A Piece of Whimsy

Wow! It is at the end of January already! Where does time go?

In 2024 I had been posting a picture on IG/FB every day of what brings me joy. Most of my photos focused on stitching but I did sneak in a few personal moments as well. Four months had been dedicated to hand quilting a special quilt. That took priority over all other stitching activities. I did manage to make some quilt tops and try out new techniques. But I think the hand quilted quilt was the only one that was completed with binding and label!

My intentions for 2025 is to be blogging more. Post what I'm working on. I intend to figure out and draft patterns for myself.  I want to share my process with you.

I'm excited to start with A Piece of Whimsy! Neither the technique nor the design is original. I saw a pattern by Christine Vlasic called In The Red. I believe that pattern is for hand piecing and uses octagons and squares. I love to hand piece but I needed this quilt top much faster than I could piece it by hand. I haven't read the In the Red pattern, only the description of it. If you are craving some hand-piecing you should look it up and purchase the pattern! It lends itself well to having scrappy background squares!

But like I said, I needed this quilt faster, so I drafted the blocks with snowball units using the flip and snip method.  I wanted to start with 5" squares, then settled on 2" squares for the flip and snip corners.

I wrote a pattern that doesn't included diagrams (because I don't know how to make diagrams for patterns easily yet) however, at the moment that gives me incentive to write a blog update and here we are! 

Here is the PDF version: A Piece of Whimsy PDF

A Piece of Whimsy

by Naomi Perry

finished size: approx 36.5" x 45.5"

Fabric requirements:

(20) 10” squares assorted prints and colors
(or equivalent to (4) 5” squares of same print)
1 yard accent color

Cutting:

(4) 5” squares from each of the assorted 10” square
- for a total of 20 sets of (4) 5” squares
(320) 2” squares from accent color

(Each block requires (4) 5" squares and (16) 2" background squares.)

Instructions:

(Press all seams open to reduce bulk.)

Mark a diagonal line on all 2” accent squares.

Snowball method for blocks:

Working with 1 set of (4) 5” squares -

Place a 2” square on a corner of a 5” square with right sides together and with diagonal line across corner.

Stitch just to the side of the drawn line on the corner side to account for fabric folding over the seam.

I may have stitched a touch too far, but I wanted you to see the stitching is not exactly on the line.

Test for accuracy by folding 2” square to the outside corner, creating a corner triangle. 

• If the folded triangle overlaps the corner too much, restitch closer to the diagonal line. Test again before trimming.
• If the folded triangle is too short to cover the corner, unstitch and restitch a little more to the outside corner. Test again before trimming.
  

If it covers the outside corner just right, unfold the 2” square, then trim the extra fabric to a 1/4” seam allowance. 

Repeat on all corners of the 5” square. Press seams open.

Repeat for remaining 5” squares.

Assemble block:

Arrange sets into a 4-patch block.

Stitch 2 together matching seams to make a top row.

Stitch 2 together matching seams to make a bottom row.

Then stitch the rows together doing your best to match seams.

I felt matching the very center intersection was the most important seam to match. Don't fret over the diagonal seams too much.

Assemble quilt top:

Arrange blocks into 5 rows of 4 blocks.

Stitch blocks into rows.

Then stitch rows together matching seams.

And there it is! Make a sandwich with backing and batting. Quilt as you like!

Thank you for having a look. I have not had a tester yet. If you make A Piece of Whimsy, would you let me know how it went? Or leave a comment if you have any questions.