Cloud9 New Block Blog Hop Archives

Welcome to my blog, especially to any first time visitors finding me through the blog hop. I'm joined by almost 70 quilters over the next three days for the 2016 Cloud9 New Block Blog Hop, hosted by Yvonne @Quilting Jetgirl, Cheryl @Meadow Mist Designs and Stephanie @Late Night Quilter. Each participant has designed and created a 12" finished block that will be donated to the hosts to make into charity quilts. And we've each created a free tutorial of our block for you. Our hosts curated this Berry Harvest bundle of Cirrus Solids from Cloud 9: Amazon, Sky, Iris, Lilac, and Shadow. Cloud9 generously donated fat quarters of each fabric to each participant.

I love this palette. Purple is my absolute favorite color and, in general, I'm a fan of the cool side of the spectrum. Early in the design process I began toying with a design involving transparency since I liked the idea of two layers of the lighter color "overlapping to create" the darker color. Initially I was working only with rectangles. It was late in the game that I decided to make one shape a triangle, forming a trapezoidal overlap. This also allowed me to create a design with rotational symmetry within the block. Here is my final design, Geometric Transparency.

CUTTING

Dark Fabrics (Amazon & Iris), cut from each:
A. (1) 2.5-inch by 3.5-inch rectangle.

Light Fabrics (Sky & Lilac), cut from each:
B. (1) 1.5-inch by 8.5-inch rectangle
C. (1) 2.5-inch by 5.5-inch rectangle
D. (1) 3.75-inch square
E. (2) 2.5-inch squares

Background Fabric (Shadow), cut:
F. (2) 1.5-inch by 12.5-inch rectangles
G. (2) 1.5-inch by 10.5-inch rectangles
H. (1) 4.5-inch square
I. (2) 1.5-inch by 3.5-inch rectangles
J. (2) 1.5-inch by 2.5-inch rectangles
K. (2) 3.75-inch squares

Piecing Directions

Sew all seams with an accurate 1/4" seam allowance. My seams are pressed open, using a shortened stitch length of 2.0. I find pressing seams open helps me match up points and makes free motion quilting easier.

Step 1: Use 2.5-inch by 3.5-inch dark fabric and coordinating light 2.5-inch square. Mark diagonal on each square as shown in first photo below. Sew on marked line and trim off excess fabric 1/4" from stitching (second photo below). Press open (no photo) and set aside.

Step 2: Pair each 3.75-inch light squares with a 3.75-inch background square. Mark and sew on the diagonal. Trim 1/4-inch from stitching line and press open. Trim to 3.5-inch square.

Step 3: Attach HSTs from step 2 to 1.5-inch by 3.5-inch rectangles of background fabric as shown below.

Step 4: Piece sections to form each row. Rows should finish at 10.5-inches wide.
Row 1: G (no piecing)
Row 2: B + H
Row 3: C + unit from step 1 + E
Row 4: unit from step 3 + H + unit from step 3
Row 5: E + unit from step 1 + C
Row 6: H + B
Row 7: G (no piecing)

Step 5: Attach rows in order shown. Pay particular attention to matching up points. These photos show how I matched up my points when connecting rows 4 and 5.

Use straight pin to go through the fabric 1/4-inch from the edge, directly through the seams for each triangle. Pin should be perpendicular to fabrics.