Tag Archives: Hollow Cube 60

Merry Christmas to All – OBW #105

I don’t know about you, but in our house Christmas decorating begins after dinner on Thanksgiving! My house is full of Santa’s & Christmas trees.

I love Santa’s. I had this panel for over a year, but got a chance to work on it before Thanksgiving.

This panel is called “Merry Christmas to All” by Marshall Dry Goods. The inside of the panel measured 29.5″ x 37″. I cut 3.25″ strip for 5″ finished hexies.

The odd width of 29.5″ left me with a 1″ wide red strip I would have to hide later.

I attached the top portion, then I decided to attach the left section first instead of the right. That left me with a 1″ red strip I had to hide. I did that with 3″ finished Hollow Cube 60 units made with my Star 60 Tool by Deb Tucker. I added 5″ Stars in gold to give Santa a destination and to follow the curve of the Reindeer.

I love the colors in this quilt. It reminds of me of going out after dinner to play in the snow and go ice skating at the rink behind my Grandparents house. This quilt measures 70″ x 75″.

Give yourself a gift and join me for a One Block Wonder Retreat at Strong House Inn, Vergennes, Vermont April 25 – 28, 2024.

Besides being pampered by our hosts you will learn about:

  • Identifying and cutting your repeats.
  • Aligning repeats including difficult fabrics.
  • Choosing a ruler and understanding the difference between pointed & blunt tip rulers.
  • Deciding what strip widths to cut
  • And of course, cutting all your equilateral triangles.
  • Designing with the hexagons,
  • Integrating stars & cubes
  • Designing around a panel

Happy Holidays!

Heading to the Turtle Boudoir – OBW #102

I fell in love with the colors in this panel by Carol Cavalaris and QT Fabrics.

I did not want to include the panel borders in my One Block Wonder (OBW), so I measured the inside as 30.75″ x 36.75″. I cut my strips 3.25″ to yield 5″ finished hexies. As there was little design in corners, I aligned around the turtles and plants in 12 different places. I cut my strips on the shorter 30″ side as opposed to the length of the panel. I had 165 hexies to design with.

I started designing on the bottom right of the panel going across the bottom and up the right side. I added a 15″ Hollow cube that had 3 – 5″ hollow cubes inside it. My cubes are made using Deb Tucker’s Star 60 ruler and the Hollow Cube 60 Technique Sheet.

I added half hexegons made using the Star 60 ruler and a darker Island Batik fabric to fill in around the hexies from the panel.

My rows are numbered and ready to be stitched together into sections .

The photo above show how the 15″ cube is incorporated into the 5″ hexies. I don’t trim the panel till I’m ready to stitch the sides to it.

All four sections are stitched together and ready to add to the panel.

I add the bottom section to the panel first. I did not want to trim the points, so I took out few stitches in the valley’s and pressed under about 1/4″. After the bottom is stitched to the panel, I add the right side and stitch, ending about 8″ from the top of the of the panel. This shows me where to attached the top section to the panel. Once the top is attached I can finish the seam of the right section to the panel. Now the left side can be easily added.

Once all the sections are attached to the panel, I can begin to tweak and soften the edges around the panel.

I made 3″ finished Hollow Cube 60’s to applique on the left side and on the top to hide where the panel border was showing. I use Island Batik fabrics to create my Hollow Cube 60’s. Heading to the Turtle Boudoir is now ready to be quiulted. This quilt won a 4th Place Ribbon at the New York State Fair, 2023.

@studio180design @islandbatik @star60 @Hollowcube 60

Star 60 Log Cabin & Hollow Cube 60 Zoom Classes

February 2023 Zoom Classes:

February 11, 2023 – 1:00 PM (EST) Star 60:  3 hour class.  Difficulty 2 Stars. This class is an introduction into making the Star 60, which can be made in 17 sizes.  As with all the Star 60 Stars they can be incorporated into your OBW’s. 

February 18, 2013, 1:00 PM (EST) – Hollow Cube 60:  4 hour class.  Difficulty 3 Stars.  Add the illusion that light is shining on your quilt from the direction you choose by adding Hollow Cube 60’s.  These cubes can be made in 16 sizes.  You must stay organized, but they are simple to construct. 

