Hi everybody, it’s Jenny from the MSQC. And I’ve got a really special project for you today. It’s our 10th anniversary coming up. We’ve been going for ten years. And it is also the 10th anniversary of the Collection for a Cause that Howard Markus does for Moda fabric. Every year he would do this collection. And it’s based on old Civil War fabric. And it’s just a beautiful collection. He puts them all together and everything from that collection, all the money that’s made from that collection goes to a charity. And the charity for this one is the International Quilt Study Center and Museum. And so I’m always interested about the charities he picks, and they’re always amazing ones. So I think that’s a really cool thing. So let me tell you about this quilt. Because of the fabric and because the anniversary, this is a block that we’ve named Time to Sew. It’s got the thread spools here and the little hourglasses which count down our time. So we’re calling this block Time to Sew. And it’s just an easy block and a lot of fun. And for most of us who have that emotional connection to sewing I think it’s going to be really cool.

Alright so what you’re going to need to make this quilt is one packet of ten inch squares. And again we’ve used this Collection for a Cause for Moda. And you’re going to need one packet of ten inch squares of a background fabric as well. And so just pick one that coordinates with your prints. You’re also going to need two yards of background fabric and that’s for these, this border, these sashings. It takes care of all of that. And then the border fabric you’re going to need a yard and ¾ and it’s a big 6 ½ inch border, really a pretty border. It finishes at six so it’s a nice big border. Then for the backing we’ve got this nice fabric right here, really pretty. And this is a big quilt so it’s going to use a lot of backing. It uses eight yards of backing. And we did horizontal seams on it. Now the quilt actually measures out 86 by 104. So this is a big quilt. But it’s a lot of fun and super easy to make.

It’s basically half square triangles and a couple of squares. So to make this easily what we’re going to do is we’re going to take 20 of our squares and we’re going to draw the line side to side and we are going to sew on either side and make the easy eight because we need 4 ½ inch triangles. So let’s come over here to the sewing machine. And I’ve drawn my line so now I’m just going to sew on either side. And I’m going to sew all the way down one side. I guess I should have told you that I put two squares together. I did, right sides together. I had it all set up for me and so I forgot to tell you that I actually have a background square and a print square, right sides together. And now we’re sewing a quarter of an inch right down the line. Alright we’ve sewed one way so now we’re going to come and sew the other. And flip it and go down the other side. Alrighty.

So now what we’re going to do is we’re going to cut this in half vertically and horizontally. And I’m going to take my ruler and just lay it right along the edge because it’s five inches, we’re cutting directly in half here. And we’re going to cut this way and we’re going to cut this way. And I”m going to move these things out of my way a little bit so that I can get a nice good cut on this. Alright so now we’re cutting this way. And then we want to cut both sides diagonally. And this way. There we go. Alright so all of these now need to be squared to 4 ½. And I’m going to grab my squaring tool so I can do that. So I’m going to lay, the way this tool works is you’re going to lay your stitch line on the stitch line and measure, I mean match those up. And then you’re going to trim off what’s extra. And it looks like mine are measuring really close so I may not even need to trim. Nope, I don’t think I need to trim. These came out really perfect. So we’re going to press these open. Set your seam and roll it back. I keep my dark to the top so that I can press to the dark side. So our seam is going to stay right next to the dark side. Now you want to leave these together in piles, in groups because we’re going to make two different blocks here as soon as I get these all pressed. I love it when you sew it and it actually measures the right size. That’s awesome. Alright so I’m going to put these over here with my other half square triangles that I’ve cut.

So now what we’re going to do is we’re going to take two more pieces of fabric and I have a couple here. We have a background fabric and we have a printed fabric. We’re going to put those right sides together. Now for this block this is the block that’s going to make the thread so these patches are going to make all the outside, all these hourglasses and these corner blocks. But when you get ready to make the thread you have to remember that you’re making the thread. So what we’re going to do is we are going to cut this right in half. And half of it we’re going to make in half square triangles. So this part I’m going to cut into two five inch squares. And we’re just going to sew on either side of the lines that we’re going to draw here like this. So then I’m going to set this up and draw a line so I can sew on either side. And then one more here. And once I start putting this together you’re going to see how it all comes together. Now on this one right here we just need this part. And we’re going to cut this in two squares and they’re going to be 4 ½. So we’re going to go ahead and cut 4 ½ right here. The reason these squares have to be 4 ½ is because our, our half square triangles are 4 ½ and they all have to fit together. Alright so 4 ½ and 4 ½. Alright one more cut here. Alright now we’re going to set these aside for just a second and then we’re going to sew on either side of this, this line to make two more half square triangles. And again I just line my presser foot up on the line and then sew down. And I just flip it around when I get to the end. Alrighty.

