I had to show you what I’m working on because the cuteness just cannot be contained.
4 simple fabrics for a baby quilt in the perfect combination: a cute motif, a little dot, a solid and a stripe.
And this adorable fabric from Alexander Henry will be the backing:
Stay tuned and thanks for peeking!
Elaine
Here is my first finish for 2016! A quilt made just for us and made to be in our family room. I picked out fabrics that complemented our furniture, the stone in the fireplace and our rug and completed this easy quilt in 5 days! There was no patchwork or piecing, just sewing strips and subcutting. I had an idea in my head for bars that were floating on a solid background and just sketched it out. Thanks to my awesome neighbor, Janet, for being the quilt holder in 10 degree weather!
The quilt top is pieced entirely using Robert Kaufman Kona Solids. The totally awesome backing fabric is from Alison Glass and I’m so over the moon about it. It’s called “Grove in Charcoal” and it’s from her Handcrafted 2 collection. It makes such a statement on the back of the quilt. The whole time I was making this quilt, I couldn’t get Alison Glass’s name out of my head. Every time I caught a glimpse of the backing, I would marvel, “that Alison Glass fabric ! “ So when it came time to name the quilt (which I originally planned to be “Floating Bricks”), the word “glass” kept creeping in. So I gave in. “Bricks and Glass” it is.
I cut 2.5″ WOF strips and sewed them together, alternately the sewing direction, so the strips would not get that nasty curve to them if you don’t. I alternated background color strips and accent color strips. I then subcut those sets into 8.5″ sets and just sewed everything together. I cut 2.5″ sashing strips from the background fabric sewed those in between the columns. The finished size is 51″ x 60″, a nice size for two people cuddling on the sofa.
I used my new favorite batting fabric again, the Hobbs 80/20. I really do like this better than the Warm and Natural I’ve always used – it has a softer drape to it, maintains a bit of loft and makes a nice quilt. Yet it machine quilted like a dream, with no puckering or anything.
I quilted just straight vertical lines, at a 3.5 stitch length. I used a green/grey Aurifil thread for the top and black in my bobbin, to match the backing fabric. I debated a lot whether to add horizontal quilting after I got all the vertical lines done. What do you think? Should I have added horizontal lines to make a grid? I was thinking I liked just that modern kind of look with just the vertical lines, but I don’t know.
before basting
The binding was a just a fun fabric I found at Jo-Anns. I’m always on the lookout for good binding fabrics when I shop and if something catches my eye, I buy a half yard of it and put it in my Binding Stash drawer. A half yard of fabric is the amount needed for binding for the size of quilt I usually make. When I put this fabric up next to the Grove backing, it was a good fit.
Thanks for popping in!
Elaine
I’m linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts, Blossom Hearts Quilts and Freemotion by the River
I hope you all had a great holiday – I’m finally getting everything back to normal around here and can’t wait to get back to my sewing machine. I finished this quilt before Christmas but didn’t want to post it because it was a Christmas gift. This design is an hourglass quilt, which uses my favorite half square triangle blocks. I alternated a solid block with an hourglass block, because this entire quilt is done in linen and I thought an hourglass block all the way through the quilt might be too heavy with that many seams.
I really love items sewn with linen and I almost exclusively use Robert Kaufman Essex in Flax, a cotton/linen blend that is really nice to quilt with and is machine washable. It’s a nice neutral color that blends well with a lot of quilting cottons. For the colored hourglass blocks, I wanted to try to match the fabrics in the room where this quilt was going to end up. Robert Kaufman’s Essex Yarn Dyed linens were just about a perfect match and they are the same blend of cotton/linen, but with a cross thread of white to provide a beautiful tweedy look that is just gorgeous. These fabrics just appeal to me so much. You’ll see more of them in my quilts in the future.
