Swirling Fish Block Tutorial

This tutorial will make two identical fish blocks. 

Background Fabric  - Five squares 5"

Assorted Green Fabrics - One square 9", five squares 5"
Contrasting Solid (choose a color different from background fabric) - One square 9"

Make two large half square triangles - Cut size 8.5", Finished size 8"

On the wrong side of the contrasting solid square (9"), draw a line connecting two diagonal corners. Place the large green square (9") right sides together with the contrasting solid square (9").  Stitch 1/4" away from the drawn line, on both sides. Cut on the drawn line. Press and square both HSTs to 8.5". Set aside.

Make ten smaller half square triangles - Cut size 4.5". Finished size 4".
On the wrong side of a background square (5"), draw a line connecting two diagonal corners. Place a 5" green square right sides together with the 5" background square. Stitch 1/4" away from the drawn line, on both sides. Cut on the drawn line. Press and square both HSTs to 4.5". Similarly make the remaining eight HSTs. 

Arrange and stitch as shown.

STEP 1 - Stitch the four smaller HSTs in two pairs as shown by arrows

STEP 2 - Stitch the large HST to the top HST pair.  Stitch the lower HST pair to the fifth smaller HST.

STEP 3 - Stitch the two pieced units together to complete the block

STEP 4 - Press and square to 12.5"

Do a happy dance, much like the swirling fish :-D Complete the second fish block.

Now make more in all the colors of the rainbow. The smaller HSTs are a great way to use up leftover squares from charm packs. 

Here are a few more examples.

Yellow Fish

Red Fish

Orange Fish

Purple Fish

Nine blocks (arranged 3 by 3) will make a 36" square baby quilt. I recommend adding 2" borders (to protect your points) for a 40" finished quilt.

30 blocks (5 by 6) will make a Lap/Throw/Mercyful Quilt, measuring 60" by 84". Please make sure that you add borders to protect the points.

Questions? Ask away and I will answer here so that all can see. 

I will share this tutorial with all my favorite linky parties. See full list on the sidebar.

Tara

Picture this - About noon on Superbowl Sunday

Me: I am going to eat my lunch and watch TV. Do you want to join me?
Paul (reclining on the couch): Nah, I am watching the eyelid show.
Me: Ooh that is a good show.
Paul: It was greatly reviewed.
Me: Yup, I watch it everyday.

Later, during the 4th quarter of the Superbowl game
Me: I am done here.
Paul: Sup babe?
Me: My eyelid show is about to begin.

For the Eyelid Show

Here is a quilt perfect for use during a little one's eyelid show :-)
I am calling her Tara.

Scrappy Triangles 

On the Design Wall

Tara came about because I was trying to repurpose the scraps left over from Enchanted Lake and Kinda Brave.

Sew, Press, Trim

6.5" HSTs can be combined in so many ways and there were several revisions.

In the Process

Getting There

Final Layout, I think.

Aha!!!

Added a skinny border to save the points.
OK, I could not save everyone :-( but most points were saved.

Skinny Border

For the backing I had to get slightly inventive. I used a striped fabric and added (cut and insert) a pieced strip of the same to get at 50" square.

Pieced Backing

Tara finished at about 48" square.  Here are some more pictures of the finished quilt.

Aquas & Purples

Black/White Binding

Walking Foot Quilting

Snug as a Bug

Did I label it?

Labelled

It is amazing how much your binding improves after 150 quilts :-)

She shimmers

Sweet Dreams!!!

She glows and shimmers and makes me as happy as a glowworm on a warm summer night.  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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Me: All the blocks for the #BushFire Quilts are complete.
Paul: That is good news.

Me: But some blocks are a smidgen short of the required 12.5"
Paul: What does that mean?

The first ones

Me: That they do not meet the strict guidelines - at least 12.5". Could be more, not less.
Paul: Will they discard your blocks?
Me: I doubt that.  But if I was collecting the blocks, I'd be upset if the blocks did not meet the specified dimensions
Paul: So why did you not make them larger?

Mix and Match

Background Triangles

Me: Well, the first batch of blocks ended up being slightly smaller because I was still trying the new pattern. The blocks I made later are more generously sized.
Paul: Then just send the generous ones.
Me: I could, but that is only half of what I made. Disappointing
Paul:  What now?

Pinned in Place

Trunks

Me: I could combine one or two skinny blocks with a generous block.
Paul: How? It is not like you can take an average here.
Me: If I sew them into a top the smaller blocks can be compensated by the generous ones and the overall dimensions will match their requirements (48" by 60").

Paul: There you go!

Falling Short

Coming Together

The finished flimsies will be revealed in the next blogspot. Stay tuned :-)

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Here are some of my juicy orange blocks for the RSC2020. Linking with Angela.

Small Blocks are Done

The big ones are in the works and I promise to have them done along with the BushFire Quilt flimsies.

