Quilting Fail? Part II {a finished quilt}

About a week ago I posted about a top for the scrap basket quilt along I wasn’t too happy with.  Here it is in all its glory:

Things I didn’t like about this top:

• no visible color scheme
• too much red in three blocks clumped on left side
• just way too much going on!
• no opportunity to do any interesting quilting

Things I did like about this top:

• it was made completely from 2.5 inch strippy scraps with not a lot of cutting necessary
• the vibrancy of the dark and light colors together

I thought a lot about what I could do to improve this top and came up with this:

I separated many of the rows from the original quilt top, moved around some blocks with red in them, and resewed together a chunk of 7 rows.  Then I added some negative space in the form of a solid gray border at the top and bottom.  Improvement?

The one thing that was nice about this new arrangement is that it allowed me a lot of blank space to try some different free motion quilting designs.

I have been watching Angela Walters’ classes on Craftsy lately, so the large and small circles are taken exactly from her class.  It took so much thread to do this design that I had to skip it for the bottom of the quilt or I might not have enough gray thread for my MQG challenge due later this month.

These concentric squares were also part of the Angela Walters class.  I have learned so much from her class and her positive attitude encouraged me to just go for it and try something new.  She was right, even with mistakes and not-so-perfect or straight stitching, the designs still look pretty good.

Angela suggests using thread that blends when you’re first starting out, but I had this black sheet I’d always intended to use for another quilt but never had.  Also I had this crazy idea that it would be fun to see exactly what the stitching looks like. 

If you squint and don’t look too closely, it looks pretty cool!

The binding is also something from my stash, a pearl bracelet fabric in metallic gray.

The finished size is 53.5” x 66.5”.  It’s ready to be mailed to Margaret’s Hope Chest.

Many thanks to Amanda Jean for organizing another quilt along!  I joined her last one 4 years ago and never finished the quilt.  That was before I could sew a consistent 1/4 inch seam allowance without tears, so maybe I should dig out that WIP and finish it up too?

I’ll be linking up to Fort Worth Fabric Studio and Crazy Mom Quilts later this week.

Nested Churn Dash QAL

I love a good quilt along!  Last December my sister, my daughter, and I did the Penny Patch QAL together, and boy was that fun!  We used Skype to help my sister, who was new to sewing, and her quilt turned out so pretty!  Now she’s a quilter too, with several more quilts under her belt since then.  And this past spring, CeLynn’s quilt inspired me to jump right into the Triangle QAL.  So it doesn’t surprise me that a few weeks ago I saw Izzy’s Nested Churn Dash and I was ready to start another QAL!

While my husband was away, one of my tires sprung a slow leak (of course) and I had to fill it with air a few times myself—let’s not even go into how the first time the air pressure kept going down as I was filling it, because I never pushed the button on the pump!
Luckily there was a Good Samaritan in the parking lot who showed me how to do it.

Yesterday my husband took the car out for an oil change and to get the tire fixed.  He took one of our kids with him, the other two were watching a movie.  Could I get the 24” block made before he got home?  It was a race against time!

Cutting the pieces was a snap!  I easily followed the chart in the pattern.  Having some quilting experience really helped here because I totally understood what I was cutting and how it would go together in the end.

Making the HSTs was a breeze too.  The directions allow a lot of room for trimming.  This is where a white marking pencil comes in handy.  I think the background color is Kona charcoal, but I’m not 100% positive.  It’s a very dark gray.

And there you have it—I got exactly halfway through the piecing before I heard the garage door open, which was about 90 minutes.  Not too shabby!  I wasn’t thrilled to be stopping, but I knew there’d be more sewing after bedtime.

I love the way it turned out!  It’s kind of like looking into a tunnel.  I was thinking coral for the binding.  What do you think?

The points came out nice and crisp.  After making this block I can say that it is the perfect project for someone learning how to do patchwork.  From deciphering the cutting chart, to following HST directions, to piecing the block, the basics are all covered and the end product can be used in a quilt, for a pillow front, or as a wallhanging.