Sign up for these zoom classes here: OBW & Star 60 Zoom Classes for 2023 | If These Threads Could Talk

17 Years of Leftover Hexies – OBW #100

Crazed quilter makes 100 of the same quilt, sort of! I made my first One Block Wonder (OBW) in April 2006. One evening looking through my Hancocks of Paucah catalog I saw an ad for a book called “One Block Wonders, One Fabric, One Shape, One of a Kind Quilts” by Maxine Rosenthal. Little did I know that in 2017 two of my OBW’s would actually be in Maxine’s book “One Block Wonders of the World!

I was intrigued and ordered the book. I was so excited and had so much fun making my first OBW. I was totally hooked. Everyone loved my OBW’s. I started teaching the process that same year. I never thought in a million years that I would end up making 100 OBW’s. I made #99 in December 2022. Everyone kept asking what was I going to do for #100? I didn’t have a clue. Then the light bulb went off. I should make a OBW from all my leftover hexies, thay would certainly be different.

When making OBW’s, sometimes you use all your hexies and sometimes you don’t. I just started storing the leftover hexies in a tub. After 17 years I had quite a collection of leftover hexies. I love trees and had hoped to fashion a tree out of my leftovers. But I didn’t have the right colors and couldn’t quite get there. I was discouraged, then I thought I should just start designing and see what happens. I sorted the hexies by predominate color and went to work.

I thought…this is going to work! I counted hexies from 32 different OBW’s going back to the first year, wowza!

I was closely supervised by my Quality Control Chihuahua, Tucker!

I wanted the hexies to tell the story, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t jazz up the borders. I added Hollow Cube 60’s, Framed 60’s, Capped 60’s, Quad 60’s Checkerboard 60’s and Star 60’s using my Star 60 Tool by Deb Tucker. 17 Years of Leftover hexies measures 74″ x 108″. I seem to keep making quilted murals!

I still have leftover hexies!!!

Hollow Cube 60 & January 2023 Zoom Classes

I’m so excited, the Hollow Cube 60 Technique Sheet has been released by Studio 180 Design. The Hollow Cube 60 can be made in 16 sizes using the Star 60 tool and is a great addition to your One Block Wonder’s (OBW’s). These cubes are easy and fun to make.

January 2023 Zoom Classes:

January 7thStar 60:  3 hour class.  Difficulty 2 Stars. This class is an introduction into making the Star 60, which can be made in 17 sizes.  As with all the Star 60 Stars they can be incorporated into your OBW’s.  We will be using the free pattern included with the Star 60 instructions, “Hexstravaganza”

January 14th – Tucker Twinkle:  3 Hour class.  Difficulty 4 Stars.  Learn 3 Star 60 techniques in one class.  This 18: finished block is a combination of 3 Framed 60 units, 3 Checkerboard 60 units, 6 Star 60 units and 12 Half Hexagons. 

January 21st – Hollow Cube 60:  3 hour class.  Difficulty 3 Stars.  Add the illusion that light is shining on your quilt from the direction you choose by adding Hollow Cube 60’s.  These cubes can be made in 16 sizes.  I will help you stay organized.

January 28th – One Block Wonder 1: By the end of class you will feel confident about the OBW process, including:

  • Identifying and cutting your repeats.
  • Aligning repeats including difficult fabrics.
  • Choosing a ruler and understanding the difference between pointed & blunt tip rulers.
  • Deciding what strip widths to cut
  • And, of course cutting all your triangles.

Reserve your spot now: OBW & Star 60 Zoom Classes for 2023 | If These Threads Could Talk !

I have added them to 5 OBW’s so far.

She Who Sewa
Moving Forward
Fkowers in the Mist
Call of the Sea
Cardinals in Winter

Cardinals in Winter – OBW #99

I have just completed my 99th OBW.

Theis panel is Call of the Wild, 2017 by Hoffman Fabrics. This top meaures 56″ x 100″. It is not quilted yet. I made this quilt in Memory of my Grandmother, Bessie Armstrong McCorduck, who alway fed the Cardianls in Winter.

This quilt features Checkerboard 60 blocks as my snowflakes and Hollow Cube 60’s as my water’s edge and black ice.

#star60tool #studio180design #debtucker #checkerboard60 #hollowcube60