Artful Homemade Quilts Have A Way

[freedombecki]

Illinois Instructions:
Quilt Blocks of the States - Illinois

12" pieced quilt block pattern from our Quilt Blocks of the States series.

Indiana Puzzle Instructions:
Quilt Blocks of the States - Indiana Puzzle

A 12" pieced quilt block from our Quilt Blocks of the States series.

Iowa Star Instructions:
Quilt Blocks of the States - Iowa Star

An 8" paper pieced quilt block pattern from our "Quilt Blocks of the States" series.

Kansas Troubles Instructions:
Quilt Blocks of the States - Kansas Troubles

A 16" pieced quilt block pattern from our "Quilt Blocks of the States" series.

Kentucky Patch Instructions:
Quilt Blocks of the States - Kentucky Patch

A 12" pieced quilt block pattern from our "Quilt Blocks of the States" series.

Louisiana 12 Instructions:
Quilt Blocks of the States - Louisiana 12

A 12" pieced quilt block pattern from our "Quilt Blocks of the States" series.

I think it would be fun to make the 50 states quilt. You could use an embroidery sewing machine to put your USMB friends names on the states where they were born and/or live now.

 

[freedombecki]

Maine Lobster Instructions:
Quilt Blocks of the States - Maine Lobster

An installment in our Quilt Blocks of the States series. This block finishes to 9" square and is paper-pieced.

Maryland Instructions:

Quilt Blocks of the States - Maryland

A 15 inch pieced quilt block pattern from our "Quilt Blocks of the States" series.

Massachusetts Instructions:

Quilt Blocks of the States - Massachusetts

A 12 inch pieced quilt block pattern from our Quilt Blocks of the States Series.

Michigan Instructions:

Quilt Blocks of the States - Michigan

A 9 inch pieced quilt block pattern from our Quilt Blocks of the States Series.

Minnesota Instructions:

Quilt Blocks of the States - Minnesota

A 10 inch pieced quilt block pattern from our Quilt Blocks of the States series.

Mississippi Instructions:

Quilt Blocks of the States - Mississippi

A 12 inch pieced quilt block pattern. Part of our Quilt Blocks of the States series.

Missouri Daisy Instructions:

Quilt Blocks of the States - Missouri Daisy

A 12 inch partially paper-pieced quilt block pattern from our Quilt Blocks of the States series.

Montana Instructions:

Quilt Blocks of the States - Montana

A 9 inch partially paper-pieced quilt block pattern for the state of Montana. Part of our Quilt Blocks of the States series.


That finishes off A- M of the States. If I have missed any, please advise. Thx.

 

[freedombecki]

Nebraska Instructions:
Quilt Blocks of the States - Nebraska

A 12" paper-pieced quilt block pattern. Part of our Quilt Blocks of the States series.

Nevada Instructions:

Quilt Blocks of the States - Nevada

A 9 inch partially paper-pieced quilt block pattern from our Quilt Blocks of the States series.

New Hampshire Instructions:

Quilt Blocks of the States - New Hampshire

A 12 inch paper-pieced quilt block pattern from our Quilt Blocks of the States series.

New Jersey Instructions:

Quilt Blocks of the States - New Jersey

Here is the 12" finished block for the state of New Jersey.

New Mexico Instructions:

Quilt Blocks of the States - New Mexico

A 12 inch pieced quilt block pattern from our Quilt Blocks of the States Series.

New York Instructions:

Quilt Blocks of the States - New York

A 12 inch pieced quilt block pattern from our Quilt Blocks of the States series.

North Carolina Instructions:

Quilt Blocks of the States - North Carolina

A 12 inch paper pieced quilt block pattern from our Quilt Blocks of the States series.

North Dakota Instructions:

Quilt Blocks of the States - North Dakota

A 12 inch paper pieced quilt block pattern from our Quilt Blocks of the States series.

There are a lot of states that begins with "N". whew!

 

[freedombecki]

Ohio Star Instructions:
Quilt Blocks of the States - Ohio Star

A 12 inch pieced quilt block pattern from our Quilt Blocks of the States series.

Oklahoma Boomer Instructions:

Quilt Blocks of the States - Oklahoma Boomer

A 9 inch pieced quilt block pattern from our Quilt Blocks of the States series.

Oregon Instructions:

Quilt Blocks of the States - Oregon

A ten-inch pieced quilt block pattern from our Quilt Blocks of the States series.

