Book Tour - Week 1

My day is Tuesday to blog about the project that I am working on.  I decided to do Spades from Fat Quarter Winners.  There are a couple of reasons why I decided to do this quilt.  First, I love the fact that you don't need a border for this quilt.  Sometimes you have a fat quarter bundle but don't have any supporting yardage. Another reason that I chose this pattern is because you can use every piece in a line and don't have to worry about having a matching light and dark.  If you look at the picture, I matched darks with darks, mediums with darks, darks with lights and mediums with lights.  A lot of fat quarter bundles come with lots of darks and less lights.  You can use whatever fabrics that you choose out of a bundle or raid your stash.  The key is to have a contrast between the two prints.  It doesn't have to be a huge contrast but a bit. 

Spades

My first dilemma about this quilt is what fabrics to choose?!  I have so many fat quarter bundles and pieces in my stash that I couldn't decide.  So, I made a few as test blocks.  The first fabrics I chose were blue and creams.  I really like it but my heart was not in it because I have another quilt in mind for blues and creams.

My second set of fabrics I chose were Blackbird Designs fat quarter bundle.  I really liked this one too but it was a bit lighter than what I wanted.

Final decision:  French General, Mason de Garance.  Yummy!!  I love the browns, reds and cream colors.  The prints are fantastic and there is some good contrast for the blocks.  Here is my test block:

Once I made my decision, the next thing to do was to cut my fat quarters.  The pattern includes cutting your setting triangles from your fat quarters.  Because the cutting was a little trickier, in the instructions, I gave a diagram on how to cut your fat quarters.  Another instruction that I give you is to place your fat quarters with right sides together and cut them that way.  You will be making 1/2 square triangles using squares and if they are cut right sides together it makes it much quicker to pick them up and start sewing. 

The setting triangle cutting can be tricky.  Here are a few tips on how to do this.  Line up your 45 degree angle on the bottom of your strip and cut.  Rotate the ruler and line up one of the lines running across your ruler on the angle you just cut. 

 Line up on the 45 degree angle

 Cut

Rotate the ruler and line up one of your lines of the ruler on the cut you just made. 

Another way to do this is to use The Setting Triangle ruler.  It has the angles all built in and once you cut your strip, you can line the ruler up and cut.  If you are seeing this ruler for the first time, it's a great ruler to have.  Instead of cutting a square and cutting it diagonally twice for the setting triangles, you cut a strip.  It tells you what size to cut your strip for the block size that you are making.  Once you have your strip cut, you line up the ruler on the strip width, cut and rotate to get your setting triangle pieces.  The leftover pieces can be used for the corners or for additional cutting, if needed. Here is a demo of The Setting Triangle ruler.  

 Line up the bottom of the ruler to your cut edge and the top point at the top edge.

Cut both sides. 

One of the things that I always to for my on point quilts is I over-size the setting triangles.  After the top is put together, then I trim my quilt top down leaving a 1/4" all around.  In the instructions for Spades, I over-sized the triangles.

Hope everyone will continue to check our blogs out so you can get the tips and see the quilts develop.  Here is the schedule for our blogs:

Mondays, April 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th - Nicole from Sister's Choice
Tuesdays, April 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th - Monique from Open Gate Blog
Wednesdays, April 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th - Thelma from Cupcakes 'n Daisies
Thursdays, April 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th - Lisa from Stashmaster

 Don't forget to leave a comment on everyone's blog to be entered in the drawing for the prizes.