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Miss Rosies Quilt Co and MODA FABRICS and SUPPLIES have made The Village pattern available for FREE during this time. We all need good projects to keep our minds and hands busy and it really does take a village to make change in our world! So I'm sewing along too with my second Village quilt! This one is Christmas themed. I have charm packs of Circa, Thrive by Natalia Bonner, Merrily by Gingiber and my Splendid collection, along with some other Christmas Sweetwater and assorted other scrappy mixes of red and green fabrics. Bring on the holiday cheer! I'm going to be ready by this next December!    These are my first 27 blocks. I am having a great time just planning doors and roofs and walls. Join in and make your own village! Make sure to share with #modavillage if you are on instagram! Stay safe and sew on! The pattern is below and PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL QUILT SHOPS buy buying background fabrics for your Village quilt! Who is running sewalongs with the Village?? Well, on Instagram I have seen several. For shops and inspiration check out the feeds for @sandyleehart, @emiandkostudio, @patchworkathomespun, @dequiltster, @twiddletails, @jules_quilts_, @sugarpinecottage, @inthemakingbham, and @superbuzzy23 
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Hello and happy Wednesday! I hope you are all having a good time sewing with Moda Blockheads. I know for me, the sewing has been a really therapeutic time of my day with all that is going on. The hum of the machine, the focus on creating something, the calming energy of sewing and quilting...these have been a needed thing lately. Therefore I am especially happy to be providing a NEW BLOCK this week! UPDATE: I apologize that we've had an issue with connecting with the server for the pattern. Its back up now! Click the link in the gray box to get it from Moda. OR I've uploaded a PDF directly to my site and that is the BLUE "DOWNLOAD FILE" directly below this paragraph. I'm sorry for any problems you've had with getting the pattern (and keep reading for some color ideas):
 Meet BLOOMING LOVE. This block can be done in so many ways. We just had Saint Patrick's Day and couldn't you see this as a four leaf clover? Or a simple pinwheel? This block was born from my Picket quilt and the 18" block I designed "Full Bloom." I had a great time using the simple stitch and flip corners to make the picket fence or pointed ends to the sections. More info about stitch and flip is below. But for now, lets talk about how you can play with the block.  Half square triangles point to the center of the block with stitch and flip pointed ends extending from each one. A square is in each corner. These are some studies of how the block could look with different color play. For my block I was sewing I wanted to separate one section with a darker red to emphasize the heart within the pieces. I enjoy how it can look like both a flower and a heart, thus the name Blooming Love. Or what if you had two hearts, reflecting each other? In my mind, I originally thought of the pieces showing slight variations of color, either in scrappy mixes or light and dark hues. In the second row above, the 4 hearts meet at their points. Or, If you keep one side of the heart as a solid color and break the other side into two colors, and repeat and rotate that arrangement, it makes a pinwheel. The first two images on the third row show a gradation of colors that move around a wheel from light to dark. This could be really fun to try with some ombre fabrics. In fact, I'm updating this post to add some new pictures of one that I DID try with Ombre Confetti just today (Wednesday)! I made this one in the smaller, 6" size and used Thatched Burgundy for the background. On the last row you can see how it looks if you play with the corner blocks too or create some optical illusion with white center sides and dark corners.   Once you have decided what you are doing with your arrangement, its time to get started on those pieces...  