Posts categorized: Quilting

Off-grid Giant Plus Block Tutorial

My latest project is a quilt composed of plus blocks that are a bit different from the typical standard-grid plusses. It looks tricky, but once it’s broken down into components it’s not a difficult block to make. Here are the measurements and a diagram to make one like mine, which finishes at 17.5″ (yes, a very large block!).

Cutting

Fabric 1 ( Corners)
Four 4.75″ squares

Fabric 2 (Background)
Four 4″ squares
Four 3.25″ x 4.75″ rectangles
Four 3.25″ x 7.5″ rectangles

Note: the more obviously patterned the background fabric is, the more obvious your seams will be without fussy pattern matching, so keep that in mind when selecting fabric.

Fabric 3 (Plus)
Two 4″ squares
One 4″ x 11″ rectangle

Piecing

By considering it an irregular nine-patch, you can see how the sections all fit together without requiring any Y-seams. You can easily string piece the sections, but pay attention to the mirrored placement for the corner components.

If you’re looking for a similar pattern that provides all the details for a full quilt, I recommend this Double Plus pattern. While the proportions of the block may not be exact, I drew my inspiration from it when figuring out my own design.

Plussing it Up

Posted in Quilting

When I explored Burlington pre-job acceptance, I found Stitched, a fabric shop in Williston, and fell in love. They had me at Tula Pink Nightshade showcased beautifully right as I walked in (one of three of her lines they had in the store!). Each new room in the old yellow house had some new print or designer that I’d previously only seen online. Despite what some might claim, that didn’t seal the moving deal, but it was a strong mark in the ‘pro’ column!

So, of course I walked out of there with a bit of Tula: 6 FQs of Salt Water, tied with a bow.

Fast forward three months. I saw this gorgeous “Double Plus” design come up in the Modern Quilts Flickr group, and was inspired.

Double Plus Quilt — Photo © Emily, Quilts By Emily

So, rather than go back to WIP finishing, I dove into a new project. It’s very handy being able to just meander over to the fabric store to pick up more fabric from the line rather than wait for a shipment. Or dangerous, perhaps. C’est la vie d’une quilter.

Here’s a sneak peak.

Three blocks down, 13 to go.

Back in the Swing of Things

Posted in Quilting

I couldn’t wait for Carl to head back to Utica for work next week, so we swung down to Utica for the day last Saturday and picked up my sewing machine.

I cut these pieces out a while back, but originally planned to finish some other projects first (before the move and sewing machine separation). Instead, I pulled them out for a quick project this week.

I wanted to thoroughly test the machine, so I modified my idea to include embroidery: appliqueing the recipient’s name using an embroidery pack from Daily Embroidery and a dog from the same.

The quilt looked different in my head; the solids have taken over the prints (a charm pack of Oink-A-Doodle-Moo) and some of the charms could have been placed more strategically. I think the recipient will like it, nonetheless. My goal is to bribe him to let me have the one I made him before he was born back temporarily so that I can fix it. According to his mother, it’s one of his favorite possessions. I hope this one is as well received.

Now, off to pick out a color of Minky for the back!

Adding Another WIP to the Queue

Posted in Quilting

This may not be a new WIP, per se, as I’ve been thinking about it for as long as I’ve been quilting and had the “fabric” for longer, but it’s now made it to the cutting table: College t-shirt squares for a t-shirt quilt.

college-tshirts — I’m not sure if Moof was protecting the blocks, trying to claim he helped, or just excited that things were on the floor…

I got tired of the storage bag taking up space in my closet (I’m not much of a patterned t-shirt wearer these days), and cut the shirts all apart the other day. The blocks will probably stay in this state for quite some time, but at least they take up a lot less space now.

I didn’t count, but I think there were around 20 shirts, some with front and back printed, some with just front, some with smaller logos on the front and full back, etc.

Part of the reason I don’t want to piece this yet is that one notable shirt is missing. I probably wouldn’t care, if not for the fact that I designed it. At some point we had two, because Carl also had one, but neither are to be found, either in my bag of shirts or our dressers. I have no idea how both disappeared! I know those two weren’t donated at any point. Maybe one’ll pop up sometime soon.

