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Tutorial For Sewing the Accuquilt Hattie’s Choice Block

Hattie's Choice block

We have a pattern on our website called Fit For a King and we also designed the pattern called Antique Americana on the Accuquilt website, so I thought it might be fun to do a tutorial for sewing this block. Here are photos of those two quilts.

Fit For a King Quilt Pattern
Fit For a King Quilt Pattern
Antique Americana
Antique Americana

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is what the Accuquilt Die looks like.

Hattie's Choice
Hattie’s Choice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The die has three shapes on it labeled A, B & C. Now at first glance, you may think that shape “A” is an equilateral triangle, and the die packaging would lead you to believe that it is an equilateral triangle, but it is not. When piecing this shape, there is a correct orientation for laying it out and piecing it.

Look at one of the shape A’s laid over another one, as in the photo below,  and you can see that they are not the same on all sides.

Shape A laid over another
Shape A laid over another

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a distinct orientation for correctly piecing shape “A.” You need to identify the top of Shape” A and stack them all with the top on top.

Shape A next to shape B
Shape A next to shape B

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next photo shows the correct orientation of shape A on the right side of the shape B Diamond. You flip shape A over to the left on top of shape B per the photo below. Notice the orientation of shape A on top of shape B for sewing.

shape A flipped onto shape B
shape A flipped onto shape B

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It helps if you sew with leaders and enders. These are scraps of fabric you start sewing on before sewing on your quilt pieces and stop on after you have sewn your chain of quilt pieces. This prevents the corners of your pieces from getting jammed down in the feed dogs.  This next picture shows the 1/4″ seam sewn. Notice how the seam starts on the top point and ends by going through the bottom point.

Leader
Leader
Seam on 1st shape A and B
Seam on 1st shape A and B

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next press the seam toward the triangle.

press toward shape A triangle
press toward shape A triangle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Place another shape A onto the B diamond. Notice the orientation of the top on shape A.

Adding 2nd shape A
Adding 2nd shape A

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at the 1/4″ seam below. Notice how the it starts at the top point and ends by going through the bottom point.

Seam on 2d shape A
Seam on 2d shape A

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Press toward second shape A. Second photo is view from the back. Make 4 of these combined units.

Press toward 2d shape A
Press toward 2d shape A
View from the back
View from the back

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Layout these combine units with shape Cs to the left of them.

Adding shape C
Adding shape C

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flip the combined units onto shape C as depicted below. Note how they are sewn from point to point.

Combined units laid out on Shape C
Combined units laid out on Shape C
1/4" seam
1/4″ seam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Press toward shape C. View from the back. Make 4 of these units.

pressed toward shape C
pressed toward shape C
back view
back view

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lay out the 4 units per the photo below.

4 units laid out
4 units laid out

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Place one of the units on top of another and sew along the right edge with a 1/4 ” seam. Second photo below is view of seam from back.

units laid out on top of each other
units laid out on top of each other
combined units showing 1/4" seam
combined units showing 1/4″ seam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Press seam toward shape C.

Press toward shape C
Press toward shape C

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lay out two half units.

Two half units
Two half units

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flip one half unit onto the other and pin where the diamonds intersect. Note the 1/4″ seam line in the second photo.

half units flipped onto each other.
half units flipped onto each other.
1/4" seam on half units
1/4″ seam on half units

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Press the center seam open.

Center seam pressed open
Center seam pressed open

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Voila! You have a completed Hattie’s Choice block. In a perfect world, these blocks would measure 8.5″, but you can see that mine are only 8.25.” This will be fine as long as all of your blocks are consistently the same measurement.