If you haven't made stitch and flip blocks before, its pretty easy. A smaller square is added on a corner (right sides together) with a line drawn corner to corner, diagonally. Sew on that line. I sometimes just do a finger-press to crease the line into the fabric vs drawing it. After sewing, trim the corner off. I like to save those corners if they are big enough to use as half square triangles on other projects. If I'm saving them I will sew an additional seam 1/2" away from the first one (parallel the first seam), and then cut the corner off, leaving me with my little extra HSTs, already sewn. Since I'm making the 8" blocks for this project, the small stitch and flip corners are too little for me to make those extra blocks. I just throw the cut corners away or put them into my fabric cuttings that get donated for pet beds.  After cutting the corner off, make sure you press the flipped corner open before adding the other corner, just as you would when making flying geese. I've forgotten and had to rip out the top part before.  For the half square triangles in the center part of this block (the D pieces on the instructions) I increase the measurement 1/8th of an inch over what the directions say so my blocks are a little bigger when I make them, then I trim up my blocks. I like to use Bloc-Loc rulers to trim my half square triangles. I press the seam of my half square triangle to the dark side. Then the Bloc-Loc ruler ridge nestles up to the seam when you have the logo on the light side of the fabric. The ridge in the ruler helps it stay in place and aligned for you to trim the block.  You also might need to trim up corners on the stitch and flip pieces. Any ruler works fine for this. After trimming all the pieces up you can join into rows, then join the rows and TA DA...your Blooming Love block is ready to share some cheer!  If you've been following me these weeks, you have seen I've been making my blocks in both all Thatched fabrics for a more modern, solid look, and in Thatched mixed with scrappier mixes of fabrics. I've used fabrics from Abby Rose on this one to bring in my pink tones.  Here is the Picket quilt that was my original inspiration! It was lots of fun to design!  Thanks so much for the community and the energy of sewing along! I hope you have a great time with this block! Visit the other Moda designers to see their approach to this block:
Corey Yoder - https://corianderquilts.com/ Sherri McConnell - https://www.aquiltinglife.com/ Betsy Chutchian - http://betsysbestquiltsandmore.blogspot.com/ Jan Patek - http://janpatek.blogspot.com/ Brigitte Heitland - https://www.brigitteheitland.de/blog Lisa Bongean - https://lisabongean.com/ Lissa Alexander - http://modalissa.com/ Laurie Simpson - http://minickandsimpson.blogspot.com/ Vanessa Goertzen - https://lellaboutique.blogspot.com/ Stacy Iest Hsu - https://www.stacyiesthsu.com/blog/ (Me) Robin Pickens - https://www.robinpickens.com/ Janet Clare - http://janetclare.co.uk/blog/ Jen Kingwell - www.jenkingwelldesigns.com/blog Joanna Figueroa - https://blog.figtreeandcompany.com/ Thanks so much and happy sewing! Robin The Taos pattern by Vannesa Goertzen can be found on her blog at https://lellaboutique.blogspot.com/ It is a fun mix of half square triangles and blocks, with a nice patchwork center that can emphasize the structure or provide a strong chained diagonal through the block.  Instead of using all squares in the center, I decided to eliminate a few seams and use some rectangles in the square perimeter within the center. That is one of the things I like about this design. You can do a diagonal line of squares going through the center or play with the lights and darks to make other shapes within the patchwork. I decided I wanted a dark green Pine Thatched square to really emphasize that center.  Don't you love that green Aurifil thread? I love that color of green! It is Aurifil's Light Leaf Green #1147 in Mako 50 weight. And it blends so well with my scrappy/Abby Rose version of the block. I've combined Thatched Chartreuse and Peacock with a small Pine corner square on the inner perimeter with Abby Rose fabrics in green. I think if I were choosing fabrics again, I might select something that separates that inner square perimeter more. I used some of the leaves from the roses and the colors are good but I'd like it to have a little more consistency to the overall print. However, I'm very happy with the "tin leaves" on the outer corner and having my little simple bee friend from Painted Meadow on the most center squares.  I think its interesting to notice how the block looks different with the darker green to the inside of the half square triangles vs the outside (like the all-Thatched version).  I hope you are having fun with this Taos block and doing your own experimenting with the blocks, squares and half square triangles! Follow along on facebook and with the other Blockhead designers:
