It can be fun to play with with blocks by adding a few lines in EQ – no one says you actually have to make them but if you do want to make this block you can download the templates for 6 inch and 9 inch blocks here. As we have looked at the Big and Little Trees block earlier I have been playing with this one – just one result today but you can play along by drawing lines on the block to colour included in the download earlier in the month.
This is just a simple alteration as I have just drawn a couple of diagonal lines across the big tree and straight ones across the little tree. I could have done it the other way about or done both the same but I thought I would leave those to your imagination or let you try it on paper.
You can use both the blocks in a quilt or in a table runner – it can be effective to flip a block or two as well.
I have a new computer and thus a new download of EQ and haven’t yet played with the settings – the black ‘seam’ lines look quite heavy in this mock-up and have made the block look like stained glass, so there’s another idea for you!
Once more we link through to our sister site and another Tile Tuesday. This time is a rather lovely (if overgrown) path in Eastbourne.
We’ve turned this into a runner pattern which is available from our Payhip shop – although we have simplified the border design otherwise it overwhelmed the centre. Hopefully a full-size quilt pattern including the original border will be available soon (Chris is working on it!)
We seem to be more than halfway through October already. How and when did that happen? This seriously weird year seems to be passing even quicker than a normal one – which is possibly a good thing. Anyway, halfway through October means it is time to hunt out those seasonal fabrics to make ‘stuff’ to decorate the home with. (Notice we are avoiding the C word!)
Over in the Meadowside shop we have a number of seasonal items that are quick to make so we’ll have a review of some of them in the next few weeks, starting with table runners today. Click on the runner name to go to the pattern page in the shop. None of the patterns are expensive and all have step-by-step illustrations.
One that has proved popular over the years is the Tangled Star runner. The pattern provided has lots of ideas and it can be made with templates or rotary cut and machine pieced.
This next runner is called Aunt Dinah – after the name of the block. Although this one is made in non-seasonal colours we have added a mock-up of a red/green/white colourway on the pattern page to give you an idea of what you could make at this time of year.
The next few runners are really quick and easy – they all started life as one-day workshops. This first one we called the Fat Quarter Runner as it originally used a bundle of five fat quarters, but you could use fewer – this one illustrated used four plus the background.
Christmas Stars is just one block but the colours are switched in alternate blocks
The Zig-zag Stars runner is a similar concept – one block, different colouring
Another runner in the collection is the Poinsettia. This uses the blocks from the Poinsettia wall-hanging pattern but puts them together in a line instead of a square.
All the runners shown can be made bigger by adding further borders or pointed ends – as the Aunt Dinah runner has. Or you can go the other way and turn the blocks into table toppers by joining four blocks in a 2 x 2 setting.
Lots of patterns can be made into seasonal items simply by changing the colouring, or these Christmas ones (oh – we said it, sorry) can be made for any time of the year by using colours to suit your decor. There are a lot of patterns in our shop but if you look at the top you will find ‘category’ tabs so you can look for runners, or for Christmas, or whatever else you need, which will narrow things down a bit!
Our free pattern today is a simple little runner or banner that first appeared in Patchwork and Quilting magazine, in 2007, as a Junior Project – so this is ideal for something quick, or for a beginner, or as a craft project to do with children stuck at home.
It takes a few fat quarters and/or scraps of fabric and some fusible web – especially if working with children – or you may prefer to use your own favourite applique method.
Add your own fun embellishments and variations as well to make it your own. Some children I worked with added a hungry caterpillar to their apples.
Given what’s going on these days we decided to keep us all busy during our enforced isolation with yet more ideas and things to make by offering a free pattern on Fridays for as long as it takes.
So – if you fancy ‘doing a runner’ we have a pattern today. You can make this by hand (EPP or otherwise) or by machine.
What you will get in your download is a worksheet from a Chris & Barbara workshop back in 2013 but we think that you have all the information (and templates) in there that you need.
For those doing it by machine here’s a quick slideshow of step by step photos –
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And here’s a couple of blocks others have made – one from Barbara and one from Karen.
And then there are other ways to put these blocks together –
Have fun with this. Keep sewing . . .keep safe . . .
It may be a long time until December but those red and green festive prints are going to start arriving in the shops very soon! So I have just added a new pattern to the Payhip shop (it used to be on Craftsy (RIP) but the new site – Bluprint – has removed it along with most of my other patterns).
I have (with the usual imagination) named it Poinsettias. It is a small wall-hanging or table topper, measuring 32 inches square when finished.
The pattern also includes instructions to turn the blocks into a table runner instead of a table topper.
Or you could go mad and make a full size festive quilt.
Whichever you choose those little flowers are a great way to use up your red scraps!
This Christmas runner is really quick and easy. We’ve made it at workshops at The Corner Patch for a few years now and each time our beginner quilters have completed the top in the day. You can find the pattern on the Craftsy page here, but in the meantime here’s some photos of the results from this year’s students (not all of them wanted to do ‘Christmas’) –
We love the richness of the gold in this one.
Not so Christmas are the following two –
and back to Christmas again –
and finally the one made as this year’s shop sample
We just love the way this runner looks good no matter what fabrics you use, or where you place the emphasis.
A few new patterns have been added to our Payhip page – the Autumnal Stars sampler (recently available as our ‘Block of the Month’), a different stars sampler, a Christmas table topper and the Tangled Stars runner.
The All Stars sampler below was another Block of the Month at The Corner Patch so the instructions are step by step through various different techniques for piecing the main patchwork units – a useful adjunct to our tutorials on the same units, with the bonus of a quilt at the end.
The table topper was developed from the centre of last year’s Block of the Month at the Corner Patch. Based on Log Cabin, it can be pieced conventionally or foundation-pieced.
The Tangled Star runner is done in Christmas colours but looks good in other colourways as well. Both conventional piecing and foundation piecing methods are described and you can choose which to follow (or try both).
A new ‘Block of the Month’ pattern will be appearing on these page from September, so remeber to look out for it. In the meantime the Simple Blocks series will be starting up again very soon.
This pattern really is easy – and quick. It was taught as part of a Beginners Patchwork class at The Corner Patch last Christmas and there has been much demand for a repeat class and/or the pattern. So (‘by popular demand’) it is now available on the Christmas Patterns page of the website.
Here are a few snapshots of some of the ‘finishes’ by the end of the workshop. They are bit blurry as it was hard to get anyone to stay still long enough to take a photo.
No pressure then – if this is what complete beginners can achieve in a 10 – 4 workshop, you have plenty of time to make several. The pattern also includes instructions for matching table mats.
Some time ago we taught Tangled Star at an evening class; having just found the worksheet while tidying up (but not the sample) I decided to give it another go. I made three blocks – one using templates and two foundation-pieced using light-weight Vilene as a foundation for one and Golden Threads paper for the other. My most accurate was the one with templates, but I don’t like foundation-piecing so that probably accounts for it. Surprisingly it was the one using paper that was the least accurate.
But what to do with three blocks? It’s nearly November, which is nearly December, which is nearly . . . and the blocks are red, green and white :
So I quilted it with holly and berries as well. I’ve written up the pattern and included both templates and foundation-piecing sections so you can choose which method to use. I’ve also incuded my quilting drawings. The pattern is available from my Craftsy page at only $6 for all those templates. The block size is 12 inches and the runner measures about 17 x 51 inches. If you wished you could omit the corner setting triangles so the runner had pointed ends and/or you could add a border.
(And why has the picture come out so the runner is not horizontal, the way the picture was taken? And why won’t it turn around??!)
meadowside-designs 