A CHIEFS' BLANKET OF HOPE

 It has been a while since I have had a tutorial for a quilt pattern. Most of the quilting I have been doing have been Blankets of Hope. This is the quilting group at my church, Platte Woods United Methodist Church. We make lap size quilts, which we call Blankets of Hope and give them to ones who needs comforting and some hope. We also present babies/kids up to 18 yrs old who are baptized in our church. 

We have grown to 9 members and meet twice a month in our church where we can "design" quilt tops, and pin together finished quilt tops with batting and backing to be machine quilted. Not everyone in the group sews but their talents are used in other useful ways. No sewing is done at the church. Materials are donated, we buy some (It's hard to keep quilters out of fabric stores), and the church supports us with big purchases like batting. Since the ones of us who do the sewing have their own "stash", a variety of  prints can end up in our blankets.

Recently Friend Janice and I went shopping and she bought prints that teenage boys (and men) would especially like - Kansas City Royals baseball team and KC Chiefs football team. Janice can but chooses not to sew, but she is great at coordinating prints and colors together when we design quilts and she also can operate a "mean iron". 😉 We often will go together to buy material we find at estate sales and about once a year she will invest in material and donate them to the group. 

Friend Linda took the Royals prints home and I took the Chiefs home. Don't miss the picture of her quilt top below.

I don't have a name for this pattern. Friend Fran and I were in a quilt shop recently checking out the finished quilts displayed on the walls. We were also looking at the fabric but we really like to see finished quilts and then go home and reproduce them. I should say some of them. Some quilt patterns I would not even consider doing; I just appreciate the talent and stare with my mouth wide open. We saw several quilts utilizing this pattern and really like it. I shared it with Linda when she said she was uninspired for a pattern for the Royals.

The pattern is not difficult but does take more than an hour or two like most of the blankets I make. It consists of 6-1/2 " squares and half square triangles trimmed down to 6-1/2 ". 

Half square triangles are fun to work with because the patterns are endless that you can come up with just by the arrangement of the blocks. Solid colors make a bold statement, but you can use prints also.

If you read about making half-square triangle blocks, you will probably read to cut the square 7/8 " larger than desired finish. I always cut the square 1 inch bigger, cut into two triangles, and sew two triangles from the material you want to have in the finished block together with the 1/4 inch seam. Then after I press the seams open, I can trim down the block to the desired size. I find that when I sew the blocks together, they match up more perfectly.

7-1/2 inch square

This is a red and black triangle I am sewing together.

Don't want to confuse you, I didn't take a picture showing the black triangle underneath, but did on the next two I sewed together but with the black triangle on top. 

Here is a bunch half-square triangles I sewed together but haven't pressed open.

The next step is to press the seam open. First press over the seam to "set the stiches".

Then I opened up the seam and pressed on the right side of the material. Once I had made 28 half-square triangle blocks from the 14 squares I originally cut, I was ready to trim them down.

This can go much faster if you have a 6-1/2 " square ruler. I also have a turntable that my smaller cutting mat fits that allows me to rotate my work so I don't have to move my square ruler. I also tried to line the ruler up to at least one side when I matched the diagonal line on the square ruler with the seam so I didn't have to cut around all four sides.

My mess when I was finished, but a good mess.

I failed to take any pictures of pinning the squares together, . Since the blanket is 7 squares x 8 squares, I sewed the blocks together together by columns instead of rows. That way I had 7 strips to sew together instead of 8. When you are pinning and the seams of the strips together, it is less work to pin 7 strips instead of 8.

I can show you some pictures of the back that maybe will help you if you need further instruction. Pressing is key! and then pinning the strips together so that the seams "nest" together well. 

After I have sewed the strips together, I press  the  7 seams the same direction.

We will be meeting together later today and my top will be pinned with the backing for me to bring home and machine quilt. I will come back and show you how the finished Blanket of Hope turned out.

Oh here is the picture that Linda sent me of her finished top. We will be pinning it also today. You can see how the pattern changed by her use of the half-square triangles.

Our finished quilts or Blankets of Hope are usually 42" x 48". That way the backing doesn't have a seam in it as most material will be 42 inches wide.