OMG December

This is actually my November OMG finish but I finished it too late.  I actually finished the quilting on the night of November 30 but didn't have enough light to take a photo.  So, here it is as my December OMG.  My goal for this busy month is to bind the quilt and put it in the finished pile.  Happy December!

Linking to:  OMG, MCM, Monday Making, Moving It Forward Monday,

Plus Quilt With Sashing

This plus quilt has sashing with corner stones.  In my last post, I shared a tutorial for a plus quilt.  You can find it HERE. 

This quilt was made from the same fabrics but for this quilt, rather than sash with white strips, I added a cornerstone to the sashing.   

For this version, cut all of the strips that were set aside from the patterned fabric into 2.5" squares.  Cut the 2.5" white strips into (71) 6.5" rectangles.  

Sew a white 2.5" X 6.5" rectangle the right side of each block.

Sew a 2.5" fabric square to 30 of the white rectangles.

Sew the rectangle with the corner stone to the top of each block. Sew the blocks together in 6 rows of 5 blocks.  Sew the rows together.

Sew a strip with 5 white 2.5 X 6.5" rectangles with a corner stone between and one on one end. Sew a strip with 6 white 2.5 X 6.5" rectangles, with a corner stone between each one and a cornerstone on each end. 

Sew the strip with 5 white strips to the top of the quilt and the strip with 6 white strips to the side of the quilt.  If you make one quilt using the cutting instructions, adjust your sashing strips to the larger quilt.

Linking to:  Oh Scrap, MCM, Monday Making, Midweek Makers, NTT

A Plus Quilt in 7 Steps

A nine patch by any other name is still a nine patch.  I love the plus variation of this pattern.  I have seen many adorable plus quilts and I had to make one, or two.  Here is a little tutorial for my plus quilt(s).  Please note, I made two quilts from the fabric yardage and cutting.  If you make 1 larger quilt, you will need to adjust the sashing yardage depending on how you make the quilt.

Fabric:

1/4 yard of 7 different fabrics.  You can use 14 fat quarters instead if you want a scrappier look.

2.5 yards of white fabric

1.  Cut (2) 2.5" X WOF strips of 7 different fabrics for a total of 14 strips.  Cut (33) 2.5"X WOF strips of white fabric.

2.  Cut each of the patterned strips and 14 of the white strips in half at the fold line.  Sew 3 strips of the pattern fabric together to make the middle section of the block.  Sew two white strips to two of the pattern fabric strips.  There is 1 pattern strip left. I set it aside.

3.  Cut each of the sewn strips into 2.5" X 6.5" rectangles.  I pressed toward the dark on the outside strips and away from the middle for the middle strip.

You will have 8 blocks of from each of your 7 different colored fabric strips. If you use fat quarters, you will have 4 blocks from each of 14 different fabrics.

I've always been a fan of sashing as you go. I couldn't decide if I wanted a corner stone in the sashing or if I wanted plain white around each plus, so I made a little quilt with each.  I divided my blocks into two piles.  One of the quilts has 25 blocks for a 5 X 5 setting and one quilt has 30 blocks for a 5 X 6 setting. You have cut enough white strips to make sashing for two quilts or 1 large quilt.

4.  For the 25 block quilt sashing, from your white strips cut  2.5" X WOF strips into (25) 6.5" rectangles and (25) 8.5" rectangles. If you are making 1 quilt with these blocks you will cut (56) 6.5" rectangles and (56) 8.5" rectangles for a 7 X 8 setting. (or 54 if you are doing a 6 X 9 setting.

5.  Sew the 6.5" strip to the right side of the blocks.

 6.  Sew the 8.5" strips to the bottom of the block.

7.  When the quilt is sewn together, you have an almost completely sashed quilt.  To finish the sashing for a small quilt, from your 2.5" X WOF white fabric strips cut (5) 6.5" rectangles, (6) 2.5" squares and (5) 8.5" rectangles.  Sew the 8.5" rectangles together.  Sew one 2.5" square to each of the 6.5" rectangles and then sew them together and sew 1 square to the end.  Sew the long strip with 8.5" rectangles to the top of the quilt.  Sew the strip with the 2.5" squares and 6.5" rectangles to the left side of the quilt.  If you are making a larger quilt, adjust this to make sashing strips for the left side and bottom of your quilt.  You can put a border on the quilt or just quilt it and bind it.  You're on your own for that part.  

Stay tuned to see what this sweet little quilt looks like with a corner stone in the sashing.

 

NOTE:  THIS IS NOT A TESTED PATTERN. 

