Orange Crush, Part 5!

Orange Crush!!
Part 5!
(click here for printer friendly .pdf file)


Make 20 album Blocks!

Where is the ORANGE in ORANGE CRUSH you say? RIGHT HERE! And there is lots of it! I can hear you saying "ABOUT TIME!" But as always I saved the best for last. The orange is what pulls everything together and you will see where this quilt got it's name.

Isn't this a fun block? Traditionally known simply as 'Album' , it makes the perfect connector blocs for our spinning stars.

I grabbed a full day of sewing with friends to put these steps together! Is there ANYTHING more fun than setting up machines at a friend's house? Shirley, Mary, Pam and I sewed on our own projects, shared laughter, chatter, and even a delicious salad lunch provided by Shirley and enjoyed the day together. Mary topped off the lunch with her fabulous pecan cheesecake pie! There was even much singing to the radio as the machines hummed and whirred. Shirley is in the tan shirt with her back to the camera. Mary is in the peach shirt, and that's Pam's hands you see threading her machine......and MY mess right in front of you..see the piles of split 4 patches? Mary has a wonderful space for quilting and it is fun to gather!

From orange fabric cut 120 3.5" squares.
From blue fabric cut 20 3.5" squares.

Lay out pieces as shown for each 'Album' block. My oranges are constant through the quilt, but my blues are all scrappy indigos. Construct the block as you would a simple 9 patch, sewing the units into rows, and then joining the rows together to complete each block. Make 20 blocks. (I got so carried away, I was thinking of the spinning star blocks we just made in the last clue, and ended up with 35 Album blocks as well! OOPS! Now I'll have to make something else with the 15 extra blocks....hmmmmm... :c) Press blocks well. The seams will want to press towards the orange blocks. That's just fine. it's hard to tell you which way to press these exactly, because it all depends on how you are going to twist and turn them to lay them out in the quilt. In this case, I generally press the seams which way they want to lay the flattest, and deal with fixing the pressing later when I need to join it to something else.

Make 18 Half-Album Blocks!

You should have left over orange squares after piecing the album blocks above. You will use some of them up here! Along with the orange squares, you will need more of your split 4patches and your half-split 4 patches.

Cut some 3.5" strips from your blue fabrics. With your easy angle, cut 18 half square triangle units using the 3.5" measurement on the ruler. These triangles go along the edge of the quilt, but the borders will stabilize them. I was using my narrower cuts of imported Da Gama indigoes and I didn't want to cut bigger squares and then cut them with an X. I didn't have the width to deal with. If you want to do the "other" rotary method so the straight of the grain is on the ege of the quilt, cut 5 5.5" squares and slice them diagonally twice with an X. 2 will be left over.

When you lay these out, make sure that your half split 4patches are pointing the right direction. You made mirror images of these, remember? Each half block takes one of each. Lay out the pieces as shown and stitch them together as above. Press well. Make 18.

Make 4 Quarter Album Blocks!

If I counted right, you should have 4 pairs of half-split 4 patches and 4 orange squares left. (If I counted wrong, go ahead and forgive me, and cut these! :cD) You also need 4 corner squares from your blue fabrics to top off these blocks. Cut 4 triangles from a 2.5" blue strip using the easy angle, or cut two 2 7/8" squares, stack them, and slice once on the diagonal to give you the 4 corner triangles that you need for these block units.

If you've made it this far, you deserve a piece of Mary's Pecan Cheesecake Pie too!

Ingredients

1/2 (15-oz.) package refrigerated piecrusts
1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
4 large eggs, divided
3/4 cup sugar, divided
2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups chopped pecans
1 cup light corn syrup

Preparation

1. Fit piecrust into a 9-inch pie plate according to package directions. Fold edges under, and crimp.

2. Beat cream cheese, 1 egg, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, and salt at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour cream cheese mixture into piecrust; sprinkle evenly with chopped pecans.

3. Whisk together corn syrup and remaining 3 eggs, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1 tsp. vanilla; pour mixture over pecans. Place pie on a baking sheet.

4. Bake at 350° on lowest oven rack 50 to 55 minutes or until pie is set. Cool on a wire rack 1 hour or until completely cool. Serve immediately, or cover and chill up to 2 days.

No peeking forward until you have the 20 Album blocks, the 17 Half-Album blocks, and the 4 Quarter-Album blocks done!

Click here for part 6 and solve the mystery!