Let's Play Tic-Tac-Toe

Although I'm sure I've seen it used in quilts, my source for this block is my dreams. A couple days ago, it appeared in my dreams and woke up thinking this could be a gentle entry into the more liberated style of blocks we'll be making for the Block Lotto in 2010.

I think this Tic-Tac-Toe block could be the basis of a great kid's quilt–can't you see some x's and o's quilting into those "squares"? But I can also see if used in a more adult modern quilt.

Fabrics & Cutting

For an 8.5 inch (8 inches, finished size) block, you'll need a 9-to-10 inch square of background fabric and a width of fabric (WOF), cut selvedge-to-selvedge 1-to-2.5 inches wide. In this example, I started with the 10 inch square and 1.5 inch strip on the left. If you are using FQs, just cut two 20-ish inch wdiths, like the photo on the right.

Making the Block

(Remember you can click any of the photos for a larger image and closer look.)


1. Begin with the background square. Make two straight cuts from top to bottom edges. While your lines need to be straight, they can be as slanted as you like. You may want to keep them at least 2 inches from the corners and no closer than 1 inch to each other.


2. Insert the bright strip into each of your cuts, sew it along both edges to the background to "re-assemble" the square and press the seams toward the strips.




3. Rotate the block 90 degrees and repeat the process. Make two straight edge-to-edge cuts from top to bottom.




4. Insert strips and press seams toward the bright strips. Don't worry if they don't reach edge-to-edge, because you'll be squaring-up and trimming the block to final size. Do pay attention lining up the background pieces so that your first strips end up being aligned.

5. Square and trim the block to 8.5 inches. If you started with a 10 inch background square, like I did, you'll have a lot of wiggle room to make an artistic cut . . . just make sure that you end up with 9 background "squares" in your Tic-Tac-Toe grid (and that the smallest will not disappear in a seam allowance when it's sewn into a quilt.

Design Considerations

If you make a block with wider strips, you need to be careful that as the block-in-progress grows wider and taller, that, when you trim it to size (in this case 8.5 inches square), that you end up with a complete tic-tac-toe grid with 9 background spaces. In the example below, I started with a 10 inch square of background and 2.5 inch bright strips.

As I was adding my fat strips (2.5 inches), I realized that my block had become too wide, so I removed some background from the center before adding the final seam.


After removing part of the center, I measured (using a large square ruler) to make sure that, after it was trimmed to 8.5 inches square, I would end up with 9 background squares (and a complete tic-tac-toe grid), then I stitched it together and continued.


I also measured when deciding where to make the second pair of slices to make sure to end up with a complete tic-tac-toe block when it was trimmed to size.


As you can see, if you fat strips, your block will end up consisting of more featured bright fabric and less background.

Another design consideration is the angle of the cuts you make. The greater the angle, the more likely it will be that your "lines" would exactly match up, like in this block.

It isn't a mistake, it's just what happens. Line up the strips as well as possible and don't worry if they aren't perfect.


To see a comparison of using different sized strips, check out mine below. Here are a selection of blocks, side-by-side, made with strips that are, from top-to-bottom, left-to-right, 1 inch (green), 1.25 inch (gold), 1.5 inch (pink), 1.75 inch (red) 2 inches (yellow) 2.25 inches (blue) and 2.5 inches (red-orange).

Milky Way Quilt Block

Milky Way is one of those quilt blocks that really seems to be more like a block and a half, whose pattern is only revealed when multiple blocks are put together in a straight set. Then the the beauty of the allover pattern of interlaced friendship stars is revealed.

According to Barbara Brackman in the Encyclopedia of Pieced Blocks, the name for this block is credited to the Ladies Art Company, a publication that was active from 1895 to 1934.

This eight inch block (finished size), in the colors shown, in the October choice for the Block Lotto. More details for joining and playing along with us can be found on our group blog. Everyone is welcome.

Cutting Fabrics for One Block


Black & White Fabrics:

1 long rectangle each 1.5 inch x 12 inches–a little longer if you want to give yourself a little wiggle room.

Blue & Yellow Fabrics:

2 squares each 2-1/2 inches
4 squares each 2-7/8 inches–you may round these up to 3 inches and trim after sewing the half square triangle (HST) units.

