Week 5 Sunbonnet Sleuth

This week you will complete the alternating blocks for the Spintastic quilt. More easy sewing for you.

Next week the assembly for the quilt with border measurements will be posted. You will have the month of May to complete your quilt, sewing the blocks together, adding borders and, yes, actually quilting it! The next mystery will start the first week of June.

I am off to the local farmer's market this morning with six pairs of scissors for the scissor sharpener. Over the winter, with all the cutting I do, they have really dulled down. I leave near the historic town square so I can walk the dog to the square drop the scissors to be sharpened, buy my fresh veggies for the week, get my nice, sharp scissors, then come home to cut and sew.

Cutting

1. From the aqua fabric cut (2) 7-1/4" x wof strips, recut into (10) 7-1/4" squares. Cut each square in half on the diagonal twice to make a total of (40) quarter-square triangles.

2. From the big dots fabric cut (4) 6-7/8" x wof strips, recut into (20) 6-7/8" squares. Cut each square in half on the diagonal once to make (40) half-square triangles.

Sewing

1. Sew an aqua quarter-square triangle to each side of the square-in-square unit from week 4. Press.

2. Sew a big dot half-square triangle to each side of the aqua triangles. Press. Make 10 blocks.

Week 4 Sunbonnet Sleuth

Last week I spoiled everyone by posting the new clue on Friday night. This week, I went out to dinner on Friday night so you are getting the 4th clue in our mystery on Saturday morning as promised. Easy sewing again this week. It's spring, I know you want to divide your time between your garden and your sewing machine so I am trying to ease off on time so you can do both without a conflict of conscience.

Cutting

1.  Cut (4) light yellow 3-1/2" x wof strips. Recut into (40) 3-1/2" squares.

2. Cut (2) zig-zag stripe 6-1/2"  wof strips. Recut into (10) 6-1/2" squares.

Sewing

3. Draw a diagonal line from corner-to-corner on the wrong side of the (40) 3-1/2" squares.

4.  Position a 3-1/2" square in opposite corners of the 6-1/2" square. Sew on the drawn line. Cut away 1/4" from the seam line. Fold out resulting triangle and press.

5.  Repeat Step 4 in the two remaining corners of the 6-1/2" square to complete the unit. Make 10 units. 

Week 3 Sunbonnet Sleuth

This is week 3 of Sunbonnet Sleuth. It is an easy week, so relax and get it done over the weekend. Here is the visual:

1. Using the units made in week 2, sew them together to make a quilt block. Make 10 blocks.

That's it! Have fun, next week it's gonna be a lot more labor intensive!

Cover Girl

When I was in high school one of my best friends was very, very pretty. Our senior year she was featured on the front cover of Seventeen magazine. We were all in awe! Secretly I dreamed of being a cover girl too, but knew it would never happen.

But wait! All dreams can come true. While my face has never graced the cover of a magazine, my quilts certainly have, appearing on the covers of Fons and Porter, Quilter's World and The Quilter magazines. The latest is the upcoming cover of The Quilter www.thequiltermag.com

Naturally I made the quilt using my new Log Cabin Trim Tool, available on my website www.jeanannquilts.com – I am totally addicted to making log cabin quilts now that I have taken all of the math and tedious cutting out of making this block.

The quilt is made using fabrics designed by Ro Gregg for Fabri-Quilt www.fabri-quilt.com

Week 2 Sunbonnet Sleuth

Here are the cutting and sewing steps for Week 2 of the Sunbonnet Sleuth Summer Treats Mystery. 

Cutting

1. From the polka dot print cut (6) 3-3/4" x wof strips, from these strips cut: (40) 3-3/4" x 5-7/8" rectangles.

2. From the coral mini-dot cut (3) 4-5/8" x wof strips, from these strips cut: (20) 4-5/8" squares, then cut each square in half on the diagonal once to yield (40) large half square triangles.

3. From the coral mini-dot cut (7) 3-1/8" x wof strips, from these strips cut: (40) 3-1/8" squares, then cut each square in half on the diagonal once to yield (80) small half square triangles.

4. From the yellow mini-dot cut (2) 4-5/8" x wof strips, from these strips cut: (10) 4-5/8" squares, then cut each square in half on the diagonal once to yield (20) large half square triangles.

4. From the lime green mini-dot cut (2) 4-5/8" x wof strips, from these strips cut: (10) 4-5/8" squares, then cut each square in half on the diagonal once to yield (20) large half square triangles.

Sewing

1. Join a large coral mini-dot triangle to the long side of a polka dot print rectangle. Join a large yellow mini-dot triangle to the opposite long side of the same polka dot print rectangle. Fold both triangles out and press seams. Make 20 units. 

2. Join a large coral mini-dot triangle to the long side of a polka dot print rectangle. Join a large lime green mini-dot triangle to the opposite long side of the same polka dot print rectangle. Fold both triangles out and press seams. Make 20 units. 

3. Join a small coral mini-dot triangle to the ends of the polka dot print rectangle to complete a unit. Join the small triangles to all of the units using both the lime green and the yellow large triangles. Make 40 units. 

The Queen of the South

Here is my new fabric collection with a distinctive French flair. It is filled with flourishes, feathers and fleur-de-lis. It is titled New Orleans 1850. The title Quilt Of The South comes from the informal title given to this famous southern city a century ago.

I am designing a free pattern for the collection now and will post the quilt when it is finished. To get a more detailed view with larger swatches, visit the New Castle Fabrics website: www.newcastlefabric.com