Info on the QAL can be found on Quilt Jane’s Blog.  There are so many gorgeous photos of nested churn dashes from many talented quilters showcased there.  The pattern is only $2, worth every penny, and there’s still time to join in!  2-3 hours is probably all you’d need from start to finish to get the block itself done. 

Thanks to everyone who left feedback about my scrappy quilt.  I feel much better about it now.  It’s all pieced together and is ready for quilting.  Hopefully some crinkly texture will make it even better.  Have a wonderful Fourth of July week!

Quilting Fail?

The past few weeks have been busy.  My husband has been working days, nights, and weekends.  We are the kind of family that always eats dinner together, but in the past two weeks, family dinners haven’t happened at all.  It’s just been me and the girls, even eating out sometimes.  Yesterday afternoon he got home from a business trip and took the girls to the pool by himself and I got some sewing time!!!!!  I started working right away on Amanda Jean’s scrap basket quilt along for Margaret’s Hope Chest. 

I was excited to do this project because it’s for charity, plus I have scraps coming out my ears.  It’s a little nerve-wracking making an entire quilt from scraps.  Coming up with a color scheme can be challenging.  And so is the moment when you use up that last little bit of fabric you’ve been hanging onto for years because it’s your favorite. 

I’m not sure if I like what this quilt is shaping up to look like.  I realize that the colors and fabrics are not my usual bright and girly choices.  And maybe making something truly scrappy is a lot harder than it looks.  One thing is for sure, though, I have a lot less scraps in my basket now and that’s a good thing!

A+ Quilt {finished Penny Patch quiltalong}

The title of the quilt really has nothing to do with the design.  It is a Christmas present for my daughter’s teacher (for her almost 2 year old daughter).  So my husband started calling it the A+ quilt when we were working on it, and the name stuck.

I wanted to use the new Wallflowers fabric by Allison Harris (Cluck Cluck Sew) and a bunch of stash fabrics for the red, blue, and yellow color palette.  I love how the low volume grays, blues, creams, and whites make the bolder colors sparkle.

There were quite a few small squares left over from making the penny patches, so I used them on the back along with a scrappy star I made from leftovers too.  I’ll have Bea sign the label of the quilt when she gets home from school today.  She assisted with all the cutting, piecing, pressing, and pinning.  Unfortunately my machine was skipping stitches like crazy and had to be repaired twice before it was fixed (and I’m sad to say it still skips stitches every once in a while—but that’s another post), so we ran out of time to do the quilting and binding together, but there’s always a next time!

I quilted a fmq flower in the center of each block and then used a decorative squiggle stitch over the seam lines to make a grid. 

The finished size is 41.5” x 53”.  I have quite a few favorites in the Flickr pool.  You can check them out here.

Moving Along

Last week was rough.  I was sick, which was no big deal but I just didn’t want to be around people for a few days.  That can be hard when you are a full-time stay-at-home mom with two little kids home all day.  On top of that I gained about 10 pounds from eating scones and tea or hot chocolate for every meal while I was feeling under the weather.  I am feeling back to normal today, yay!  Back to exercising, eating healthy, and getting outdoors.  To celebrate, my husband helped me get a few photos of the Penny Patch quilt top all sewn up!

I am so happy with the way it’s turned out.  My favorite part of the quilt by far is the little diagonal rows the penny patch blocks create.  I always have a hard time visualizing how things are going to look, and the effect was such a happy surprise! 

Now it’s time to decide what to use for backing and binding.  I had a little bit of penny patch scraps left over, so I made a horizontal scrappy stripe for the back.  I’m leaning toward Kona Ash for the rest, and either Alison Glass sunprint text in charcoal or her bike path in teal for binding.  Any suggestions would be appreciated! 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

More QAL Progress

These are the blocks Bea and I made for the Penny Patch QAL so far.  We need to have 32 done, so only 14 more to go.  Bea sewed a few, but she preferred doing all the ironing, which made making these blocks really fast.  We had a system down after just a few!