Assembling the 4-Patch Units

1. Sew the black and white strips together along their long edges. Press toward the black fabric.
2. Cut the strip into eight 1-1/2 inch units
3. Take two of the 1-1/2 inch units, flip one around to form a checkboard and sew them together into 4-patches
4. You will have four 4-patch units, each measuring 2-1/2 inches square.
   

Assembling the Half Square Triangle (HST) Units

The four pairs of large squares are used to create HST units. There are many ways to construct these . . . here is one.

1. Place one blue and one yellow square together, right sides together.
2. Draw a line diagonally across the top square
   
3. Stitch 1/4 inch away from the line on each side. Cut apart on the line.
   
   
   
   
4. Press the HST Units open, pressing the seam toward the blue side
5. Square up the HST units to 2-1/2 inches square.
6. Repeat with each blue-yellow pair of squares. You will create eight HST units.
   
   
   
   Creating the Milky Way Block
   
   Lay out your 4-path units, HST units and plain squares to form the Milky Way block.
   
   
   And now the tricky part begins–at least for dyslexic quilters like me–keeping it all straight.

You may have your method to avoid inadvertently sewing the wrong side or accidentally getting things flipped around. Over on the Block Lotto blog, I shared the way I thought about the design of this block to keep it straight in my head–you can read about it here.

Another approach is to use chain piecing to attach things and keep them attached through the assembly process. Here's how I applied that technique to this block.

Working from top-to-bottom, I sewed the pairs in the left two columns together and the right two columns together, leaving each set of four pairs chained together. Then I carefully put the sewn pairs together and sewed each row together, leaving all the "chains" between all the pairs intact.



Only at this point, with all the rows sewn together and attached to one another by the chains did I pick up the block and take it over to the ironing board to press seams. At this point, sewing the rows together–with confidence that I hadn't flipped anything around–was pretty easy . . . though I do admit I used pins to make sure my seams matched.


I have seen this technique demonstrated, but have never used it before. I thought because this block had a lot of opportunity to go wrong, it was a good one to try it and I liked the result.

That said, it does make the pressing and sewing a little bit more fiddlely that usual. Still, it's a good one, I think, to add to a quilter's bag of tricks for the next time you run into a block that just keeps coming out wrong . . . we've all had one of those days occasionally, haven't we?

Oh yea, here's the finished Milky Way block.

And here's a nice example of how a few of these look when they're laid side by side. Lisa made these 11 blocks for the October Block lotto. I think these blocks will become a quick quilt to be made for the winner this month.

When you look at the field of stars, it's easy to see how this block came by it's name, isn't it?

Square & Points Quilt Block

Whether you know this block as Square & Points–it's earliest published name–Sawtooth Star or one of its many other names, this is great block to learn and easy to transpose into different size. Use it as the main block, an alternate block, a border block . . .

We made this 8 inch batik star block for the Block Lotto last year; this month, we are making them in Asian prints with coordinating tone-on-tones at 6 inches - here are some beautiful examples made by Kate and Linnea:

But since I already had step-by-step photos from last year, I'll be using those with revised measurements for making a SIX INCH block and counting on the imaginations of the Lotto Block players to see them in Asian fabrics for the star with coordinating tone-on-tones for the background.

The basic components of the block are 5 squares and 4 flying geese (FG) units. For a 6 inch (finished size) block, the measurements are:

Corner Squares (Background): 2 inch
Center Squares (Star): 3.5 inch
FG Unit: 2 x 3. 5 inch

In the FG units, the Background fabric is the "goose" and the Star fabric is the "sky." The finished size of the geese will be 1.5 x 3 inches. You can use any method to make the geese, but my preferred technique is "no waste geese." For this method, you'll start with:

One 4-1/4 inch square Background fabric
Four 2-3/8 inch squares Star fabric

Click over to follow the steps for making No Waste Flying Geese.



Lay out the components of the block and sew the block together as a nine-patch.



Pay special attention when you attach the flying geese unit to the center square, sew these seams with the "goose" on top so you can notice where your seam passes the point at the top at the top of the triangle and sew through the crossed seams on the FG unit.

