"A very Merry Unbirthday to you, to you. A very Merry Unbirthday to you." from Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland"

Saturday, June 8, 2013

2013 Christmas QAL - Bell Block Design

Well, I have been playing with all of my Christmas fabric and believe me, I have a good amount of it because I am addicted to it.  But once I remove any of it that has red or green I am left with a small stack; a very small stack.  Oh boy, Sue, you knew what you were doing when you made up this challenge.

Fortunately, blues and golds are popular for Christmas fabric, and I have some.  I came up with this.

One of my favorite Christmas carols is Silver Bells.  I love the images of the verses, and when thinking about a quilt design I wondered about making a patchwork bell.  I haven't seen one before so this is my design as far as I know. 

My bell isn't silver because I don't have silver fabric, but gold works. 

These are the measurements I used for  my bell, but you can adjust the size to suit.

Cutting:

Background:  cut 16   2 1/2  inch  squares
                       cut   2  2 7/8 inch squares

Bell fabric:    cut 10    2 1/2 inch squares
                      cut 2     2 7/8 inch squares
                      cut 1 circle 3 1/2 inch diameter

Match each background 2 7/8 inch square with a bell fabric 2 7/8 inch square.  Use you favorite method to make half square triangles.  You should have 4 when you are done. 
This is the layout:
 
5 background squares
1 background square, 1 HST, 1 bell fabric square, 1 HST, 1 background square
1 background square, 3 bell fabric square, 1 background square
1 background square, 3 bell fabric square, 1 background square
1 background square, 3 bell fabric square, 1 background square
1 HST, 3 bell fabric squares, 1 HST
5 background squares
 
Make a yoyo from the circle.  This will be the bell clapper.
If you spot any errors in my directions, let me know.
 

 
I have a bow block that I got from one of Mary Ellen Hopkins' books, It's Okay If You Sit on My Quilt.  I'm going to play with it to see how I can make it work some way with my bell.
That's what I'm up to for now.  Back latter.

7 comments:

  1. It looks lovely. I think those are the colours I will be going with. x

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is cute! Is there a linky today?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your bell is so pretty. i will be watching from the sidelines this weekend, enjoying your festivities!

    ReplyDelete
  4. That is just brilliant. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Now that's just pretty darn cute and Silver Bells has always been one of my favorites to...come to think of it...I do have some new silver grey prints brought home from Shop Hop!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Now I DO like that bell! If I hadn't sketched out my candles, I would be pinching this idea lickety split!

    How clever to use the yo yo for the clapper too. Love it. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love those blocks and I can see lots of lovely things being made by everyone. I've got mine worked out, but I may be a bit slower than everyone else, as I'm like a tortoise with these things and procrastinate too much. I'll post later today with some fabric choices maybe.
    I know that bow block and I once did a workshop with Mary Ellen here in Oz and it turned out that we shared our birthdate, although many years apart and I have been wondering lately what has happened to her. Do you by any chance know?

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for leaving a comment. They make my day ;-)