Pennsylvania Parade Instructions:

Quilt Blocks of the States - Pennsylvania Parade

A twelve inch quilt block pattern from the Quilt Blocks of the States Series.

Rhode Island Instructions:

Quilt Blocks of the States - Rhode Island

A 12 1/2" pieced block for the state of Rhode Island


I made the Ohio Star quilt some time back, just because I think it looks beautiful. It is light turquoise on white, very simple, sawtooth border, it looks like someone painted some jewelry on the back bed. It's just a beautifully constructed design and a joy to work on.

 

[freedombecki]

South Carolina Instructions:
Quilt Blocks of the States - South Carolina

A 12 inch pieced quilt block pattern from our Quilt Blocks of the States series.

South Dakoita Instructions:

Quilt Blocks of the States - South Dakota

A 12 inch pieced quilt block pattern from our Quilt Blocks of the States Series.


No Picture, Corrections under construction, so from another source, someone showed their block of "Tennessee Waltz" as follows:

source
Also, there is a very good book by Eleanor Burns of Quilt-in-a-Day fame on the quilt, "Tennessee Waltz." I've made the quilt, taught the class, forgot what happened to the top, etc, maybe 15 years ago? I'll have to make a charity quilt of Tennessee Waltz soon. It's fun & really cute.

Tennessee Instructions:

Quilt Blocks of the States - Tennessee

A 12" pieced quilt block pattern from the "Quilt Blocks of the States" series.

Texas Instructions:

Quilt Blocks of the States - Texas

A 12" pieced quilt block pattern from the "Quilt Blocks of the States" series.

Utah, Stained Glass (to replace x-lg image) from Edie Martin's Stained Glass webpage. Some stained glass artists make beautifully-rendered quilt squares in their craft.
Utah Instructions:
Quilt Blocks of the States - Utah

A 12" pieced quilt block pattern from the "Quilt Blocks of the States" series.

Well, I really don't know why Utah showed up so ungainly looking and large, but it's Jan Bellingham's website, maybe someone needed it to be big to copy for a certain project, or it is under construction, too. Not sure.

 

[freedombecki]

Vermont Instructions:
Quilt Blocks of the States - Vermont

A 12" finished pieced quilt block for the state of Vermont.

Virginia Instructions:
Quilt Blocks of the States - Virginia

12" pieced block of Virginia, part of the Quilt Blocks of the States series.

Quilt Blocks of the States- Washington

Quilt Blocks of the United States of America - Washington - 12" Block

West Virginia Instructions:
Quilt Blocks of the States - West Virginia

Quilt Blocks of the United States of America. West Virginia 12" Block

Wisconsin Instructions:
Quilt Blocks of the States - Wisconsin

A 12" pieced quilt block pattern from the Quilt Blocks of the States series

Wyoming Instructions:
Quilt Blocks of the States - Wyoming

A 12 inch pieced quilt block pattern. Part of our Quilt Blocks of the States series.

Some of these blocks are new to me. I lived in Wyoming 35 years and don't remember the above Wyoming block. We did a lot of a block called "Wyoming Valley". That may be the name of a land formation in PA. Oh, well. I do like the arrowheads pointing in the 4 directions, important to Indian tribes in general, whose reservations take up around ten percent of the state's lands.

 

[freedombecki]

Whew! A chore, but if it helps anyone out there who wants to make a gift for a friend from another state, it's just a little idea from me to you. If you do other crafts and not quilting, see the square for Utah. It was the Utah quilt square, executed beautifully in stained glass. It could be a sponge-painted stencil on paper, ceramic or wood tiled, crocheted, cross-stitched, or crafted in some way to make someone from that state a gift.

Today I completed a square large enough to be a medallion on its own or combined with other squares to become another charity or baby quilt. I visited a quilt store in another town to add more colors to my huge stash, like where will I put this group?

Anyway, each square has 72 half-square triangles to make a 6-patch, 36 square design that I found a picture in a book that I got on ebay last week. 4 of the patches would make a nice 48" square crib quilt, except I think I'd add a 4-inch border, which would make it 56" square for a growing child. I could make it 8" longer than wide by putting a row of lights at the top and bottom, which would make the ultimate quilt 56x64". That could really work for me. We'll see how it goes. I got a lot of fabric pieces today at the other quilt store. They will contribute a certain texture and color to my scrap quilts for literally years to come. I cut a bunch out when I got home. I'm making 5" squares, sewing them with other colors to get two half square triangle squares out of each square pair. OK, I know that's not clearer than mud to anyone who's never sewn two pieces of fabric together, so I'll see if I can find an illustration to add to this post. If you see a pic below, I found one.

