Quilt Block Basics — Square in a Square and NEW VRD Rose Cards for May 2023

May 12, 2023 rosecardsLeave a comment

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday!

Before I forget I want to wish all you Moms, Grandmas, Aunties, Cousins, Step Moms, Pet Moms, Dads, Caregivers, Teachers and ANYONE who has touched the life of a child a very special Mother’s Day.

Thank you for everything you do everyday. Although you might not get a thank you or an acknowledgement, those little everyday things mean more than you will ever know.

Quilt Block Basics — Square in a Square

This week we are going to talk about the Square in a Square unit.

You may also know this unit as the Diamond in the Square quilt block.

Often, you will see this unit combined with other quilt block units to create really cool quilt blocks. The unit usually has an unpieced square in the center, but sometimes you will see that center square filled in with a pieced unit or block, which makes Square in a Square not only a unit, but also a frame.

Why am I telling you all this? Just food for thought if and/or when you are designing your own quilt blocks!

Let’s take a look at some Square in a Square blocks.

I find the Square in a Square unit to be a very good tool in my designer’s quilt toolbox because it can really add a lot of POW to a quilt block. Wouldn’t you agree?

Let’s take a couple minutes and play with this unit. Only a couple minutes, mind you, or I might get lost in Electric Quilt 8 all day. Seriously, I’m not kidding….

Here is our single unit again:

Here are 4 units together in a 4 Patch block:

And here are 9 units together in a 9 Patch block:

You can see how complex looking the 9 Patch version (our Kansas Star block from above) is, just by repeating the Square in a Square unit. And I added another color just for fun, which can add a whole other dimension. Do you see the star in the middle?

Let’s play with our color placement now. Same block, 3 different ways!

Now let’s go crazy and add a few other Quilt Block units that we’ve already explored — HSTs, Hourglass, and Flying Geese.

MUST. STOP. NOW. Or else I’m going to forget all about writing the rest of this blog post and keep playing in my EQ8 for the rest of the day. LOL!

How to Make a Square in a Square Unit

This unit is a breeze to make.

My favorite method uses a large square and 4 smaller squares, so I don’t have to worry about working with fiddly triangles and stretchy bias edges.

But, how do you know what size squares to cut???

Math…….math…..math, of course! There is a nifty little formula to figure out the sizes of squares needed. You can also find cutting charts too, but what’s the fun in that???

You need to know your finished size. So let’s say I want a finished size of 6″ for my unit.
Next you need to add 1/2″ to your finished size and that is the size of your large center square. So, if I want a finished block of 6″, then I need a 6 1/2″ square for the center.
For the 4 small squares, you will need to divide the size of the finished unit in half (6″ divided by 2 = 3″) and add 1/2″ (3″ + 1/2″ = 3 1/2″). So for a 6″ finished block, I need to cut 4 squares 3 1/2″. Easy Piezy! (Maybe you’re wondering why I add the 1/2″? The 1/2″ is what you add to a finished size to account for your seam allowances. We add 1/4″ for each side which equals 1/2″ in total needed for seam allowances.)

Okay, what about an 8″ finished unit or block? I would need to cut 1 large square 8 1/2″ and 4 small squares 4 1/2″.

What about a 2 1/2″ finished unit? Then I would cut the large center square 3″ and the 4 small squares 1 3/4″.

Cool, huh???? Quilt Math never fails to amaze and amuse me (wink, wink).

So, let’s make the block now:

Layer a small square right sides together in one corner of a large square. Draw a diagonal line from corner to corner. Sew on the line. Repeat for the opposite corner. Cut 1/4″ away from each sewn line. Press open.
Repeat with the other 2 opposite corners.

I do want to take a moment to point out that you can get a Square in a Square look by using different units like HSTs, Flying Geese, and more. Just something to think about….

But wait! There’s more….

If you aren’t completely sold on my method, you have other options —

There is a cool Creative Grids ruler, you can find it HERE.

It’s Sew Emma has even created Square in a Square foundation papers in both THREE INCH and FOUR INCH sizes.

Next let’s check out my Square in a Square curated list of patterns!

Square in a Square VRD Rose Card Patterns

This clever quilt actually uses Hourglass units to achieve a Square in a Square.

Find Downtown HERE

Like Downtown, Duffy uses a different unit (Flying Goose) to create the look of a Square in a Square block.

