Tamarinis

Block Nine - Adventure Quilt A Road Trip Quilt Along

The stars have aligned for Block Nine!  Way way way back in the day (I'm talking wagons and horses here, folks), the stars were used for navigation.  Hey - now you know where the block name came from!  Now we rely on road maps, or GPS in the car or on the phone.  But the stars still shine brightly and inspire.

My family LOVES to bundle up on crisp southern nights, snuggled under sleeping bags and blankets (and yes, quilts!) and lay down outside to gaze at the stars.  If we watch closely, we can sometimes even see shooting stars!  

The velvety dark of night, the cold air, and the hugely broad expanse of sky, peppered with small and large, dim and bright stars put everything else into perspective, and I always come away feeling refreshed and grounded.  These stars, gathered in the top left of your quilt, remind us of those bright beacons we find on some of our road trips, far away from the city lights.

Now if you are hesitant about the block, never fear!  We have given you not one, not two, but FOUR different piecing methods.  I know!  Awesome!  You're welcome, dear quilting friend.

Naturally, one of those four methods is using the absolutely amazing VBlock Ruler from Studio 180 - and of course it's my FAVORITE method!  Here's a look at the process:

No templates - just one ruler, strips and your rotary cutter!  From the appropriate size strip (which the ruler handily tells you for each size block), you will cut your center triangle.  The FIRST triangle cut is done with a fold - and along the designated fold line.

The side triangles are also cut using the same angled side of the ruler - but with a different designated line.

Tada - perfectly, quickly cut center and side triangles.  Ah, but the piecing you cry!

No worries!  One: the blocks are made oversized, and we will trim them down once stitched.  Two: the measurements are PERFECT and you'll be fine.  Match up your corner points and raw edges and stitch!

The second side is no different - you have points to match and raw edges.

Argh, you're thinking.  My edges aren't even and I have points hanging down.  No worries.  Remember - these are OVERSIZED!    

Last two steps (only one shown here) are to line up the seams with the "V" lines, and trim the right side and top.  Then rotate the block and align the center "v" with those cross hatches you see at the top of the ruler, again trimming right side and top.  Tada! Perfect V Blocks!

Want to see it in action?  I've gotcha!  Tune in Sunday at 6:00pm EST on my Facebook page for a quick demo of the V Block ruler in action!

You'll be piecing with your background, your dark blue and your medium blue to create your own sparkling stars in two sizes.

Get your Block Nine instructions here:

Just as a reminder, my entire Road Trip quilt is done in Island Batik foundations, their "solids" line.  Kate stitched hers up in Moda Bella solids.  Head over to her blog to see her version.  

And don't forget to share pics of yours!  I've seen some pictures of some done in prints - and am LOVING it!  I can't wait to see the completed quilts.  Are you getting excited?  I know Kate and I are!

Shower us with pictures, folks!  We want to see your blocks!

A couple of things to be aware of:

1.  You will be directed to my website OR to Kate's website to download your free block each week (remember that access expires one week from release!).
2. So that we can support the downloads, they are products.  What's the deal with that?  Well, it means that you will need to put in your name and email address, so that the block download can be emailed to you.  Without that step, if you ran into a problem with a download, we could not troubleshoot because we wouldn't have any info to follow.  Rest assured, we are NOT using your name/email for anything other than to send you the free block.
3. Miss previous weeks' blocks?  Not to worry!  You can purchase previous weeks' blocks on my website or on Kate's website for $3.00 each.

When sharing pics of your blocks, please don't forget to tag Kate (@seamslikeadreamquilts) and I (@tamarinis) and use the hashtags #adventurequiltalong, #fatquarterquilt, and #aroadtripquilt so that we will see your amazing progress.

Like what you see here, and want to hear more from Tamarinis? Like me on Facebook, follow me on Instagram, and sign up for my newsletter at www.tamarinis.com!  Following is one way to demonstrate your interest in my projects, patterns, and partnerships.  Your comments are also GREATLY appreciated, and provide valuable feedback regarding what inspires you, as well as what you'd like to see explored in future posts.  And did you know?  I travel and teach!  Contact me to schedule a trunk show and/or workshop!

Block Eight - Adventure Quilt A Road Trip Quilt Along

What would any road trip be without a little signage?  As in - arrows, telling you where to go (or not go).  Do you remember the days BEFORE GPS?  Gosh, I do (ok, dating myself A LOT!).

