# Sunday Sew-a-long



## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

I took a break from working on the Machine Shed - and did some sewing.

I fell in love with some charm packs at MSQC, and finally figured out something to do with them.

If you are really careful, you could make this as an 8" finished block. I went with 7.5" finished so I trim it exact and not worry about that. Some charms are more accurate than others, and some have deeper pinking, which can mess up the measurements. 

I'm going with 5 blocks by 7 blocks (35 blocks total) and for each block, you need a pair of matching charms (or 5" squares). I'm going with a color pattern, but you could also do them random.

Here are my 35 charm pairs laid out as I want them. I took pictures because I know I'll never figure out where I wanted them when I'm ready to sew them together.











You'll need enough of the background to cut 9 strips at 1 1/4" and 9 strips at 3 3/4". You'll need one strip per 4 charm pairs.

Start off by sewing the charms to the 1 1/4" strip, press to the charm, and cut apart. 

Then line up the seam, and cut 1" away from it (you will have a 2" side strip with 1" of each fabric showing).












Rotate the cut off strip and sew them to the larger piece. 










Press seam to the charm










Then sew them to the 3 3/4" wide strip











I cut them into groups of 4 to make them easier to work with - press seam to the charm. 

Line the ruler up with the seam just sewn, and square up one edge (and this also cuts them apart). 










This is important - from here on the pairs must be identical. Make sure to always lay them the same, but it does not matter if charm is left or right, as long as they are the same direction for the pair. 

Lay them out and cut 1 1/4" strip off the long side.










Rotate that strip and sew it back on. Here is what you're going to end up with.










Make sure to nest seams. I did not worry about matching ends as I was going to trim them down. I also cut my wider strips to finish at 7.5" and that is why they are shorter than the charms. That made things a bit more difficult so would use the 3 3/4" if I did it again.

Press the seam - and you'll have identical pairs of blocks.

Here are two - one with charm to the right when I cut the strip, and one with it to the left (didn't want to cut the flowers up as much). It affects which direction the last seam ends up - which won't matter at all once it's sewn.










Sew the last seam, press and square up. My blocks are unfinished at 8"










The pattern has no sashing between the block - but you could include some if you wanted. 

I'm going to spend the afternoon working in my Shed, and I also need to order more fabric because I messed up when I cut my backgroud strips, cut too many of the narrow ones so I'm one strip short for the wide ones. I want to get more of the background for the boarder anyway. 

I good rule of thumb, cut the wider strips first - if you mess up, you can often use them for a narrower strip - but it does not work well the other way around. I've got 7 extra 1 1/4" strips and only need one more 3 3/4" strip.


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

I found this an easy pattern - but I wore the cat out doing it.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I like checkerboards, especially fancy ones. That is turning out real nice.


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

I ordered some fabric, but not sure if it will work or not. Turns out the color wasn't on the selvage - just the type of fabric so it was no help. I picked out what looked the closest.

If it's not good enough, I'll sew some of the strips together to get it complete. I really like it and think the piecing won't overly detract from the look. 

When I ordered more fabric, I also ordered a fat quarter bundle to match the charms. I'm so in love with that fabric I wanted more to play with.


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## DW (May 10, 2002)

I really do like that square...might have to copy the picture and put in my idea folder.


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## Gretchen Ann (Aug 30, 2010)

Very pretty. It will make a very nice quilt.


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## Tinker (Apr 5, 2004)

That looks great! You could probably use you background & 2 identical patterned squares, and sew it up like this disappearing 4 patch, and it might be a bit easier:

http://chock-a-blockquiltblocks.blogspot.com/2012/04/disappearing-4-patch.html


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

Tinker - that would be easier! I have a thing for working with strips, and since I don't know much about what a block is (only been doing this a few years) I'd never heard of "disappearing 4 patch" before.

I saved a picture to my "some day" folder, and figured it would work with the charm squares. I'd like to do one about half the size.


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