Winners and the Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild Charity Block

Marny here...the winners of the Moda Layer Cakes were chosen using our random number generator. "Oink a Doodle Moo" by Jenn Ski goes to Doris and "Snap Pop" by Sandy Gervais goes to Deb.  The winners have been emailed.  Congratulations to our winners and a big thank you to all of you for your comments.  We loved reading and learning from them.

Three Herringbone blocks.  The left and right were made by Jill and the middle one is the one I made and is referred to below.

Jill and I are members of the Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild.  We are both participating in the Charity Quilt project for Hospice.  A herringbone block was chosen.  I've never made one before.  The process is intriguing.

You can find the tutorial on how to make the block on the Stitched in Color website (http://www.stitchedincolor.com/2011/12/herringbone-block-tutorial.html).  We were asked to use black, orange, white, and gray.  We were also advised to add a 15th strip on to the 14 strips the tutorial discusses.  I actually ended up with 16 strips because I just kept with the pairs concept.  This will all be more understandable if you go to the Stitched in Color link above.  

I am only showing you how I came up with my block, and not trying to provide a tutorial.  Rachel at Stitched in Color does a terrific job!

So, of course, I started by gathering fabrics together. 

Oranges in a variety of values, tints, tones and prints.

Grays, blacks and whites in a variety of values, tints, tones and prints. 

Checking how they work with one another.  Wild is ok! (I guess)

All the 2" x 11" strips cut and stirred into a pile so that I can choose randomly from them.

Chain pieced pairs sewn together.

Playing around with layouts on the design wall.

 Three pairs are already staggered and sewn together.  Another pair at the bottom of the photo is ready to be added.  Note, I used a ruler to measure in 1 1/2" on each one instead of making a mark of some kind.  This kept me moving, and movement is good!  

Here you see the previously sewn together pairs flipped onto the pair with the ruler shown above.  I pinched them, picked them up, and carried them to the sewing machine and stitched the seam without pins.  This is not a precision piecing project.

My ruler is 8 1/2" wide, so to do the six inch wide cut Rachel does in her tutorial, this is what I did.  You can see the "zero" edge of the ruler at the corner one pair makes with the next and the "6" mark at the edge of the bottom pair.

The right edge of the ruler is entirely on fabric.  First cut across the bottom of the ruler.  Second, cut alongside the entire length of the ruler along the right edge.

To make the next length of ruler cut I had to shift the ruler, keeping the bottom 1/2" line aligned with the bottom edge of the block and the 6" mark on the right edge of the block. 

A two ruler method proved useful here.  (Those who know me, know that I almost always use two rulers.)  Place a ruler along the left edge of the first ruler.  Then remove the first ruler and cut along the right length of the second ruler.  If you don't have two long rulers, you can carefully spin the project around on your mat.

All the stair stepped pointy edges cut off...and of course I fogot to take a picture of just that half of the Herringbone Block.  It is the left side seen below.

One Herringbone Block completed.  I didn't mean for the rust orange to meet in the middle, but something happened...you know how it goes...A word of warning.  This is a very stretchy block, with lots of exposed bias edges, so the less you handle it the better.

See you nest Tuesday.