I Do Part 3

I am so excited to tell you that my I Do quilt top is DONE! It is a monstrosity. It is almost twice the size of my design board and puddles at the bottom even though I have hung it as high as I can reach. Matt loves it because "it should give us plenty of cover to snuggle under". I love my husband!

Here are some photos of what I could take:

I have really enjoyed this project. It's modern, it's vibrant, it shows off the fabric I selected, it was relatively easy to put together, and even though it's taken me a long time start to finish I probably could have done it in a lot less time if it was my only project. You can buy the pattern here at Cherry House Quilts. I'm not sure about where to send you for the fabric but I purchased most of it online at Fabric Depot and Hancocks of Paducah.

I would LOVE to buy the new Cherri House book City Quilts but it is my birthday on the 26th and I try not to buy anything for myself during my birthday month. I have of course cheated and bought some Lizzy House Red Letter Day fabric. I wish I could have found more but this line seems to be out of production. So sad! If you know of any stores still selling it please let me know!

I hope you're weekend is starting off great! Leave a comment and let me know what projects you're working on right now. I'd love to hear about them!

Happy Quilting!

The VT Quilt is Finished!

It is done. 

The Breakdown:

*100% Cotton batiks

*Combination of oranges and maroons (VT colors)

*Square blocks made from 6 strip rails

*Blocks were cut using a square ruler turned 45 degrees so that the corners line up between the 3rd and 4th strip

*Blocks were pieced to make a diamond effect

*Backing is maroon with orange and green leaves with gold outline

*Quilted with variegated orange, gold, and maroon thread on top and maroon on the bottom

*Quilting design is 4 petal flowers that echo 3 times with curved lines connecting the flowers

*Binding is the same as the backing

If you haven't been following my blog for this entire project you can check out my older posts for more information:

Making the rails and blocks
Arranging the blocks
Quilt top
Basting and quilting
Finished quilting and trimming
Binding

If you want to make make a quilt like this you will need around 60-72 strips measuring 2.5"x45" (jelly roll size). The actual width of your strip may vary a bit but you want to use the full width of the fabric from selvage to selvage, whatever that may be. Combine a random assortment of 6 strips sewn together on their longest side to create your "rail".

When I first tried this technique (sewing long strips together) with Alissa's Cuddle Nursing Cover my rails started to curve which was really frustrating. I originally planned to do a quilt of all strips but I had to scrap that plan and do a split rail fence instead. I have found the best way to avoid this happening is to alternate the direction I sew the strips together. I think the best way to explain this is a video demonstration so I will try to do that soon. If you have questions in the meantime please send me a message or leave a comment and I will try to explain better.

The number of rails you need may vary a little because you will sometimes get 4 blocks per strips and sometimes only get 3. Press all of the seams flat in 1 direction. I used a combination of a jelly roll for continuity and fabrics from my stash for variance. That may sound strange but adding a few coordinating fabrics outside of a fabric line really adds interest to the quilt.

Cut your blocks using an 8" square ruler (go back to that linked post and check out my illustration). You need 35 blocks to follow my quilt exactly but this will change depending on what size block you use and the size you want your finished quilt to be. I used a square ruler rather than trying to use a straight edge because there's less room for error. As always, be VERY careful not to get your fingers caught in your rotary cutter. I always double and triple check that my ruler hasn't moved as I am cutting.

Arrange your blocks so that they make a diamond design. Don't worry if your seams don't line up perfectly. It is inevitable but that's ok! Do try and keep as straight a 1/4" seam allowance as possible but don't stress out too much. The success of this quilt is not dependent on your ability to do this perfectly. You will sew 7 rows 5 blocks across. Make a quilt sandwich by basting the backing layer, batting, and top together (I use safety pins), quilt, bind, and you'll have yourself a quilt!

Variations:

• Honestly I think this quilt would look better if it was symmetrical but that's just me. To achieve symmetry with this pattern you would need an even number of rows and columns. I wanted to make this a lap quilt that could be draped over a chair or folded on the back of a couch for snuggling. A 4 column 6 row quilt was too small with my size block and a 6 column 8 row quilt was too big for my size block. Adjust the size of the block, add borders to the outside, or adjust the overall size of the quilt if you want symmetry. 
• You could arrange the blocks in groupings of 4 with some sashing between each grouping
• You could mix in some large blocks cut from one piece of fabric
• You could use smaller strips (you will use more of them for each rail). I didn't have any problem using strips as small as 1" for Maura's Strata Blocks quilt but if you are having trouble with this, you might want to consider paper piecing. Film in the fridge has a great tutorial for using smaller scraps of fabric to achieve a similar look.
• You could use larger strips (you will use less of them for each rail)

Here are some pictures of the VT Quilt for your enjoyment. I put every ounce of love and friendship I feel for my friend and her family into this quilt. My hope is that the lucky silent auction bidder enjoys using it as much as I have enjoyed making it and sharing it with you. 

You can't really tell from that first picture but I added my initials and the year to the bottom left corner (very poorly I might add). I'm still debating on whether or not to add a label to the back. What do you think?

