Ice Crystals 69" x 69" This month I designed a lovely throw quilt using the new GO! Companions sets-Angles for 12” blocks. Ice Crystals, our free project this month features several of the new dies in the 12” size, along with an assortment of dies from the original Go! 12” Qube set. Our cool quilt features Wheat Field with Cypresses Fabrics from Anthology Fabrics. The Ice Crystal pattern includes both die-cutting and traditional cutting instructions. The pattern is free and available from The Whimsical Workshop. You can download the free pattern at www.TheWhimsicalWorkshop.com along with our past free patterns. Due to having to have surgery this past month, I had asked Kathy Norton to make our quilt sample and take photos, so a quick shout out to her for all her hard work. I am back on the mend and will be back in the sewing chair very soon. When I look at the angle shapes in the die set, they remind me of icicles in winter. So for the fabrics for the quilt I wanted to pick a group that felt ice cold. Anthology’s group Wheat Field with Cypresses fit the bill. When I started the design for Ice Crystals I wanted to combine the original dies that came in the GO! 12 inch Qube set with several of the dies from the new GO! 12 inch Companion Angles set. I used this as my starting point for my design. I also wanted to show another block that can be made using the Triangles in a Square dies and the half square triangle die. The center unit of the Ice Crystals block is a square in a square block, using two dies from the Original GO! 12” Qube set using dies #16 and #5. All the instructions (and templates for traditional cutting) are available on our website. www.TheWhimsicalWorkshop.com Sew one small triangle to each side of the diamond. Work on opposite sides first, press and then repeat with the remaining sides. You will need one center for each block. Remember that the edges are bias so sew and press gently and carefully. For the corner units, sew one blue triangle-in-a-square side unit to each side of one Kite unit as shown above. Since I was using left over fabrics from another project I made each corner using a different fabric. You can choose to do this or just use one fabric for all the corner blocks. Next up is to make the side units. The base of the unit is made by sewing one cream triangle-in-a-square side unit to each side of one triangle-in-a-square center triangle. Next we need to add the base triangles. These little triangles are cut from the GO! 12” Qube set Die #5 or see the instructions for the traditional cutting. Place one small triangle on the lower left corner of the sew unit, aligning the small flat edges of the small triangle with the side and bottom of the unit. Sew in place and press open. Repeat with a second triangle to complete the side unit. Now that we have all the units sewn together, we are ready to assemble the blocks. When sewing the units together into rows, press towards the side units in each of the three rows, this will help you line up the pieces when you sew the unit rows together to make the block. For this quilt you will need to make nine 12” finished blocks as directed on the pattern. For the pieced border, we will need to make four corner units as shown above. Once sewn together with the pieced borders, we will create the fancy corner border as shown in the photo below. Once sewn together with the pieced borders, we will create the fancy corner border as shown in the photo above. Above is our finished quilt. Monica Croom did another fantasic job of quilting this month. The allover pattern gives the quilt movement and her use of a curved design softens the angles in the piecing bring a lovely balance to the finished piece. Make sure to visit my blog each month where I will share with you some tips and tricks on cutting and assembling of the project of the month along with posting the free pattern on our website The Whimsical Workshop You can also see our pattern and post at www.accuquilt.com Until next time….. Heidi