But, I have plenty of other projects to work on anyway and am very happy to reclaim the closet space!

Tips

Fuse on the interfacing before you cut. Interfacing is a must, even just a light-weight one. Cut it larger than your planned squares, fuse, then cut. It makes life much easier.

Pick block sizes that work together, especially if you don’t have a final layout planned. My shirts were mostly men’s smalls and mediums, with a few women’s larges thrown in. I was able to get a 12.5″ square from each very easily (which was great, because I have a square ruler that size). Some shirts had smaller motifs on the front, so I also cut 6.5″×12.5″ and 6.5″×6.5″ pieces, which will all work together well.

Unless there is something printed on the side seam, cut up each side, all the way through the bottom of the sleeve. This will let you open up the shirt and lay it flat, while keeping as much fabric in place to position your interfacing and ruler.

Have you ever made a t-shirt quilt? I’m kind of making up this process as I go along…

Wednesday Wall—June 12

Posted in Quilting

The final block swap meeting for the puss-in-the-corner/uneven nine-patch blocks is later this month (we’ve been postponing and rescheduling for a while).

Since I finished up my signature blocks and piano keys, I thought I’d get a start at piecing the center of the top. It’s going to be twin-bed sized, so too large for my current batting scrap on the wall.

ww-block-swap-butt — Sorry about the Moof butt

I have half of it pieced, and as usual, its presence on the floor is a magnet to Moof.

The rest is on the wall, sideways and unpieced.

I hope to finish piecing it this week, and am looking forward to getting all the border pieces on the 29th.

Finished Amish Sampler

Posted in Quilting

I described this quilt pretty thoroughly in my last post, so I’ll skip the long paragraphs and just show you the finished, post-wash photos.

Amish Sampler Front — “SYWTQ ‘Amish’ Sampler”, Rachael Arnold, June 2013, 43″×54″

All of the Regal sections are feathered, most of the seams are stitched in the ditch, with the light fabrics free of quilting.

Amish Sampler Detail — “SYWTQ ‘Amish’ Sampler” (Front Detail), Rachael Arnold, June 2013, 43″×54″

The strip block needed just a little something more, so I changed thread colors to give the large triangle a bit more color.

Amish Sampler Detail Pink — “SYWTQ ‘Amish’ Sampler” (Front Detail), Rachael Arnold, June 2013, 43″×54″

Now that it is washed, my feather stitching messiness isn’t quite as noticeable.

Amish Sampler Back — “SYWTQ ‘Amish’ Sampler” (Back), Rachael Arnold, June 2013, 43″×54″

I’m not very happy with how the binding turned out. It is very limp. I made it so wide and un-mitered as a nod to Amish quilting, but I should have found a way to pad it. By the time I got to the binding, I was so done with this quilt, so I machine sewed the binding on. It worked pretty well with the serpentine stitch.

Amish Sampler Label — “SYWTQ ‘Amish’ Sampler” (Back Detail), Rachael Arnold, June 2013, 43″×54″

So, that’s that. Now I just have to decide which of Carl’s nieces is getting it. 2013 finish number three!

“Amish” Sampler Quilt

Posted in Quilting

My studio space is finally clean, so of course I had to go back to a project and get it a bit messy again. Since I missed the last Sew You Want to Quilt (SYWTQ) meeting, which was talking about layout options, and we have almost a month in-between meetings this time because of Memorial Day, I figured I should go ahead and piece the top together.

The last glimpse I gave you of this quilt was on a Wednesday Wall post:

It’s another grouping of fabrics playing on the color scheme I used in “Shakespearian Bars”. Kona Regal, Moss, Berry, Peapod, and Bella Strawberry. It’s a bit closer to what I wanted for the first quilt. It would have been just about perfect with Kona Coral instead of Bella Strawberry, but I couldn’t get ahold of that in time to start piecing.