Alright now we’re going to cut these open. And we will check these as well to make sure they’re squared to 4 ½. I had to move those fabrics out of the way because I was worried I’d miss and cut into them and I didn’t want to do that. Alright now let me look at these. We’re matching the 4 ½ inch stitch line to the, it’s just right on. That’s what happens when your quarter of an inch, your quarter of an inch is pretty right. That’s pretty good. A little, a little tiny trim right here. Alright one more. Ok now let’s check this one. Man these are just golden, I’m telling you. These are great. Alright so let’s press them open. Dark sides to the top. Again when you set a seam it just relaxes the thread so that it lays back nicely and one more.

Alright now when I do a block, for it to make sense in my brain I have to kind of start from the middle and work out. So I know that these two, this is going to be my thread because my thread has the squares in it. So my thread blocks are going to go like this And then these are going to go to the other side of my thread. This is going to make my thread right here. Now I need the stand for my thread so I’m going to go over where all my piles are stacked up and I’m going to choose something that has a little bit of contrast so it will make a good base for my thread. So there’s my thread base and here’s the top of the spool. This is making the spool. Oop, there we go. And there we go. Alright now what we’re going to do is we’re going to set in our hourglasses. So we’re going to take another set, probably these. Now if you want your block can be all the same blocks. You know, all the same squares. I liked mine kind of scrappy and mixed up. And so let’s see, this one is going to go hourglass like this and hourglass like this and hourglass like this. I’m so angley challenged. I know people either really get that or they’re just like what are you talking about.

Alright so now in these corners we’re going to have a block that faces out that makes a secondary design. So I’m just going to put this color over here at this edge like this. And this one over here. And then we need two 4 ½ inch blocks for our corners. And we’re going to get that out of this last little piece of background. And so I’m just going to cut two 4 ½ inch squares. Now I could have cut, I could have and should have cut this at the same time I cut my fabric but I got a little ahead of myself so we’ll just do it right now because you need two of these for each of the corners right here. Oop I’ve got to cut my fold. I folded that right in half and forgot to cut my fold. Alright so now this one goes here and this one goes here. And that is your finished block. Now you want to lay that out. And once you get one the way you want it, keep it right by your sewing machine so that every other block you put together is put together the same way. So this is our block right here. This is one all sewn together and basically when you sew them together what you’re going to do is you’re going to sew this top row and lay it back down. Second row, lay it back down, third row lay it back down and do that. So that you don’t get anything out of line. Then sew your rows together. Just make sure, you know, all times it’s always easier to check and make sure you’ve got it going the right direction than it is to rip. We don’t want to rip.

So now we’re ready to set our blocks together. So we’re going to take our block and measure it. And ours measure 16 ½ and so what we’re going to do is we’re going to put a sashing strip in here that is exactly 16 ½. And so I have one cut here. Here we go. So you’re going to put your sashing strip on your block like this and you’re going to add another block. Now remember I’ve got mine turned, my spools are going opposite directions. So we’re going to sew these two together. And then we’re going to add the next ones. So one the next one, your block is square so it’s also going to be a 16 ½ but then you’re going to add a little 2 ½ inch square for your cornerstone. So that’s going to lay in here just like this. Let me move these up so make sure you can see this. So see how that lays right there. And then this one is going to come in and it forms that little shoefly. When you get four of those blocks together it forms that perfectly.

So let’s take a look again at the quilt behind me. We have four big blocks across the top. And then we have one, two, three, four, five, down the side. And it just makes it darling. Now I want to point out. If you guys can zoom in and see this. Look at the stitching on this quilt. It is, it’s a sewing stitching. So it goes with our Time to Sew. So it’s a thread and needle. I mean it’s just all these little fun sewing things on here. And it’s just a really fun quilting pattern. Real easy to see it on this. Here’s your little needle and it goes to a little spool of thread. It’s just fun to look at that. So this is a great little project. I think it goes well with the fabric. And we hope you enjoyed this tutorial on Time to Sew from the MSQC.