Get Duffy HERE

Hidden Gems uses HSTs to achieve the look of Square in a Square blocks.

Get Hidden Gems HERE

Again, this one uses HSTs to get the Square in a Square look.

Get Indigo Bay HERE

Point of View uses 4 Square in a Square units in each block.

Get Point of View HERE

Get Raspberry Cream HERE

Sky Diamonds uses HSTs with a quick Flippy Corner to make a really unique Square in a Square variation.

Get Sky Diamonds HERE

A Square in a Square variation with pieced corners.

Get Square Box HERE

I am including Twisted in my list because you get the affect of Square in a Square blocks with the Pinwheels, although it actually uses Y Block units.

Get Twisted HERE

I’m including this one because you get the Square in a Square affect on point — it uses HSTs and careful color placement.

Get Underground HERE

The large center Square in a Square unit is made with HSTs.

Get Whiplash HERE

Winchester uses HSTs to get the center Square in a Square unit.

Get Winchester HERE

A fun list of patterns, isn’t it? Don’t forget that when you order Rose Card patterns on the Villa Rosa website, it’s always free shipping for patterns. Always.

New Villa Rosa Designs Rose Card Patterns for May 2023

Moving on, do you know what day it is????

It’s the first Thursday after the first Friday of the month, which means NEW PATTERNS! YAY!!!

Here are the 5 regular patterns for May. Aren’t they great? Some nice variety in patterns and interesting options, wouldn’t you say?

Bubbles by Sugar Pine Quilts uses a fun bright collection of fat quarters and a background fabric.

31 is a new vertical panel quilt with a fun border. Join me in wishing VRD designer Molly Cook a Happy 31st Birthday this month.

Tiramisu is a very cool quilt featuring either 12 or 20 fat quarters. You get to decide which size of quilt you want with this one.

Happy Thoughts is my latest throw quilt pattern and it uses a focal or theme fabric and coordinating 5″ charm squares.

Tres Leches looks as yummy as its name! This quilt uses yardage.

You can get all 5 patterns HERE for the special price of $8.95. Yep, and the shipping is free.

And here’s my new Table Runner Rose Card Pattern for May called Fly Away.

When I was designing and then later making this runner, I kept thinking about the movie, Fly Away Home, so in homage to that great movie, I named my runner Fly Away. By the way, you can find the movie HERE.

Well, I guess that does it for me this week.

Please spend time with the ones you love this week end for Mother’s Day. Wouldn’t a quilt be a nice gift to show your loved one how much you care??? Just sayin’…………..

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Quilt Block Basics · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

Quilt Block Basics — Flying Geese and Revisiting VRD Rose Card Quilt Pattern Hypnotized

May 4, 2023May 3, 2023 rosecards2 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Wow! It’s May!?! 2023!?! How did that happen??? I’m so far behind in everything that I think it’s still 2015. LOL!

Do you remember that movie Cloned from the 90’s (I think)? That’s what I need — 3 of me — one to focus on each part of my life, then I could really get caught up with everything. Of course, things that sounds too good to be true usually are….

That being said, let’s jump right into our Quilt Block Basics this week and explore the Flying Geese (or Goose) unit.

Most likely you are familiar with the Flying Geese block, but did you know it is also a smaller unit used frequently in many quilt block designs? Let’s take a look at some quilt blocks featuring the Flying Goose unit.

I’m sure you probably recognize some of the blocks above and can also see how much interest and movement the Flying Goose unit can add to a quilt block.

It’s really fun to be a quilt pattern designer because I get to take all these little units we’ve been talking about and mix and match them into new and different quilt blocks for new quilt patterns. I have the option to make things as simple or as complex as I desire. As I stated last week, I can really get lost playing with quilt blocks and quilt ideas in EQ8 — sometimes I completely lose track of time. LOL!

How to Make a Flying Goose Unit

Like many other units, there are numerous ways to make the Flying Goose unit. I’m going to show you my go-to instructions for constructing Flying Geese and I will touch on some of the other methods, too.

To make 1 Flying Goose unit, you will need 2 squares and a rectangle. True Flying Goose units are twice as wide as they are tall. You do need to know what your finished size of the Flying Goose unit is. Then you simply add 1/2″ seam allowance.

So, if you want a 2″ x 4″ Flying Goose unit, you need to cut 1 rectangle 2 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ and 2 squares that are 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″.

