Technique Tuesday with Social Butterfly and Giveaway!

Contest is over and winner is chosen!

We all have them: Jelly Rolls, Charm Squares, Layer Cakes. But after the impulse buy, we sometimes are in a quandary about what to do with them. I selected a stack of 10" squares (a Layer Cake) from the Social Butterfly collection. I wanted to revisit my Bubbles pattern. Here's a peek at the fabrics.

10" squares of Social Butterfly (42)

I first made this Bubbles Quilt in 1996 using a small half-hexagon template and some 2" strips. These fabrics are SO old, but they worked! I named it Half Hexagon Jewel.

Half Hexagon Jewel

Let me show you what I did with the Social Butterfly 10" squares. Many of the prints are directional. We don't want any dive bombing butterflies now, do we? I cut a 1" strip off one side of my 10" squares. That's because I am aiming for two 4-1/2" x 10" rectangles from each square.

42 strips 1" x 10"

Then I cut two 4-1/2" x 10" strips from the remainder.

The cuts I made for each of the squares

My two stacks of rectangles

Then, using my 60 degree triangle ruler, I cut each rectangle into half hexagons. (This is not a tutorial, but a teaser for the pattern.) It is key to blunt the side tips of these. My pattern shows how to do this with your ruler. This makes joining them perfect without any guessing with those tiny triangle tips.

Matching pairs of half hexagons

And what did I get? Take a look at my "vintage" quilt above. When you put matching fabrics next to each other, you will give the appearance of WHOLE hexagons! And no y-seams - honest! I used some fabric from Pearl Essence for my borders.

This is 48" wide x 51" center before borders. My pattern suggests cutting 6" wide borders (the ones you see below are only 4" - that's all I had!). The pattern is a well illustrated, 13 page printed instructional for two sizes. The half-hexagon paper template is included for the blue quilt. You can also cut these using a multi-sized, 60 degree triangle ruler.

I also have this pattern as a DIGITAL download (no acrylic template needed). Paper templates for both sizes are included. If you have a 60 degree triangle ruler, that will work, too!

Social Butterfly Bubbles Quilt: 55" x 58"

You can find my pattern for this blue one using a layer cake from the Social Butterfly Collection and my recent Bubbles and Hexagons quilt made using a jelly roll (2-1/2" strips). My hard copy pattern INCLUDES a half-hexagon acrylic template for cutting those strips. 12 page digital pattern, too.

Bubbles and Hexagons quilt made using 2-1/2" jelly roll strips

If you make this quilt, it's our secret that you sewed NOT A ONE y-seam, right? Shhhhhh!