Strip Quilt Finished

Topside of the Finished Quilt! 

Backside of the Quilt

Well here it is. After not too much hard work, I have a new quilt for my bed. 

I saw the patterns for the Jellyroll Race quilts and liked the concept, but not the lack of control over the finished product. I also didn't want the strips to be so narrow.  I made my strips 4" instead of the 2.5" jellyroll size. 

Too make it was pretty simple. I cut 26 - 4" x wof strips of my patterned fabrics. 13 - 4" x wof strips of each solid. I used Kona Snow and Aqua. Then I took one of each solid, stacked them on top of each other evenly, and then cut both of them in 2 strips. Then you pair up the opposite colors so their lengths combined equal wof. I did this with all the solid strips, but varied where I cut them into 2. I made one so there was no white strip, just a whole aqua strip. Then I sewed the patterned strip between the two solids.

Before I sewed all the strips together  I laid them out my floor to decide on the order of the strips.  There were 3 of each of the fabric patterns , except for about 2 of the patterns there were 4. I put them all in a repeating order except the 2 extra one I had to fit somewhere. Then I just sewed the strips together in that order.

The white side has a 15" border added to it after all the strips were sewn together.  I wanted the pattern to be off set.  I measured it so that the seam to that boarder would hit my mattress on the corner, so the entire boarder is the part of the quilt hanging on the side of the bed.  That area I free motion quilted on. The rest of the quilt I quilted 1/4" on either side of the seams horizontally. 

Lots Of Little Projects

Allyson is demonstrating what kids do when their mom wants to take a picture. This is the best shot I could get. I was experimenting with the lattice look on a table runner. It came out ok. I was trying to copy one I saw. I couldn't tell how big it was so I guessed.  Well after I made all my pieced blocks I decided that the pattern I copied, was probably made with 10" squares, not 5". So, i'll probably try it again.

 I was browsing images of quilts on google to find some inspiration for a quilt back.  I have designed the front already. I want it to have a back that could be showing on the bed. Well, I found the Swoon block and really liked it. With a little bit of searching I found that it is very similar to the Carpenters Star. So I found a pattern tutorial online for the Carpenter's Star block. I changed it  so that I wasn't using so many quarter square triangles, and instead did flying geese. As I get it finished and figured out how to do it best, I should post the directions. I should be able to finish the block tomorrow.  I wanted to finish it last night, but last night became this morning too soon.

II'm not sure if i'm going to use this block for my quilt back, or not. I figured that I could just start making them here and there and eventually I'll have enough to do something with.

And here is another version of the One Star wall hanging.  This one I made slightly larger and traded out some of the red stripes for blue.  I just have to sew on a boarder.
It is a pretty easy pattern.  I was more careful this time with my ironing so that my middle star was more accurate. I also learned how to sew Y seams.  I improvised a little since there are 5 seams, not 3. The pattern just assumes you know how to sew 5 pointed blocks together properly and have it look great.

So there are my 3 of my unfinished projects. I have a few more to start and a few more to work on. Like, my Christmas Quilt. I have to finish machine quilting it. I just haven't had the desire to FMQ (free motion quilt) lately.  I have 7 months to get it done though...

Old Glory

I really like the look of paper pieced blocks.  I just finished this small (16") wall hanging. The pattern can be purchased on Etsy or Craftsy.  I will be making a few more of these as gifts.This one is for my mom.

Now that I know how to do it, I should be able to get the center star points perfect the next time. I didn't realize I hadn't ironed them back all the way until after I had stitched all 5 blocks together.

My husband said he liked it, which is huge for him. So I will have to make one for us. 

Now that this one is done, I have to start to work on other small projects that I want to make for gifts for Christmas.  I have to get started early this year. I am not waiting until the middle of December to come up with grand ideas again.

Allyson's Disappearing 9 Patch

IT is finished. I finished the quilt just a few days after Allyson's birthday. I got a little pooped out and had to take a little time off. I am pretty happy with how it turned out.
I changed it quite a bit from my play originally. I added sashing and used all patterned prints in the blocks. I wanted the random look since I was using so many different prints.

I wanted to practice as many free motion quilting designs that would look good on the quilt. I ended up doing 6 different designs. On the top boarder you can see feathers.

There are two different arrangements of the blocks. I quilted each different.

This one I quilted echo shells in each of the squares. The half and quarter squares I quilted wandering clover.

This block has strait line stitching in the "pinwheel" shape in the center. The other parts have stippling. 

The back side has some of the extra charm squares and some stripes. I used up the extra sashing and binding fabric on the back. 

I learned a lot making this quilt. It was a great way to get some serious practice of free motion quilting in.  Now that it is done I have already started a few other small projects. I'll post those soon.

Disappearing 9 Patch

So, even though I have not finished my Christmas Quilt, I am looking at my daughter's birthday coming up in March and thinking I want to make her a new quilt for her bed. I decided I really like the look of the Disappearing 9 patch.  Basicly to make this you sew 9 patch blocks, then cut each block into 4 pieces. Allowing you to rearrange the pieces and sewing them back together, making it look a lot more complicated. There are different ways to place the blocks to get different looks, but I like making it look like there is sashing around each square.  Here is a good Tutorial  by Amy Gibson, on how the blocks are made for this quilt.
I picked the fabric Curiosities by Nancy Halvorsen for Benartex fabrics.  I bought 3 charm packs. With each charm pack you get 3 florals,  6 green, 8 blue, 10 pink, 8 purple, 3 yellow, and 2 orange prints. Each color has up to 4 different prints (polka dots, swirls, diagonal stripes,etc.)

Some of my calculations come from this posting on the Riley Blake Blog. The orientation of the blocks will be just like that posting as well.According to this and other blogs and information I have found on the Disappearing 9 Patch (D9P), I have figured I will need to start with 24- 9 patches. I am using a white for 4 squares, purple for all my centers, and the other colors in the charm packs for the 4 corner squares.

 Which means I will need: TWIN size

• 96 colored squares (I'm using charm squares)
• 96 white squares
• 24 colored squares (for the center square)

Which means I need: (these measurements are rounded up)

• 3 charm packs
• 2 yards of white 
• 1 1/4 yards border fabric (5.5 inch strips)
• 7/8 yards binding fabric 
• 5 1/2 yards backing fabric

After doing the math and planning on how I want to arrange my blocks, I have found that I am short some colors due to the amounts of each color in the charm packs. ( I am combining the yellows, oranges, and florals as one color. I will refer to it as yellow from here on.)I need 6 more green. Well, I am just going to substitute some fabric from my stash. 

Apparently some of the colors used in this year's fabrics are popular among different designers. I found 2 other fabrics that go perfectly with the Curiosities charms.  

Riley Blake Designs - Small Chevron Girl

Urban Zoologie - Birds in Spring

There are multiple prints from each of these lines that have colors that match. The chevron comes in each of the colors that are in the multi-colored print that I have, plus many more options. 

These are just the prints that I had on hand, I am sure there are other prints that go well with Curiosities also. 

So back to missing some Green squares.  I will cut 6 charms from either the birds or the chevron, or Both.. I haven't decided.  

I will keep you posted on the progress. Now it's time for breakfast before the girls wake up.