September Program: Petal Bags

Vickie led the group in a quick and easy project, Petal Bags, to carry and store 'stuff' in.  We all need more 'stuff' storage, don't we?

The bags were quick, easy and fun to make. Most of the guild members left with at least one finished bag at the end of the evening.

The blue/batik bag was made with 18" squares of fabric, the tiny ones were made with 10"  squares, and the red/green one was made with 15"(ish) squares.

Thank you, Vickie - what a fun project!

August DYO Block

This month's block is provided by Betty; another twelve-incher.

Betty made two samples, placing the colours in different places. 

Dies:  2½" strip die & value die

BACKGROUND (white)
    (8) 2 ½" half square triangles
    (4) 2 ½" squares – or (2) 5 ½"strips**

Star fabric 1 & 2 – from each fabric (red and blue)
      (2) 2 ½"squares or (1) 2 ½ x 5 ½"strip**
      (4) 2 ½" x 4 ½"strips
      (2) 2 ½" x 6 ½" strips

**(2) 2 ½"background square sewn to 2 ½" red square
(2) 2 ½"background square sewn to 2 ½" blue square 

OR

5 ½" strip background strip sewn to strip of red  or (2) 2 ½"red squares – cut into (2) 2 ½"  strata
5 ½"strip background strip sewn to strip of blue or (2) 2 ½" blue squares – cut into (2) 2 ½"strata

July DYO Block

Susie presented the July block, a 12" beauty.

The dies used are

A - 4½" square - one

B - 2½" square - four in colour 1, four in colour 2

D - 4 7/8" square cut on diagonal - four

G - 2½  x 4½" rectangle - four

E - 2 7/8" square cut on diagonal - eight (triangles) colour 1 and 16 (triangles) colour 2

These are NOT the green-labeled dies!

June DYO Block

Use die "Quilt Block A"  4 1/2 " square
And "quilt Block B". 2 1/2" square
Make sure you don't use the green dies!!!

Red - cut 10 - 2 1/2" squares - "QB B"
Blue - cut 8 - 2 1/2" squares - "QB B"
White - cut 10 - 2 1/2" squares - "QB B"
    And  4 - 4 1/2" squares - "QB A"
Sew 2Red and 2 White to make center four patch
Sew 8 blue and 8 white to make corner for patch
Take the 4 1/2" white and sew a2 1/2" red to 2 corners using flip and turn method. Make 4 of these. 
Assemble block as shown.

Hope these directions are easy to follow.

Vickie

July Die Cutter's Guild Meeting

We do have a way of getting... distracted, don't we?

Our 'scheduled' project for July was "Christmas Bags". The problem was that no one remembered who was presenting the project or why we were going to do it.  (We didn't do it.)

Remember The Meeting That Almost Wasn't? You know the one - April, when Phyllis made a lovely cake to share for Roni's going away 'party'. And somebody's car just went into auto-pilot and took them home instead of to the meeting. And somebody was sick. And somebody just plain forgot. And somebody else was held hostage on the Amtrak...  Yes, that meeting.  It appears that a new member joined that night - paid their dues and everything - and we just figured that out at this month's meeting.

These highlights (and much, much more!) are in the Minutes of the Meeting, posted for your edification on a brand-spanking-new tab on our webpage.

If you're reading this from the webpage (http://diecutters.blogspot.com/), it's up there at the top of the page, just under the title. If you're reading this in your email, click on the link above and then click on the tab. If you have any problems reading the minutes,  let me know and I'll attach a copy to you in an email.

Tracy 

May DYO Block

Well, sure. Two days before the July meeting, let's get the instructions for the May block posted, okay?

May's block was designed by Roni.

It is a 6½" (unfinished) block.

Since I've done the unthinkable and cleaned up my sewing area, the original instructions are "in a safe place". A call to Susie got me this, though:

Using the dies with the GREEN labels,

Cut one F from white

Cut two Es from blue

Cut two Es from red

DON'T do what I did with the colors. The center should be white, the corners should alternate between red and blue, as shown in Roni's original sketch.

It probably doesn't come as a surprise that I had some problem with this block. Or the blockhead that was trying to sew it.  I found that I needed to use a REALLY scant ¼" seam to get the block to the correct size.  Did anyone else experience that, or am I (again) special?

Tracy

UFOs

June Meeting Cancelled!

The Western Washington Shop Hop begins this week, so we won't have a location to meet, so we'll get together next month.

I'm sure Vicky is all broken up about this. It's her month to present the DYO Block.

April DYO Block

Hey, better late than never, right?

This month's block was provided by Phyllis.  Called 'Amish Star', this is a 12" block using 2" and 4" components (finished sizes).

I'm going to try to attach the .pdf file to see what it does on the website. Wish me luck!

Edited to add... Well, attaching the pdf didn't work for the website, so here's the info in picture form (it should go full-sized if you click on it):

March DYO Instructions

This month's block is brought to you by Dina.   It finishes to 12".

Patriotic Heart:

Use the C, D, E and H dies with the green labels.

C - Cut 2 red and 2 white

E - Cut 4 white

D - Cut 1 red and 1 blue

H - Cut 1 red and 1 blue

If Phyllis is to be believed, it doesn't matter whether the blue D and H pieces are on the left or the right.  Dina disagrees.

(Less-than-stellar photo courtesy of Tracy. Sheesh.)

It's a Test Post!

Hi all, I'm testing some behind the scenes stuff for the blog/webpage. Some day I'll post something useful.

And look! It's a picture of a cat! Not my cat, but a cute one nonetheless.

February DYO Instructions

Finished block is 4"

• Use triangle C and triangle E - the ones with the green labels

Cut 1 E from Color 1

Cut 3 E from Color 2

Cut 1 C from Color 3

1. Sew a Color 1 E to a Color 2 E to make a half square triangle (HST)
2. Sew a Color 2 E to each side of the Color 1 triangle (refer to picture)
    
   **Don't use steam when you press - there's a lot of bias just waiting to go wild and crazy
3. Sew the Color 3 C to the E triangle mass

Four blocks

Block should measure 4 1/2" square.

Try it out! Bring at least one block to show at the next Guild meeting, March 19.

Half Hexagon Table Runner

YouTube video demonstrating the layout - not using the Go Cutter, but the construction's the same:
Friendship Braid Quilt Idea Using Half Hex Ruler 

Betty shared her large half hex die, and we each brought 4 fat quarters to cut. Each FQ is enough for 8 half-hex shapes; this is enough for a decently-sized table runner or a really long skinny runner :-)

Dina completed one strip of zig-zags during the meeting. Phyllis is working on  the fabrics in the foreground.

Fran got a good start on her layout.