Thursday, February 10, 2011

Heart Block Tutorial using the Accuquilt GO! value die


from the sewing machine of the Imperfect Piecer (that's me!),
    a tutorial using the value or basic die that is included with your Accuquilt GO! fabric cutter

I am not usually able to piece precisely - either my seam allowance is off a bit or I've cut the square just a bit smaller or larger.   I don't have to worry about cutting the shapes properly with my GO! and I think I finally have my 1/4" seam allowance set.  (I've only had my 'new' sewing machine about 1 1/2 years:))

Today's tutorial is how to cut and sew a Heart block using the basic (value) die that came with the GO!

For reference this die cuts:
  • Square-4 1/2" (4" finished)
  • Square-2 1/2" (2" finished)
  • Half Square-2" finished triangle (cuts four)
 Besides not being able to easily piece accurately, I'm also admitting I'm a dork.  To play around with the shapes and see what blocks I could make with the basic die, I cut several sheets of white paper.  No pink or blue or red added, just white copy paper. Duh!   It did the job, though:)




This block will be 8" unfinished, 7 1/2" unfinished.



You will need 
from main 'heart fabric'

  • 8  (2 1/2") triangles
  • 2  (2 1/2") squares
  • 1 ( 4") square
from background fabric
  • 8 (2 1/2") triangles
  • 2 (2 1/2") squares
Note: I try to be thrifty when using my fabrics, so I cut about a 10" square of my main 'heart' fabric, then strips to cut the additional squares and triangles



I laid my pieces in rows, then picked up all the triangles and chain-stitched them to save both time and all those little thread ends from having to be clipped.  This is a tip I learned from visiting Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville site - a wealth of knowledge and beautiful quilts!

After stitching the triangles, I pressed the seams open to avoid bulk , for all the other seams I pressed them flat then to one side.




 In the picture above, you can see that I have stitched and pressed the triangle pairs, and stitched a 2 1/2" square to the top of a triangle pair.  Make sure you have the triangle pairs with the square attached facing the heart!


This picture (above) shows the 3 sections across.
Two pair of triangles are sewn together for the top section
The triangle square units are sewn to each side of the 4" square for the center section
A 2 1/2" background square is sewn on each side of the remaining triangle pair unit.


Next, stitch the sections together.  See how nicely the squares and triangle points fit together? 

Here is a block I made using 4 of the Heart blocks, using an Aunt Grace fabric.  
Next time I will show you the border I am making for this block using the same basic die-

I hope to make a block or two a week using the basic die.  Stay tuned!  I have 3 projects going at the same time, I didn't plan on that, but it seems I keep finding things I just have to make;)

    Please contact me if you have any questions or if you would like to see more blocks based on the value die featured here. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

    5 comments:

    Daryl said...

    Love hearts and the tyedye fabric is perfect ...

    Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

    I don't know anything about quilts, but I do know that I love that heart and how different and unexpected it is. Very unique.

    Katrina said...

    What a cute idea! Thank you for sharing.

    Suzanne Neuhaus said...

    I love reading your blog. It's the first place I go every morning since finding it this morning. LOL. I'm looking forward to seeing the other blocks you create using the value dies. THANKS
    Suzanne

    Quilted Cupcake said...

    Great idea! found you via the Accuquilt forum. I just got the Go! and can't wait to try it. thanks for sharing.