I do have some tips on sewing with Essex Linen, though. I know a lot of people do not prewash their fabrics before sewing (I prewash everything) but I strongly recommend that you prewash linen. Unlike regular quilting cottons which may or may not shrink or change after a wash, the linen will shrink. And it may be just enough to ruin your project. So I put mine through a very delicate cycle on cold water and then tumble dry it until it is thoroughly dried. If the fabric is going to change in any way – bleed color, shrink, fray, etc. – I want it to do it now, before it’s sewn into a quilt. I know people have had trouble in the past with linen and you don’t want any surprises. So dry it well, iron the heck out of it and it should be fine. I even sewed double seams in this quilt – for every single block, just to ease the tension on the seams and prevent fraying. I don’t recommend trying to zig zag or overcast the seams – this actually makes the fabric fray and splits it. I think sewing a double seam on a small stitch length, like 1.8, does the trick. This is so worth the extra time to not have to worry about quilting with this gorgeous fabric.
sewn double seams on every block to ease tension:
The drape and softness of this fabric is really nice. The linen has a weight and heft to it that makes a really snuggly quilt.
The colors I used in this quilt were Essex yarn dyed Taupe, Rust, Red, Olive, Leather, Charcoal, and Espresso. The background color was Flax.
see that beautiful tweedy look the white cross thread gives the linen?
I made sixty 5.5″ hourglass blocks and sixty 5.5″ squares out of the plain linen. The quilt is 10 blocks wide by 12 blocks long. The finished quilt measures about 50″ x 60″.
before quilting and after
I didn’t want to stitch in the ditch at all for this quilt – again, not wanting to add any stress to the seams – and so I stitched lots of diagonal lines around the blocks. This was the first quilt that I tried using Auriful 40 weight thread instead of my usual 50 weight. I really liked the heavier look and did not have to adjust the tension of my machine at all.
For the backing, I used Zen Chic’s Modern Background Paper Handwriting, an awesome fabric that I thought went well with the linen. It’s a larger text fabric than the one that I used in my Shire quilt. Both super fabrics.
I used something new for this quilt. I’ve always used Warm and Natural cotton batting for my quilts, but I was in a quilt shop recently that didn’t carry it – they firmly believed that Hobb’s made a superior batting. It’s a blend of 80% cotton and 20% polyester, which gives it a little more loft and softness. So I tried it in this quilt. I could definitely tell a difference. The quilt was softer and had more drape, better for a quilt that you want to snuggle up with. The Warm and Natural is a firmer batting for sure and probably a better choice for a wall hanging quilt.
I even made a little pillow to go with the quilt!
Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and thanks for dropping in!
Elaine
Linking up to Fabric Frenzy Friday, Sew Fresh Quilts, Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River and Blossom Heart Quilt’s Sew Cute Tuesday
I couldn’t let Christmas go by without making a version of Amy Sinbaldi’s Christmas pillow! This was so fun to stitch up and I did it all in one evening. Want to make one? Her pattern is free!
The little polka dot fabric is a favorite from Art Gallery fabrics. And I combined it with my favorite red mattress ticking fabric and Robert Kaufman Essex linen in flax.
I love to make fabric covered buttons, so any excuse I can get to use them, I do! I get the little button kits from Hobby Lobby. They are so fun and easy and come in all kinds of sizes.
I used a Perle Cotton in black for the stitching and added a little linen crochet trim . . .
I’m linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts, Crazy Mom Quilts and Fort Worth Fabric’s Frenzy Friday!
Have a wonderful holiday and thanks for stopping in!
Elaine
I have to say, this was the most fun I’ve ever had machine quilting! I’m not sure why it was such a breeze but it could be that I switched to a #16 needle to do the quilting. I think it made a big difference. Not even a hint of a pucker on the backing. As smooth as can be. The stitches were just beautiful. I wish you could feel the texture of this quilt – I couldn’t keep my hands off it once it was quilted.
I combined Robert Kaufman Essex Linen in flax with assorted green quilting cottons. I love sewing the look of linen with colored fabrics. I prewash all my fabrics before quilting and the Essex linen is so exception. I prewashed it and thoroughly dried it and ironed it. I don’t want any surprises after it’s washed as a quilt.
The backing on this quilt is the totally amazing Background Notes by Zen Chic for Moda. I love, love this fabric. It’s mysterious and interesting and I love how it complements the linen on the front of the quilt. I have a thing for text fabric. Look at all that yummy handwriting:
I used a stitch length of 3.5 to quilt this. Like I said, I was mindlessly quilting with a #12 needle in the last few weeks and noticed every once in a while I was getting a skipped stitch with my walking foot. So I consulted my Janome manual, saw that they recommended a heavier needle when machine quilting and so I switched to a #16. How did I no think of this before? It made a big difference. If you’re using the same size needle for piecing as well as quilting, try switching.