Hattie's Choice block
Hattie’s Choice block
size of unfinished block
size of unfinished block

 

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Magazine Quilts Galore

Mother's Garden Quilt

Before we get to the magazine quilts, I have to tell you about an exciting discovery that I found. I was perusing the WWW.Accuquilt.com website and i did a search for embroidery patterns. What I discovered was that they have added many new free embroidery downloads for their older dies. We have two patterns that utilize Accuquilt appliqué shapes and now you can download the embroidery files for free, which will make doing the appliqué on these quilts so much easier. This is so exciting! They now have embroidery files for GO! Baby Baby, which has the bear and a duck and GO! Lullaby, which contains the sheep. Here is what they look like all stitched out in the satin stitch. The embroidery files also contain the blanket stitch and a motif stitch.

emb. sheep satin stitch
emb. sheep satin stitch
emb. bear satin stitch
emb. bear satin stitch

Here are the two Blue Bear Quilt patterns that use these Accuquilt dies: Dancing with Bears and Where R Ewe?, which are available on our website.

Dancing Bears Quilt Pattern
Dancing Bears Quilt Pattern
Where R Ewe Quilt Pattern
Where R Ewe Quilt Pattern

We have had several of our quilts appear in magazines recently. The first was Grandmother’s Garden, made with McKenna Ryan’s batiks in her Seed to Blossom line for Hoffman. This quilt appeared in the May/June 2019 issue of Love of Quilting magazine. The beautiful quilting was done at the Florida Quilting Center and I have included a close up photo of the quilting.

May/June 2019 Love of Quilting
May/June 2019 Love of Quilting
Mother's Garden Quilt
Mother’s Garden Quilt
quilting on Mother's Garden
quilting on Mother’s Garden

The next quilt was Addie’s Garden, named after my great niece, appearing in the July/August 2019 issue of McCall’s Quilting magazine. It was made with gorgeous fabrics from the QT Fabrics Adeline line.

Addie's Garden
Addie’s Garden. July/August issue of McCall’s Quilting magazine

The third quilt was called Grandmother’s Garden, appearing in the July/ August 2019 issue of Love of Quilting. It featured fabric from Moda’s Morris Garden line.

Grandmother's Garden
Grandmother’s Garden. July/August issue of Love of Quilting

We have been very busy creating new quilt designs for Accuquilt and these patterns are available as free downloads on their website. They have a die for making the Cleopatra’s Fan and our quilt pattern is called Cleo’s Garden Gate.

Cleo's Garden Gate
Cleo’s Garden Gate

We also created cute mug rug rugs called Spring Medley Mug Rugs.

Spring Medley Mug Rugs
Spring Medley Mug Rugs

Finally, for Accuquilt, we created the packaging pattern for their Sea Life Medley die. The pattern included on the package is Fun at Sea Life Medley. We created a second pattern for that die called Storm at Sea Life Medley.

Fun at Sea Life Medley Quilt
Fun at Sea Life Medley Quilt
Storm at Sea Life Medley Quilt
Storm at Sea Life Medley Quilt

We have some beautiful wooden and acrylic seam rippers for sale on our website. These were created by the husband of one of our students and they are a delight to look at and hold. They take the drudgery out of ripping.

Wooden Seam Rippers
Wooden Seam Rippers
Acrylic Seam Rippers
Acrylic Seam Rippers

One last thing, we are leading a quilting cruise to Alaska’s Inside Passage on June 6-13, 2020. It is aboard the Holland America Eurodam and departs and returns to that great city in the Pacific Northwest of Seattle. There are quilt shops in every port and we quilt while the ship is at sea so you don’t miss out on any of the fun in the ports. Our sponsor for the cruise is Happy Apple Quilts. Their website is located at www.happyapplequilts.com Please mention that they referred you when registering. The project that we will be working on is called Northern Star Garden. It will involve 3 different techniques: piecing with Accuquilt cut shapes, no fear paper piecing and Hawaiian appliqué. Janome sewing machines and kits will be provided with fantastic fabrics from QT Fabrics.

Alaska Quilt Cruise June 6-13, 2020
Alaska Quilt Cruise June 6-13, 2020
Quilt Cruise project- Northern Star Garden
Quilt Cruise project- Northern Star Garden
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Secret Sewing Projects

In the Jungle Quilt

At Blue Bear Quilts, we have been very busy getting ready for the summer 2018 classes. We also have been working on some secret sewing projects for Accuquilt that we can’t wait to share with you. We also have been designing patterns with QT Fabrics. Hopefully, we will be able to share these projects with you very soon.

