Celtic Squares: A Link to the Past

I did an Ancestry DNA test recently, and discovered a few surprises.  I knew (or thought I knew) that I was half Finn, as my mother’s family all came from Finland.  My paternal grandmother said she was Bohemian, and my paternal grandfather said he was a mixture of everything, but mostly British Isles.  My DNA test showed I am 56% Finland, including Northwest Russia, 36% Great Britain, 2% Eastern European, 1% Iberian Peninsula, 1% Scandinavian, and 4% West Asia.  A Google search informs me that Bohemia was part of the Czech Republic, which borders Germany and Austria.  Grandma was evidently not so much Bohemian as she thought, but more likely a mixture of many ethnicities. 

Building a family tree on Ancestry has been interesting... I can easily spend hours there and feel as though mere minutes have passed.  I've gone back as far as the late 1500’s with some branches of the family tree, but some of the information is conflicting, coming from other “limbs” of the family tree, so I need to do more research into the actual records. I've contacted or been contacted by a few distant relatives.  I feel fortunate to be old enough to remember many of the great-aunts and great-uncles, and even some of my great-grandparents.  So many stories lie behind the names, and I wonder what those stories were, as I go through the records. Some had few years between birth and death records, while others lived long lives. Some had occupations listed, and some even had titles. All those names belonged to people who lived their lives in other countries and times so very different from the time that we know as normal. 

Even my own life has changed drastically from the time I was a child on a farm in Northern Wisconsin, where we children were bathed in a wash tub in the basement.  We raced downstairs on cold winter mornings, carrying our clothes, to dress near the wood stove where it was warmest. We had no telephone, no television, and only one car in the family, which Dad drove to work every day.  The radio brought us the voices of Gisele MacKezie and Snooky Lanson on Your Hit Parade while we did our Saturday cleaning, and we gathered around the radio to listen to shows like Amos and Andy, Lux Radio Theater, The Shadow, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Fibber McGee and Molly, and Roy Rogers. Our mother taught us all the states and their capitols, and quizzed us as we worked around the house, making mundane tasks actually feel more like fun. Time spent in the car was an opportunity to sing together, and we learned to sing in “parts”, with Mama singing the harmony, we children singing the melody, and Dad occasionally providing some appropriate bass notes. We listened to Little Orley records on a phonograph our uncle gave my younger sisters, and Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians orchestra taught us the sounds various instruments make as they added the sound effects to the stories. My sister found a place to order Little Orley records on CD’s a few years ago, and I was excited to have my grandchildren listen to them... but they held little interest for children who are entertained by electronic games on various devices! Saturday nights, we usually went to Mother’s aunt’s home to have a sauna.  Saunas were social events, and all the little children took sauna together.  (And don’t you dare pronounce it “sawna”... it’s sow’na.)

There were no cell phones or I-Pads... we actually talked to each other!  Children played “school”, and since I was the oldest, I always got to be the teacher. I wonder as I write this, if that’s part of the reason my two sisters who grew up on the farm with me became teachers when they were adults... I never gave them the chance when we were young.  I loved books, and many family members bought me books for gifts.  I had all the books in the Little Women series, and can remember reading those, as well as Peter Pan, Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates, and others to my younger sisters, before they could read.  Mama introduced us to Thornton Burgess’ Mother West Wind stories from her own childhood, and I have found most of those still for sale online. Thankfully, all of my grandchildren cherish books, as well, and it warms my heart to see them reading the books their parents passed down to them. 

I saw this quilt tutorial using jelly roll strips online... called Pretzel Twist. http://www.fonsandporter.com/throw-quilt-patterns/pretzel-twist-quilt

 I am making my own version of this pattern, and in honor of my British ancestry, I call mine Celtic Squares.  I make my quilts from my stash, so I cannot give you exact yardage, but I can tell you what sized pieces I am using to make a block.  This makes an 8" finished block.

Since 4 units are used to make one complete block, I cut pieces for all 4 blocks at once.  I cut my own 2-1/2” strips from fabric yardage before I fold it onto the shelves, and keep the strips in large plastic bins, sorted light, mediums, and darks.  I began doing this long before they were coined “jelly rolls” and sold in packages.  

I laid various prints out next to each other on the cutting mat, in 4 rows, about 4 fabrics deep in each row, and used my June Tailor Shape Cut ruler to cut them all at once. Since I left the strips folded in half, 2 cuts gives 4 pieces. This pattern uses most of the strip in each print.  The remaining pieces go into a Ziploc bag of 2-1/2” pieces, to be used in a future scrap quilt.

