So I had a flash of inspiration this morning, I could improvise from that idea to made a shamrock out of 4 squares of green fabric. Instead of sleeping in, I just went downstairs, dug through my stash for green fabrics, and started playing around. In about 30 minutes, I had a block that looked like a shamrock! Spurred on to further my collection of shamrocks, I kept making them! Now I have 4 made! They are really cute.
Assessing my own genius for inventing things, I got to thinking how absolutely simple this really was. Someone for sure had thought of it before I had. Sure enough, a Google search came up with this much fancier version of my creation.
http://www.quiltingworks.com/howto/shamrock-block.htm
My block came out to be the same size as the one on this website, 12-1/2" unfinished, which will be a 12" block when sewed into a quilt or wall hanging. I intend to use my shamrocks for pillows, as I did for the Valentine's Day Heart block. I'm sure you could make table runners, lap quilts, entire quilts out of shamrocks, pair them up with some jelly roll strips or disappearing 9 patch blocks or something. I already have my March quilt top sewn together, hope to get it ready for quilting today, wish me luck! Ha, Ha, Luck of the Irish!
Here's how I did it. Took 4 5" green charm squares ( I actually cut mine out of fat quarters), 3 strips of the same green cut 2" wide, and 4 white charm squares. Cut the 3 white squares into 2-1/2" squares, you need 9 (you'll have 3 leftover for the next shamrock!) Iron the 2-1/2" squares in half diagonally, and sew three of them on the corners of the green charm square. Trim away the excess fabric and iron the white back. Do this three times. For the stem, I made it 1" wide. I cut my 4th white charm square in half diagonaly, and ironed a diagonal crease in the green charm square. Then I marked a line 1/2" from the crease for the seamline for sewing the white triangle to the green square. Fold the white back and trim off the green. Do it on both sides of the crease. This makes the stem square. Then lay them out to form the shamrock shape, and sew together like a 4 patch. I used a log cabin technique to sew on my borders, sewed the 2" strip to one side, trimmed and squared, then sewed to the second side, then continued on till all sides were bordered. Soooooooo Simple!
They are all cute, go simple or fancy, but get in the mood for March, because that is when all of us, whether or not we have one drop of Irish blood in us, will be claiming our Irish roots, and be "wearin' the green!"
Happy St. Patty's Day a month early! Start your shamrock quilt today!
2 comments:
I love this. Saw your comment on the msqc forum and had to check it out. I am going to make this today. Thanks for sharing. By the way---I like yours better. I did see this earlier on the net and did not give it a second thought--but yours I like.
Thanks Nena--glad you like it and perhaps are inspired. I like simple things and easy blocks. I wouldn't spend years making a quilt that was complicated. Oh, I take that back, I have two that are cut and partially sewed that are over a year old!
Post a Comment