I recall one fateful road trip with my daughter, pre GPS, that SEEMED like it should be a slam dunk.  Uh huh.  But perhaps not so much.  One little missed turn, and that was all it took to turn a four hour trip into eight long, excruciating hours of "where am I" and then "when will we EVER get there" cries.  We finally stumbled into our hotel room in the wee hours of the morning, and were able to catch just a few - and I do mean a few, as in three - hours of precious sleep before we had to be up and at the track meet.  Needless to say, I LOVE my GPS now!

It was with GPS, road signs big and small, and roads busy and quiet, that the Road Less Traveled block was born.  You'll be stitching up several different ones that will direct you across the surface of your quilt, and along your road trip.

Head over to Kate's blog for more info on the block, and to get the link to access your own block.  

Shower us with pictures, folks!  We want to see your blocks!

A couple of things to be aware of:

1.  You will be directed to my website OR to Kate's website to download your free block each week (remember that access expires one week from release!).
2. So that we can support the downloads, they are products.  What's the deal with that?  Well, it means that you will need to put in your name and email address, so that the block download can be emailed to you.  Without that step, if you ran into a problem with a download, we could not troubleshoot because we wouldn't have any info to follow.  Rest assured, we are NOT using your name/email for anything other than to send you the free block.
3. Miss previous weeks' blocks?  Not to worry!  You can purchase previous weeks' blocks on my website or on Kate's website for $3.00 each.

When sharing pics of your blocks, please don't forget to tag Kate (@seamslikeadreamquilts) and I (@tamarinis) and use the hashtags #adventurequiltalong, #fatquarterquilt, and #aroadtripquilt so that we will see your amazing progress.

Like what you see here, and want to hear more from Tamarinis? Like me on Facebook, follow me on Instagram, and sign up for my newsletter at www.tamarinis.com!  Following is one way to demonstrate your interest in my projects, patterns, and partnerships.  Your comments are also GREATLY appreciated, and provide valuable feedback regarding what inspires you, as well as what you'd like to see explored in future posts.  And did you know?  I travel and teach!  Contact me to schedule a trunk show and/or workshop!

 

 

Block Seven - Adventure Quilt A Road Trip Quilt Along

Ready to catch some waves?  It doesn't matter where - east coast, west coast, southern coast, or the Gulf - any beach is a good beach, am I right?  Ok, maybe that's just me - but I'll take any day with sun on my face, salt spray in the air and sand between my toes over....well, just about anything!

And one thing our awesome nation is blessed with is an abundance of coastline!  We celebrate that with our Ocean Waves block (which you probably know better as Snail's Trail).  And sure - I can see a snail's shell, and even the wandering trail they leave behind, in the block.  But really - doesn't it just LOOK like ocean waves?!

You have a few options when piecing this block - traditional with HSTs (half square triangles) around a four patch.  That method can lend itself to slightly less than perfect blocks, so.....if you are perfectionist, you can paper piece it instead.  Yup, there's a paper piecing pattern included.  You're welcome.

Because waves rise and fall, and are big and small (kinda feeling my Dr. Seuss today!), you'll be stitching up two sizes of Ocean Waves blocks to border your road trip.  A few to the left, a few to the right, a few down south.

I used two yummy blues (Island Batik, of course) in my version, along with my icy blue background.  Feel free to experiment with your color choices, or go with our suggestion of blues to mimic those wonderful waves.  Remember that specific colors from my quilt or Kate's are available on the General Information page on our websites, along with a generic color chart for you to use as well. **Speaking of colors - we just noticed that the pattern calls for Aqua, but the color chart does not list Aqua, it lists Turquoise instead.  Not to worry - all colors are accounted for.  We just forgot to change our directions to reflect Turquoise instead of Aqua!

Jump on over to Kate's blog to see her beautiful blocks as well!  You know she'll have great things to show you and drool worthy eye candy as well!

Oh- and don't forget to visit me on Facebook on Saturday at 5:30 when I talk about trimming as you go!  Yes, it's a thing!

By now you probably know the drill.  Head to my website (link below) to download your free block.  Remember you've got one week!

But wait - there's more!  The amazing folks at Schmetz have provided us with some needle assortments, so two lucky winners will win an assortment of needle packs.  If you haven't tried the nonstick needles yet - OMG is all I have to say!  And the chrome needles are now my go to.  They really do last so much longer and stay so much sharper!  Enter to win on the Gleam widget below.

