The 5.25 (5 ¼ ) square will be cut on diagonals to form 4 triangles as shown Cut your B square like this: Again cut the 5 ¼ block into four triangles

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Vernon Davis
5 years ago
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Alabama Spinner Block by Gene Black An Alabama Artist For this block you will need three 10 layer cake squares. You should have a light, medium and dark square for good contrast.

1 Alabama Spinner Block by Gene Black An Alabama Artist For this block you will need three 10 layer cake squares. You should have a light, medium and dark square for good contrast. This will look best if the dark and medium blocks are in the same color family AND the third block is a different color. The alternate color will add POP to the visual impact of the block. The light color/value square will be called A. (Mine is Yellow) The medium color/value square will be called B. (Mine is a Medium Blue) The dark color/value square will be called C. (Mine is a Dark Blue.) (My medium value is somewhat light, but it is darker than the light value. You can check this by looking thru a red or green transparent sheet OR by setting your digital camera to black and white and taking a picture) I am including cutting directions because I found it tricky to get all the parts out of a ten inch square. Take your A square and cut it like this: (note 5.25 is the same as 5 ¼ ) artbygene.blogspot.com 1

2 The 5.25 (5 ¼ ) square will be cut on diagonals to form 4 triangles as shown Cut your B square like this: Again cut the 5 ¼ block into four triangles as you did with the A block. artbygene.blogspot.com 2

3 Cut your C block like this: Cut both 4 7/8 squares into triangles, like this: artbygene.blogspot.com 3

The resulting unit should look like this: It is important that the A and C unit is attached as shown so that you can place the darks in the corners

4 Piecing it together Sew the two A and C 2.5 by 5 inch strips together. Press then cut into 2.5 sub-units. You should get four that look similar to this: Sew these subunits to the B 2.5 by 4.5 strips. Be SURE to watch your color placement. The resulting unit should look like this: It is important that the A and C unit is attached as shown so that you can place the darks in the corners and your block spins correctly. Always refer to the picture of the finished block. Next join the small A and B triangles (again WATCH your color placement) They should look like this: artbygene.blogspot.com 4

Note that you can leave out the center circle if you just refuse to do appliqué. I will understand as I rarely do appliqué myself. If you are familiar with appliqué you can do any method you prefer.

5 Color B on the left, Color A on the right. Then join each of these to the C triangles. Your resulting unit should look like this: There are a couple of leftover pieces that will work for cutting your center circle. Note that you can leave out the center circle if you just refuse to do appliqué. I will understand as I rarely do appliqué myself. If you are familiar with appliqué you can do any method you prefer. Unless you had a cutting error, you should have leftover pieces of both B and C. You can use one of these for the circle OR you can even fussy cut a circle from another fabric to add a motif. (If you want to fuse the circle apply the fusible BEFORE you cut. The directions are not included for fusing.) Use a cup or glass as a template to draw the circle on your desired piece. I drew on the back so the lines wouldn t matter. However, if you are fussy cutting this is more difficult. Be sure that the circle is not too large for the 4 1/2 square you will be appliquéing it to. Smaller is better than too large. You don t want to have your circle going into the seam allowance. If you have small scissors with curved tips these are GREAT for cutting a circle. Once you have the circle cut, take the 4 1/2 A square and lightly fold it in half and then in half again and lightly score the center of the square with your thumbnail. Do the same with the circle and you can then easily place the circle right in the center of your square. artbygene.blogspot.com 5

I pin my circle onto the square with four pins. I place the pins in a square and leave room for my presser foot.

Draw the bobbin thread up first then sew with a zigzag, blanket stitch or even a straight stitch around the outer edge.

My machine will make a knot when I end so I use that feature.

6 I pin my circle onto the square with four pins. I place the pins in a square and leave room for my presser foot. The heads of two of the pins are in the lower right, but those pins cross each other. Draw the bobbin thread up first then sew with a zigzag, blanket stitch or even a straight stitch around the outer edge. Go slow and remember that you may have to stop, lift the presser foot, turn the fabric and then continue. Take your time! My machine will make a knot when I end so I use that feature. If yours doesn t, then sew backwards and then forward again to lock the stitches. See those loose ends where I pulled up the bobbin thread? I took those, tied a knot and threaded them in a hand needle and buried them between the layers. artbygene.blogspot.com 6

7 You should now have nine sub-units. Lay them out so you can see the complete block. Sew the square across into 3 rows, then join the rows. Press your block and pat yourself on the back! It looks GREAT! Here is a BIG picture of my block artbygene.blogspot.com 7

Practicing Basic Machine Operation Sample #1

Practicing Basic Machine Operation Sample #1 Listed below are various tasks required in basic sewing machine operation. Demonstrate your ability to perform each task by creating a sample. The samples that