Pumpkin Time

The current challenge to Tech Know Quilter Masters members is to create their own pumpkin blocks and quilt.  A very appropriate challenge for the month of October.  I have been seeing some phenomenal submissions and look forward to sharing their ideas once the challenge is complete.

I decided to challenge myself to create a pumpkin block.  I started with a simple block that would be easy to piece.

This pumpkin block  has a finished size of 6" x 6".

If you print out the rotary cutting chart you will notice that it does not give cutting for the orange.  This is not a mistake.  EQ8 intends for you to use templates for any patches not included in the chart.  Instead they would recommend using either foundation piecing or templates for the patch.
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However, as quilters we may wish to select a different piecing method (not considered by EQ8).  For this block, I would cut the orange piece 5" x 6-1/2" (1/2" larger than the finished design size of the lower section of the block).  Then I would add 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" folded corners (sometimes called flippy corners or cheater corners) to each corner of the orange rectangle.

When I alter the EQ cutting chart, I will often print out a picture of the block and note the cut sizes on the picture (as shown below).

If you haven't used folded corners, it is a very efficient want to work with patches with 45 degree angles.  Here is how to construct a folded corner.

I then challenged myself to create a slightly more interesting pumpkin. 

This pumpkin (with all its irregular shapes) would be much more conducive to Foundation piecing.

After printing out the foundations, I determined that all of the pieces could be cut from 2-1/2" strips.  So by cutting 2-1/2" strips from a number of oranges I could quickly piece a number of these blocks.

Click on the photo to get a downloadable PDF to use in piecing your own pumpkins.

When piecing my first pumpkin, I discovered that different variations of the pumpkin could be made by rotating the bottom segment 180 degrees.  Or just sewing on the reverse side on the foundation paper.  Which is definitely easy to do -- either intentionally or unintentionally.

Do you like working from your stash as much as I do? 

My plans are to make three more of these pumpkin blocks this weekend.

And then to figure out a setting for my bocks.

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Pumpkin Time Electric Quilt 8 Tutorial

Would you like to see how to draft the two pumpkin blocks using EQ8?  The tutorial includes practical tips on how to minimize the number of sections in your foundation block along with tips for finding coordinating fabrics from the EQ library.

Would you like to learn more about either Shoot for the Stars with EQ8 or Tech Know Quilters?

Purchase Shoot for the Stars with EQ8

Learn More About Tech Know Quilters

​I suspect you will find the process of creating foundation friendly pumpkins very addictive.  I would love to see your foundation friendly pumpkins.  Feel free to post in the Learning EQ Facebook group.

Pumpkin Time Learning EQ Facebook Post

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Tech Know Quilter Foundation Friendly Tree Challenge

During the Foundation Class offered in Tech Know Quilters, members were challenged to design their own tree block.  Back when I originally released the Tech Know Quilter's Foundation Blocks class, I had done a show of many of their designs. 

These are all new designs created by students who have subsequently gone through the class.

Love their creativity.

Ann Horsley

Q8 Summer Tree by Wilna DuToit

Renae Frank Butler

Dianna Carter

Winter Tree by Zdenka Nemethova

Katherine Martin

Gloria Jacobs

Gloria Jacobs Quilt

Mary Groesbeck hid her new tree in her forest.

Lynne Maramieri

Brigitte Lee My added forest. The first one I copied from piecedbynumbers (just for the exercise). The other 3 just happened as I draw.

3 Pines by Edith Craig

Two Pines by Edith Craig

Moira Hewitt

Sharon Kazel My tree got blown over...the leanin' tree;-)

Connie Herbert

Charmaine Devaney Wonky Tree

Deborah Doucett

Maureen Feron Pinwill

Collien Kaseberg

Curryanne Hostetler

Suzanne Kehm Golden

Suzanne Kehm Golden

Nancy Messuri

Nancy Messuri

Carol Mallozzi

Carole Fox

Marlu Allan

Tina Rohde

Are you interested in learning more about the Tech Know Quilter group.  

You can learn more and sign up for the wait list for the next open enrollment period here.

Happy quilting.

​Kari
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