Harlequin Hearts Bunting Free Tutorial Using the Cricut Maker

 Links in this post may be affiliate links. All opinions are my own.

Hey Everyone,

I hope you have been having an amazing January. It is almost time for Galentines day so I thought I would make this for you my favorite Gals and Guys... I am still loving my Cricut Maker, as a matter of fact I no longer want to cut fabric any other way. It is so nice to just let it cut while I do something else I never take the machine off my table anymore. If I need to cut yardage for the shop I just scoot it to the side. I made this video to show how easy it is to cut squares and rectangles and mark half square triangles in the Design Space software hope you enjoy... then you can get on to making the project. All of the cutting is set up for you if you have the Maker but I put in the regular cutting instructions too. This post is part of a blog hop to showcase the Maker please see the end of the post for a list of other bloggers to visit.

(Printable PDF)
Fabric:

2 – Fat Quarters light fabrics (represented by the text fabrics in my example)

2 – Pink or Red Fabrics one Fat Quarter each (Heart fabrics)

2 – Pink or Red Fabrics 7” square each (Harlequin)

3 – Aqua Teal Fabrics 7” square each (Backgrounds)

1/3 yd of backing fabric

1/3 yd for tie

Or

Scraps of your favorite colors (there are coloring sheets at the end of the tutorial PDF)

Here is the link to the cutting files on Cricut Design Space to utilize these you will need the Cricut Maker (click the image to a link for the product)
 
with a Rotary Blade and the washable fabric pen.

When cutting the light colored fabrics make sure to place on mat with wrong side facing up so the pen can mark the back of the fabric.

Here is a picture of my maker cutting the fabric with my cell phone... I love that there is a ledge to hold your tech device.

Cutting (for those without the Maker)

From the Light Fabrics:

10 – 2 ¾” by 4” rectangles

            Subcut 5 diagonally from right to left, and 5 diagonally from left to right

8 – 1 ½” squares

8 – 1” squares

From Each Heart Fabric

2 – 2 ¾” by 4” Rectangles

            Subcut Diagonally from one color left to right, from the second color from   

            right to left

4 – 2 ½” by 3 ½” rectangles

From each Pink and Red Fabric 7”

2 – 2 ¾ by 4” Rectangles

            Subcut from bottom left to top right diagonally

From each Aqua Teal Fabric 7”

2 – 2 3/4” by 4” rectangles

            Subcut all but one from bottom right to top left, the last one cut diagonally

           from bottom left to top right

From Backing Fabric

8 – 4 ½” by 6 ½” rectangles

From Tie fabric

2 – 2 ½” by Width of Fabric strips

Mark:

Mark a diagonal line on the back of each of the 1 ½” and 1” light colored squares

**All seams are ¼” unless otherwise noted

Instructions:

1.     Layout each of your heart blocks in stacks so that you can chain piece them as pictured. With the 2 ½” by 3 ½” rectangles on top and diagonal pieces on bottom.

2.      On each top piece of the heart place your light colored 1 ½” and 1” squares with right sides together as shown.

3.      Sew on the lines.

4.      Trim the corners and press toward the darker fabric.

5.      Sew the diagonal pieces together by placing them right sides together and offsetting the corners by ¼”. Press toward the darker fabric. Trim to 2 ½” by 3 ½”.

6.      Piece the 4 rectangles together to form the heart blocks (4 ½” by 6 ½”).

7.      Layout your harlequin blocks in stacks so that you can chain piece them. Piece them the same way you did in step 5.

8.      Trim to 2 ½” by 3 ½”

9.      Piece the four rectangles together to form your blocks.

10.  Place each block right sides together with a backing rectangle.

11.  Sew from top left down the left side across the bottom and up the right side pivoting at corners and back stitching at each end, as indicated by the red lines in this photo.

12.  Trim bottom corners diagonally to reduce bulk.

13.  Turn out with a turning tool of some kind… I used the scoring tool from my Cricut. Press well.

Phew! It’s all downhill from here!! I do not know why I get such a kick out of watching this but I do... the Maker cutting the tie fabric for the bunting...

14.  Piece the ends of your ties together. Offsetting the diagonals as you did with the blocks. Fold the strips in half long way and press. Then fold in each side to meet at the pressed line.