I cut 4″ x 17″ strips and sewed these together then subcut into 4″ strip sets and assembled 16-patch blocks. Each square, after sewing, was 3.5″. There were 12 squares across and 16 squares down (three 16-patch blocks across and four 16-patch blocks down).
Here are a couple of photos of the finished top before quilting. I think it’s fun to see how the look totally changes after batting is added and quilting is finished:
The binding I chose was Square Elements in Lime. I tried out a number of fabrics, but I thought this complemented the quilt the best.
A nice mitered binding is so fun to sew:
I used Warm and Natural batting, which I prewashed and dried. Again, I don’t want anything to shrink. I used to like that look a long time ago but now I don’t want much puckering or an antique look in these quilts.
The finished size of this quilt is 42″ x 55″. It makes a nice throw size for on the sofa. And here’s why it’s The Shire.
I can’t wait to start my next quilt, but I’m waiting on fabric and the place I ordered it from must have put it on the slow boat to China because it’s taking forever! I hope it arrives tomorrow.
It’s a busy month but as always, I hope you’re making something!
Elaine
As usual, check out Lorna’s linky post here!
I’ve been busy sewing up quilts but I just had to take a little time to finish this Christmas Garland that I started many weeks ago. I had cut out all the triangles and starting stuffing them and put it aside and before I knew it, it was almost December. So I thought I’d better finish it up! It’s so cute, I love it.
I saw this garland a long time ago over at Svetlana’s blog, s.o.t.a.k. handmade. I knew right away I wanted to make one for me. This was a fun little project that’s great for using up any leftover Christmas fabric.
These triangles are about 2″ high, but you could make them any size you wanted to. I sewed them onto a piece of twine, twisted with a piece of holiday baker’s twine.
Svetlana’s tutorial on how to make these is here.
I can’t believe it’s December 1st! There’s so much to do. I’m just starting to decorate and don’t have my tree up yet. But this little garland at least is cheering up my fireplace!
Thanks for dropping in!
Elaine
Go hop on over to Lorna’s Let’s Bee Social Linky for more inspiration!
I finished this quilt this week and the name seemed appropriate because we got about ten inches of snow in this part of Michigan – the very first snow of the season! But being stuck in the house for two days allowed me to get the backing, basting and quilting finished for this.
Isn’t this pretty fabric? I’ve had this Aubade fabric from Cloud 9 for a while and was dying to cut into it. I knew I wanted to make an icy looking kind of quilt with it, but I wasn’t sure what block I wanted to use. Shall I show you the embarrassing inspiration for the design? Behold my ironing board:
I took a look at it one day while getting it down and thought, gee – that herringbone would be a good choice for my icy quilt. Sometimes that’s the way you decide things, right?
This quilt was made up entirely of 6.5″ Half Square Triangle blocks.
I paired the Cloud 9 fabric up with Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton Navy and White. I thought it was a nice contrast.
I used white Aurifil 50 wt thread to quilt it. I kind of agonized over how to quilt this thing, but ended up just outlining the seams and then zigzagging across the blocks. My walking foot did a great job, with no skipped stitches and no puckering.
I used Warm and White cotton batting so the Kona white would stay as white as possible.
I tried a few different turquoise colored binding fabrics but ended up with the tiny dress stripe in navy from Dear Stella. I liked the tiny stripe so much I know I will be using bindings in the future from that line. The size of the bindings strips I cut were 2.5″. This is the most fun for me – to sew on the binding and make nice mitered corners.
The finished size of this quilt was on the small size – 36″ x 47″ but big enough to be a crib quilt or a lap quilt.
This was such a fun quilt to make and I got to use my favorite Half Square Triangles for the quilt design.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Elaine
Head on over to Lorna’s to look at her “Let’s Bee Social” Linky!
If there’s one block in all of quilting that you should know how to make, it’s the Half Square Triangle (HST). To me, it’s the most versatile block in quilting and you can do endless things with it in design. With this one block, I can make a wide variety of quilts. In this post, I’m going to show you the Traditional Method of making them, two at a time. In my next post, I will show you a way of making them four at a time.