Because I made the first block undersized, but also made multiples, I had to come up with a way to include both it and the seven 12″ blocks. So, I set a few on point, and ended up with this, which is ~41″×52″:

Then, because a completed top always screams for quilting to start, especially when I’m only feeling lukewarm about the top to begin with, I managed to fit some quilting in. I quickly pieced a back using leftovers from the top and a yard of Kona Plum I’d bought to audition for the top. I’m using the same charcoal thread that I used on “Shakespearian Bars”.

Somewhere along the line, after stitching in the ditch around the major joins, I decided I needed to jump in the deep end and try feathers. For the first time. On a solid quilt. With very contrasting thread when viewed on the back.

Just don’t look too closely at it. I think this one is going to Carl’s niece, so I hope she doesn’t mind getting the guinea pig quilt. Or as Moof would say, his quilt, since he always tries to claim them.

More on this one as soon as I finish the quilting—FMQ goes way faster than straight line quilting! I just have to figure out how to quilt the remaining sections, as I don’t want dark feathering on top of the light pieces.

2013 Saturday Sampler Group One

Posted in Quilting

Because I’m doing more than one Saturday Sampler this year, missed last month’s meet up for this, and we met a week early this month, I decided to update every four months instead of quarterly this year. So, here’s the first of three updates for one of the shops. All blocks finish at 12″ square.

January’s block was Contrary Wife.

Tiger Lily Saturday Sampler: Contrary Wife

In February, we made Greek Cross.

Tiger Lily Saturday Sampler: Greek Cross

March brought Friendship Block (one of many with that name). I really think a quilt full of these could be very interesting.

Tiger Lily Saturday Sampler: Friendship Block

And this month was Clay’s Choice, a block named after Henry Clay, but also known as Star of the West once Clay faded from public memory.

Tiger Lily Saturday Sampler: Clay’s Choice

Instead of the whole quilt being a surprise as it was last year, this year they have the top completed and on display already. I’m trying to decide if I want to follow their setting style or not, so there’s still an element of personal choice. I can’t decide if I’m warm or cool about the quilt’s fabrics.

There’s still eight more blocks to help me make up my mind.

Wednesday’s Wall — April 17

Posted in Quilting

I did a bit of sartorial sewing over the weekend, but I haven’t yet managed photos. In the mean time, I’ve been plugging away on additional signature and piano key blocks. They’re quickly filling the design wall. All of the signature blocks are complete; the three that will be in my quilt are at the top of the wall, framed with scraps from my other blocks to build them out into 8″ finishing squares to mix in with the uneven nine patch blocks. I stil have another set of 12 piano keys to finish up, but then I’ll be done.

A note on the design wall

I received an email asking about my design wall. Mine is very low-tech—a scrap of batting (currently what is left from a queen pre-cut after two baby quilts, something around 50″×80″ or so) hanging from Command hooks with safety pins.

I do want a better solution in the long run, but this actually works very well—and I can swap out batting scraps as needed. I know most people swear by flannel or felt for their design walls, but I much prefer batting. It seems to hold on to the blocks much better, and can be purchased much cheaper than flannel if you pay attention to sales (assuming you want something wider than 45″). I also like that it’s not on a rigid board—this way, I can roll it up if I want, preserving the layout on it, and hang up another scrap for another project as needed.

What is your favorite design wall setup?

Wednesday’s Wall — April 10

Posted in Quilting

Aside from the baby quilt I finished earlier this week, I’ve spent most of my sewing time lately on the various samplers and block swaps I’m currently involved in. My sewing space is a mess, but my design wall is rather colorful at the moment.

The final swap for this round of my bi-monthly LQS block swap is a 6″ Ohio Star signature block for each member (10) and however many sets of three 6″ piano key blocks we want to use for our final layout. I’ve finished four of the signature blocks and 20 piano key blocks (out of 44 that I plan to make at this point). My other stars will use different fabrics from the four completed ones (seen in the blue/purple/green/orange piano key set), while the other piano keys will be made mostly of the same fabrics used in the previous swap blocks.

Rounding out the wall this week is another block for the Modern LQS sampler, and another for the SYWTQ Amish-esque block. Because we traveled over Easter weekend, I didn’t make it to the other sampler meeting, so I should have two to finish next month.