15.  Fold once again at the center and press.

16.  Fold the ends at a 45 degree angle to make a neat edge. Press Well.

17.  Find the center of the tie and pin a harlequin block there between the two folded edges of the tie.

18.  Measure to each side approximately 2” and place a heart block.

19.  Repeat alternating the harlequins and the hearts. I used 7 of my 8 blocks so that there would be a center.

20.  Top Stitch close to the edge of the tie catching in the blocks and making sure to catch the back edge of the tie. Back stitch at each end.  Just go slow 😊

Ta Da! You are done.

Cricut <3 Be Mine <3 Valentine's Day Blog Hop

Monday 1/29 Sweet Red Poppy * Amber Simmons * Sew Sophielynn

Tuesday 1/30 Coral + Co. * Patchwork Posse

Wednesday 1/31 The Intrepid Thread

Thursday 2/1 Heather Handmade * Paisley Roots * Pattern Revolution

Friday 2/2 That's Sew Kari * Maytime Moms * Swoodson Says

 

.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

The Beginnings Quilt Along Block 1- Nine Patch

The Beginnings QAL

 

Block 1 the Nine Patch (Printable PDF)

(6" finished)

Yep, it is the quintessential beginners block but there is nothing better for learning to make a perfect ¼” seam and learning to match your points.

Helpful Notes (to do before you cut):

Make sure you are standing properly if you are rotary cutting. Stand facing your table with your shoulder/hip lined up with the edge of the ruler. So that your arm can move freely back and forth. If you are standing with the ruler too close to the center of your body then your arm will automatically want to curve to the right (if you are right handed) as you push it forward. 

Wear shoes, not only is it better for your feet it will protect them as well. I have known two people that have cut tendons in their toes by dropping their rotary cutter. 

Make sure to close and lock your rotary cutter each time you put it down. Seriously, you just don't want to get cut with that sucker. 

Make sure to use a sharp blade. Believe it or not it is less likely you will cut yourself if your blade is sharp. You have to press with a lot more force when you are using a dull blade and that means that you also go faster and can move your ruler more.

Cut:

As promised I made a cut file for The Maker. You can find it here. I made this so it would cut all of the pieces you need of these two fabrics for this quilt. Use 12 - 2 1/2" squares of the corner fabric and the background fabric, and 3 - 2 1/2" squares of the center fabric. Put the rest in a zip lock bag and save them for later months.

For Three Blocks

1 – 2 ½” by Width of fabric (WOF) strip of the fabric you are using for your 4 corners (if you have                  a  fat quarter then cut two strips).
            Subcut 12 – 2 ½” squares

1 – 2 ½” by WOF strip of background fabric
            Subcut 12 – 2 ½” squares

1 – 2 ½” by WOF strip of center fabric
            Subcut 3– 2 ½” squares

Helpful Notes (to do before you start your blocks):
Place your leftover ends of strips in a container (I use a zip lock bag) with a post-it note or piece of paper labeled 2 ½”. This way when you need the same size strips later you can use what is left of the strips before cutting a whole new one which saves fabric and time.

Check your ¼” seam allowance. Sew two pieces of scraps together and measure with your ruler. Your seam should go from the edge to the inside of the ¼” line on your ruler. You should be measuring to the far side of the thread. Believe it or not the width of your thread (times two because there are 2 pieces of fabric) can make your seam off by close to a 1/16th of an inch. It seems small but think about that multiplied over hundreds of seams in your quilt. If your seam allowance is off adjust it by using a piece of tape to mark your throat plate on your machine at a perfect ¼” you will be so happy you did later on.

Here is a video of me sewing this first block to help you understand the instructions. I hope you like it :)

Instructions:

1. Lay out your fabrics in stacks of three (for three blocks) so that they form your 9 Patch as shown.

2. Place the center top piece right side together with the left top piece matching the edges pin approximately ¼” from the end and sew a ¼” seam removing your pin just before you get to it.

Continue piecing in the same way the center piece to the center left piece, and the center bottom piece to the bottom left piece as shown in the video.

3. Without cutting your thread start back at the top of the stacks. Repeat step two until all right side pieces of the three blocks are sewn into pairs as shown. Cut your thread but do not cut the blocks apart.

4. Starting back at the beginning of your chain of pieces place the right top piece right side together with the center top piece and sew. Continue piecing in the same way the center piece to the center right piece, and the center bottom piece to the bottom right piece as shown.

