Sweet Freedom Patriot Quilts

March is the beginning of our  'Twister Season'  in the  MidWest  - now is a good time to create some  Twister/Pinwheel  blocks for our March 2022 Sweet Freedom Patriot Quilts : Blue/White Pinwheel block Pinwheels: Thirty-two (32)   6 1/2"  in-the-raw Blue/White Pinwheels,  (6" FINISHED) GO!  Half-Square Triangle,  (3" FINISHED) ,  Die #55017 https://www.accuquilt.com/go-half-square-triangle-3-finished-square-die.html As most know - there are a gazillion ways to cut/sew HSTs into Pinwheel blocks - here are a couple: Fellow Blogger shares basic instructions on  How To  create a  6" FINISHED  Pinwheel block: http://delawarequilts.com/BOMs/BasicPinwheel/index.html Cutting Tips: It takes four (4) Blue and four (4) White Half Square Triangles/HSTs to create ONE (1) Pinwheel block - you need 32  TOTAL  Blue/White Pinwheel blocks = 128  Blue  HSTs and 128  White  HSTs. I was able to c...

It's time for Clue #1 of our March Sweet Freedom Mystery !   Are you ready to cut your gorgeous RED/White fabrics... well then, let's get ready ;-) Grab your Red & White fabrics and your 2 1/2" GO! Strip cutter die Cut 2 1/2" strips, sew them together = Red/White/Red and cut into 6 1/2" in-the-raw, (6" FINISHED) blocks You need thirty-two (32) Red/White/Red 6 1/2" in-the-raw blocks, (6" FINISHED) Red/White/Red sewn strips (32) 6 1/2" in-the-raw blocks, (6" FINISHED) Cutting Tips:   You may choose to cut your Red/White/Red fabrics into 6 1/2: strips FIRST, sew together... Quilter's Choice!    I was able to get six (6) 6 1/2" in-the-raw blocks out of my width of fabric/WOF, after  sewing/pressing, due to the width constraints of my fabrics.  You 'may have' different results - depending on your fabrics, whether using yardage and/or scraps, etc. Because I was only able to get six (6) blocks from my Red/White/R...

 Welcome to our March 2022 Sweet Freedom Mystery! First - beautiful fabric requirements...these are mine from my personal stash.   Red/White/Blue fabrics Trying to fulfill a 2022 goal of using as much of my personal patriotic stash this year to create beautiful patriotic quilts to Honor our Beloved Veterans and Service Members for the sacrifice and service for our country. Thus, between EQ8 giving me some 'wonky' fabric requirements, using my stash - which was originally  purchased because I liked the gorgeous fabrics and did not really have a project in mind - other than it would be 'patriotic ', so fabric requirements will be based on my best 'guesstimate' ! This month's Sweet Freedom Mystery lends itself well to yardage AND scraps, so dig into your patriotic scrap basked and let's have some FUN creating a beautiful patriotic scrappy quilt! My first quilt was created from yardage, my second will be from patriotic scraps.  Yardage requirements ar...

It's that time again!   Time for our Big Reveal/final clue of our February 2022 Sweet Freedom Mystery...and here it is! Big Reveal - Sweet Freedom Mystery/ February 2022 To complete your Sweet Freedom Mystery, you are going to need to add some more sashing to your previously sashed out panel. Add: One (1) 2" in-the-raw, (1 1/2" FINISHED) White sashing borders on 'each' side of the Red Star borders Press the White borders 'away from' the Red Star borders.  I realize this puts the border seams on the 'White' side of the sashing but, it's intentional to reduce bulk Once the White borders are pressed, Add one (1) 3 1/2" in-the-raw, (3" FINISHED) Blue borders to 'each' side, following the White borders.  Once again, press the Blue border seams towards the Blue fabric and 'away from' the White border Please Note:   these border measurements were used specifically to ensure the final star blocks will 'fit' within...

Clue #2 of our February Sweet Freedom Patriot Quilt  is ready! But first - time to square-up your panel(s) and add Red border sashings: Squared-up/Bordered out Prior to adding ANY borders, first things First.  IF you haven't already, now is the time to square-up/press your patriotic panel. Trimming the panel side Selvage panel trim Top/selvage trim Time to press w/Best Friend: Pressing is the Best w/Mary Ellen's ;-) Now that everything has been trimmed/squared & pressed, time to add some border sashing. I chose to add 2 1/2" in-the-raw (2" FINISHED) Red Star border sashing strips to each side of my panel - From my Red Star fabric I cut: (4) Four 2 1/2" Red Star fabric GO! Strip Cutter 2 1/2"  (2" FINISHED)  Die #55017 https://www.accuquilt.com/go-strip-cutter-2-1-2-2-finished-3-strips-die.html How to cut 2 1/2" strips w/AccuQuilt GO! strip cutter dies: Please Note:  You will need to determine the 'length' measurements of your sashing...

Welcome to our February 2022 Clue #1!   For this clue, we get to cut/sew some beautiful Red Criss-Cross Stars - only eight (8) this time so, you should be able to whip these out in No time ...right? 9" Criss-Cross Star block For EACH 9" Criss-Cross Star Block you will need: Eight (8) 3 1/2" background squares One (1) 3 1/2" center square Eight (8) 2 1/2" Star points Dies: GO! Square 3 1/2" (3" FINISHED) Die #55006 GO! Square 2 1/2" (2" FINISHED) Die #55059 Notes:   I 'chose' to use the SAME background neutrals for ALL of my Criss-Cross Stars... Quilter's Choice! For my Eight (8) 9" Criss-Cross Stars I cut: Sixty-four (64) 3 1/2" background squares (Neutral background fabric) Eight (8) 3 1/2" center square (Red Star Patriotic fabric) Sixty-four (64) 2 1/2" Star Points (Red Star Patriotic fabric) Criss-Cross Star Block video tutorial by Professional Quilt Artist/Instructor/Book Author, Lori ...

 First - which fabrics/fabric panel will we be using? This is the Patriotic panel we will be using in our February Sweet Freedom Mystery quilt - isn't it gorgeous?! MODA America The Beautiful by Deb Strain My personal fabric choice for this mystery: Fabric choices I started out w/3 yards of the Red Stars & solid white Kona, 2 yards each of the Patriotic Blue and the Moda off-white w/white random stripes.  I have almost a yard left of the Kona white, 1 1/2 yards of the other fabrics.   Once again - as we discussed in our January 2022 Sweet Freedom Mystery, Clue #2 , depending on 'which' patriotic panel you use, the finished quilt size measurements you choose, How you cut/sew/finish will determine just How Much fabric you will need for your February 2022 Sweet Freedom Mystery. My first February Sweet Freedom Mystery finished at:  56" x 67" My second February Sweet Freedom Mystery w/optional 3" perimeter border finished at:  59" x  70" AccuQuilt...