Block of the Month July 2017

MAROON and GOLDEN YELLOW BLOCK

I'm reminded of a very happy holiday in 1995 when I went to England to meet my brother for the very first time.  My dad went to defend his country in WWII, leaving a wife and toddler behind in England.  With PTSD and early on-set Parkinson's Disease, he decided not to go back after the war and made his home in Australia where he married and had two daughters.  The issues around all that, are not mine nor my brother's, and after 40 years of searching, he found us.  What joy to have a brother!  In 1995 I spent a wonderful 10 days with him, exploring his part of the world and what had been my dad's part of the world.  Wandering around Plymouth, the River Dart and the Naval Docks helped me understand my dad a little.  He spoke very little in his life with us and was very withdrawn.  Robert and I laughed and joked all the time we were together, as if we'd always known each other.  One of the memories that always brings a smile to my face is our pronunciation of the colour MAROON!  It seemed to come up every hour, one way or another..."Are you wearing your MAROON cardigan today?"  "No, I'm wearing my 'MARONE' one!"  We laughed and laughed.  Happy memories...

Jan-Maree has asked us to use these colours as they will make quilts for our Recipients who follow particular sports teams and of course they will also be suitable for other requests.  The diagonal aspect of the design should give some interesting quilts depending on the way the blocks are placed.

Maroon is sometimes described as Red Wine.  It is the rich brownish red, that is still red and feels very luxurious and warm.  Golden Yellow should be more Gold than Yellow.  

Here's a few fabrics from my collection that fit this description, although the camera hasn't represented them accurately.

The fabrics can have patterns of any kind on them but just be within our two specified colours.  I've seen some gold on maroon prints, but don't have any to show, that could also work well.

DO NOT TRIM the blocks

Any uneven or irregular edges will be trimmed away as the blocks are 

made the correct size for  quilts they are chosen for

Some months, I ask for blocks in reverse colours, but this month please 

just make blocks in the colour way shown above.

Please use a 1/4 inch seam allowance

CUTTING

MAROON         

Cut a 5 inch strip from selvedge to selvedge (folded double in the picture)

Remove selvedges and cut a straight edge, then cut four 5 x 5 inch squares and four 5 x 3 3/8 inch rectangles...there will be a about 6 inches left at the folded end.

                                       

GOLD

Cut two 3 3/4 x 3 3/4 inch squares

Cut one 3 3/8 x 3 3/8 inch square

CONSTRUCTION

Draw a diagonal line across the two large gold squares on the wrong side of the fabric.  Position as shown with right sides together and position pins so that the foot of the machine won't touch them.

Sew on the drawn line.

Trim away the corner as shown, in each of the 2 squares.  Pin the triangles together...see why further down.

From the right side, press the triangle into the corner of the square.

The triangle off-cuts - please sew the diagonal seam and press to one side resulting in two little squares as shown.  These will be joined to make other blocks that are used to make interesting quilt borders and panels.  They don't need to be exactly square or straight as they too, will be trimmed to fit the requirements of the quilts.  

Layout the block as shown

Firstly sew the middle row by joining the 2 rectangles to the centre square.  

Press the seam allowances towards the outside of the block.

Then join the other 2 rows by sewing the corner squares to either side of the rectangles.  Please take care to have the gold triangles positioned as shown in the picture so that all the outside edges of the block only have maroon on them.

Press the seam allowances towards the centre of the block as shown.  Pressing seam allowances in opposite directions enables the seams to "lock" at the next step. 

                                                           

Lastly, join the 3 rows together.

Press the seam allowances to one side or open, and there you have a gorgeous block!

We received a record number of blocks last month.  I was amazed at the huge variety of prints in the black and white fabrics...there are going to be some wonderful quilts made from them.  Watch the blog to see them in the coming weeks and months.

Quilters are such generous people!  

Thank you to each one of you generous people who sew B'sOM for our Aussie Heroes.

THANK YOU

Please send your blocks and off-cut triangles to 

Sandy Corry

9 Wendouree Court

North Boambee Valley   NSW   2450

...and remember to include your email address so that I can personally thank you.

PDF version of the block can be found by clicking HERE