The large center square of this block makes it easy to showcase beautiful fabrics, whether they are favorite batiks, a collection or repros from the 30s or Civil War era or some Asian inspired prints.

Oklahoma Boomer Quilt Block Pattern

The Ladies Art Company first published the Oklahoma Boomer block in 1898. I have always loved this block and couldn't resist including it for the block lotto in our year of traditional blocks . . . it's just a happy coincidence that I saw a production of The Wizard of Oz a couple weekends ago and keep seeing the Tin Man, an alternate name you might see used, as in Judy Hopkins & Nancy Martin’s 101 Fabulous Rotary-Cut Quilts.

For those who happen to have a copy of Judy Hopkins & Nancy Martin’s 101 Fabulous Rotary-Cut Quilts, I will reference the same Alpha characters for each piece, so you can reference your book, it is helpful to you. Their version of the block is the same size (6 inches, finished size) but is made from three fabrics, instead of our two color blocks.

The main challenge in making this block is careful measuring and cutting and sewing that 1/4-inch seam. You also have an opportunity to make and work with a template.

Fabrics

For the July Block Lotto, we'll be making this block in two colors, a cream tone-on-tone (TOT) print BACKGROUND fabric and your choice of RED or BLUE TOT main (BOOMER) fabric.

Make a template

If you were making multiple blocks from the same fabric (or don’t mind wasting some fabric), you would cut the large triangle head (A) by cutting a 3 1/4 inch square and cutting it twice diagonally. But since I’m going to tell you that you cannot repeat your BOOMER fabric in more than one block . . . the easiest thing to do is to make a template for that triangle. If you have card stock or template plastic, you can make a template by cutting a 3 1/4 inch square and cutting it twice diagonally and using one of the triangles for your template for the head (A). If you don’t, grab a standard size business card.


Most standard sized business cards are 2” x 3.5”





It will probably be easier to work with from the back, so flip it over.



Ttrim it so that it’s 3 1/4 inches wide.



Align the 45-degree line on your ruler along the bottom edge and cut an angle from the bottom right corner.



Flip over your card and repeat. Your template is ready to use.



Cutting


Use the template to cut the Head (A) piece from your BOOMER fabric by aligning the longest edge on grain on your fabric.

Again, if you don't mind wasted fabric, you can also cut a 3-1/4 inch square and cut it diagonally twice and use ONLY one of the resulting triangles.


For the rest of the BOOMER pieces, you'll need:
One 1” square for neck (B)
Two rectangles, 1” x 2-1/2” for arms (C)
One rectangle, 2-1/4”x 2-1/2” for body (D)
Two rectangles 1” x 3-1/4” for legs (E)


From the BACKGROUND fabric, cut:
Two rectangles, 2” x 2-1/2” for above arms (F)
Two rectangles 2-1/2” x 4-1/2” for below arms (G)
One 1-7/8” square cut once diagonally into two triangles, for sides of head (H)
Two 1” x 1-1/4” rectangles for sides of neck (I)
One 1-1/2 x 3-1/4” rectangle for between legs (J)


Sewing the Block

1. Sew the center sections together first. If your block is going to come up short . . . best to find out right away, right?

As you are sewing the background to the head, the neck and the legs, press toward the dark. You don’t have to worry about any matching seams in any of this part of the block, so you can focus ENTIRELY on those 1/4 inch seams.

After all the backgrounds are attached, sew the sections together and . . . moment of truth time, measure the center section. From top to bottom, it should measure 6-1/2 inches.

Then sew the background pieces to the arms. I pressed the seams on those UP, which means the top seam is pressed toward the BACKGROUND, so I would have opposing seams at the shoulders–the ONLY matching seams you have in this block.



2. After putting the center together, adding the arms is easily done . . . and so are you ;-)

Cactus Pot Quilt Block

The Cactus Pot quilt block was first published in the Oklahoma Farmer Stockman, on January 1, 1930 in a monthly column that was included in the journal in the 20's and 30's called Good Cheer Quilt Patterns.

FABRICS

You'll need three fabrics for this block, which I will refer to as CACTUS, POT and BACKGROUND .

Note : if you are making this block for the May 2009 Block Lotto, at least one of your fabrics–it can be any of the three–must be be a flower print.