1.15 - Corey Yoder - https://corianderquilts.com/ 1.22 - Sherri McConnell - https://www.aquiltinglife.com/ 1.29 - Betsy Chutchian - http://betsysbestquiltsandmore.blogspot.com/ 2.5 - Jan Patek - http://janpatek.blogspot.com/ 2.12 - Brigitte Heitland - https://www.brigitteheitland.de/blog 2.19 - Lisa Bongean - https://lisabongean.com/ 2.26 - Lissa Alexander - http://modalissa.com/ 3.4 - Laurie Simpson - http://minickandsimpson.blogspot.com/ 3.11 - Vanessa Goertzen - https://lellaboutique.blogspot.com/ 3.18 - Stacy Iest Hsu - https://www.stacyiesthsu.com/blog/ 3.25 - Robin Pickens - https://www.robinpickens.com/ 4.1 - Janet Clare - http://janetclare.co.uk/blog/ 4.8 - Jen Kingwell - www.jenkingwelldesigns.com/blog 4.15 - Joanna Figueroa - https://blog.figtreeandcompany.com/ Happy Wednesday and Moda Blockheads day!! Laurie Simpson gave us the pattern to a lovely 9 Patch block this week! Check out Laurie's blog post for the pattern or check back with the facebook group on Friday for the pattern. http://minickandsimpson.blogspot.com/2020/03/blockheads-3-week-8.html  Since the original pattern was for a 6" or 12" block I made an alteration so mine would fit with my other 8" blocks. For the Abby Rose scrappy version of my block, I made the nine patch in the 6" size and then added a 1" border around the block (1 1/2" cut pieces to make 1" finished size when sewn with other blocks). I wanted to continue the look for the darker squares creating an "x" shape so I finished the corners on the outside border with pink squares. If you want to add a border like this, I used the 6" Nine Patch block and added (4) 1 1/2" squares in each corner with (4) 1 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangles, with one to each side of the block.   I love putting the little rose bud in the center of this tiny block. The little leaves, curving lines and rose bud are all from my Abby Rose collection which should be shipping the middle of this month!! The burgundy oval squares are from my Painted Meadow collection.  For the all-Thatched version I made the corners with tiny blocks, the same size as the 4 squares surrounding the center piece. For each of my four outer corners, I assembled (4) 1" squares so they will be 1/2" finished size. I used the same 1 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangles I specified above for the outer sides. I like how the little outer squares will mimic those inner squares. They seem so cute! I showed the scale with the thimble below for these squares in the center.  I like to see how the simple block made up with just Thatched looks compared to the one with the Abby Rose fabrics. The Abby Rose material with soft flowing curved lines added into the top, bottom and side squares makes a subtle plus sign within the block. I'm feeling some rosy love for this block this week!  Can you believe we are on block 8 already so that means we are two months in! Follow along on facebook and with the other Blockhead designers: 1.15 - Corey Yoder - https://corianderquilts.com/ 1.22 - Sherri McConnell - https://www.aquiltinglife.com/ 1.29 - Betsy Chutchian - http://betsysbestquiltsandmore.blogspot.com/ 2.5 - Jan Patek - http://janpatek.blogspot.com/ 2.12 - Brigitte Heitland - https://www.brigitteheitland.de/blog 2.19 - Lisa Bongean - https://lisabongean.com/ 2.26 - Lissa Alexander - http://modalissa.com/ 3.4 - Laurie Simpson - http://minickandsimpson.blogspot.com/ 3.11 - Vanessa Goertzen - https://lellaboutique.blogspot.com/ 3.18 - Stacy Iest Hsu - https://www.stacyiesthsu.com/blog/ 3.25 - Robin Pickens - https://www.robinpickens.com/ 4.1 - Janet Clare - http://janetclare.co.uk/blog/ 4.8 - Jen Kingwell - www.jenkingwelldesigns.com/blog 4.15 - Joanna Figueroa - https://blog.figtreeandcompany.com/  |
About ROBINDesigner of colorful florals for Moda fabrics. Modern to transitional quilt designer. Illustrator, sewist, crafter. I am proud to be a designer for Moda Fabrics!
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