Five and Dime Quilt

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This is the 4th and last picture I took of the before in my craft/sewing room. Putting the mess aside, I want to talk about the quilt top that is on my "design wall". The pattern is by Lynne Hagmeier (Moda fabric designer of the Kansas Troubles fabric line) and it's called Five and Dime. It's called five and dime because it is made with 5 inch squares and 10 inch squares. You can buy 10 inch squares in a pack called a layer cake. You can buy 5 inch squares in a pack called charm packs. This is the expensive way to buy the squares over cutting your own. In mine, I cut my own 10 squares. I did use a charm pack for the 5 inch squares because I had a gift card that paid for the charm pack. You center the 5 inch square in the middle of the 10 inch square. You sew it right on top around the edges. You then cut that piece into 4 pieces. You mix and match them and sew them back together. You can buy a special ruler. No surprise that it's call the Five and Dime ruler. It's rather expensive too, but does make placing the 5 inch square directly in the middle a breeze as well as cutting that block into 4th's. I was fortunate to be able to borrow one from a quilting friend. Now, this top has been hanging on the design wall (which is a cheap felt backed vinyl tablecloth and the blocks stick to it. Called a design wall because you put your blocks up and arrange them how you want and can step back and see what it looks like before sewing them together), at least 2 years? Why haven't I finished it? I guess the same reason I've not finished much of anything lately. Oh! I did a search for 5 and Dime quilt and it came up with the ruler on amazon in the search. I just added a gift card to my amazon account that I earned from PerkTV so I ordered it for just $12.43! (yes, in my craft room I do have set aside a charm pack and plain colored fabrics to make another of these, only try I different configuration with the blocks.) If you are interested, you can search Five and Dime quilt on your own and it will show you lots of youtube videos and sites for it. This pattern, and other ways to use the ruler are in the book called Loose Change. Thanks so much for reading.