3″ x 6″? Then cut a 31/2″ x 61/2″ rectangle and 2 squares 31/2″ x 3 1/2″.

1 1/2″ x 3″? Then cut a 2″ x 31/2″ rectangle and 2 squares 2″ x 2″.

Easy Peasy, right?

Please note: If you like to make things a little bigger and then trim them to size, you can add 3/4″ – 1″ and then trim your units to the right size.

Art Gallery Fabrics has a lovely downloadable Flying Geese Cheat Sheet with instructions and a chart with cutting for common size units. Yay! Find the download HERE.

Now that we know the math secret for cutting, let’s make the unit!

Layer a square right sides together on the left side of the rectangle with the edges aligned. Draw a diagonal line from bottom left corner on the square to the top right corner.
Sew on the line. Trim 1/4″ away from the line. Open and press.
Layer a square right sides together on the right side of the rectangle with the edges aligned (the right side square will overlap the left triangle top by about 1/4″ in order to create the top seam allowance). Draw a diagonal line from the bottom right corner of the square to the top left corner.
Sew on the line. Trim 1/4″ away from the line. Open and press. (Note that the top of the unit will have the 1/4″ seam allowance.)
Voila! A Flying Goose unit.

Here are links to some other Flying Geese methods:

No Waste 4 Flying Geese at a time — Art Gallery Fabrics download with instructions and cutting chart

One Seam Flying Geese — Piecemeal Quilts download with instructions, formula, and photos

Traditional 3 Triangle Flying Geese — Threadbare Creations tutorial with cutting cheat sheet

Scrap Bin Geese — A Bright Corner (a super fun and easy variation using 2 1/2″ strips and it’s great for scraps!)

There are Rulers, too!

Eleanor Burns Quilt in a Day Flying Geese Rulers:

1. Small Ruler — 1 1/2″ x 3 and 3″ x 6″

2. Large Ruler — 2″ x 4″ and 4″ x 8″

3. Mini Set — 1″ x 2″ and 2″ x 4″, 3/4″ x 1 1/2″ and 1 1/2″ x 3″, and a 21/2″ fussy cutting ruler

4. Jumbo Set — 2 1/2″ x 5″ and 5″ x 10″, 1 1/4″ x 21/2″ and 2 1/2″ x 5″

Lazy Girl Flying Geese x 4 No Math Ruler

Creative Grids Ultimate Flying Geese Ruler

Bloc Loc Flying Geese Set #1

Bloc Loc Flying Geese Ruler — comes in different sizes

Now let’s check out my curated list of VRD Flying Geese Rose Card Patterns, shall we?

Flying Geese VRD Rose Card Patterns

I’ve included Baby Goose in this list (it is on my HST list, too) because you CAN make Flying Geese units out of HSTs!

Get Baby Goose Here

Get Beach Walk HERE

Get Duffy HERE

Get Flock Together HERE

Get Grandma’s Girl HERE

Get Goodnight Starlight HERE

Get Lazy Goose HERE

Get Long Island Star HERE

Get Migration HERE

Get Remember Me HERE

Snow Goose uses the “Scrap Bin” method for Flying Geese

Get Snow Goose HERE

Get Splash HERE

Get Star Queen HERE

Get Stargazer HERE

Get Today’s Special HERE

Get Zip-a-Dee-Do–Dah HERE

What a nice collection of VRD Rose Card patterns featuring Flying Geese Units!

I am excited to show off some new photos of a previous tutorial — Hypnotized.

Revisiting VRD Rose Card Pattern Hypnotized

Remember Hypnotized? You can find the tutorial HERE.

This was my tutorial quilt top. Sadly, this is as far as it’s gotten, but I plan to quilt it soon (you know in the next 20 years or so! LOL!).

Get Hypnotized HERE

I have a group of wonderful delightful ladies who are part of my monthly “quilt class” at my local quilt shop, Homespun Treasures. It’s more like a slumber party or a gab fest than a class, though. LOL!

BIG SHOUT OUT to everyone in the class — Mary Lee, Sherry, Gaynel, Kim, Robin, Lisa, Jean, Donna, Debbie, Anita, Missi (an honorary member right now), and Gail (the shop owner)!

Anyway, this year our class is called Panels and Novelties Oh My! and we are featuring 10 Villa Rosa Rose Card patterns (one each month from March through December) using panels and novelty fabrics.