Better yet, go to this link to see the procedure for making two half-square triangles into a square of light and dark.

Each of my squares takes 3 light_+ med, 3 Light+dark, and 3 dark+med squares to get the desired result.

Also, a quilt similar to the one I am making is found on page 136 of the book, "Best-Selling Bazaar Patchwork," Compiled and Edited by Barbara Abralat, Oxmoor House, 1992. I found my copy on Amazon, and there are quite a few still for sale. The book is crammed full of fun things to quilt and make. A lot of the projects take two hours. Of course, quilts like the one I'm making require 100 hours of time in a diversity of quilt stores before ever you cut a piece... unless you made a square up to show shopkeepers what you are doing and why you need 1,959 half-yards of fabric, totalling her last months' total sales.

Just kidding. You now can purchase 5" squares of every fabric in a collection for under $10. if you don't want to spend three hundred dollars making 200 of the same quilt. Heavens, you'd run out of people to give them to. Actually, this one will not be the pictured one below, but tailored down to give a single mother's baby or an abused child in a crisis housing center. Our guild has many who love to distribute our works to those who need them the most, and some of the quilts are sold to support the cabin on the square, with our part going to buying expensive battings that have to be constantly bought to keep up with 120 quilters in our guild who do nice things for other people.

 

[freedombecki]

Spent all of yesterday doing the quilt, and another friend took the picture and tried to email it to me, but it never arrived in my mailbox. I left the quilt top in the charity bee closet. When it was done it measured about 50x64" and should work for an elementery-age school child or younger. I loved working on it.

 

[freedombecki]

My apologies, but I'm going to ask my friend what kind of phone she used, then I'm not going to get one of those. The picture is faded next to the real mccoy, plus is totally lacking in details. I need a smarter phone that takes sharp picture without having to know what a pro photographer knows. I want the phone to already know what it looks like and to convey what is seen by the human eye, not through the eyes of someone who would not be eligible to serve in the military. lol. What looks like a light pink border is actually a bright, bold fabric, not a pastel. The outside blue has a pink floral border on cerulean blue, not a pale yellow on dust blue print.

 

[freedombecki]

Finished another half-square diamond quilt, with more squares, so it's bigger. Also, started on a new pattern called square in a square and worked most of the squares to a completion in the last 3 days. It's from a different quilt book, and I like each and every one of the quilts in the book, so may just try a few of the quilts for fun. I was going to make one square of each quilt, decide which one I liked the best, which didn't work out too well. I liked the square in a square block so much, I just kept on keeping on until I know I have more than enough squares to do a charity quilt for a child.

 

[freedombecki]

Thirty more squares completed this morning, now there's a lot of clipping threads and pressing to do. There are enough for 2 small child quilts--30 squares, oh, maybe I'll go 35 squares. Some of my colors are maudlin as in antebellum reproduction fabrics, and some aren't. Children quilts should be a bit brighter, well, we'll see. In the meantime, I pulled up a fine example of what can be done with a square in a square:

 

[freedombecki]

The fun thing about doing smaller quilts is that you can do a couple of child-sized tops in less than a week, not counting quilting time. I liked the one above, and if you click on the thumbnail, you can see the black sashing and colorful sets add to the intrigue more so than if you hadn't, and the squares in the border add a nice feeling, I think, so the one I'm working on will do likewise. The good thing about the black around the square-in-squares is that it pops the colors whether they are light or dark. Hope to get some pictures of these, but I'm such a bad photographer, and my dear one isn't taking pictures any more. *sigh*

 

[koshergrl]

This is a great thread!

 

[freedombecki]

Thanks, koshergrl. I try to keep my motivation in the quilt room going by listing progress. Today, all I got done on quilting was to clip and press the 30 squares I finished sewing yesterday. I cut out a lot of the little black sashes and used some postage stamp squares for sets between the sashed blocks. Tomorrow, I hope I can get to the machine and get down to some serious completion. It's good luck to finish what you started in the sewing room on a Friday. Today I had a doctor's appointment (all good) and bought some patriotic fabrics. When I finish a dozen of the little children for the shelter quilts, I'm going to make some more wheelchair soldier quilts. You just have to have red and blue fabrics for that. It's best to buy them every couple of weeks before you start if you do scrap quilts. Every quilt lately has a minimum of 100 fabrics and an average of 2- or 300 different fabrics, with some up to 3,000 different ones. My stash room is so out of control. It was nice when my husband was well enough to make shelves for our business. Those were the best days.