Triaxial Weave Pillow
Triaxial Weave Pillow

 

Here are some of the exciting classes that we have coming up this summer. We will be offering a Triaxial Weave Pillow at Keep Me in Stitches on May 22& 29 in Tampa and July 12 & 19 in Largo. This is a weaving project that has little sewing and offers many creative ideas to incorporate into your sewing projects like garments, bags, and quilts.

 

 

We have an exciting Electric Quilt 8/ Accuquilt Event coming up at Keep Me in Stitches on May 25 & 26 in Tampa, and June 22 &23 in Largo. In this two-day event, you will learn the basic functions of EQ8 and learn how to create the “In the Jungle” quilt in EQ8 incorporating Accuquilt die shapes. The second day, we will cut out the quilt pieces using an Accuquilt cutter and die and sew the quilt together.

In the Jungle Quilt
In the Jungle Quilt

Finally, at Keep Me in Stitches, we have an Accuquilt party called “Patriotic Windings Ways,” perfect for the 4th of July, on June 8 & 9, in Largo, and June 15 & 16 in Tampa;  a 3D Pinwheel Serger Blanket for the Baby Lock Serger Club, and the Bright Hope Quilt, in Tampa,  on June 7 & 14th, and, in Largo, on August 20 & 27th.

Patriotic Winding Ways
3D Pinwheel Serger Blanket
Bright Hope Quilt

At Happy Apple Quilts, We are offering “Hawaiian Stars” on May 31st and “Box of Chocolate Covered Cherries” on June 28th.

Hawaiian Stars Quilt
Box Chocolate Covered Cherries

 

Country Quilts and Bears in Clearwater will have two offerings this summer. The first is our Accuquilt block contest fan favorite, “Not Your Grandmother’s Flower Garden”  on May 23 & 30 and then “Water Wheel,” on July 14th, A Quilt in a Day Pattern.

Water Wheel

At Bear Patch Quilting Company in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, on August 8th, we will be teaching a Quilt in a Day pattern called “Kylee’s Kite,” which we have put a modern spin on it with black and white fabrics and lots of geometric quilting.

Kylee’s Kite

 

Finally here are some photos from classes that we held this last session: Zippered serger pouch, Wonky Heart Pillow, Hawaiian Stars, and Snapshots Quilt.

Hawaiian Stars Class
Snapshot Quilt
Snapshot Quilt
Snapshot Quilt
Snapshot Quilt
Wonky Heart Class
Barbie Snapshot Block

Serger Zipper Pouch

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New easy pattern for your holiday and Christmas gift giving

New Easy Pattern just in time for the holidays.

Snow Angels Quilt Pattern
Snow Angels Quilt Pattern

The Bear has just released a new pattern called, “Snow Angels.” It is part of their BB Sew Easy Series of patterns that are designed for beginners. The pattern involves a center panel that is surrounded by half square triangles. This would be a great gift to give someone that is new to quilting and just getting started. It is also great for more experienced quilters to have a quick project that they can sew up as gifts for someone special on their holiday gift giving list.

Here is a link where you can download this adorable pattern for just $7.95:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/468515609/snow-angels-quilt-pattern-baby-quilt?ref=shop_home_feat_4

During the Dog Days of the summer, this pattern looks very refreshing!

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Blue Blear Quilt Kits & More’s first pattern

Blue Bear Quilt Kits & More’s first pattern has gone live on Craftsy. It is a perfect quilt for a newborn baby or a young toddler. Children will be so excited to show everyone the teddy bears dancing around the blue stars on their very own quilt. This is a beginner quilt project and if you can sew a 1/4″ seam and a blanket stitch, you can make this quilt in a weekend. Blue Bear will have the kits available for this quilt pattern in their Etsy store very soon.

 

Check it out!

http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/quilting/home-decor/dancing-bears–easy-childrens-quilt/200240?fresh=true&NAVIGATION_PAGE_CONTEXT_ATTR=PATTERN