Courthouse Steps

Posted on July 15, 2011

The Courthouse Steps block is a variation of a log cabin block. It traditionally has red center squares and a variety of light and dark fabrics that give you a chessboard effect on your finished quilt top (example here). This is the block I’ve chosen for my turn in the Twice Around the Block Bee. This tutorial is mainly a how-to for my bee members but will be useful for anyone else who wants to try this block. I’ve chosen fabrics in four colors (red, green, blue, and white) for a Christmas-y quilt.

To make one block like my sample block, you will need:
5 green strips, measuring 1 1/2″ wide by varying lengths (the longest strip you will need is 12.5″)
5 white strips, measuring 1 1/2″ wide by varying lengths
5 red strips, measuring 1 1/2″ wide by varying lengths
5 blue strips, measuring 1 1/2″ wide by varying lengths
1 pink center square, measuring 2 1/2″ square

*A note about cutting*
This block is very scrap friendly. Scraps will need to be at least 1 1/2″ wide. I used fat quarters for my fabrics and was able to get 12 strips from each. I highly recommend using a Shape Cutter from June Tailor to cut your strips. It is fast and makes the cuts more accurate. (fabric needs for an entire quilt are given at the end of this post)

Piecing the Block

Take your center square and choose two strips in different colors. One strip gets sewn to the top of the block; the other strip gets sewn on the opposite side. I’ve chosen red and white strips in the example below.

Press your seams to one side (I pressed all of mine away from the center square) and trim the excess fabric. You can be a lazy quilter like me and trip the edges carefully scissors at your machine:

or you can trim them with your rotary cutter:

I used both methods for my blocks and they all came out to 12.5″ in the end. Do whichever method works for you. Add your next two color strips on the opposite sides of the block. After a few rows you will have something that looks like this:

Continue to add strips to each side until you have a total of 5 strips in each color. This is what your finished block will look like:

When you put two blocks together, you can see the secondary pattern start to emerge:

Pretty, huh? The cutting part is tedious, but the piecing is fast and easy and the finished look is definitely worth the time. I hope you all try it! And I hope my bee members enjoy making these.

*For a 96″ x 96″ quilt, you will need to make 64 blocks. Fabric requirements are 22 dark fat quarters, 19 light fat quarters, and 3/8 yard of your center square fabric.

snowmaggedon

Posted on February 8, 2011

That is how the weather man described the weather we’ll be experiencing tomorrow – snowmaggedon. After four snow days last week, I’m pretty sick of the cold but I honestly don’t mind one more day cooped up inside. It will give me some quality time with my new sewing machine.

I bought a Bernina Aurora 440 QE on Monday. I’m thrilled with her so far. Thrilled! She sews like a dream. I can’t wait to test out some free motion quilting with the stitch regulator. This new machine has definitely given me some creative drive. I finished my seriously overdue November block for the Ringo Pie bee.

The theme was sweets.

My original block idea was a disaster. Paper piecing from someone else’s pattern is one thing, but it’s a whole different game to come up with your own workable pattern. It’s a fun challenge, though, and I just may figure out how to make that block work.

DFW readers, don’t forget that Dallas Modern Quilt Guild meets on Thursday! We’re having a binding workshop you won’t want to miss. Details here.

it’s a hoot + ringo pie

Posted on November 21, 2010

It’s a Hoot by Momo is all over the quilty blog world at the moment. Her Wonderland collection is one of my all-time favorites, and this collection is just as cute. It’s actually a little cuter because it’s full of soft baby pinks, yellows, and greens. But it also has a good balance of colors – gray, teal, coral – to round it out.

I bought my It’s a Hoot from Maricopa Fabrics. She has all of the pre-cuts and some coordinating yardage, too.

This weekend I did a lot of cutting and prep work, but not a whole lot of sewing. The only new thing I have to share is my October block from the Ringo Pie bee.
Kerry’s theme was collectibles. It took me a while to get motivated for this block because I don’t collect anything (except fabric!). It didn’t help that all of the other bee members whipped out some really fantastic blocks – setting the bar really high. But once I settled on my theme (mugs + tea cups), I really enjoyed the piecing.

I’m very tempted to take out the white section on the left and add another small tower of tea cups, but I’m already late. I suppose I better put it in the mail.

Will

Posted on August 2, 2010

Will is one of our dogs, a red stag miniature pinscher that we adopted from a rescue group. He used to be a very timid dog (he still is with strangers). Over the two years he’s lived with us, he’s grown very comfortable in our house…maybe a little bit too comfortable.

He never even lays on our bed. Normally he spends his days on the sofa in the living room so that he can bark at everyone who passes by. But today, because I laid out quilt blocks on the bed, he decided to take a little snooze in our room.

At least he has the decency to look somewhat sheepish.

Checking In

Posted on July 31, 2010

I didn’t do much this week. It’s too hot to do anything right now. Just a bit of sewing and a bit of shopping and some fabric folding (because yummy stuff came in the mail.)

For my bit of sewing, I worked on my modern siggy swap 2 blocks.

I can’t decide if they need white sashing or if a wide white border is the ticket. Design wall, where are you when I need you?!

My bit of shopping came in the form of these cuties from Target:

And for the fabric folding…

Far Far Away 2 by Heather Ross. So cute. I’m not cutting into this bundle anytime soon. But I did buy a couple sets of fat quarters when it first came out and this little stack is sitting on my cutting table.

I made a deal with myself that I would complete 3 quilts before I cut into it. Hopefully that will happen very, very soon.

quilting bees.

Posted on July 4, 2010

Over the last three days, I’ve made four bee blocks and 101 blocks for a swap. I’ve definitely over-extended myself with the bees and swaps this year. Over the past couple of months, they were really starting to wear on me. The idea of a quilting bee is fun, but the reality is that they are a lot of work and often tedious.

Why? Well, a lot of the time it’s because you just don’t like the fabric you’re working with. But the worst ones are the complicated blocks where the person didn’t even send you enough fabric. It happens. A lot. And sometimes, when it’s your turn to receive blocks for the month, you get some back that don’t use the fabric you sent out or worse yet, aren’t even the right size. There’s been a lot of that going around lately.

But I have to say, that when all the stars align, quilting bees are really fun. I opened my package from Ryan of I’m Just a Guy Who Quilts this week and his fabric made my day. He picked a great selection of aqua and orange fabrics that look great together.

It got me in a better mood to face my July bee blocks. The two I have to work on this week are pretty awesome (awesomesauce as my husband would say). One of them is packaged so tidily and precisely that I almost hate to tear it open.

If you’re thinking about joining a bee…I’d recommend joining one that is either by invitation only or that includes many other quilters you are already familiar with. It makes it more enjoyable if all the members have a similar aesthetic. And remember that for every bad experience, there are at least ten good ones. In one of my bees, my friend Lucia of LuluBloom made two extra blocks for me when she saw that I hadn’t received all of the blocks during my month. How nice is that?!

Category Archives: Bees & Swaps