This bird block is my favorite of all of them.  The color scheme of red, white, and blue is probably my favorite.  Hopefully the yellow adds a !pop! of color.

I’m going over my cousin’s house later this week to help her get her blocks done.  I volunteered to do all the ironing and help with pinning, so maybe we could get all 60 of hers done in a few hours? 

Hope you are having a great day!  Thanks for visiting!

Quilt Along Progress

Well, the fabrics are cut for the Penny Patch Quilt Along I am doing with my sister and daughter.  We are ready to start sewing!  In order to be more prepared for helping (and hopefully not making as many mistakes as usual), I started my own Penny Patch quilt in fabrics that would look good on my living room couch.

The penny patch block is so fun to make!  You really can’t go wrong with color/fabric combinations and they go together pretty quickly.  It’s not too late to join the quilt along!  This quilt is so perfect for a beginner who wants to make a quilt that’s more interesting than just solid blocks sewn together.  And the baby quilt would be really simple and fast.  Bea and my sister are making the baby quilt size.  I’m still not sure what size I want to make, but I’m leaning toward throw size.

How sweet are these little birds?  Even a block sewn backwards looks good!  I’ve done quite a few in opposite order, but ripping and fixing the mistake is simple enough. 

The fabrics are from Feathered Friends that I purchased at Hawthorne Threads; the rest are just from my stash or scraps.

Have a wonderful day!  Linking up to WIP Wednesday.

Penny Patch fabrics

The fabrics for the quilt along arrived yesterday!  Last night I got busy cutting the fabric in half to make fat quarters and bundling them up to mail to my sister in Maine today.

My daughter Bea and my sister are going to be making the same quilts—Bea is going to give hers to her teacher’s daughter as a Christmas present and my sister is making hers as a baby gift.

My sister is relatively new to sewing/quilting.  And Bea wanted (desperately) to learn how to use the rotary cutter.  So, I suggested we do a family quilt along.  My sister started out by going to the Fat Quarter Shop and picking a few fabric lines she liked, and then I did a little mixing and matching and this is what I came up with.  I suggested the Fat Quarter Shop because they seriously have such a wide selection you could spend hours scrolling through it all.  It was interesting to see what collections she picked—batiks, civil war repro, novelty prints—her choices were very diverse. 

I ended up picking Riley Blake “Enchant” that she liked as the base for all the other fabrics.  It has some really cute deer, rabbits, and foxes and novelty prints, but I didn’t pick those because most of the fabrics Rachel picked for her quilt were small scale prints.  One of the things I tried to do when I first started quilting was “recreate” a quilt from a pattern, but a lot of times my efforts would fall flat because I didn’t pick appropriate fabrics.  Plus I was remembering how much trouble I had with directional fabric when I first started sewing.  I was a little worried with only fat quarters for cutting, we might have to use a few deer  butts instead of heads in some of the blocks and nobody likes a body with the head cut off.  At least I don’t!

The two “reds” I ordered online and was a little nervous about how they would look together.  The Enchant floral was labeled “pink” and the Wallflowers print was labeled “red,” but my gut said they’d go together.  I’m quite pleased with how they look.

Just when I thought I was getting better at selecting fabric, low volume prints have become popular and thrown a monkey wrench into it.  I ordered some of these low volume fabrics with the other fabrics, but about half are from my stash.  There’s one more fabric that isn’t in either of these photos.  It’s a very light blue floral, and I’m not sure it qualifies as a “blue” or a “low volume,” so we’ll just have to see as the quilt along develops.

Hope you have a quilty weekend!

