How to Make an Eight Hands Around Block or Mini Quilt

Quite some time ago I mentioned I'd be doing a tutorial for the Eight Hands Around mini quilt that I made for the last round of #BCBarnQuiltSwapMini.  Time clearly got away from me, but here it is. The instructions are for a 6" finished quilt block or mini quilt.  

Cutting Instructions:

Aqua:  Cut (1) 4-1/2" square
                 (2) 2-3/4" squares
Green:  (4) 2-5/8" squares
Navy:    (1) 3-1/4" square
            (4) 1-1/4" squares
White:  (4) 2" squares
            (2) 2-3/4" squares
            (1) 2" square

All seams are 1/4" unless otherwise noted.  Fabrics shown are various Bonnie & Camille prints. White is Moda Bella.  No endorsement is implied.  

From here on, the directions for each step will be directly below each picture.
Here are the cut fabrics.
Mark the diagonal on each white 2-3/4" square.  Place one aqua and one white 2-3/4" square right sides together.  Stitch 1/4" away from each side of the drawn line.  Repeat to make a second set.
Cut along the drawn line.
Press each piece towards the aqua side. (Trimming instructions to follow in next step.)
Trim each aqua/white HST to 2".  To do this, place the 45 degree line of your ruler right along the seam, making sure  that there is enough to trim all the way around the square.  Trim the top and right sides.
Rotate the square and cut the two remaining (untrimmed) sides to yield a 2" square.  You should have four total.
Next, draw lines on the backs of the four green 2-5/8" squares.  Line them up, right sides together, with the aqua 4-1/2" square as shown.
Sew seams 1/4" on either side of the drawn lines as shown.
Cut along the drawn line.  Then press seams toward the green pieces.
Place another green square as shown, paying attention to which way the drawn line goes.
Sew 1/4" to each side of the drawn line.
Cut on the line.  Press toward green triangle.  This yields two flying geese.
REPEAT previous two steps to make another set of geese.
 
Time to trim!  Line up the center of the aqua triangle with the 1-3/4" line on your ruler as shown.
Make sure the horizontal 1/4" line of the ruler runs right against that intersection point.
Make sure the 45 degrees line of your ruler is parallel to the diagonal seam.
Trim the right and top sides of the flying geese units.
Flip the partially trimmed flying geese units upside down.
Line up the LEFT  side with the 3-1/2" line on your ruler.
Line up the bottom of the unit along the 2" line.
Make sure the diagonal line of the ruler runs right along your seam.
Trim the right and top sides of the unit.

You should now have four perfectly sized flying geese units, 2 x 3-1/2".
Next, draw diagonal lines on the wrong sides of your four white 2" squares.
Layer them as shown, right sides together, on your navy 3-1/4" square.
Sew 1/4" away from each side of the drawn line.
Trim on the drawn line and press towards the white triangles.
Place another white square as shown.
Sew 1/4" from each side of the drawn line.
Trim on the drawn line.  Repeat previous two steps to make second unit.
Press towards the white.
Time to trim!  Line up your ruler so that the 1" line is lined up with the peak of the triangle.
The 1/4" horizontal line should run perpendicular to the triangle peak and
the 45 degree line is parallel to the triangle's left leg.  Trim to the right and top of the ruler.
Turn the partially trimmed flying geese unit upside down.   Line up the left side of the block on the 2" line and the bottom of the unit on the ruler's 1-1/4" line.  The diagonal line of the ruler should run right along the seam.  Trim the block on the right and top sides of the ruler.
Repeat so all four flying geese units are trimmed to a final size of 1-1/4" x 2".
 
Line up your navy 1-1/4" squares, white 2" square, and flying geese units as shown. 
Sew the rows together.  Press the top and bottom rows towards the navy squares and the center row towards the white square.
Sew the rows together.  Press seams open.
Press the seams open.
Lay out your remaining pieces as shown.  Pay careful attention to orientation.
Join pieces of each row together.  Make sure all your points and seam intersections match.
Press seams OPEN!
Join rows.  Press seams OPEN!
Congrats, you've sewn an Eight Hands Around block!  You can either quilt it and make it into a mini mini quilt or just use the block for something else.  If you choose to go the mini mini route, I highly recommend Amanda Jean's How to Bind Tiny Things method.  It is seriously awesome!

Maybe someday I'll get this made into a nice, downloadable PDF.  At least I made it this far!  :D Have a great week; I'm off to MQX.

More of the Same

This week I finished the beehive cross stitch and started a new one, Luna in her Gryffindor lion head.  My fabric is a 28 ct light blue linen, but it photos as gray.
Pattern by Sewing Seed on Etsy
Pattern purchased from Tiny Needle on Etsy; store no longer exists.