Did you know that in most cases, panels and novelty fabrics are interchangeable???

Our March project for April was Hypnotized. Here is a Gallery of the some of the quilt tops and finished quilts made by my Panel and Novelties group.

Aren’t they marvelous????

LOVE the Hypnotized pattern — it is sew sew versatile and looks good with just about anything! AND you can use panel squares or novelty fabric.

The last photo with the patriotic theme was made by my pal, Mary Lee, and was already completed and donated to our local Quilts of Valor organization before our April meeting.

Thank you, Mary Lee!

For more information about how you can get involved with the Quilts of Valor Foundation, please go HERE.

Well, I guess that’s it for me today. I am feeling so energized and inspired, I need to go make a quilt.

OH! I almost forgot! MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU!

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Quilt Block Basics · Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

Quilt Block Basics — Quarter Square Triangles (QSTs)

April 20, 2023April 19, 2023 rosecards6 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

I hope you’re ready to dive right back into our Quilt Block Basics mini series! This week, we’re going to talk about Quarter Square Triangles (QSTs). So, what exactly is a QST?

A QST is made up of 4 triangles sewn together into a square. Those are Isoceles triangles for you math people out there. LOL!

You might have heard of this as an Hour Glass unit. Barbara Brackman, quilt historian extraordinaire, and Electric Quilt call it Four X. What other names have you heard this unit called?

I guess in a way, you could even consider it to be a type of a Four Patch, but calling it a QST helps to differentiate it from the classic Four Patch, below, which is made up of 4 squares.

Let’s look at some quilt blocks with QSTs! Some are old favorites and some may be new to you.

How to Make a Quarter Square Triangle

Layer 2 squares the same size, right sides together.
Draw a diagonal line from one corner to the opposite corner.
Sew 1/4″ away from both sides of the line.
Cut on the drawn line and open each unit to make 2 HSTs. (What????? HSTs???? Wait — we’re not done yet!)
Layer the HSTs right sides together so that the light triangle is on top of the dark triangle and vice versa.
Draw a diagonal line from corner to opposite corner, perpendicular to the already-sewn seam.
Sew 1/4″ away from both sides of the line.
Cut on the drawn line and open each unit to make 2 Quarter Square Triangles!

You may have noticed that I didn’t include any measurements for cutting the squares. Well, that was intentional. Just like HSTs, there is a magic math formula to figure out the size of squares you need to cut based on what your desired finished size will be (no charts to lose!).

YAY MATH!

And the magic number for QSTs is…..drum roll please………1 1/4.

Yep, that’s it. Add an extra 1 1/4″ to your finished size and your QSTs to get the right size.

So…………

If you want 4″ finished QSTs — then cut your squares 5 1/4″.

Want 8″ finished QSTs? Then cut your squares 9 1/4″.

What about 1″ finished QSTs? Cut the squares 2 1/4″.

That’s it, folks. Isn’t quilt math delightful?

Seriously, I would have loved geometry way back when if my high school geometry teacher had taught me quilt math instead of writing proofs to prove a square was “squarular”. Sigh…….yes, I know — that’s not really a word, but in my humble opinion, it should be……..triangles are triangular and rectangles are rectangular so why aren’t squares squarular????

Okay, enough of that! Don’t get me started on the vagaries of the English language. LOL!

Instead, let’s look at some great Villa Rosa Designs Rose Card patterns that feature QSTs.

QST VRD Rose Card Patterns

Get Baby Cakes HERE

Get Diamond Daze HERE

Get Downtown HERE

Get Kristin HERE

Get Tropicana HERE

This is a super short list compared to the HST list I curated a couple weeks ago, isn’t it? You can find the HST VRD list HERE if you missed it.

Well, that’s it for me for this week. Go forth make QSTs! Lots and lots of QSTs!

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Quilt Play · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

Flowers, Electric Quilt, and NEW Villa Rosa Designs Rose Card Quilt Patterns

August 11, 2022August 10, 2022 rosecards2 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

I hope you are all having a great week so far! Me, it’s been a bit rocky in my basement studio/office, which I fondly call my “dungeon.” After a really dry July, early August has been really wet. And I mean wet!