Big Blocks in process

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This blogpost will not be complete without a shout-out to Bernie.  I was surprised (very pleasantly) when I received a package from Bernie (Needle and Foot) with a load of yummy scraps, a sweet note and two kisses :-)

Cannot stop smiling :-)

No, I did not win the giveaway but Bernie made a special package for me. I feel so loved.

Kisses to you, Bernie!!!

I don't have to be rich. I just want to have generous friends.
Wish granted!!!

I will be linking with all my favorite linky parties. See full list on the sidebar.

Kaffe goes to the Temple

I have a finish!!!

Finished!!!

Yes, I am finishing with a BANG!!!

But let's start at the beginning. The mission was simple - Use up 124 HSTs left over from making Clay's Quilt.

Clay's Quilt in progress

I turned to Pinterest for ideas. There were a few that appealed to me.
Arrange 120 HSTs 10 by 12, sew and call it a flimsy.  Some design is bound to emerge. Right?

Leftover HSTs

I liked the idea of simple. I wanted to get it done.
Bernie and Mari had warned me that if I let them sit too long they would become a UFO.

Meh!

Quick and Simple. Who does not want that?
But it does not have that spice, that lure, that attention-grabbing, passionate tugging at my heartstrings effect.
Have you had that moment when you are so consumed by it that you forget almost everything else.
I was not getting THAT feeling.

Blah!

One Saturday morning, Paul asked me to accompany him to Chick-Fil-A. No, not exactly a date but he had a coupon for a free breakfast sandwich. Oh well.
Me: I want to sit near the window
Paul: It is too bright
Me: There is no such thing.
Paul: Are you a sunflower?
Me: Am I not?
Paul: Hmmm.
Me: You must be a vampire, seeking the darkest corner.
Chick-Fil-A employee - We do not serve blood.
Laughter

I also got something to eat. Did not care for it. Can you believe a breakfast place that does not serve hot tea? I mean it is just hot water. It is less work than coffee. I was feeling trapped and restless while Paul lovingly lingered over his potatoes.

Boredom can be a beautiful thing. My mind drifted back to the 124 HSTs waiting for me at the ironing board while I was trying to eat bland eggs.
Here is some salsa, Paul offered. I glared at him but accepted the salsa.
My thoughts drifted again. This time to a beautiful pink/orange quilt I had seen at allpeoplequilt.com a while ago. Composed of HSTs, what was its name - Ships something.

Found it.

What if?
I have a lot of little HSTs. So if I made a few larger ones (one large for every five small ones), I could make this block.

And then what?
Let's sketch.

Sketch

And then that feeling came - like a thief that is so close to the treasure that his fingers begin to tingle.
Now, I had to drop everything and make it.

Large HSTs, using Kaffe Fassett Solids

The first blocks

The first quadrant

Coming together!!!

I still had leftover HSTs. A border of HSTs? Maybe. But they have to fit right.  This required an internal border.

Gold Border and 4-patch blocks

And cornerstones, and tiny 4-patch blocks in the middle of the borders to make sure that everything falls in the right place.

Cornerstones

Almost There

The flimsy was complete. Well, almost. I added a skinny background border to make sure that the binding did not eat up the points of the HSTs.

Starting from that one block (1 large+5 small HSTs), the rest of the quilt came together, almost effortlessly, in a round robin fashion.  It is as if the quilt just made itself.

I chose a this green print for backing. And the binding contrasts beautifully.

Backing and Binding

Here it is!!! My 20th finish of 2017.

Hello Beautiful!

Can you see the sliver of background  between the binding and the points of the HSTs? 

I am in love!!!

A little dusting of snow made for a perfect backdrop.  But I had to take a break in the middle of the photo-shoot. I came inside to regain sensation in my fingers before venturing out a second time.

Ooh love the binding!!!

This quilt reminds me of the bright tents (shamiyana) at a traditional Indian wedding.
The colors are so much like my traditional jewelry set - green, gold and red.  These colors are also reminiscent of India's Temple Silk sarees.

Temple Silk and Jewelry

Going to the Pooja

The pattern is like a Rangoli, made at Diwali to welcome the Goddess Lakshmi.

Rangoli

The flying geese units are circling around the larger HST clusters.

Parikrama

Distilling all these thoughts and ideas, I have chosen to call it Parikrama.  Parikrama is the path that devotees follow, going around the temple to mark the end of the worship.

Labelled

Binding & Backing - Perfect Together

Parikrama finished at 46" square.

Scrappy and Spicy

Gold is Bold

It seems fitting that I end the year with this quilt, just as a devotee would end the worship with the parikrama of the temple.  As usual, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I will be linking with all my favorite linky parties, listed on the sidebar. Also linking with Sandra's Dreami.

Hope you stay warm and I wish you all a very happy new year.