Cutting instructions:

Cut of each jelly roll print:  4 pieces, each 6-1/2” and 4 pieces, each 2-1/2”.  (36” total)

Cut of background print:  4 pieces, each 4-1/2” and 8 pieces 2-1/2” (38” total)

There are 2 basic strips for each block, and each block requires 2 colors of these 2 strips, so 4 strips per block. 

This pattern is easy to strip-piece.
 

Sew the 4 print squares to 4 of the background squares, right sides together, using ¼” seam.  Chain piece the units; do not cut the threads joining the units.

Sew one background square to one end of the 6-1/2” print rectangle, completing all 4 rectangles in the same manner.

Without removing all the strips from the machine, just cut off the first 4 squares you joined.  Sew the 4-1/2” background piece to the print square in the unit, so there is a print square sandwiched between a background square and a background rectangle.  Complete all 4 units the same way. 

Then start sewing another print in the

same manner. When I sewed the second print, I cut the thread between the two different prints, but didn't snip the threads between the units sewn in the same print.  That way, there is not as much chance of losing any of the parts.  They can be kept together until you have many different prints sewn.  Then I picked up a string of pieces, cut them apart, and pressed them all at the same time.  After pressing, I clipped them together with a Wonder clip.

Each block uses these same 2 strips in 2 colors.  See photos at right.  

This photo shows the only two strip pieces that comprise the whole quilt.  Top strip consists of a 4-1/2" background strip, 2-1/2" print square, 2-1/2" background square.

The bottom strip is a 6-1/2" print strip joined to a 2-1/2" background square.

This photo shows how the two colors are laid out, forming the block.  Be sure to note that the white square goes in the left on the blue print, and the white square is on the right on the purple print.  The woven square will not look the same if you reverse the order of the strips.  I learned that the hard way... a few of my blocks are reversed, if you look closely at the completed 20 blocks.  I am not going to rip them out and change them... they still form squares, but are simply woven differently.

The photo at the left shows the completed block when the 4 strips are sewn together.  

 The photo below shows 4 blocks set together.  These blocks were sewn correctly, so the error is not shown in this portion.  

This is a very fast and easy quilt to piece.  However... here comes the tricky part.  You will need a design wall or floor to lay out the pieces for each block, and then the segments are built out from the center.

The photo below shows all 20 blocks that are finished.  I see two colors that I reversed, before I realized I was not doing it correctly.  How fast can you spot the errors?  

Do you see how each print is part of 4 different blocks, and how adjoining blocks share the same prints? 

I have that stack of pieces piled on my ironing board to cut apart and begin adding more blocks to these 20.  I'm not sure how big I will make it... I didn't have a plan when I started cutting the 

2-1/2" strips.  This portion is 5 blocks by 4 blocks, and measures about 40 x 32, which would be a good size for a baby quilt, or perhaps for a wheelchair quilt.  

This photo shows the "thread saver" that is used to sew onto instead of cutting the thread between segments.  Dawn and Ida taught me that trick many years ago, when we were making quilts to auction off to earn money for our church. Now, I notice even some of the quilting shows on TV use those little scraps to save thread, but Dawn and Ida did it first!  I miss those Monday sessions spent with friends, stitching and chatting.  Some ladies knitted or made crafted items for our bazaars.  Always, there was an abundance of friendship, coffee and delicious snacks.  

These days, I satisfy my need to interact with friends through quilting groups online.  After all, friends are friends... whether you touch them in person or interact through words echoing across vast expanses, in other states or other countries.  Perhaps change isn't bad... it simply takes some adjustment.  Perhaps you CAN teach an old dog new tricks!  

Star Flower Quilt Block

My Pfaff Quilting Expression 4.2 is in the shop for a tune-up, and I am back to sewing on my old White machine.  At the time I purchased it (probably about 20 or more years ago) it had a lot of features I thought were pretty innovative... such as needle up/down setting, speed control, start/stop button to use in place of the foot control, and automatic needle threader.  Now, those features are standard on many machines.  My Pfaff has no presser foot lever, and that is a huge time saver when I'm piecing a quilt. It is all automatic, but has a knee lift for the presser foot, or a button to raise or lower it if I need to.  It has a scissor function, as well.  It's taking me some time to get used to raising and lowering the presser foot manually, but after I cleaned it all up and took half a mountain of lint out of the bobbin case, it sews like a charm.  This machine will likely go to one of my grandchildren, when they are ready to start sewing.  

I had over a month long bout with bronchitis, so did not feel up to doing much sewing.

I did manage to crochet my first ripple afghan... a baby boy afghan for my second great-grandchild, due in a couple of weeks (shown at left).  I also made him two baby quilts, and finished two baby girl quilts for my first great-grandchild, born in March, in time for her birth.  I'm working on a couple of quilts that will probably be queen sized, if I don't get tired of them before they get that large!  One of them was started several months ago, and I pulled it out again when I got tired of sewing on the current flimsy.  I had 6 blocks completed on this quilt, and several more cut out and ready to sew.  I sewed one more, taking photos as I did, for this blog. 