I'd love to see your version of what I am calling "Strata Diamonds"! Join the Flickr group and upload your own photos. 


Happy Quilting!

ps- My block cutting technique does leave you with a pile of scraps. For Mark's strata diamond quilt I used these scraps to create a border. I am going to use the VT Quilt scraps for something else but I haven't decided what that something is yet. Any ideas? 

UPDATE: The VT quilt was very popular at the silent auction! The quilt sold for $150. I hope the new owners love it!

A Quilt Just For Me

Since December 2008 when I started quilting and sewing I have made.....

Quilted Projects
Leslie Loves Pink
Alissa's Nursing Cuddle Cover
Laurie's Lady Bug
Alissa's Split Rail Fence
Leslie's Strata Flowers 
Maura's Strata Squares
Samantha's Anything Goes
Mary's Strata Diamonds
Nick's Color Block Split Rail Fence
Mark's Strata Diamonds
Tommy's Lake Shore
Michael's Tackle Box
Pete's Crossword Puzzle
Kate's Scrappy Turtle Coasters
Laurie's Black and White Quilted Book Cover
Keith's Manly Quilted Book Cover
Pat's Purple Quilted Book Cover
Gloria's Zen Quilted Coffee Cozy
Babette's Quilted Coffee Cozy
Anne's Quilted Coffee Cozy
Susan's Quilted Coffee Cozy 

Sewing Projects
A fleece blanket for my mom
4 Red and Black batik place mat
3 pinafores for family
3 pillowcase dresses for family
2 pairs of baby shoes
Appliqued onesies for family
Hair bows
Flower girl dress
Dress for my brother's girlfriend's niece
All sorts of stuff for my Etsy shop Lovie and Boo
Rainbow Around the Block blocks 

Works in Progress
VT Quilt (Silent Action work in progress)  UPDATE: Finished!
Matt's I Do top (work in progress)


I have made quilts, covers, cozies, clothing, shoes, hair accessories, broaches, started an Etsy Store where I sell cover button jewelry -- all for other people.  I'm probably forgetting some things but the point is, I haven't made anything just for me! The closest i have come to something for myself is a batik project made from 3 layer cakes (this thing is HUGE), a shirt that came out devastatingly ugly, a skirt with a similar result, my garter belt for my wedding (I didn't have time to do it properly so it was hot-glued together), and my pinwheel project that is still hanging in piles on my design board.  I love making things for others but at some point I've got to enjoy all that hard work right?

Today Megan at The Bitchy Stitcher posted some teaser photos of her next project: a quilt for herself! I checked it out and I am hooked. I am going to finish up my works in progress, finish up the other two that I have already started (they don't really count because I started them before I found out about this movement), and start a quilt JUST FOR ME!!

Now the question is: Do I buy more fabric or use what I have? Decisions, decisions....

VT Quilt Pictures

I guess I didn't sleep very well last night because I woke up so tired. I know I am not going to get very much done tonight so I thought I would preemptively post pictures of the quilt before I take it down from my design wall and make an attempt at quilting it some more.

I decided to try something a little different than just my standard stippling. The quilting is a 4 petal flower that echos 3 times right now but I am going to connect all of the flowers somehow....I guess I will figure that out tonight. I've been really inspired lately to try something different from my standard stippling because I've been reading Leah Day's 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting Filler Designs blog. You rock Leah. You totally rock. If you haven't checked her site out, "do it".



Happy Quilting!

VT Quilt Update

Last night I put all of my quilt top blocks together and was shocked to find that I still had a couple of hours left before I needed to force myself to go to bed.

One thing you should know about me: on my best days I am a night owl. I will go to bed around 12 or 1230, read for an hour or so, and then turn my lights off. On my worst of days, I stay up until 230 or 3 quilting and when I get to bed I am still mind stippling a quilt or rearranging blocks on my design board. To have even a chance at going to sleep I have to read something to "reset" my brain. I made the enormous mistake of reading the Twilight books (I actually love the books but they are so ADDICTIVE) and on several occasions stayed up all night reading. I have since learned to read books I am capable of putting down at night, and to save the good ones for weekends and vacations. 

So back to the quilt top. I decided to go ahead and make my "quilt sandwich" since I had extra time. To make a long story short and keep myself from rambling (hopefully) I couldn't find any tape. Agh! So I decided I would use my ironing board, iron, safety pins, and these clasp thingies I got a long time ago to put my layers together and baste. I also couldn't find my clasp thingies.  I think this is going to end poorly.

I don't have any pictures right now because 1230 came along and all I could do was look over at my camera just out of reach from where I was sitting and back at my quilt pinned to my design board several times. I decided rather than take a picture I would call it a day and work on it some more this weekend after work.

On a side note, I just finished reading the funniest tutorial on quilt binding ever! Megan....you are hilarious. I needed a good laugh today. Thank you!

One More Thing...

Since my iron is out of commission and I don't have a replacement yet, I didn't really know what to do with myself last night. I decided to stop passive-aggressively avoiding Matt's I Do quilt borders and took my stitches between the blue border and the pink and purple border out. I took my time and was very careful and luckily nothing bad happened.