Say It With Flowers

Welcome to my stop on the hop!  I was inspired to finish up a quilt top from the Starburst Quilt Along earlier this year.  The top was completed in February, so it didn’t sit around for too, too long before quilting…

This is the second time I’ve tried other free motion quilting designs besides stippling.  I used wonky diamonds along the outer border & stippling in the negative white space.  Inside each star I quilted a swirl and then rays emanating out toward the points of the stars. 

I used Angela Walter’s Free Motion Quilting book for design inspiration.

And where are the flowers?  On the back!

Normally I like to take photos before washing the quilt, but this time I washed and dried it because I am donating this quilt.  I wanted to make sure all the seams went through the washer and dryer with no problems. 

I also used a flower print for binding—House and Home by Bernatex.  I love these happy little flowers!

This quilt is going to a group who provides quilts for breast cancer patients.  I didn’t have any specific person in mind when I started the quilt along, so hopefully it will provide comfort to someone who needs it.

Make sure you check out all the other stops on the hop today!

May 31^st

Squawk That

How Art You?

A Little Bit of Lorene

Handmade By Mama

Blooming Where I Am Planted

Jane’s Quilting

Just Quilt It

busybeequilts

Lisa In Port Hope

Les Quilts

Quilts My way

Thanks so much, Carol & Madame Samm, for organizing this hop and cheering everyone on!

Week 3: “Easy As Pie” Quilt Along

This is the last post in the “Easy As Pie” Quilt Along series.  We’re going to lay out and sew the quilt top together, add borders, and cut the binding.  Post your quilt top (blocks together and borders sewn on) on Flickr and you will be entered to win a quilt kit from 1 Choice 4 Quilting for their next Sew Along!

Sewing the Quilt Top Together

You have all your blocks and rows sewn!  Now it’s time to choose a layout.  Make sure all your blocks and rows are pressed smooth and flat.  Seams should be pressed open.

You will lay out your pinwheels and stars in alternating order.  Place one sawtooth row between the top rows and bottom rows.  The brick row goes in the center.  When you are happy with the layout, you can begin to sew the star and pinwheel blocks into rows.

Sew your blocks together by row, pressing seams open.  When you sew the rows together to make the quilt top, align the seams and pin them before sewing.  Ignore that my seams are not pressed open in this next photo.  I pressed some seams open and some to the side to experiment which was easier and worked better.  But I found out pressing open is better for lining up your seams and creating less bulk.

I pin both vertically and horizontally when joining rows to keep the fabric from shifting around.  The vertical pins keep your fabric from shifting side to side, and the horizontal pins keep your fabric from shifting up or down.  If you pin both ways everything should stay lined up perfectly while sewing.  I know some people who split the difference and put their pins in diagonally, but this doesn’t work well when you are trying to line up seams.

Cutting the Borders

Once your rows are together, you will add the borders.  Change your rotary cutter blade and have a cup of coffee or tea to perk you up and get your brain stimulated!  You must cut this part correctly because there is no fabric left over. 

Start with the skinny border from the gray apples print.  With fabric folded and selvage ends together, cut six 1.5” x WOF strips.  Trim up the selvage ends to straight edges.

Since you are on a roll and your fabric is already pressed and squared up, go ahead and cut your binding fabric, too.  Cut seven 2.5” strips x WOF.  Put your binding fabric aside.  There should be virtually no fabric left over.

Now let’s cut the solid border.  If you bought the quilt kit, the solid is the Moda Bella saffron.  Find your leftover piece.  Press and fold so selvage ends are together.  Cut seven 2 1/4” x WOF strips.  There should be virtually no fabric left over.

Join your gray apples fabric together end to end to form one long strip.  Press your seams open. 

It is important to measure your quilt top and cut the borders accordingly so your quilt doesn’t ripple at the edges.  Measure the width of your quilt at the top, middle, and bottom.  Your width should be somewhere in the ballpark of 48.5 inches.  Take the average of your 3 measurements.  Cut two strips this length from your skinny gray apples strip.  

