Fellow Quilters,

Winter is finally here!  After several weeks of above-seasonal temps, my area is experiencing the coldest weather so far this winter.  Mind you, it’s not nearly as frosty as some other areas of North America right now.  The cold weather isn’t deterring the birds at our feeder – refilling it almost daily is keeping Hubby busy.  We buy very large bags of black oil sunflower seed for this.  I wondered what the difference was between regular sunflower seeds and black oil seeds – are the seeds coated with black oil? – so I turned to Dr. Google.  Turns out that the seed shells are naturally black – it’s the variety – and not only do they have meatier seeds with a higher oil content, the shells are thinner and easier to crack.

This cold weather has been perfect for spending time in my sewing space and today I want to share one of my recent finishes with you.  Here is the back story of my Split the Layers quilt.

I have been the BOM challenge coordinator for both of my local guilds going on 4 years now.  Keeping the members challenged is challenging – haha!  During Covid, while we met virtually, the BOM programs were designed around precuts because they were an easy online purchase or already in our stash.  Inspired by Missouri Star’s Jenny Doan’s use of 10” square precuts AND her innovative “disappearing” series of quilt blocks, I set out to design a fun 10-month program for my guild.

What is a disappearing block, you ask?  Hint:  It’s not one that mysteriously goes missing in your sewing space.  Rather, it is one that is made from a super simple block such as a 4-patch or 9-patch, then cut apart and reassembled into a complex-looking-but-easy-to-make block.  It’s magic!  I think the most popular one is the disappearing 4-patch.

How to make a disappearing 4-patch quilt block

Once I opened my mind to creating blocks from cut-apart blocks, it was like opening a Pandora’s box.  Before I knew it, I had designed a dozen or more blocks.  I chose 10, making 2 of each, and filed the rest.

Fast forward to last summer, when the editor of Fons & Porter’s Quick + Easy Quilts put out a call for “disappearing” quilts. I pulled out my file of designs, colored one with a some fresh precuts from Banyan Batiks’ Changing Seasons and Scribbles collections and sent in my submission called Split the Layers.  It was accepted and is featured in the current (February/March 2024) issue of Quick + Easy Quilts, on newsstands now and available in-print or digitally here.

Split the Layers featured in Quick + Easy Quilts

This issue contains a magic how-to show of 7 classic disappearing blocks, 5 projects featuring disappearing blocks, plus 5 other seasonal/fun projects.

The magazine instructions for Split the Layers call for half-square triangles (HST) and also include my suggestion of using 10” squares for these HST, a method I gleaned from Jenny Doan’s videos.

In Jenny’s video tutorials, she will often use the 4-at-a-time HST method of pairing 2 coordinating 10” squares right sides together, sewing ¼” around all 4 sides, then cutting the set twice diagonally.  It’s super-fast and easy and yields 4 HST units.

Use a pair of 10″ squares to make four HST units

The only downside is that the outer edges of these HST units are bias (stretchy), which is not an issue if it’s managed properly.  Here are my 4 tips for keeping the bias under control:

1)  Finger-press only – no irons.  My go-to “pressing” tool is my Clover Hera marker for applique.  I have several around my sewing space and use them to finger-press every seam.  If you’ve watched any of my YouTube videos, you’ve seen them in action.  The seams in my blocks are flat enough that I usually don’t need to press my block until it’s completed.

2)  If I absolutely need to press a seam before my block is complete, I place the seam 1” in from the edge of my ironing board and press just the seam and not the surrounding (potentially bias) edges of the unit.

3)  If a bias-edge block or unit absolutely needs to be pressed, I press it gently with the grain of the fabric (either lengthwise or crosswise grain is fine).  This may mean that I am pressing the block from corner to corner but I am following the grain and not the bias.

4)  Spray starch or sizing – if you find that your bias edges are still distorting, a spritz of spray starch can rein them in and save the day.  Fresh out of spray starch?  Mix 1 part vodka with 8 parts water in a spray bottle, mixing just enough to use (or use the rest to stay hydrated – just kidding!!)

I also have a tip about choosing coordinating 10″ squares for the Split the Layers blocks.  Choose 2 that contrast with each other.  My test pair didn’t contrast enough (the values in the 2 fabrics were too similar) and the design is lost.  This block became my quilt label 🙂

My block made with a too-similar pair of HST units became my quilt label

And 1 more tip if you’re making the quilt with 10″ squares as I did.  A 6 1/2″ square ruler with a corner-to-corner diagonal line is very handy for trimming the HST units.  This is one of my most-used rulers.

Trimming down my HST units

The trimmings

To celebrate the release of the February/March Quick + Easy Quilts issue, I have a lovely giveaway. One lucky reader will win a bundle of (30) 10” squares of Banyan Batik’s Changing Seasons and Scribbles, enough to make your own Split the Layers quilt with your addition of background fabric.

This 30-piece bundle of pretty 10″ squares is up for grabs

For your chance to win, please leave a comment below telling me if you’ve made a disappearing block quilt, which block you made/used, or if something like this is still on your quilting bucket list.  Deadline to enter is midnight January 24. Good luck to you 😊

Be sure to snap up your own copy of Quick + Easy Quilts before it, too, disappears!

Happy quilting 😊

Patti

Tags: batiks, quilt, quilting, quilts, sewing