 

[Divine Wind]

Glad to see you still going strong, FreedomBecki!

 

[freedombecki]

Glad to see you still going strong, FreedomBecki!

Thanks, DW. The encouragement of others dropping by to say hello is truly good for me. This morning, after koshergrl dropped by the other day, I was inspired to get up and actually get the rest of the rows on the child-sized shelter quilt.

I got the first (black) border and 50 or so squares done to make the bottom and left rows on this little task, though it only shows a part of 1 block, not the 30 (5 wide x 6 long) square-in-a-square blocks that make up the main part of the quilt. Before adding any borders, it was 36" x 46" more or less. I still have another day of work before the other 2.5" square borders can be cut and added. The two I worked on today seemed to take hours from the time I started accumulating and cutting 2.5" strips (the leftovers of which can be used on other quilt borders) If it's too small, I may have to add more borders or more time-consuming squares.

The problem with charm quilts is that all the fabrics have to be different and used only once (the 4 pieces around the blue square-in-a-square are considered 1 by this quilter) though if you really got technical, I might not win the argument. I still think I captured the spirit of the charm quilt, though, if you know the quilter's definition of charm being, "each fabric is used only once." Since 4 like fabrics form the outer square of square-in-a-square, I'm considering them like 1 piece. Someday when I really have zip to do, I'll make one that has every single little fabric different. (yeah, right)

That said, it's time to pull up the pic I took on my printer a while ago and show the one corner. (it doesn't look much like the quilt above, but it's such a small bit of the quilt, and I still don't know how to use the camera I got to download quilt blocks and the works). In fact, I haven't seen it since I straightened the computer area out a few weeks back, so I must have put it somewhere....

 

[freedombecki]

My monitor shows the pictures pretty much the way they are here. Tomorrow, I hope to do the remainder of the 2.5" squares all aroound the quilt. Before starting the first black border, the quilt measured approximately 36 x 46. I hope it is around 42x 54 when it is finished. I wouldn't even mind it being 42x60", but that could take another day of cutting and sewing 2.5" squares, to make it 5" longer than it would be otherwise.

The upside of the extra day is that a 5-foot long quilt might be big enough to last the child till he or she is 12 years old. A 72" quilt might last another year or two, but a dorm quilt should be at least 90" long, probably, and a little wider than 42"--maybe 62", because they'd be an adult by then. If there are really cold winters where the quilt goes, it should be a twin sized quilt which measures 72" wide and 96" long, although I've seen cot-sized quilts referred to as "twin sized." Yeah, right, if you don't mind frostbitten toes in cold country.

I like looking at the quilt, the sample blocks just don't show it in its best light. I'll try and get a picture one of these days if I can con one of my friends into taking and emailing it to me on their i-phone. I guess I'm an official phone moocher, since I can't figure out how to take a picture on the digital camera I got last year and have already misplaced. lol

 

[koshergrl]

I made my son a little quilt when he was about 4-5 years old; we use that thing every day, lol.

 

[freedombecki]

That's great, koshergrl. Old kids' quilts have lots of uses. We used to visit a park ampitheatre for summer concerts as the children grew up and used ours to cover the grass where we sat. Looking at them brings up a lot of happy memories of them, now that they're grown and gone. Some of them have been recovered after years of use.

Oh, yeah, and today, I was putting the last squares border on when the machine's inner repairman slowed it to a crawl, and it was taken into the repair shop for readjusting. I may have to go to WalMart and get a cheapy to keep going. All I need is a good straight stitch for this project.

I'm pleased with the quilt, though, and took last week's completed quilt top to the charity bees closet while I was out taking my machine in for TLC.

 

[freedombecki]

Oh, darn it. I didn't get a single picture of the quilt top I turned in today. It looked so much like the first one I got it confused. Now, I'll have to make another one of those just to get a picture. The first one is pictured above and had a soft blue border. The second one sported one of the prettiest little rose-and-green florals on a super dark green border I've ever seen. I bought it last year at a shop I've visited a few times in the last 3 years. It got back to me the shopkeeper passed away (she was 96), so now the few little scraps I have left of the yard will become so preciously dear as I think of this kindly lady and her wonderful quilt shop on Sawdust Road.

Nobody offered fabrics like hers. I heard her son sold off all the inventory, instead of selling the store to someone else. Well, nobody had her eye for fabrics and the variety she offered.

Some people are one-of-a-kind.