Sew one strip to the top of the quilt.  Pin vertically and horizontally to keep the fabric from shifting.   In the photo below, the skinny apples strip is underneath the quilt top.  I put it underneath so I can make sure my seam allowances stay open when being sewn.  You can also see in this photo that this time I pressed my seams open.   Once you’ve sewn the border to the top of the quilt, press the seam toward the border.  Repeat the steps to sew the other strip to the bottom of the quilt.  Press toward the border.

Now measure the length of your quilt from top to bottom on the left, center, and right.  Take the average of these 3 measurements and cut two strips from the skinny gray apples strip.   Sew one strip to each side of the quilt, pressing toward the borders.  Once your skinny apples border is sewn on, square up your corners.

You will basically repeat the same steps for the solid border, measuring the width and length, sewing on the strips, and pressing toward the borders.

Yay!  Your quilt top is finished!  Don’t forget to post your pics in the Flickr group!  I can’t wait to see your Easy As Pie quilts!

Week 2: “Easy As Pie” Quilt Along

This week I am going to show you how to put together the wonky star blocks and center row. 

The first step is to locate the ten pieces of layer cake with the larger prints that you put aside.  This fabric will become the centers of the stars and the leftover parts will become bricks in the center row.

I starched and pressed these ten squares before cutting them.  Then, pick ten “motifs” from these squares and fussy cut them out in 4.5” squares.  Try to keep as much of these squares intact except for cutting the 4.5” squares out of them.  You will need the leftover fabric for your center row bricks.

Fussy cutting means you pick a specific motif (or scene) and cut it out of the fabric so it’s centered in the cut.  This is a fussy cut of a tree.

 

This is a fussy cut of ring-around-the-rosy.  Only cut around the motif and leave the rest of the fabric uncut.

You need ten total 4.5” squares.  Save all the remaining fabric.

Next cut your solid fabric.  The solid fabric is Moda Bella Solid in Saffron if you purchased the quilt kit.  Cut eight 4.5” strips.  Subcut these strips into 4.5” squares to make a total of 64 4.5” squares.

Gather all your leftover layer cake squares.  You will need eight 10” squares.  You are going to cut each square into eight triangles.  Simply cut in the middle across and down the center (making four 5” x 5” squares).  Don’t move the fabric.  Then cut across the two diagonals.  Now you have eight triangles. 

You need a total of 64 triangles.

Each wonky star requires four star point blocks.  To construct a star point block, start with one solid 4.5” square and one print triangle.

Place the triangle right side down so that the long side of the triangle goes past two sides of the square.

Sew down the long side of the triangle using a 1/4” seam allowance.

Line your ruler up so the 1/4” line is on the seam line.  Trim off the seam allowance.  (You should just be trimming off that solid fabric triangle.)

Fingerpress the seam open.  Then press, flip the block, and press on the right side.

Now square up your block to 4.5”.  You will have one star point.

Take the other triangle and repeat on the other side, making sure the long side of the triangle goes past the two sides of the square.

Sew down the long side of the triangle with a 1/4” seam allowance.

Trim at the 1/4” seam allowance again.  Fingerpress, press the seam open, and flip and press the block on the right side so your seams lay flat.

Square up your block to 4.5” square.  When you have made four star point blocks, you can lay out your wonky star block.  Working across, sew the three blocks together to make a row, pressing seams open.  Then sew your three rows together, pressing seams open.  Square up your block to 12.5” square.  Make eight wonky star blocks.

To make your center row, gather all your leftover print fabric and cut twenty four 2.5” x 5” rectangles.   I tried to fussy motifs from the larger print fabric left over from making the center of the wonky stars.

Sew these together, pressing seams open, to form a row that measures 48.5” long. 

Link up your photos to the 1 Choice 4 Quilting Flickr page and get your quilt top finished by February 25th to be in the running for a fantastic prize—a quilt kit for their next quilt along!