CUTTING

From your CACTUS fabric:

One large triangle*, cut from a 3-7/8 inch square cut diagonally

Two 2-3/8 inch squares*


From your POT fabric:

One large triangle*, cut from a 3-7/8 inch square cut diagonally

Two small triangles, cut from a 2-3/8 inch square, cut diagonally


From your BACKGROUND fabric:

One large triangle*, cut from a 3-7/8 inch square cut diagonally

Two 2-3/8 inch squares*

One 2 inch square

Two 2 inch by 3-1/2 inch rectangles

Note: The squares and triangles marked with asterisks* will be used to make half square triangle units. If you like to round up and trim afterward, these pieces can be cut larger.

SEWING THE BLOCK

1. Sew the Large triangles of Cactus and Pot to form a square. It should measure 3.5 inches.
2. Use the 2-3/8 squares of Cactus and Background fabrics to make 4 half square triangle units. They should each measure 2 inches.



3. I find it helpful to lay out these units plus the square of background fabric, to make sure I have the cactus points going in the right direction before sewing them together . . . at least on the first block or two.

Sew two strips, one with two triangle units and the other with two triangle units and the background square.



4. First attach the strip with the 2 HST units.



5. Then add the longer strip to the other side.



6. Next sew the two small Cactus triangles to the end of the Background rectangles.

You need to be very gentle when sewing and especially pressing these because of the bias edges at the “bottom” of this step.



7. After these are sewn to the sides and, again, gently pressed to avoid stretching, the remaining, large background triangle (which should not be cut larger, will fit EXACTLY, to complete the block.

I left the “bunny ears” on the sides to make it a little easier to align the triangle at the bottom. If you trim first, the points will overhang a little so that after the seam is sewn, you have a straight edge.



You’re done!

Pat's Beautiful Disapearing 9-Patch Quilt

Since many people discovered this blog because of my playing around with the Disappearing 9-patch and putting pieced blocks in the corners, I have to share Pat K's quilt, Hearts and Roses.

It was her first attempt at a disappearing 9 patch using the scrappy hearts blocks she won in Block Lotto a little over a year ago. She said that she really enjoyed putting this together because of all the hearts from everyone. I just love how it turns out and the quilting designs she chose really compliment the piecing. She meandered around the blocks and stippled around the hearts. Her friend Diana quilted the border with a digital heart pattern.

Thrifty Block Pattern

The Thrifty block was first published in 1939 by the Kansas City Star, according to Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Blocks.

It's a simple little block that has a lot of design possibilities. I'm thinking about putting some I-spy squares in place of the pink squares. It would make a great alternate block in a sampler quilt (or for a lot of the lotto blocks we make) or a border block. It could be a great swap block or scrap buster by keeping the 4-patch and center squares a consistent color and changing up the 4 squares (pink in my example).

To make a single six inch (finished size) block, you'll need small amounts of fabrics in three colors, illustrated here in Pink, White and Black:

Pink: One 2.5 inch by 10 inch rectangle (or a 5 inch square)
White: One 1.5 inch by 12 inch rectangle (or a pair of 1.5 x 6 inch rectangles if you are working from scraps, as I did)
Black: One 2.5 inch square plus One 1.5 inch by 12 inch rectangle (or a pair of 1.5 x 6 inch rectangles)

Tip: add 1/4-1/2 inch in length to the measurements to the rectangles to give yourself a little wiggle room to square up edges if necessary




1. Sew the black and white long rectangles together along the long edges.

2. Press the seam allowance toward the black side. Slice into eight 1.5 inch sub-units.



3. Use these to sew four 4-patches. After your 4-patch units are sewn and pressed, they should measure 2.5 inches square.



4. Cut your Pink rectangle (or 5 inch square) into four 2.5 inch squares and lay out the units of your block, 9 patch fashion.



5. Assemble your block.




. . . And then, because that was so quick, make a couple more



Then, you might be inspired to pull out some more black and white and pink scraps and think about making some more . . .



Like I did ;-)






The thing to be careful of when you make this block is that you always end up with a nice "X" and that your blocks don't look like this when your done.



It's easier than you think to OOPS . . . and I offer this photo as proof positive of that fact ;-)