I saw a version of this quilt demonstrated on Fons and Porter's TV show. As always, I try to figure out a way I can rotary cut and simplify the block. I have a June Tailor Shape Cut ruler that is as necessary to me as my right hand.  I can cut many strips at a time, usually several thicknesses, too, so the cutting goes fairly fast.  It takes me longer to dig out the fabrics from my stash, and then fold the yardage back up for storage again. This is a block with many pieces... 41, if I count the half square triangles made with the 7" square as 8. The instructions on making those speedy HST, 8 at a time, is on a prior blog:  http://diamonnaturals.blogspot.com/2014/09/gluten-free-popovers-and-speedy-half.html.  I also have links on the right, to access prior blogs.  

Here is a photo of the 7 completed blocks on my design wall.  I think I will join them with sashing and a print square to match the center of the star between blocks on the sashing. My blocks are mainly made up of florals, so I am calling it Star Flower.  

I also made a sample block for a child's quilt, made of a fat quarter bundle of puppy and kitten prints, with a tiny star on gold for the background on this quilt.  See photo at right.

Star Flower Block:

For each block, 15” finished size:

1 each 7” square of background and Print A, to be sewn diagonally both ways and cut to make 8 HST’s.  (Shown as light blue on block at right)

4 – 3-1/2” Print A squares, to be cut diagonally to make 8 HST’s  

4 – 3” background squares  (Shown as gold star)
6 - 3-1/2” Print B squares, to be cut diagonally to make 12 HST’s (Shown as orange on photo at right)

4 – 4” squares Print C (Shown as light print)

4 – 3” squares Print C

1 – 4” square print D, center square   

For speedier cutting, I cut 7" strips of prints and background, and then cut those strips into 7" segments.  Of the same prints, I cut 3-1/2" strips and cut those into 3-1/2" segments, then cut those squares diagonally to make half square triangles.  These will comprise the "frame" with the 8 HST's.

Background: 3" strips, cut into 3" segments.

Print B: Cut 3-1/2" strips, cut into 3-1/2" segments; cut squares diagonally to make HST's.
Print C: Cut 4" strips, cut those into 4" segments,  Cut 3" strips, cut those into 3' segments.
Print D: Center square; cut 4" strips, cut into 4" segments.
I put each size square into a stack and then chose coordinating prints to make my blocks.  I used a Wonder clip to hold the pieces together. Next, I put a 7" square of print and one of background together, right sides facing, and drew the sewing lines, as shown in the instructions for making 8 HST's at a time.  Because there are so many pieces, it does take some time to sew each block.  I always press as I sew, and have my ironing board at a right angle to my sewing table, so I can simply swivel to press.

This block can easily be broken down into units to be joined like a 9-patch.  Each of my 9 patches trimmed down to 5-1/2” before finishing, or 5” when finished. Sometimes I trim the blocks, but not always. Trimming takes additional time, so it depends on how much time I want to spend on the block, but it does look neater. See photo below to see the layout of the 9 segments of the block.

Sew 4 print B HST’s to center square print D.  Center square-in-a-square is formed.  See photo below.

Sew 2 print B HST’s to same side of 4” print C square (8 HST’s). 

Sew 2 print A HST’s to opposite side of 4” print C squares (8 HST’s)

4 square-in-a-square units formed with 2 colors of HST’s.

See photo at right.

Corners: Join 2 HST of Print A, 1 Print C squares and 1 background square, as shown.  Complete all 4 corner units.

There are now 9 completed units. Join them in horizontal or vertical rows, pinning at intersections.  I found it helpful to sew with the side facing me that had the HST's attached to the center square, so I could more easily match the points.  

Here is the completed block:



I love this block in floral fabrics... my fabrics are all in the blue, green, and pink families for this quilt.  It has a romantic, feminine vibe that feels traditional but modern.  The background is a very pale celery tone-on-tone, that reads white from a distance.

It's been a long time since I took the time to photograph my blocks in progress and post them to a blog, but I will try to do better.  I have some baby quilts I need to write tutorials on, among others. I have some lovely fabrics with an Asian flavor that I've made a large snuggle quilt with... it's sandwiched and ready to quilt.  It was a quick and easy quilt to make, as I wanted to find a pattern that could showcase the beautiful luxurious fabrics.  I have so many ideas for quilts... and so much fabric to make them with!  And another Christmas is just around the corner.

It seems overnight the days have gotten so much shorter already.  Some places have already gotten shots of snow and cold, but here in southern Ohio, it is still hot and humid.  I hope whatever the weather where you are, that you are safe in this season of terrible storms.