The Rancher's Daughter Quilt Along ( Tutorial for Dori's Block '6') )

Okay Girls!

Time to saddle up!!

It's Monday.....ready for another block?

Now this time there is no way I am going to tell you how many 1 1/2" squares you have to cut!

You can count them when your done....and be drooling with pride at your amazing-ness!

Here it is:

Dori's Block (6)

And here' s the story behind it.

When a rancher's daughter has to live in the city,

she is always begging, borrowing, stealing,

whatever it takes to get an invite out to the country!

Really!

Now don't get me wrong....

I love being 5 minutes from Books a Million....Starbucks...Olive Garden...

etc. 

I received an email from a gal I met years ago at a church function in Utah  a few weeks ago.

She and her husband had also moved out here to Tennessee.

"John'aLee would you like to come out and help me with a quilt block project I am

contemplating?"

"SURE!"   Happy Dance....Smiles, giggles....I got an invite!!

She was wanting to make a quilt block on to wood for a big wall in her new house she was building.

Like the old blocks you find on barns across America!

Now this sounded fun!

Here's Dori with her darling Grand Girls!

So I drive up into Tennessee hill country....

God's country...

 Can you imagine those hills in Summer??

and got to work:

I showed her how to draft a block with graph paper...

while she made us a fabulous salad with organic greens

and strips of steak she stepped out of her camper to barbeque.

They are living in it while they build their home...

mostly all on their own.

Check out her blog here!   

So here goes Dori's block.

I will tell you the picture she showed me was done in all the

same values of paint colors and had no pattern.

When I started drafting it out on paper,

we noticed a neat Chevron pattern taking place.

(I would show the barn block, but it is copyrighted.)   

Cutting Instructions 

(All will be 1 1/2" Squares)

A Cut (8) Red Floral Print

B Cut (8) Green Floral Print

C Cut (4) Small Red and White Print

D Cut (32) Green and White Print

E Cut (4) Red Tone on Tone Print

F Cut (16) Red and White Print

The following tips I give are crucial to keeping your block pieces lined up right.

Make a Key:

TIP: Make another Key for your Half Square Triangles to keep them straight too.

Put the two 1 1/2" squares together that you will be sewing to make HST's. Mark them with appropriate letters.

 

Every block is a Half Square Triangle

I made a mistake here but caught it because of the key. There are no A/C's. So don't let this confuse you.

Make Half Square Triangles.

Click Here for a Refresher on how I do my HST's

Just one set of mine.

Now go back to your Key and lay them where they belong:

Line out Block Making sure you have your "Row" paper at top.

TIP!! (Once you finish positioning them your sheet will be empty,

so at this point I went to the trash, pulled out scraps and made a Color/Fabric Key

so I could keep it all straight once again.

 I then propped up this by my sewing machine so I could look at the drawing, to help me position all the HST's right.

Stitch Row 1 HST's to Row 2 HST's

Stitch Row 3 HST's to Row 4 HST's

Sttich Row 5 HST's to Row 6 HST's

Stitch Row 1/2 to Row 3/4

Sew Row 5/6 to Rows 1/2/3/4

Now stitch horizontal rows together:

Row 1 to Row 2

Row 3 to Row 4

Row 5 to Row 6.

Stitch sets together and your block is finished:

Tip:

After sewing each row together, turn block over, unstitch a couple of stitches where all 4 corners meet.

Sorry about the pic quality...the hubby wasn't here to help.

Spray Starch up and down the seam and press open:

Now here's a promise to you ladies!!

I promise...promise....

The next few weeks blocks will be easier!

Also I created a Group Flickr Account for any who would like to add their blocks to it:

Click Here!

Thanks for traveling the back roads of Tennessee with me!

Hope you enjoyed!