In 5 days, water has rolled into my studio casement window THREE TIMES! In 5 days! I have spent most of my time emptying the dehumidifier, moving fans around, washing-drying-rewashing-drying again all the blankets we’ve been able to find for soaking up the water. ARGH! Luckily, the water didn’t completely flood my space, it only got about halfway across the room, almost to my computer desk. It’s been kind of stressful here. I shouldn’t be complaining because others are faring much worse than I am, but it’s been a lot of work to stay on top of the water once the deluges hit. Talking to my family, we don’t think this much flooding in the basement has happened in 20 years. What a fluke (I hope).

Now let’s turn our thoughts to something really fun and seasonal. Sadly, our container garden and other plants did not grow much during the super dry month of July, but all of a sudden everything is growing by leaps and bounds, although the marigolds don’t look so happy.

We planted our garden and plants a bit late this year and now that things are finally growing like crazy, I just hope that they’ll have enough time to bear fruit (or veggies). I would really like some fresh produce that I grew myself on the back porch! Yum yum yummy!

Speaking of flowers and plants, I’m particularly proud of my Black-Eyed Susans, which is one of my all-time favorite flowers, along with Sunflowers and Daisies. I wonder……how many Black-Eyed Susan, Sunflower, and Daisy quilt blocks are there in Electric Quilt 8. Any guesses? Hmm. I haven’t checked yet, so I think I’ll guess 35 total. So let’s see! Hang on, I’ll be right back. Let me check.

I found 6 Black-Eyed/Brown-Eyed Susan quilt blocks. Not too shabby!

Next I counted 34 Sunflower blocks. Nice!

And then I discovered at least 40 Daisy blocks. Way cool!

Well, my guess was a bit low. How about your guess?

Sew, let’s have some fun and play with flower blocks a little bit!

Here are some really fun quilts with Black-eyed Susan blocks. EQ8 ROCKS!

Check out these awesome Sunflower quilts — are you inspired yet???

Now, how about a trio of Daisy quilts?

WOW! I really love love love EQ8 — it is sew sew fun just to explore different blocks and make quilts on the computer screen, whether I ever make them into real quilts or not!

Aren’t you inspired to make your own flower quilt now? I challenge you to create a quilt featuring your favorite flower! I dare you!

I’d love to revisit flower quilts down the road and include the quilts of our VRD fans. Sew, please send me your flower quilts — er, a photo of your flower quilt along with a short description/story of your quilt. If I choose your quilt and story for the blog, I promise I’ll send you a little surprise in the mail! You can email your flower quilt images to me at tricia@villarosaquilts.com.

NEW AUGUST VILLA ROSA DESIGNS ROSE CARDS

Yay! It’s that time of the month again — no, not THAT time of the month. LOL! It’s the beginning of a new month and that means a NEW collection of Villa Rosa Rose Cards!

Here they are — our new August Rose Cards!

You can order the August set of 5 Rose Cards HERE. Go ahead, I know you want to.

But wait — there’s more! Tehehe.

Here’s my NEW August Table Runner, Slice of Summer.

Cute, huh? You can get your own Slice of Summer Rose Card HERE.

Sew, there you have it — our awesome new August patterns! Can’t wait to see what new patterns next month will bring…….

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Quilting Partners · Tips and Tricks · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

Let’s Design a Quilt Together — A Peek into My Quilt Design Process

June 16, 2022June 15, 2022 rosecards2 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

It’s Thursday again! Here’s hoping your week has been going well. Mine has been good and fast — just the way I love my quilt projects to be! LOL!

A lot of people ask about my design process so I thought I’d tell you a little bit about my process. Keep in mind that all designers have their own way of doing things and this post is only about my process.

Sometimes it’s like I eat, sleep, and breathe quilts and quilting! Not only do I read/flip through quilt books and magazines, I also look online for new trends. I talk to my quilt friends about what they are doing. I teach a quilt class once a month. I design patterns, write instructions, make quilts, take photos of quilts. I look at and get inspired by fabric. I jot down ideas and even do rough sketches of quilt blocks (which I promptly lose most of the time). I have even been known to wake up in the middle of the night with a new idea for a quilt. Whew!

Inspiration comes in a lot of different forms for me. Sometimes I see a fabric or collection and an idea pops into my head. Sometimes I start with a favorite quilt block and a quilt develops out of that. I have quite a few quilt block references that I use for ideas. Here are a few books in my library:

The first 2 books are by Barbara Brackman. The one on the left is the first edition of the 2nd book and is out of print and can be hard to find. I have both of them and love them both. The newer edition has even more blocks in it than the first edition! Barbara Brackman is one of the most renowned quilt historians of our time! You can visit her blog, Material Culture, HERE.

