMQG guild meeting.

Today I'm linking up with A Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday and Free Motion by the River for Linky Tuesday.

Now, I'm off to vote!

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Quilt Block Converter/Resizer

Yesterday I showed the math you need to use to resize a quilt block. Unfortunately, some people (who will remain nameless),don't like math, even if you lay it out with nice formulas. So I put on my thinking cap and came up with a calculator that you just have to enter in the block pieces and it will calculate the new numbers for you. Voila'!



Hopefully this works on all different devices. I got it to work on my android cell phone and on my android tablet (on the tablet I had to switch to full web version, but I didn't have to on my phone). I am interested to know if there are any blocks that this doesn't work, it has worked on the simple ones I have tested, but....there may be exceptions.

Here is a quick look-up to convert fractions to decimals, since my converter needs decimals:
1/8 = .125
1/4 = .25
3/8 = .375
1/2 = .5
5/8 = .625
3/4 = .75
7/8 = .875


Here is another block that I converted from a 6" x 6" finished block to a 12" x 12" block from Tula Pink's 100 Modern Blocks.

Please let me know if this works or doesn't work.

I'm linking up today with Linky Tuesday at Free Motion by the River and Fabric Tuesday at A Quilt Story.

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

How to Resize a Quilt Block

My quilt guild (Ithaca Modern Quilt Guild) is in the middle of a scrap bag/block exchange. Everyone makes up multiple bags of scraps and exchanges it with someone else and they each make the other person a 12 1/2" x 12 1/2" (unfinished) modern block in return. I exchanged with 6 other members, so I have 6 blocks to make. I thought it would be fun to make some of the blocks for Tula Pink's book 100 Modern Quilt Blocks.

This is a wonderful book with lovely modern blocks. The only problem is that they are 6" finished (6 1/2" unfinished) blocks. A bit too small for me. Sew, I needed to resize the blocks to 12 1/2"x 12 1/2" unfinished block (12" x 12" finished).

WARNING: Math ahead!!!!

Block No. 16 from 100 Modern Blocks. The penciled in numbers are the new sizes for each block component to
make it 12" 12"

This is the formula for resizing any block, making it smaller or larger!

Desired Finished Block Size/Current Finished Block Pattern Size =  Block Multiplier

Example to convert the above block:

Desired Finished block size = 12"
Current Finished block pattern size = 6"

12/6 = 2
Block Multiplier = 2

This is the part that stumps most people, you have to remove the seam allowances on each component of the block because the seam allowance never increases or decreases with a pattern. It is always 1/2" (1/4" on each side).

The first component of the block is 1"x 3 1/2" for the 6" block pattern

1"(dimension) - 1/2" (both seams allowances) = 1/2"
1/2" x 2 (block multiplier) = 1"
add back the 1/2" seam allowance = 1 1/2"

3 1/2" (dimension)- 1/2" (both seam allowances in this dimension) = 3"
3" x 2 = 6"
add back the 1/2" seam allowance = 6 1/2"

The new dimensions for the first piece of this block  = 1 1/2" x 6 1/2"

You will need to do that for each of the pieces of the block.

If you want the whole formula:
((block multiplier) x (current component size dimension - 1/2")) + 1/2"

This block now measures 12 1/2" x 12 1/2"

This also works to make a block smaller.

Example: You would like to make a 12" x 12" finished current pattern sized block into a 9" x 9" desired finished block size.

9/12 = .75 would be your block multiplier. Use the same formula above to convert all of the pieces of the block.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions!

Today I'm linking up with Anything Goes Monday at Stitch by Stitch and with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times

Color Me Quilty!

Pat