The next step is to add some fabric to the pink and purple border strips so that they will accommodate the addition of the black border. I will sew the black border on and then add the longer pink and purple border back on.

Finally, I will find a fabric for the back. This thing has gotten really big with the addition of borders so I am either going to have to piece something together or find something equally big. Have you ever used a bedding sheet for a quilt back before? I am intrigued by this idea but I don't have any experience with it personally.

I Do - Part 2

I wanted to do something very special for Matt to give him as a wedding gift. Of all of the things I could think of, the thing that stood out the most was a quilt. The only other person who has ever made him a quilt is his mom and quilts hold a special significance in his family. Ann makes quilts for her loved ones as gifts to honor their completion of major life events like confirmation, graduation, and of course marriage. I love this about Ann and I plan to do the same for our children some day. I came across a modern pattern called "I Do" by Cherry House Quilts. It really stood out to me as something that I would love to snuggle up in or hang from a wall while still having marriage significance.

The pattern calls for a mixture of vibrant florals and geometrics matched with classic solids. I liked the distribution of color and pattern in the sample quilt on pattern instructions so I tried selecting fabrics similar. I did make one change that I think really keeps the quilt in line with my style: I used vibrant floral and geometric batiks instead of prints.

I am a big fan of ordering fabric online but when I received my fabrics for this quilt I was a little disappointed. Everything was so much BRIGHTER and bolder than it looked on my computer screen and when arranged my solids and batiks together....well, no offense to rainbows but it looked like a rainbow. I kept the fabrics together for a bit and just let my brain get used to them. Eventually I decided that I would arrange the fabrics so that they weren't in order of the colors in the rainbow. It would still be bright, but not Rainbow Bright.

I sewed the "i"s together long ago but I am finally getting around to adding borders. Now that I am looking at it I realize that I originally intended to do things a little differently but it still looks ok. I think I originally wanted to add another black border between the blue border and the pink and purple border. The fabric is cut so there's not much I can do now...so here goes:

What do you think? Should I take the pink and purple border off and add a black on? I have just a little extra fabric so I could probably make it work. This is what it would look like with the additional black border and a black binding:

Queen Batiks - Part 1

Since my first project was a gift for someone else, I wanted my second project to be just for me, Matt and Lucy. As I stated before, I am a fan of Hancocks of Paducah. What's great about the website is that they have sale sections for every dollar increment of fabric from $2.98 to 5.98 and a pre-cut sale section. I love buying things on sale so these sections are perfect for me. While browsing through one day I came across a listing for a batik quilt kit that I just had to have! Hancocks no longer sells this kit but I did find it on another website called Creative Quilt Kits. The kit I bought had 90 10"squares (for around $60! I love sales!) in beautiful Tonga batiks and super easy to follow instructions. There were 30 different fabrics and 3 pieces of each. Here's what it looked like online as a lap quilt:

The following is a picture of all of the different color 10" squares laid out on my bed. There are 3 of each square:

The cuts were made following these steps:

Stack 3 coordinating (but different) fabrics on top of each other with all of the edges squared up.
Cut 1 & 2 same size ( 1 1/2in - 4 1/2in)
Cut 3 & 4 same size (1 1/2in - 4 1/2in)
You’ll be left with a square piece of fabric

Mix and match pieces so that each color makes an "L" or a square in all 3 of the blocks. Sew edges on starting with the square and cut 4, then 3, 2, and then 1 last

Here's what it looked like on my cutting board:

The first square in these photos is what your block will look like when all the pieces are sewn together and the other 2 are what they look like before they are sewn together. And yes, I am sewing on my kitchen table. I didn't have my own sewing space in our apartment yet. I just realized that I never did take pictures of the sewing space I did make....oh well! We're in our new house now! Pictures to come.


Once the pieces are sewn together, trim the edges so you have squares all of the same size. I think these end up being 8 1/2in squares. There were 5 different versions of cuts for this pattern but you could also do all of the cuts the same if you wanted a more uniform look. I didn't love some of the combinations towards the end but I knew that once all of the blocks were pieced together that they would look better.

I laid out all of my finished blocks on my bed and played around with them until I was happy with the mix of color and pattern:

Here's a (not to scale) drawing of how the quilt came together:

I had enough blocks to make a quilt almost as big as a queen bed so to get the last few inches I added a few borders. I found the coordinating batik in a quilt shop with Ann and I think it really ties all of the fabrics together and pops even though it's not from the same line. I got enough to do a border and to use for the back of the quilt:

I chose to do all of my blocks with the Ls going in the same direction but I think it would look cool with 4 blocks turned in to each other like this as well:

Unfortunately this quilt is still not finished. My apartment wasn't big enough for me to stretch the quilt out and baste and my machine isn't big enough to quilt the darn thing. One of Ann's friends is going to quilt it for me one of these days when I have some spare funds. I am currently paying for wedding and new home expenses so this project is going to have to wait. I would love to see pictures of your version of this quilt!