February FWMQG BOM: HST block with tutorial

Welcome! This tutorial is part of the FWMQG BOM program - this is our February block, focusing on making a star block with half-square triangles. 

You can make HSTs in any way you want. You will need 1/4 yard of the colors you choose (if you make the interior star in different colors you will need less.) this makes a 16" finished block. You could get a larger or smaller clock by changing yet size of your squares and HSTs.

Cut: 16 2.5" squares of your background fabric

16 3" squares of your background fabric.

12 3" squares of color A (dark pink in my example)

12 3" squares of color B (dark yellow in my example)

4 3" squares of color C (light pink)

4 3" squares of color D (light yellow)

Make the following HST combinations:

Use 2 squares of color D/background (Makes 4 total squares)

Use 2 squares of color C/background (Makes 4 total squares)

Use 2 squares of color D/color C (Makes 4 total squares)

Use 6 squares of color B/background (Makes 12 total squares)

Use 6 squares of color A/background (Makes 12 total squares)

Use 6 squares of color A/color B (Makes 12 total squares)

Press and trim your HSTs to 2.5" and lay them out in these rows:

Row 1

Row 2

Row 3

Row 4

Row 5

Row 6

Row 7

Row 8

Press your rows and sew together. You may find it helps reduce the bulk to press your seams open, both on the back of the HSTs and in the rows and columns.



You're done! Please let me know if you have any questions!

Finished BOM Quilt

Last year, our quilt guild decided to do a Block of the Month Quilt. We started with board members choosing blocks for each month. We arranged the blocks to have 12 finish by November, so then we could assemble and quilt our top.



I used a few blocks that I didn't love on the back.



I quilted each block differently - it was fun to do something completely different from my norm. I didn't get a good shot of the quilting though. I had just enough binding left over from the binding of Ellie's big girl quilt to use on this one.

I decided to gift this quilt to Samantha - she hasn't gotten a new quilt in a few years, and Ben and Ellie both have. She loves it, and was so excited to have a new quilt for her bed. Success!

Let's make a deal!

We had a swap at our last FWMQG meeting-we brought fabrics, books, rulers, notions, that we no longer loved, and swapped them for new shiny things! I was excited to trade some books that I didn't love, a rotary blade that I accidentally purchased in the wrong size and a yard of fabric I never saw myself using. I brought home all of these goodies! We all enjoyed our swap and are planning another in the spring!

Charity Quilts

As part of the FWMQG, we are collecting quilts for the kids at the YWCA daycare to use as napmats. Many of the children who participate in their daycare are homeless, and this is a nice way for them to have something handmade, with love, to rest upon. They are currently napping on towels, so I am so excited for us to be giving these to them!

I made two quilts - I had the girl quilt top done, then my mom of boys guilt got to me, and I had to make one for boys to use too!



The girls quilt features a number of leftover prints from Samantha's big girl quilt, and a lot of other scraps I thought were 'girly.'  I cut squares into different widths - 2", 3" and 4", and sewed vertical rows together. I quilted it using vertical straight lines.



The boy's quilt features a number of leftover prints from making Samantha's best friend's quilt (which I finally have a picture of - hopefully I will get a post up about that one this week!), and some other scraps leftover from taggies and burp cloths from my etsy shop. I trimmed all the blocks to the same height, and sewed rows together. I quilted this one with horizontal straight lines.

Both quilts measure about 24"x36". We had to machine sew the binding on for extra sturdiness, and it was good practice for me! I am glad to have these checked off my to do list!