Tuesday, August 18, 2015




Blueberry Pie featuring Soft Dreams from P&B Textiles
60" x 64"
Designed by Heidi Pridemore


This month’s FREE pattern is a yummy quilt that reminded me of dessert so I named it Blueberry Pie. I designed this quilt using the AccuQuilt Go!Big Electric Fabric Cutter and Soft Dreams fabric from P&B Textiles.

This month’s featured die is the Go! Strip Cutter-2 ½” strips withangled Guide Line (55017). This die is so easy to work with to create accurate 2 ½” strips and diamonds you want to keep making diamond projects. The die is also perfect for creating your own 2 ½” strips. There are so many projects available from the different fabric companies that use 2 ½” precut strip packages. Now you can make you own 2 ½” strip sets quickly and easily to use your stash.  Then you can take it one step further to create accurate diamonds by following the diagonal lines that are printed on the die. This just what I did to create the fun chevron borders on our Blueberry Pie quilt.

For this pattern I used the Go! Strip Cutter-2 ½” strips with angled Guide Line die and the Go Half-Square Triangle-2” finished SquareMultiples die (55063) to create the Diamond units. We have made a video showing how to cut the diamonds and I will also show you the step-by-step process in this posting.




The pattern for Blueberry Pie is now available at our website for download. 
The pattern will have all instructions to make this lovely quilt. You can make one quilt for each of your favorite pie flavors, Blueberry, Raspberry, Banana or whatever your favorite flavor may be.

On to the cutting the strips…….

First I cut my fabric into 8 ½” x WOF (width of fabric) strips. I layered up three cuts (6 layers) onto the die, aligning the bottom edge of the fabric with the horizontal line on the die and then sent it through the Go! Big Electric Fabric Cutter to get three 2 ½” x WOF strips.

                       
 



















Next it on to cutting the Diamonds…..

First find the diagonal line marked 45 degrees on the die. Then align the long side of the stacked strips with this line. Make sure that the excess fabric with the folded edge is hanging off the left edge of the die and the bottom of the strip (selvedge edge) is just past the right vertical line. Cut off the excess edge with the fold just past the left vertical line. Cut off the excess fabric with the fold. Unfold the excess strip to make another strip to cut diamonds from. Align the strips with the 45 degree line and then sent it through the Go! Big Electric Fabric Cutter to get 45 degree diamonds. I got nine diamonds from each strip using this method.

             

Then I used the Go Half-Square Triangle-2” finished Square Multiples die (55063) to cut the top and bottom units for the Diamond blocks as described in the pattern.

To sew the units together…..

For the Chevron Border you will need to sew the light diamond units in one direction and the dark diamond units in the opposite direction. The beauty of the 45 degree diamond is that is rotates for either direction so we do not need to fussy cut them for each side of the chevron. You just need to rotate them as shown in Figure 1.

Align on 2 ½” triangle on the dark diamond as shown in Figure 2 and sew in place. Repeat to sew a triangle to the bottom of the dark diamond to make the dark half of the chevron unit. Repeat to make the light diamond. Sew one light diamond unit to one dark diamond unit to make the Chevron Blocks. Easy as Pie!!!


I hope you enjoy this project as much as I did. I found this quilt so much easier to make with die cut shapes. They are much more accurate than hand cut shapes and that helped when sewing them together, it seemed like the pieces just popped together. I found my points came out every time.

With the die cut shapes this project is much easier to make and that makes it a nice project perfect for advanced beginners and intermediate sewers!


I would love to see what you come up with using this technique. Please feel free to email me your creations.

Make sure to visit my blog each month where I will share with you some tips and tricks on cutting and assembling of the project of the month along with posting the free pattern on our website www.TheWhimsicalWorkshop.com  You can also see our pattern and post at www.pbtex.com and www.accuquilt.com


Happy Quilting

Please visit us at www.TheWhimsicalWorkshop.com to see all of our patterns and fabrics.
    






Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Quiltwoman.com's Summer Waters Blog Hop




I am excited to be a part of the Quiltwoman.com Blog Hop. The theme for this blog hop is water. So our free pattern for this event is our All Around Tote. The pattern has instructions for two sizes!
The larger size is a perfect Beach bag, large enough to hold two towels plus other goodies. The smaller size can be used for a matching beach bag for your little one or as a great craft bag. You can download the FREE Pattern Here !



We are also giving away an autographed copy of the Quick Change Book, that features our Peek a Boo Daisies Bed Runner, shown here, along with many other wonderful bed runner designs. Just leave a comment below with your email and I will draw a name on 8/11/15.  

Now for some highlights on our beach bag. First this bag is made from large pieces of fabric, so it is a great showcase for larger prints or stripe fabric like ours! This would be a great project to break out your favorite Summertime fabrics for.

Next I love to include buttons on my projects, but not a real fan of making buttonholes for them. So I usually use velcro on the flap, positioning it opposite side of the flap to avoid making those pesky buttonholes. I also add a longer piece of loop velcro to the flap side so I can close my bag even if my beach bag is really full or empty. This will make the closure adjustable.

I also added these super large pockets to the sides of the beach bag. They are on the outside of the bag to keep the items dry and away from any wet towels.


Another great tip when making any beach bag, Use fusible vinyl on the lining fabric to make the bag water resistant on the inside.

Have fun making our Beach Bag and be ready for your next trip to the beach or pool.

I hope you enjoy following our Blog Hop. See below for the information on the other designers joining us on this hop, each designer will have a fun project for you to check out as well as a great giveaway. Happy Hopping.

Until Next Time.....
Heidi

PS.   Please make sure to check out all our products at www.TheWhimsicalWorkshop.com and
at www.QuiltWoman.com

Hello Quilters!

The Blog Hop has begun!  For the next week we will be hopping around seven QuiltWoman.com designer blogs. Each day...starting today...there will be a new blog post by one of our designers featuring a new technique, project, or tutorial. There will also be a free giveaway!  

Here's a list of all our participants:

8/4/2015 Tammy Silvers http://www.tamarinis.typepad.com/
8/5/2015 Carol Steely funthreads.blogspot.com
8/6/2015 Heidi Pridemore www.TheWhimsicalWorkshop.com
8/8/2015 Toby Lischko gatewayquiltsnstuff.blogspot.com
8/10/2015 Diane McGregor http://www.castillejacotton.net/blog

Have Fun and Happy Hopping!