This technique is simple and easy to learn and is actually very quick after you get an “assembly line” system going. Two squares of fabric are cut, placed right sides together (RST), sewn from corner to corner and cut apart. You end up with two HST blocks.
To figure out what size to cut your squares of fabric to sew these up with, you need to determine what size you want your working (finished) blocks to be (before sewing them into your quilt). When you determine what size you want your working blocks, just add one inch. Lots of people recommend that you add 7/8″ to the desired size, but I like to add one whole inch. I want a little bit of extra fabric in the end so that I can square up my blocks nicely and it makes the calculations easier. So if you want a finished working block size of 6.5″, you need to cut squares of fabric that are 7.5″. (Remember that after you sew your 6.5″ finished blocks into your quilt, you will lose the half inch in the seams and they will be 6″ blocks in your finished quilt.)
With this method, you don’t need any chart to figure out how big to cut your squares.
Desired Finished Block Size + one inch = how big to cut your squares
This method makes two HSTs at a time.
What a fun quilt this one was to sew. Before I knew it, I was doing the binding. For this quilt, I wanted a modern, clean geometric kind of look. So I made Half Square Triangles and did a Flying Geese kind of pattern on the front. I skipped some triangles, to create some additional negative space.
Because the front was so modern and graphic, I wanted a bit of whimsy and a splash of color for the back. I looked at several fun fabrics for the back and in the end I chose this fun fabric by Anne Kelle for Robert Kaufman. It’s actually a 108″ wide which made the backing a snap.
The front was made up of Robert Kaufman Kona Solids: medium grey, steel, and white. I added a couple of Robert Kaufman Spot On fabrics for a little variation.
The binding was such fun. I almost went with a traditional black and white stripe, but I pulled this black and white dot fabric from my stash and it just added so much zing, I had to go with it. I can’t remember where I got this fabric and it had no useful identification on the selvage. Maybe even Hobby Lobby?
binding, back and front
The binding went as smoothly as can be because I secured it with my Wonder Clips every few inches. I sewed it on the front, wrapped it around the back and stitched in the ditch on the front. If you want to learn how to do this kind of binding, I’ve done a machine binding tutorial here. I believe that machine sewn bindings are more durable.
The front was stitched 1¼ inch apart, using my seam guide attachment. I debated about adding horizontal stitching after all the vertical stitching was done, but decided in the end that less is more.
I used Warm and White cotton batting, because I wanted the white fabric to remain as white as can be. Warm and Natural would be too dark, I felt, behind the white fabric.
Finished size on this quilt is 50″ x 59″.
I can’t wait to get this quilt to its new owners!
Go make something!
Elaine
Check out Lorna’s “Let’s Bee Social” link up over at Sew Fresh Quilts.
I was able to move from the laundry room this weekend, which is where I sew, out to the ping pong table in the basement to baste this new quilt. I sew in the laundry room, standing up at the counter. Doesn’t that sound awful? It’s not. I take my iPad in there and put on a movie and watch it while I sew. Then I move my machine out to the kitchen table just for the quilting part.
I do four-at-a-time Half Square Triangles
This quilt is made up of Half Square Triangles – my favorite block. I wanted a really modern, geometric kind of look to this quilt because it’s going to someone whose decor is contemporary. Their color palette is going to be greys and white. So I did a mix of Kona Cotton Solids – lots of Kona White – and Robert Kaufman Spot on Ring Spots. I don’t like really busy quilts and wanted to keep this clean and fresh looking. All the triangles are solids, except just a spattering of a few with the Ring Spots.
When I baste, I tighten the top really well by pinning all four corners and then pin the outer perimeter of the quilt first (above), making sure the top stays taut. Then I pin the inside. It’s opposite of the way I used to do it and I like this method better.
I tried a few quilt backings for this but decided on this Robert Kaufman fabric. I wanted something with a little bit of color on the back, since the front is just monochromatic. The backing was simple to cut, since it’s one of those 108″ wide backings. And as I’m writing this post, I’ve just realized that every single fabric I selected for this quilt is from Robert Kaufman! That was not planned!
I’m going to quilt this with vertical straight lines, running right down the quilt, hoping to keep a modern look to it. Time to get out the quilting gloves and walking foot!
Have a great day,
Elaine
Beech Tree Lane Handmade 