I finished off the pieces to the quilt I was working on and have a layout decided upon.  The pattern is Shortcake by Cluck, Cluck, Sew and the fabric is Kate Spain's Paradiso.  This is one of two I was working on that I originally thought would match my new furniture, but it turns out they do not look nice with the furniture.  I'm not sure what I'll do with them; perhaps try to sell them.  It's hard to make any money on a quilt though; no-one seems to be willing to pay you the true value of the time and materials invested.

I bought a few new patterns to try for shirts since I'm still having trouble with figuring out how to move the bust dart.  Now I just have to cut out a million pattern pieces.


And I've made a preliminary fabric pull for my guild's next swap.

In other news, we replanted lettuce, broccoli rabe, and cabbage seeds in the garden a week ago and the lettuce and rabe are already up. I haven't tried a fall crop before, but so far, so good.

We have a meeting with a drywaller next week. I'm excited!  

Why is it that dealing with other parents seems like high school drama all over again?  Why can't we be mature and act like adults? I, for one, have no desire to revisit my younger years. Speaking of drama, so much of Facebook is so ugly and reflective of current politics that I can barely stand to look at it anymore (and don't most of the time).  Not sure if this is reflective of who I am "friends" with or if other peoples' pages are like that too.  Why can't people be civil?

MQX is next week!  I'm signed up for four classes and the awards ceremony.  

I still haven't managed to try out the Juki with the dampeners yet.

That's about it for this week.

Not Much

Not much has been happening.  I'm kinda in a slump.  I can't decide what to work on and everything feels a bit off.  The quilts I was working on to go with my new furniture look HORRIBLE with it, so that has taken away the will to want to work on them.

I did finish my Threadbare Creations Mystery quilt top.  Kinda funny that it is a snowflake and my fabric has dragonflies on it.  Oh crap.  I just realized I have two pieces sewn wrong.  Well, guess I'll be doing some ripping.  :(

I finished up Super Koala last week and started this little bee hive.  Pattern is by SewingSeed on Etsy.  My fabric is a really pretty light blue linen, but it is not photoing well.

I really need to make myself some shirts.  I bought all this fabric last year and I now I NEED some shirts because a lot of mine are either too big or worn out.  I watched a bunch of fitting classes last week on Craftsy and then watched a bunch on You Tube as well.  I still am unsure on how to fit the pattern I want to use.  It has a bust dart to take into account my ....um....  shapely figure.  The bad thing is the dart is much higher than I need it.  I thought I understood how to lower it, but I'm mentally blocked with it.  And I need to buy a French curve and don't feel like going to the store.  Current state of the worktable:




Back to Sewing

My back is feeling much better.  Yay!  I'm able to drive and sew again.  

Monday I took advantage of the free Craftsy class viewing and watched many hours of instruction. I'm not the best at sitting and watching TV and classes are also like that for me.  So I worked on the fish quilt a little bit.  I finished trimming the blocks I'd already pressed and then ironed all the rest.  There's still so much trimming to be done--I'd say well over 400 of them.  It's quite daunting.
I also sewed and pressed part of these blocks.  There are 28 of them.
And for something a little different, I am participating in Threadbare Creation's seven-day-mystery-sew-along.  I shopped my stash for this one!  At the end I should have a mini top.  Want to participate?  Check here to get started.
And I'm trying to be better about working on something rather than just sitting and playing with the iPad in the evenings.  I've about finished my Super Koala (pattern by Sewing Seeds on Etsy).
I finished the Windermere #2 quilt a few weeks ago and have updated my 2017 finishes page with that.  

My new furniture is being delivered tomorrow.  I hope it looks good!  We sold our old furniture and delivered it to its new owner on Monday, so the living room is looking quite large and somewhat bare at the moment.  Surprisingly, my son was very upset that we sold the old furniture.

FLL is going well.  Our team works wonderfully together so far this season.  It makes everything so much easier and much more pleasant.

I still haven't had a chance to try out the long arm with the new plates on it.  Sigh.  I really need to get on that.  I'm attending MQX in a few weeks and taking some classes.  Anyone going?

Last week we had to get our front porch lifted.  It is cement and had settled over an inch in four years (due to the installer's lack of care).  Anyway, now it's back in place and guaranteed for five years.  I figure that means that at five years, one day, it will start to settle again.  Ha!

In basement news, the insulation is almost totally done.  We finally got a drywaller to return our calls.  We'd called several who didn't respond and it was getting a little disheartening.  Hopefully this one will work out and we can progress.  Can't WAIT to have my own space where everything can be in one central location and the mess will be contained to one room rather than spread all over the main floor.

Finally, it is guild week!  Yay!  Love my guild and meetings.