I also have Barbara Brackman’s software program, Blockbase, which works with Electric Quilt. You can find Blockbase HERE.

The third book, 5500 Quilt Block Designs, is by well-known quilter and author Maggie Malone. I have only known about this book since 2021 when a friend of mine showed it to me and I was so impressed, I had to grab a copy for myself. This book is out of print so it can be harder to find as well.

I have talked about Electric Quilt software before in an earlier post, but I want to mention it again here because I really couldn’t design quilts without it! Some designers sit down with a ruler and graph paper to draft quilt patterns, but I am an Electric Quilt user because it makes designing quilts a lot easier for me. You can find Electric Quilt 8 (EQ8) software HERE.

If you are interested in designing your own quilts, I totally recommend EQ8 if you’re into computers. If you’re not into computers, graph paper and a ruler might be your new BFF.

Once I get an idea, it’s time to play — which usually means I head to my computer and EQ8. I play with blocks, try different color combinations, download different fabrics to try all before I actually make anything at all. Some designers start by making the project and then work backwards to create the pattern and instructions. I do my designing on my computer and then make the project once I know what I am going to do. At least this is what I do probably 99% of the time. That’s one of the fun things about being a designer — I can try different ways of doing things. They don’t always work out for me, but that’s okay, there’s always another way to try.

Let me show you an example of my design process. For this example, I’m gong to start with my favorite quilt block, the Shoo Fly block.

When I am starting with the quilt design before I select the actual fabrics, I usually design in red, black, white, and grey. I don’t know exactly why I do that, but I think it probably has to do with the high contrast so I get a good sense of the pattern before I add actual fabric.

So, let’s make a wall quilt using 4 Shoo Fly blocks. It will look something like this:

Hmmmmm. This doesn’t really excite me. How about you? Let’s tweak it a little bit and see what happens next. We’ll add a bit more color, too.

Okay, this is better, don’t you think? By adding a sashing between the blocks, I was able to put another Shoo Fly block in the center. I changed the colors of the larger blocks to black and grey with the smaller center Shoo Fly block in red. It definitely has a lot more interest, doesn’t it? But it’s not quite there. Let’s tweak it a little bit more, shall we?

Now we’re getting somewhere! I got rid of the grey and went with plain black. Then I added 2 narrow blocky borders so I could continue to build out with more Shoo Fly blocks. Now I think we need a border.

Yay! A finished quilt design. I added an outer plain black border and a red binding. Pretty zippy, isn’t it? Now we’re gong to add some real fabric to the design.

Here are 3 different versions of our Shoo Fly quilt using Hoffman’s Paisley in Love batik collection. Of the 3, I think the last one with the white background is my favorite. I like the contrast, but I think I need to do a little more tweaking with the design, so back to the drawing board (or EQ8).

What are your thoughts? How would you improve this design? Any ideas?

Well, I hope you enjoyed a peek into my design process. Who knows? You might see this design as a VRD Rose Card some day.

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Rose Cards · Tips and Tricks · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

Cats and a VRD Cat City Block Tutorial + a Mini Quilt

June 2, 2022June 5, 2022 rosecards3 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Sigh……I’ve been thinking about cats lately. A lot. In addition to my own cats, I’ve been working on a couple cat quilt projects. If you don’t like cats, you might want to turn around now before it’s too late. (You can’t see me of course, but I’m rolling my eyes here. LOL!)

Let me tell you a little bit about MY CATS (sorry, not sorry — I did warn you).

Pip is my beautiful 12 year old silver tortie. She is sweet, rarely says a word, and is very generously-sized. Pip is a real foodie like me. I tell her frequently that she’s “practically perfect in every way,” but she can be very stubborn. And sneaky! Especially when she thinks no one is paying attention and she tries to get her little brother’s food (she is usually successful, too). Silly Pip!

Griffin just turned 1 at the end of April and is my little wild child. He zooms from one end of the house to the other and then back again. Over and over. As energetic as he is, he’s also my snuggle bug when he eventually slows down. Seriously. He loves to be held and snuggled! Griffin likes to watch “bird TV,” loves to be rocked, likes music, and even enjoys painting on a cute game on my tablet. He’s quite a fella!

