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Thursday 19 January 2017

My first Pre-Cut Linky Party!

As I mentioned in my previous post, one of my projects this year was to start my very own Linky Party to give my wonderful quilty friends a chance to share your creations and hopefully make some new friends along the way. For the uninitiated, these parties are open to anyone who blogs or is on Instagram and are a great source for inspiration and encouragement in the online world. Also by leaving lovely comments on each other's posts we can spread some quilty love and support across the world - we all need a little lift now and again don't we?!

Introducing the... 


As you may have guessed by now, I'm a HUGE fan of the quilting pre-cut, be it fat quarters, jelly roll strips, charm squares, layer cakes... the list goes on. As well as my Pre-Cut Party free to my Newsletter subscribers, I design and make up quilt and cushion kits based on these versatile pre-cuts. So I thought it would be great to find out how these precious fabric packs inspire you - did you start quilting using a pre-cut? Are you addicted to gorgeous fat-quarter bundles? Do you design your own quilts using only charm squares? We would love to see your creations.

As I normally (try to) blog on a Thursday, I thought I would carry this on, so why not join me here every week and share your pre-cut makes - they don't have to be current, or even finished, we just want to see what you're up to and how these precious fabric packs have inspired you.

To spread the word and share the quilting love, here's a  Party button to add to your side bar...







So I'll go first.. my quilting group have kindly agreed to help a friend who is in need of some baby quilts for a charity she supports, and we've decided to give the hour-glass block using charm squares a whirl. A customer first sent me this link to the Missouri Star Quilts tutorial on YouTube and I thought this design would not only create some lovely baby quilts, but would also make a great workshop for the group. First though I had to work out how many 5" squares are needed to make a decent sized quilt - we are aiming for 1m x 1m square quilts. I took to my stash and cut up about 80 odd squares, going for a scrappy look and built up a number of four-patch blocks, then placed two right sides together, stitched around the edge using a 1/4" seam allowance, then cut them across both diagonals. Two hour-glass blocks - magic! 


When sewing the rows together, I decided to press the seams between each block open to reduce the bulk. Then when I came to sew the rows together, I placed a pin through  the points on each row, but didn't bring the pin back through all that bulk. Instead I inserted pins either side where there is less bulk, then removed the original pin before going to the machine.


It takes 72 5" squares to make up 36 hourglass blocks, which laid out as six rows across by six rows down with a small 3" (cut) border, gives you a quilt about 40" square, so ideally you need two charm packs.

 
So now it's you turn...


Now check out these great linky parties;
Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers, Needle & Thread Thursday, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? and Main Crush Monday

16 comments:

  1. Pre-cuts are always so tempting to buy. And most quilters love to hang onto them to admire. But it looks like your new linky party will be providing plenty of inspiration for actually using those pre-cuts. Great idea!

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    1. Thank you Lorna, I've been greatly inspired by you of course, and the huge success of Let's Bee Social!

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  2. I usually purchase the random jelly roll and only a couple of pre-cut squares. I love them, just like the economy of purchasing yardage. One of my efforts is to purchase more of the precuts to diversify my options. Cutting much need squares is not one of my favourite things.

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    1. I also love the way different pre-cuts work together to create all sorts of different designs, and you're so right, it's a great cheap way of getting small pieces of a whole range!

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  3. Great idea for a pre-cut linky party as pre-cuts are so popular! Thanks for sharing on Midweek Makers

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    1. Thank you Susan, I'm a huge fan myself, and thought we should share the pre-cut love :)

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  4. That is a neat way to make hourglass blocks! I'll have to try that sometime. I love the idea of a pre-cut linkup. I just got several pre-cuts as holiday gifts. When I use them I'll be sure to link up!

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    1. This method is so fast!! Pre-cuts are great gifts, just sometimes they look too good to unpack!

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  5. Brilliant way to make the hourglass blocks. Love the spring colors of your quilt!!

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    1. This method is so fast, though then genius is really down to Missouri Star & co!

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  6. I have several jelly rolls and a layer cake, but I never seem to use them, this is great to give me the inspiration to sue them/

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    1. Hopefully we can get inspiration from each other, and don't forget my free monthly patterns if you subscribe to my Newsletter :)

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  7. My love of precuts is real. The allure for me is owning a bit of an entire fabric collection, whether they're charms or layers or jelly-roll strips. This is a novel idea for a link party -- thanks for hosting!

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    1. Hi Michelle, you're so right about owning some of the whole collection, though I also love the challenge of designing something with just the one shape, or maybe two... thanks for stopping by.

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  8. My favorite per-cuts are fat quarters. I love to have a piece of each fabric in a line. I also love charm packs for easy baby quilts. But jelly rolls are hard for me to work with. I love the look of them all stacked up so pretty, but that's usually where they stay! :)

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    1. oh, there is so much you can do with a strip, I'm learning more uses every day! Hopefully we can inspire you to get cutting! Thanks for stopping by.

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