Tumbling Blocks

Marci Baker demonstrates a tumbling block quilt.

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Filed under: Quilting, Fabrics, How To

Materials and Tools:

book: Not Your Grandmother's Tumbling Blocks, a Strip-Pieced Quilt Method by Marci L. Baker
60-degree triangular ruler or 60-degree angle on straight ruler
fabric (for 12 to 13 blocks): 3" x 44" – light, 2-1/2" x 44" medium, 2-1/2" x 44" dark
Qtools Cutting Edge - an orange strip used as a stop when rotary cutting

Steps:

Select light, medium, and dark fabrics for each block combination. Use a border fabric as a guide for a coordinated color selection or make a scrappy design.

Make a swatch card to keep light, medium and dark fabrics organized.

Cut a three-inch wide strip of each light. Cut a 2-1/2-inch wide strip of each medium and each dark. Cut a seven-inch wide strip of background fabric.

Cut strips in half to make two, 22-inch strips of each. Each strip set requires two lights, two darks and two mediums.

Sew a dark-light-dark fabric combination. Press toward the dark fabric.

Sew a medium-light-medium fabric combination. Press toward the light fabric.

Cut left halves by cutting a 60-degree angle, point of ruler up, slicing off 2-1/2 inch pieces and cutting on the diagonal. Cut this section in half. Tip: Create a template to ensure halves are cut accurately.

Cut right halves in the same way except the first cut is opposite with the point of the ruler down (or opposite).

Stack the strips to cut simultaneously by placing the medium combination wrong side up and the dark combination right side up. Lock the seams and cut using the angle for the dark combination.

Cut background float pieces using seven-inch background strip. Cut angle, slice off 2-1/2 inch pieces, and cut on the diagonal aligning 4-3/4 inches from the top of the ruler along the bottom edge of the strip (same as step 7). Use one of the previously cut half-blocks as a guide for this cut. For the top and bottom float pieces, cut half-blocks in half crosswise.

Layout the design by matching the left and right halves. Draw or color a diagram for reference. Number the rows, stack and pin together.

Sew pieces together to make long strips, keeping them in order. This seam has "ears" that are 1/4 inch high. Create a template to ensure accurate "ear" size.

Press one-row seams up, next row seams down, alternating for each row. Note that these are the new seams only. Do not change the direction of any previously pressed seams.

Sew rows together in pairs, locking the seams at each intersection. Ease where necessary. Press seams all to the left or all to the right edge of the quilt. Sew pairs together and press seams appropriate direction. Continue sewing larger sections until all rows are sewn together.

Add borders measuring in several places and being sure not to stretch the bias as the first one is being applied.

Attach binding and hand or machine quilt to complete your tumbling block quilt made the easy way.