Porthole Quilt Block

Welcome to my stop on the Cloud9 New Block blog hop! If this is your first time here, I hope you like what you see :)

I want to say a huge thank you to Cloud9 Fabric for so generously donating the fabric for everyone participating in this hop. Aren't the colours beautiful?

Another huge thank you goes to our hosts Yvonne, Cheryl and Stephanie. I can only imagine all the behind-the-scenes work that goes into organizing a blog hop with so many participants. Great job, ladies!

And now...Let me introduce Porthole!

I set out to design a block that would create a secondary pattern with my earlier block, Stained Glass Star, so I knew I wanted a strip going across the corners. But what could I put in the middle? I don't remember what made me think of the circle (porthole!), but I really love it. The funny thing is, the strips going across the corners in this block don't match up with the corner strips in Stained Glass Star, so the two blocks don't really work together after all. I guess that's a project for another day ;)

Here is what Porthole would look like when made into a quilt. I love the secondary patterns created by the strips across the corners of the block! Those framed hourglass blocks would be fun to quilt...maybe with some dot-to-dot designs or by filling each of the triangles with feathers...lots of possibilities there.

Those circles are not applique. They're inset circles, but before you click over to someone else's blog because there's no way you're ever going to even attempt inset circles, let me assure you they're easy!

Really! In fact, I had never sewn inset circles before I designed this block, so I had to learn it myself. I seem to like to just jump into stuff I've never done before :) You can read about Noodles if you'd like to see a previous example.

Want to see my first-ever inset circles? Here they are, as proof that even a first attempt can look good because these are waaaaaay easier than their reputation would suggest. This was my practice block, before I cut into the Cloud9 fabrics.

Let's get to the tutorial. Let me warn you, though, there are a lot of pictures with this one :)

Materials

*3 fat quarters in coordinating colours
*Freezer paper
*Washable glue stick
*Some method of drawing 6" and 9" circle templates. If you have a compass in the house, then this will be fairly easy. If not, then you can do like I did and raid the cupboard. I found plates that were almost exactly 6" and 9", so I traced around those.

 

Cut

From pink #1 - 2 squares 7 1/2" x 7 1/2"

From pink #2 - 2 squares 7 1/2" x 7 1/2"

From blue - 1 square 10 1/2" x 10 1/2"
                    4 strips 1 1/2" x 9"

 

Sewing the First Inset Circle

To start off, join the 4 pink squares as shown to make a 4 patch unit. Press these seams open. That will make the seams less bulky to work with when you're sewing the circles.

Trace your 9" circle onto the non-waxy side of the freezer paper. Cut out the center, leaving a wide border around the circle. Fold the circle in half, matching up the edges of the circle, not the border, and crease. Open it up and fold it in half the other way and crease again. Make little pencil marks at the edge of the circle where the creases are, to make them easier to see.

Line up your freezer paper circle on the BACK of your 4 patch unit, with the waxy side down. Match each of those little pencil marks with a seam line to ensure that your circle is centered. Iron with a dry iron to stick the freezer paper to your fabric.

Cut out the circle of fabric, leaving about 1/2" inside the freezer paper. ***Don't cut the middle of the fabric*** We'll be putting that back in later, so just snip into the fabric about 1/2" from the freezer paper and carefully cut around.

See, here's my middle piece, perfectly intact!

Make little snips into that 1/2" of fabric you left inside the freezer paper, stopping about 1/8" away from the edge.

Iron all those tabs back over the freezer paper. I thought this step would be really tedious, but it wasn't at all.

 Put a little glue on each of those tabs.

Position the blue 10" square over the tabs, right side down if you're not working with solids. I found some of those tabs would sometimes get flipped over, so make sure you check from the front to make sure they're all flipped back out of sight. Press with a dry iron to set the glue.

 See how they're nicely attached to the blue fabric? Now peel away the freezer paper.

Turn the unit over, so the blue fabric is on the bottom. Pull back gently on the pink fabric to reveal the crease made when you ironed the tabs back over the freezer paper. That is now your stitching line. Stitch all the way around the circle, right on the line. I found it helpful to reduce my stitch length slightly and to stitch somewhat slowly.

 

Check to make sure you're happy with everything. If you are, then trim the seam allowance to 1/4" (I just eyeballed it) and then give the unit a good pressing.

You've just sewn an inset circle! Told you it was easy! Now we're going to do it again :)

Sewing the Second Inset Circle

Trace your 6" circle onto the non-waxy side of the freezer paper and cut it out, leaving a wide margin around the circle. Like before, fold the circle in half and crease, then open it and fold the other way and crease again. This time, mark the outside border of the creases. This will help with centering the circle.

Position the freezer paper on the BACK of your unit with the waxy side down, matching the creases with the seam lines. Iron with a dry iron to stick it to the fabric.

 

Cut out the middle of the circle, leaving 1/2" inside the freezer paper. Clip the seam allowance, stopping about 1/8" from the freezer paper.

 Press those tabs back over the freezer paper. Apply glue to all of the tabs.

Use the piece you cut out when making the first inset circle. Position it over the tabs, rotating it so the colours alternate (ie. the dark pink in the center is paired with the light pink on the outside). I used a small ruler to check that the seam lines were aligned.

Check from the front to make none of the tabs are flipped out of place. Press with a dry iron to set the glue.

Remove the freezer paper and stitch on the crease just as you did for the first inset circle. Trim the seam allowance to 1/4" and the press the block.

Now you have two inset circles under your belt!

Adding the Corner Strips

Trim the block to 13". I found the easiest way to do this was to line up the center seams with lines on my cutting mat and then count 6 1/2" to each side and trim off the excess.

Now line up one corner with lines on the mat. Measure 5 1/2" from the corner on the top and side. Line up your ruler with the marks and cut off the corner. Set it aside for later. Repeat for the remaining three corners.

 

Position the blue 1 1/2" x 9" strip along the cut edge. Some will extend past both sides. Stitch in place. Repeat for the remaining corners. Press open.

 

Now it's time to sew the corners back on. Press the block in half and crease lightly. Open and fold it in half the other way and crease again.

Alternating colours once again (so the triangle you sew on each corner should match the fabric in the middle circle), position the long edge of one triangle on the blue strip, matching the point of the triangle with the crease mark. Pin and stitch in place. Repeat for the remaining corners. Press open.

 

 This is what it should look like now.

Trim your block to 12 1/2" square and you're done!

If you make a porthole block (or quilt!), I'd love to see it! Tag me on Instagram (@devotedquilter), leave a link to a blog post in the comments below or even just email a picture to devotedquilter at gmail dot com.

There are a lot more beautiful new blocks being shared during this hop, so be sure to visit today's other hoppers.

Host: Cheryl @Meadow Mist Designs

Miranda @I Have Purple Hair
Jennifer @The Inquiring Quilter
Sarah @123 Quilt
Leanne @Devoted Quilter
Jen @Patterns By Jen
Jennifer @RV Quilting
Amanda @Quiltologie
Sharon @Yellow Cat Quilt Designs
Jen @A Dream and A Stitch
Jen @Faith and Fabric
Carole @Carole Lyles Shaw
Stephanie @Quilt’n Party
Susan @Sevenoaks Street Quilts
Katrin @Now What Puppilalla
Amista @Hilltop Custom Designs
Nicole @Handwrought Quilts
Marla @Penny Lane Quilts
Silvia @A Stranger View
Sarah @Smiles Too Loudly
Carrie @the zen quilter
Mary @Quilting is in My Blood
Velda @GRANNYcanQUILT