Burlap Brights Block Hop: Day 10

Welcome to the tenth day of our Burlap Brights Block Hop! We hope you've been enjoying the eleven block tutorials our designing friends have been sharing here this week and last week. Be sure to stop by each day to see a new block and have a chance to win some Burlap Brights for yourself!

Today, Jessica from Quilty Habit is sharing a wonky improv block using all six of the rainbow colors. Check out her tutorial and then head over to her blog to enter for a chance to win a fat quarter bundle of the six Burlap Brights prints featured in our hop.

Hi, I'm Jessica Skultety of Quilty Habit, and I'm excited to be a part of the Burlap Brights Blog Hop! I'm a teacher and lecturer of modern and modern traditional quilting, long-term blogger, writer, commission sewist, and home machine quilter. I blog several times a week and you can also check up on me on Instagram daily - @quiltyhabit. 

These Burlap Brights textured solids add a bit of "oomph" to what could just be a solid (I love solids, too, but that's beside the point). I can't wait to add these to my fabric stash, which is sorted by rainbow color. I use bright colors the most in my sewing, and I also love improvisation. Put both together and you have magic! That's why I decided to write a tutorial for an improvisational block, which I'm calling Wonky Piano Keys.

Wonky Piano Keys Block Tutorial

1. Cut a strip 5" wide x 18" from each of your rainbow fat quarters.

2. Cut 6 strips from each color between 2.5 inches and 1.25 inch wide. 

You can layer them for faster cutting (usually I would place them directly 

on top of each other but I have both showing here, so you can see). 

3. Decide how you will lay out your block in three horizontal panels. You 

could mix it up and go completely rainbow scrappy for the whole thing, 

or you could separate colors. I decided to make two panels of cool colors 

and one middle panel of warm colors. 

4. Sew strips together at a slight angles, with a quarter inch seam allowance. 

You can vary it up - just make sure the width of your overall strip doesn't go 

less than 4.5 inches. I decided to alternate the colors and the sizes. 

5. Trim after sewing each strip.  

6. Press the whole strip when it gets between 12.5 - 13" long. Press individual 

strips in the same direction. 

*Note: You may have to cut more strips of fabric from your 5"x18" pieces, 

based on the size of your angles. 

7. Repeat steps 4-6 for two more panels.

8. Trim all strips down to 4.5".

9. Sew together using a quarter inch seam. Press both long seams. 

10. Trim block down to 12".

 

Enjoy your new block! A whole quilt of these would be fabulous. 

If you sew it up warm vs. cool as I did, you could even alternate for the 

next block (cool in the middle, warm on the outsides). I hope you are 

inspired to experiment with improvisation!

Thanks Jessica! Head over to Quilty Habit to enter to win a fat quarter 

bundle of the six Burlap Brights she used to make her block.

Make sure you check out each day's tutorial!

Day 1: Chris from made by ChrissieD

Day 2: Mary from Mary on Lake Pulaski

Day 3: Alison from Little Bunny Quilts

Day 4: Debby from Debby Kratovil Quilts

Day 5: Kristen from KD Quilts 

Day 6: Benartex design team

Day 7: Stephanie from Stitched Together Studios

Day 8: Julie from The Crafty Quilter

Day 9: Cynthia from Quilting is more fun than Housework