Sunday's Squirrel - 5/12/19 -

Was inspired by a post that I saw on Barbara's blog - Stringing Buttons -

A Little Bit of Vintage Quilt History - HERE -

With an additional post -

The Last Vintage Quilt Chapter - HERE -

Telling the story of a lovely antique quilt she bought from the daughter of
Lillie Mae Duck -

Who made the quilt with her mother - Lula Belle Duck -
Both of Glencoe, North Carolina -

Lula Belle Duck - seller's grandmother
Lillie Mae Duck - seller's mother
Glencoe, North Carolina

I fell in love with the quilt immediately and saw a SQUIRREL!! -

Knowing that Sunday was coming and that I could PLAY all day - ;))

I absolutely LOVE how the colors go every which way -

Some of the center "squares" are white/neutral and some are all different colors -

Some of the "bar rails" are white/neutral and some are different colors -

And these ladies didn't seem to care if the white/neutrals were next to each other -

Which I think is AWESOME -

NO Quilt Police were anywhere NEAR this quilt - LOL - ;))

A pencil and some graph paper works just as well as EQ7 - to me. Sometimes, if I see an interesting quilt/block - I just sketch it out on paper - but with this one -

At first I saw the "block" as a 4-patch of "Square-in-a-Square" units with them also as cornerstones - and 3-rail bar blocks as sashing - and I even drew it up that way in EQ7 -

UNTIL I saw a simple 9-patch and had a DUH!! moment - LOL - ;))

When I saw the 9-patch with two "units" to the block - I was in a hurry to play some more - so I used EQ7 to make another block and then colored it and repeated it for a whole quilt - to see it if looked like Barbara's quilt -

It came pretty close - and looks like it would be a great scrap-buster -

I think it could go either way - you could use ALL colors - "everything but the kitchen sink" - so to speak -

Or a "controlled" scrappy look in a limited color palette -

My "sample" block so far is of the "everything" variety - ;))

I used a die to cut the Square-in-a-Square -
And the corresponding HST die for the corners -

The HST didn't look like it would fit right -

But the 1/4" seam is exactly where it should be -

Pressed it open -

Stitched another one to the other side - and pressed it open -

And the third corner fit like a glove - the flat ends of the HST lined up perfectly -

After adding the fourth corner - I checked the size -

And it needs a slight trim on the left side -

But other than that - it comes out to a perfect 3-1/2" unit -

For those of you who don't have the die -

You could cut a center square at 2-5/8" -

And use HST that FINISH at 1-1/2" for the corners -

Or you can draw a Foundation Paper Piecing guide using graph paper -

Start with a 3-1/2" square - and find the mid-points of each side -

But DON'T be tempted to draw the inside square from those points -

You want to make your POINTS 1/4" IN from the edge -

And draw a line from mid-point to mid-point -

Then AFTER you have your center square -

Add 1/4" to the OUTSIDE of the square you just drew -

THAT square - with seam allowances -

Is the same size as the center square cut with the die -

My sample block looks like this - so far -

A simple 9-patch with Square-in-a-Square units in the center and corners -

And a 3-rail unit in the "middles" -

The 3-rail units are 1-1/2" strips sewn together in sets of three -
And sub-cut into 3-1/2" segments -

The Square-in-a-Square unit in the top left corner looks too big -
But it isn't sewn together yet - it'll shrink later - LOL -

The units all measure 3-1/2" square and will finish at 3" -

So a 3 x 3 setting will come out to a 9" finished block -

The 3-rail unit makes the logical finished block size a multiple of 3 -

So I went with 1" finished "rails" - and 3" finished units -

And the 9-patch block is the whole quilt -

Set block-to-block with no sashing -

A 7 x 7 setting would come out to 63" square - without borders -

How easy is that?

I think I'll use the die to cut the Square-in-a-Square centers -
Because I hate cutting anything with 1/8" measurements -
And I can cut 6 at a time with the die - LOL -

And go through my strip bins and pull out the 1-1/2" and 2" strips -

Then use my LEFT-EZE Rule™ and the 2" strips to make the HST corners -

And the 1-1/2" strips for the 3-rail units -

Maybe then I can make a dent in those bins - LOL - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -