Monday, April 8, 2013

A Block Tutorial | Granny's Front Porch

A few weeks ago I packed up my sewing machine + a few projects and headed over to my grandparent's farm in small town Iowa -- only a few miles from my hometown. My grandmother is one of the reasons I started sewing + quilting at such a young age and I treasure any chance we get to spend an afternoon together. This particular afternoon she was working on quilt for one of my cousins (there are 25 & counting!) using a traditional log cabin + half square triangle block. We got to playing around with different block layouts and really feel in love with this one -- it really has a simple + modern feel! I've decided to simplify the block into one 12" x 12" finished block called Granny's Front Porch
Granny'sFrontPorchBadge
The fabric requirements & tutorial below are for one block only, but I've also included a 5 x 5 block layout to show you how the blocks interact together. I love the quilt pattern that emerges using this one block and only two fabrics -- I'll be making a big version for myself soon!

Fabric Requirements + Cutting Instructions//


Main Fabric | teal
          cut: 2 squares, 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"; 1 rectangle, 3 1/2" x 9 1/2"; 2 squares, 4" x 4"; 8 squares, 2" x 2" 

Background Fabric | white
          cut: 2 squares, 4" x 4"; 8 rectangles, 2" x 3 1/2"; 4 rectangles, 2" x 5"

Sewing//

Step One.
Draw a diagonal line, from corner to corner, on the wrong side of two 4" background squares.


Step1

Step Two.
Layer one marked 4" background square and one 4" main fabric square, right sides together. Sew 1/4" on each side of the line. Cut on the line. Press seams open. This makes 2 half square triangles. Trim half square triangles to 3 1/2" square. Repeat to the remaining background & main fabric pair, to make 4 half square triangles. 

Step2

Step Three. 
Draw a diagonal line, from corner to corner, on the wrong side of eight 2" main fabric squares.


Step3

Step Four.
Layer one marked 2" main fabric square and one 2" x 3 1/2" background rectangle. Make sure the line runs from the upper right corner to lower left corner. Sew on the marked line. Trim corner, leaving a 1/4" seam allowance. Press seam towards the main fabric.

Step4


Step Five.
Repeat step four to the other side, making sure the line runs from upper left corner to lower right corner.

Step5


Step Six. 
Repeat steps 4-5 to three 2" x 3 1/2" background rectangles, making a total of four flying geese units. Please note: the diagram above does not show the seam allowance for the flying geese block.



Block Layout// 

Step One. 
Layout the block, using the diagram below. Sew the block together using a 1/4" seam allowance, press seams open.


BlockDiagram

Finished block measures 12" x 12". 


5 x 5 block layout
If you use this block tutorial please share it in the Canoe Ridge Creations Flickr group and on Instagram & Twitter using #canoeridgecreations

xo, Megan.

12 comments:

  1. Beautiful! Thanks for the tutorial.
    Amanda

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  2. I love the simplicity of this block with only 2 fabrics.

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  3. I love this! I keep imagining it in a monochromatic color scheme--like light blue and dark blue, or really any other monochromatic combination. So wonderful!

    I also didn't realize at first that it was only one block in the full-quilt preview--I thought half of the blocks were made with the colors reversed. Then I saw that it was just the way the design worked. Beautiful design!

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  4. Whoa, this is fantastic! "Modern Traditionalism" at its finest.

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  5. I love the full quilt, it's so tribal but modern. Giving me the itch to pull a pretty teal and get to work...

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  6. This is lovely. Such beautiful eye candy in your straight line quilting post, by the way. Yum!

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  7. You and your gram are so talented. I just love this block. Thank you for posting the tutorial.

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  8. I love this block! I can see so many possibilities in it. Thanks for sharing...

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  9. Thanks for the tutorial. I'm already envisioning picking out fabrics for this when I get home tonight!!! I've pinned this tutorial to my "Quilty Goodness" board on Pinterest (with proper credit, of course!). Feel free to follow me if you'd like: http://pinterest.com/lipglass/quilty-goodness/

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  10. Thanks so much for the block tutorial! I love it so much I dug right in. I had a kit to make another quilt in the same colors as your little digital mock up, so I switched it over to this instead. I'm using 3 colors. I'll be back to post a link and upload pics to Flickr when it's done. =)

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