5. Cut the thread between each of the blocks, three rows at a time, to separate your blocks.

6. Press your top seam out toward the darker fabrics, the middle seams in toward the darker fabric, and the bottom seams out toward the darker fabrics.

7. Place your top row of each block right side together with the middle row. Your seams should be going in opposite directions which will allow you to nestle your seams together and get them good and tight (this is what gives you nice points). Slide your seams together with your fingers until you feel them butt up together. Place two pins one on the right, and one on the left of the seam. Do not put a pin into the seam to hold it because this very act will actually push the seams apart. Put a pin ¼” away from the end of the two rows and one at the beginning about ½” down from where you will start sewing. Repeat for the other two blocks. Sew your seam removing pins as you get to them
and making sure that your seams are not flipping the wrong way on the underside.

8. Repeat step 7 for the second seam in each block.

9. Press which ever way you prefer. I still prefer to press to the dark so I press the top seam up and the bottom seam down. Admire your perfect corners:

Disclaimers (AKA the reasons I do what I do)

Why do you press to the side when modern quilters always press open?

1. I press to the side even though there are some people that claim it is better to press open. You can listen to all arguments and make your own judgement. The reason that I press to the side is that if a stitch gets popped or broken and the seam is pressed open you will see a hole and see the batting through the top of the quilt. If you have pressed to the side and stitch gets broken you will see a tiny bit of the fabric seam allowance and it will not be a hole. Most likely by that point there will be quilting reinforcing the quilt and there won’t be a problem with the hole and it will be much easier to fix if the seam allowance is there for you to mend it to.

2. I find it much easier to get crisp points when the seams are pressed to the side. I press to the dark wherever possible because 7 out of 10 times when you go to match up your next block in a row that will make your seams match on that block as well.

Why are we making 9 patches from squares when they can be made more quickly with strips?

1. This is good practice for making nice seams.

2. I find cutting strips makes for imprecise pieces. No matter how hard you try to cut the strip pieced pieces straight they always come out a bit wavy which makes a less than perfect nine patch.

Why do you pin every piece?

1. Because we are trying to make perfect blocks. If you don’t care about perfect feel free to not pin. I do not always pin but I have been doing this for 25 yrs. I know that if I pin I am much more likely to make less mistakes. Since a lot of them can be caught while you are pinning.

2. It is easy to get pieces stretched and not lined up even if they are perfect when you start. If the end is pinned it is less likely that the pieces will be miss matched at the end of the seam since the machine with automatically ease your seam a bit for you.

Enjoy!
Julie

Beginnings Quilt Along - Part 1 Fabric Requirements

Hi Everyone,

Are you ready to get ready? Here are the fabric and notions that you will need to follow along with the Quilt Along. The fabric requirements are approximate, I made sure that you have plenty for the borders and background but how you make up the fabrics for the blocks is up to  you. You can certainly make this quilt with scraps, and it would be adorable, so the 1/4 yds are just a suggestion.

Fabric Requirements (PDF)

13 Fat Quarters or ¼ yards (1/4 yards are cheaper if you are buying off the bolt)

½ Yard of Inner Border fabric (this includes where it has been used in blocks)

¾ yard of Outer Border fabric (this includes where it has been used in blocks)

2 yards of Background Fabric (represented by the cream solid in the picture)

Basic Tools

Rotary Cutter

Rotary Cutting Mat

6” by 24” Acrylic Ruler (or similar)

8 ½” (or larger) square acrylic ruler, I use a 12 ½”.

Seam Ripper (let’s face it we all need one some time)

Patchwork Pins (I prefer glass head)

Thread

If you are on Facebook please come over and join the group so we can all share our makes. Also as we get started please share your photos with the hashtag #beginningsqal on Instagram. Each month I will send a little prize to someone that shares their photos from the QAL. Let's start with photos of our fabrics. If you want to buy a LemonTree kit (to match the picture) they will not be available until next month. I have made a few more mock ups so you can get some other ideas for colors. I also put up some kits for order . 

Pink

Blue

Teal

Cottage

Harvest

So as my husband likes to say "Get your poop in a group", and I will see you next week.

Love,

Julie

PS. If you leave me a comment and you don't get a reply personally that means your email is not connected to your account so I can't answer. I always answer all of my comments if I have your email :)  So if you leave a question be sure to either indicate your email address or check back for a reply on the blog.