Crazy man Griffin in a brief moment of stillness.

For some reason, cats and quilting just seem to go together. Like peanut butter and jelly! I just love seeing photos of cats “helping” their human quilters on social media, don’t you? Too bad neither of my cats are into that, but then again, if they were, I’d probably never get any quilting done.

In fact, as I sit here writing, Pip is hanging out in her favorite chair upstairs and Griffin is watching his birds on TV about 10 feet away from my desk. He is not only my little buddy but he’s also THE best coworker I’ve ever had.

Not long ago, Pat, our “Rose Queen” and the owner of Villa Rosa Designs, asked me to help her with some new quilt diagrams for her VRD pattern, Cat City.

To purchase the Cat City Pattern, click HERE Or to purchase the Cat City kit, click HERE

I was really intrigued by the cat block in the pattern, and thought I’d try it out before making the diagrams so I knew exactly how to put the block together. I discovered it’s a really fun block, but it can be a little tricky the first time you make it.

Let me show you how to put the Cat City block together.

Cat City Block Tutorial

First things first, follow the cutting instructions for the pattern. I chose a white fabric and a black fabric for this tutorial (you’ll see why a little bit later). I layered the two fabrics and cut the pieces out at the same time.

Layer your background and cat fabrics as you see here. I am making 2 cats at the same time and they will be a mirror image of each other. I used a pin to help hold things together on my way to my sewing machine. I also drew a sewing line with my marking pen (I LOVE Frixion pens for marking sewing lines on my fabric). Now off to my machine to sew on the line.

Next, trim off the waste triangles and press the unit open. I pressed my seams to the dark fabric.

Now to make some little ears! Layer your squares right sides together (RST) on the background fabric. Draw diagonal sewing lines on your squares with your marking tool. Sew on the line. Then cut away the waste triangles and press the units open. I pressed the seams towards the cat fabric.

Okay, we’re in the home stretch now. Yippee! Sew the ear unit to the top of the cat body — the ear fabric should match the cat (unless you’re feeling wild and crazy) and then sew the bottom of the ears to the cat body.

OOPS! You will see in the second photo, my cat ears didn’t line up very well with my cat body. Argh! No, it’s okay after all — the one edge of the cat fabric was folded under — whew, I was afraid my cat was growing right before my eyes!

Darn, time to use the tool all quilters and sewists run from in fear — THE SEAM RIPPER. (Cue creepy music.)

Done. It only took me a quick minute to rip out the seam, press the folded-under edge straight, and resew. Now we’re back in business. I pressed the seam towards the cat body.

In the first photo here, you can see how my cats will look after I sew the cat backs to the cat body/ear unit. I am planning to sew my cats front sides together. Ying and Yang, I think I will call them.

The middle photo shows the cats stitched together …….furever (sorry, I couldn’t resist).

The third photo shows how I pressed the seams — center seam between the cats open because of sewing the fiddly little ears together and the cat body/back seam I pressed towards the cat body. The ears wanted to be a bit difficult but I pressed them into submission with a little pressing spray (my favorite is Mary Ellen’s Best Press).

There you have it — a cat block with mirror-image cats. Of course, instead of sewing them fronts together, you might want to sew them with their backs together — would this be a cat fight???? — take a look at the quilt on the front of the Cat City pattern above for ideas.

BUT WAIT — there’s more! I just love saying that, don’t you?

I decided to cut 2″ strips for a border around my cat blocks for a fast to finish little quilt. I sewed the sides on first and then the top and bottom strips.

Voila! A little quilt, mini quilt, doll quilt, table quilt, place mat or whatever you want to call it.

Now I just need to layer my little quilt with batting and backing. Quilt it. Bind it.

DONE! My favorite kind of project. 🙂

Here is my black and white Ying and Yang alongside my first little Cat City quilt in pink and brown. When I finished the pink and brown one (which was my original example to figure out how the block went together), I decided that I had to make a black and white one.

I hope you will enjoy making your own Cat City quilt. Or maybe you just want to play a little bit and make yours mini. Whatever you choose, I can’t wait to see your cat quilts (and maybe your cats)!

You can share them on our Facebook page. Not a member yet? Join us to take part in all the Villa Rosa Designs fun HERE . We really are a fun bunch. Really.

Until next Thursday —