Hello friends, thank you for joining me for another round of Quilt Block Mania! This month our theme is "Connections". When I think of connections I think of my family and friends and how we stay connected to one another on a regular basis. Text is best for us! Sure, we still have nice, long talks on the phone with our kids who live out-of-town. And I always love spending time together face-to-face with my dear friends. But when those things aren't possible then a quick text message to say "good morning" or "I love you" keeps us connected.
Please make sure to scroll to the bottom of this post for links to all the designers participating in Quilt Block Mania this month.
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I'm pleased to share my pattern "Text Me!" with you today.
To make this block you will need the following cuts of fabric:
Background Fabric (I used Kona Cottons in the color "Pickle")
(2) 12.5" x 1.5" rectangles
(2) 10.5" x 1.5" rectangles
(4) 5.5" x 3" rectangles
(12) 1" squares
Text Box Fabric (I used Kona Cottons in the colors "Dragon Fruit" and "Cyan")
(4) 5.5" x 3" rectangles (I cut two of each color)
(4) 1" squares (I cut two of each color)
Step 1: lay out the pieces as shown below
Step 2: snowball the corners of the text box corners. To do this you will place the 1" square on the corner of the text box rectangle and sew on the diagonal line. Many quilters like to draw the line on the 1" square with a marking pen. I find this takes too much time. Instead, I place a piece of washi tape on my sewing machine that helps me line up the diagonal as I'm sewing:
It takes a few minutes to get the tape placement in the correct spot but it saves loads of time not having to draw the line on all those squares. Try it out with some scrap fabric and see if it saves you some time too.
Step 3: Trim off the excess fabric
Step 4: press the triangles back to form rectangles again. I use steam here to get those tiny triangles to lay nice and flat.
Step 5: assemble the text boxes and background rectangles together into rows, press seams toward the background fabric.
Step 6: sew the rows together, press seams toward the bottom of the block
Step 7: attach the left and right borders, press seams toward the middle
Ta Da! You have a completed "Text Me!" block. I think this block would be fabulous sewn into a throw pillow for big kid's bedroom. I also think it could be fun to embroider some text or images. Perhaps you'd like to add some emojis to your text boxes?
Here is a tutorial from Let's Explore on YouTube:
I hope you have fun making this block. Please reach out if you have questions! Be sure to tag me on Instagram @blueheronquilting so I can see your work!
Here are the other fabulous designs for this round of Quilt Block Mania
