My Forest Frolic Friday

Fellow Quilters,

Happy Friday!  I am behind schedule today because I had another project on my To Do list that needed to get done by 2pm.  That project is now done and on its way to a magazine.  Here is a teaser picture of my quilt, coming out in the September issue of Love of Quilting.

A close-up of the Forest Frolic cathedral window fabric in my quilt

It is made with Northcott’s Forest Frolic collection, a happy “frolic-y” collection. I like everything in this collection – the colors, the motifs on the fabric, and especially the “cathedral windows” print.  It was the inspiration for my magazine quilt. Northcott has used Forest Frolic for today’s block!  Speaking of today’s block, let’s get to it.

Time to Quilt Block 17 is made strictly with half-square triangle units.  I didn’t alter the cutting instructions in the original pattern on Northcott, Banyan and FIGO’s Facebook page, however I did change the way the units are pressed.  So did Daphne as you can see in her post today.  The instructions in the original pattern have you pressing the seam in the half-square triangle units to the dark fabric.  When I went to assemble my blocks, I realized that my diagonal seams would stack on top of each other, creating lots of bulk.

Those diagonal seams are going to be bulky

To make the seams nest nicely I needed to press one seam to the light fabric.

Today’s tip:  I like to work through the steps or methods used in a block/quilt in my head beforehand because sometimes I can make small changes to make the block/quilt easier.  I thought a bit more about how the seams between the units would line up and decided to press the half-square triangle units in the center column to the light fabric.

The HST seam in the units in the center column are pressed to the light side

By doing this I could spin the intersections of the units.  Now, as you can see from my picture of the back of my Midsommar block, 2 of the intersections have full spin – all the seams are spinning in the same direction.  The other 2 intersections have only partial spin – the HST seams are spinning the opposite direction of the seams between units.

The 2 intersections on the left fully spin whereas the 2 on the right partially spin (the HST seams are going the other way)

Try as I might I couldn’t get all 4 intersections to fully spin.  No matter – the bulk of those intersections is dispersed.  I am really liking these spinning seams!  And just like that, the blocks are done!

Block 17 done 🙂

You can find my instructions for Block 17 here.

It’s Prize Friday today, so please go onto the Northcott Facebook page to post pictures of some of your blocks.  You can also share them on Instagram and include #timetoquiltfigo for a chance to win some swanky swag.  I know it’s late, but you have until 11:59 tonight to post, and I have a feeling you’re not going to the movies/out to dinner/to a friend’s house tonight.  Good luck!

I’ll see you tomorrow – earlier than 5pm – I promise😊

Cheers,

Patti