A couple of things to be aware of:

1.  You will be directed to my website OR to Kate's website to download your free block each week (remember that access expires one week from release!).
2. So that we can support the downloads, they are products.  What's the deal with that?  Well, it means that you will need to put in your name and email address, so that the block download can be emailed to you.  Without that step, if you ran into a problem with a download, we could not troubleshoot because we wouldn't have any info to follow.  Rest assured, we are NOT using your name/email for anything other than to send you the free block.
3. Miss previous weeks' blocks?  Not to worry!  You can purchase previous weeks' blocks on my website or on Kate's website for $3.00 each.

When sharing pics of your blocks, please don't forget to tag Kate (@seamslikeadreamquilts) and I (@tamarinis) and use the hashtags #adventurequiltalong, #fatquarterquilt, and #aroadtripquilt so that we will see your amazing progress.

Like what you see here, and want to hear more from Tamarinis? Like me on Facebook, follow me on Instagram, and sign up for my newsletter at www.tamarinis.com!  Following is one way to demonstrate your interest in my projects, patterns, and partnerships.  Your comments are also GREATLY appreciated, and provide valuable feedback regarding what inspires you, as well as what you'd like to see explored in future posts.  And did you know?  I travel and teach!  Contact me to schedule a trunk show and/or workshop!

 

Adventure Quilt Along Schmetz Needle Pack Giveaway

Adventure Quilt - A Road Trip Quilt Along Block Six

This week on our Road Trip, we encounter Roundabouts.  Now, whether you love 'em or hate 'em, they are here to stay - and popping up everywhere (or so it seems!).  So what road trip would be complete without a few roundabouts?!    

One thing you eagle eyed quilters may have noticed is that Kate's Roundabout Blocks and mine look a TEENY bit different.  And you are right!  Truth?  I COULD say that this was to display the versatility of the block - and while that is TRUE, what ACTUALLY happened was......well, I just wasn't paying attention and reversed the placement of my corners AND my side blocks....which yields a slightly different look.  

Which got us to thinking. Both work as roundabouts - and like almost everything in this world, I'm sure you've seen roundabouts that are set up slightly different.  So why should our Road Trip quilt be any different?  Right! So we went with it - and you, dear quilting friend, now have two different options when creating your blocks.  I don't know about you, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE options!

Also, dear friends, I thought I'd give you a heads up - this block is paper pieced.  Buttt....the units are small (not super small and annoying, just manageable small) and there are only two blocks, so that's good thing.  Warm up your paper piecing skills with some simple shapes and reasonable sizes.  You're welcome!

Oh - and don't forget to share pics of your blocks on social media.  We are absolutely LOVING what we are seeing so far!  Tag us (Kate (@seamslikeadreamquilts) and I (@tamarinis) and use the hashtags #adventurequiltalong, #fatquarterquilt, and #aroadtripquilt) so we see them!

Head over to Kate's blog to see details on this week's block and to get the link to download it!  And thanks, as always, for joining us on this quilty road trip!

A couple of things to be aware of:

1.  You will be directed to my website OR to Kate's website to download your free block each week (remember that access expires one week from release!).
2. So that we can support the downloads, they are products.  What's the deal with that?  Well, it means that you will need to put in your name and email address, so that the block download can be emailed to you.  Without that step, if you ran into a problem with a download, we could not troubleshoot because we wouldn't have any info to follow.  Rest assured, we are NOT using your name/email for anything other than to send you the free block.
3. Miss previous weeks' blocks?  Not to worry!  You can purchase previous weeks' blocks on my website or on Kate's website for $3.00 each.

When sharing pics of your blocks, please don't forget to tag Kate (@seamslikeadreamquilts) and I (@tamarinis) and use the hashtags #adventurequiltalong, #fatquarterquilt, and #aroadtripquilt so that we will see your amazing progress.

Like what you see here, and want to hear more from Tamarinis? Like me on Facebook, follow me on Instagram, and sign up for my newsletter at www.tamarinis.com!  Following is one way to demonstrate your interest in my projects, patterns, and partnerships.  Your comments are also GREATLY appreciated, and provide valuable feedback regarding what inspires you, as well as what you'd like to see explored in future posts.  And did you know?  I travel and teach!  Contact me to schedule a trunk show and/or workshop!