Medallion Quilt Month 10

This months block is the Depression Block and is a traditional block from the early 1930's. In the 1930's the block would have been made from scraps. It is made using only hst's.

Depression block

This is a 12 1/2'' unfinished or 12'' finished block.

All seams allowances are 1/4''

Cutting:

Dark fabric:   A   4-  4'' x 4''
Medium Fabric: B   4-  4'' x 4''
Background Fabric: C  8- 4'' x 4''

Step 1:

1. On the back of two piece C's draw a diagonal line from corner to corner. See diagram 1a.
2.  Place the square on top of piece B. Sew a 1/4'' seam on both sides of the line. See diagram 1b.
3. Cut on drawn line. See diagram 1c.
4. Press HST's to the dark side.
5. Trim the HST's to 3 1/2'' x 3 1/2''
6. Make 8.

diagram 1

Step 2:

1. Repeat Step 1 using pieces A and C.
2. Make 8.

Step 3:

1. Sew together HST units in a row see diagram 2 below.
2. Sew rows together to make block.
3. Press in direction of arrows.

diagram 2

I hope everyone is having fun making their blocks. I would love to see any of the blocks you have made, you can post to Instagram using #stitchinathomemedallion2017 

Shweshwe Fabric - Guest Speaker

My guilds guest speaker was Celeste of Meerkat Shweshwe Fabrics. What an enjoyable speaker! She took us through the history of Shweshwe and it's South African roots. She talked about the influence of Europeans and indigo. How colour has emerged as the youth of South Africa move into the cities.

beautiful array of colours

Celeste is an excellent speaker holding everyone's attention. I can't begin to do justice to the history of the Spruce manufacturing or 'Three Cats' trademark, to read more about the history of Shweshwe go to Celeste Meerkat's website.

we had a full house and getting good pictures of her quilts was difficult.

In the above photo she used both sides of the Shweshwe fabric.

the dots are orange

The fabric is stiff from the manufacturing process and needs to be prewashed before being used.

  

Splash of Colour QAL

I wasn't going to participate in any QAL's as I just have too much going on at this time. Unfortunately my will power wasn't strong enough to resist this one. Who can resist black and white with a splash of colour anyway. Not me! The Splash of Colour QAL is being run by Myra @ Busy Hands.

I have a nice collection of black and white fat quarters that have been begging to be used in a project. Instead of just telling them to quiet down I crumbled.

some black and whites pulled with a splash of colour

I pulled some of those fat quarters out, for the splash of colour I pulled some batiks out. Now the big decision... What pattern was I going to make? 

I opened EQ7 and started playing around, next thing I knew I had three possibilities. Now to narrow it down to one.

Let's see what they were.

number 1 made with hst's. Not bad if I don't say so myself

Next up

number 2. I like the QST's and strips.

Last one

number 3 I have had a compass on my to do list for awhile

A decision was finally reached! Thankfully I only drew up three. I have decided to make number 3, the compass. 

Have you ever felt like you can't take on any more and then you get pulled in for another project? I know I can't be the only one.