July Quilt Block Lotto – Boomerang!

This month’s lotto block is a paper piecing pattern and tutorial provided by Trina Peterson using a nice vintage color palette supplied by Wendy Franczak…thanks, ladies!  If you’ve never tried the paper piecing technique (or maybe never even heard of it!), this one is about as simple as it gets…you can do this! You’ll learn the basics of putting together a block, and maybe even do more than one…who knows, you might just feel empowered to try a different pattern on your own 😉  I am having some difficulty posting the pdf of the pattern, but I did manage to get it on facebook.  Let me know your email address if you aren’t on the fb, and I’ll send it direct (send to my gmail account at jebrunner).

The idea for the block originally came from this blog:  http://megsmonkeybeans.blogspot.com/2012/05/trajectory-getting-started.html

The color palette reminds me of a retro 50s kitchen, and the boomerang pattern fits in perfectly.  I feel like I just walked into a Lustron home (who’s with me?).  Use the ivory/tan or light gray for the main background portion of the block and the blue, green, coral, or red for the boomerang.

Colorscheme for boomerang

15July QBL color palette

 

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pp finished block

General Guidelines for Quilt Block Lotto (QBL):

1. Make one quilt block (or more) following the pattern and color scheme outlined in this post. For every block you make and bring to that month’s meeting, you will get one entry in the lotto. If you are unable to attend the meeting or forget your block on meeting day, but really want to participate in the lotto, you can still enter your block but you must be willing to mail, drive, or otherwise get your block to the winner.

2. The winner gets ALL THE BLOCKS to make a quilted project from them (guild reserves the right to vote on splitting up the blocks between more than one winner if there are enough entries). If you win, the blocks become yours and you can use them in any way you choose, but must use (at least part of) each block you receive in your final creation.

3. We would like to see your finished project, either in person or pictures, within a year of winning the blocks. You may continue to participate in and win subsequent block lottos during that time. After the year is up, you cannot participate or win again until the original project is finished.

4. Have fun! Keep in mind that (most likely) someone else will be taking home your block to incorporate into a larger piece and things must fit together (literally…so keeping your block true to size is probably the most important thing), but you should also make it yours and enjoy the process!

I’m including pics from both Trina’s demo and my home version.  Hope it doesn’t get confusing, but it was the most comprehensive way to make a tutorial.  I used solid fabric while she used patterned fabric (hers helps to visualize how to place fabric that has right and wrong sides…).

Print out the block pattern and ensure it is to scale by placing your ruler over the 1” test square in the lower left corner. If it’s not to scale, try adjusting your printing options by selecting ‘actual size’ instead of ‘scale to fit’, or vice versa, or whatever else it takes to get it to print using your computer and/or printer because they vary.  Print several in case you mess up or want to do more (you will, they are soooo easy!).

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Cut around the very outside of the block, making sure to include the seam allowance (or even cut it a little bigger to give yourself some wiggle room, as shown below on Trina’s block…I cut on that outer black line).

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You will cut three pieces for each block, two rectangles from the colors and one square from the background ivory/tan/gray.

Cut (1) 6.5″ x 6.5″ square – piece #1

(or 7″ x 7″ if you want some wiggle room)

Cut (1) 5.75″ x 2.25″ rectangle – piece #2

Cut (1) 7.5″ x 2.75″  rectangle – piece #3

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Note the numbers in the different sections of the block pattern.  This corresponds to the ‘order’ you will be attaching the pieces as you go.  Either pin or use a small amount of glue applied to the center of the non-printed side of the paper to affix it to the wrong side of the fabric of piece #1 (square).

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Next you will be folding the block pattern along the fold between piece #1 and #2.  Use any stiff piece of cardboard (turns out the back of the packaging for felt pads works just fine!).

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With the paper folded along the line, cut the fabric with a ¼” seam allowance.  You can use a regular ruler or a special ‘paper piecing ruler’ that fits over the paper portion to make it slip proof.

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OK, here’s where it gets a little tricky because you have to use a little imagination.  You will line up piece #2 with the edge you just created, placing it right sides together so that once it’s sewn to piece #1 it will cover the entire triangular #2 portion of the piece as outlined on the paper (go ahead and fold the paper down and make sure the #2 piece covers the area for visualization).

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Now, you will sew along the entire length of the line from the edge of the paper to the point where the line you are sewing along meets the line that joins section #3, through all three layers (paper, fabric #1, fabric #2).  No need to lock the stitch on either end (makes me nervous, too…).

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Press it out, looks like this:

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Now we’ll fold the paper to accommodate piece #3, the same way you did #2, and then cut a ¼” seam allowance the same way you did when attaching piece #1 to piece #2:

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Line up piece #3 right sides together along the newly cut edge and then sew  1/4″ seam allowance along the line as you did when sewing piece #2 to piece #1:

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Now square it up by cutting along the outside edge of your paper square (if you left yourself wiggle room before, you can cut it down to that outer line now but make sure to include the seam allowance):

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Final product should look like this:

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boomerang_pp