Linking to: Oh Scrap, MCM, Moving it Forward, Monday Making, Midweek Makers, NTT, Can I Get A Whoop, Whoop, Fabric Frenzy Friday, She Can Sew, 

November OMG

If you've paid any attention to my blog, you may have noticed that I have really old quilts sitting in my UFO box.  The OMG challenge has motivated me to get them out and finish them.  The latest find is a quilt I started about 8 years ago.  Kim Diehl visited our town and taught a couple of classes from her book, "Simple Traditions."  Kim Diehl has a great technique for machine appliqué so the quilt projects in her book can go pretty quickly. This UFO is a quilt I made from the book after I took the class.  I had the idea to add a lovely appliquéd border and so this top sat for a very long time while I thought about the border and then forgot about the quilt altogether.  When I pulled it out, I decided that if the quilt was going to ever be done, it just had to be quilted without a border.  If the appliqué hadn't happened for 8 years, it most likely never would.  

I started the quilting about 6 months ago but this is as far as I've gotten.  You can see by the lines in the right of the quilt, I started another pattern that I didn't really like, so I tore it out.

November is a busy month so we will see if this one gets done.

Linking to:  Oh Scrap, OMG, MCM, Monday Making, Scraptastic Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Can I Get A Whoop, Whoop 

OMG October-Finished

     My goal was go finish this Storm at Sea quilt top.  I was happy to have time to get it together AND finish it.  I admit, I finished it with quick and dirty quilting, but I just wanted it done.

     Now, on to the next OMG.  I'm going to get to the bottom of my pile soon. 

Linking To: Monday Making, Moving It Forward Monday, OMG, Midweek Makers, Can I get a Whoop Whoop,  Finish It Up Friday,

Día de Muertos Calavera

People started bringing their Dia de Muertos art work to my museum yesterday.  Members of the art's council, the high school art teacher, Ashley and I will hang the show on Wednesday and the show will start with a reception Friday evening.  It will be a fun way to kick off the Halloween weekend.

My sugar skull needs a name, any suggestions?

 I found this festive fabric for the back.  I used it for the binding too.  Just a little color around the black background.

Linking to:  Can I Get A Whoop, Whoop, Show Off Saturday,  Off The Wall Friday, Finish it up Friday , Oh Scrap, MCM, Moving It Forward Monday, Linky Tuesday, Sew Cute Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Let's Bee Social.

Calavera

What is a Calavera?  It is a Mexican word that that describes the representation of the human skull, which is most commonly done with sugar but also with clay.  The sugar skulls are decorated with icing and other materials.  Calavera or sugar skulls are produced for Day of the Dead (Dia de Muertos) celebrations in Mexico and the Catholic All Souls' Day.  The Day of the Dead is a time when families come together and honor family members who have died.  It is held on November 1st and 2nd.

This year,  our high school's art teacher is putting together a 'Day of the Dead' Art Show at the Clausen Memorial  Museum.  I am the director of the museum and want to join in the fun.  I decided to make a fabric sugar skull for the event.  I found a free, public coloring page on Pinterest and got to work picking out colors and cutting and fusing.  The skull is Michael Miller's Fairy Frost with silver glitter on white.  I like the effect.  I have more to do with quilting and embellishment but this is a start.

Linking to:  Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Can I Get A Whoop, Whoop, MCM, Monday Making, Handmade Monday,  Moving it Forward Monday, Show and Tell, Linky Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Let's Bee Social

OMG October

For my October OMG, I think I will try to finish this quilt top.  It seems a shame to spend so much time cutting around all of the little templates and attempting to sew all of the points together if I'm just going to stuff this project in a bag and hide it in a pile of unfinished quilt tops. 

Nearly 10 years ago, John Flynn came to our little town and taught a Storm At Sea class.  I made a lot of headway during the class and maybe even a few days after the class, but I guess I must have lost steam, and it looks like I lost interest in the home run stretch.  It's time to finish this!  Wish me luck!

Linking to:  OMG, MCM, Monday Making, Moving It Forward Monday, Sew Cute Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Linky Tuesday,  NTT,

3 Reasons to Finish UFO's

After a few years hiatus, I have returned to quilting in earnest.  I found this incredible link called One Monthly Goal-OMG, which has motivated me to dig into my UFO pile, which is filled with very old projects.  I have just completed my first OMG project and have learned a couple of lessons about UFO's along the way.

My one recommendation is to have a time limit for finishing a UFO-is it possible?  Here are 3 reasons you should consider this challenge.

1.  You may not be able to find the pattern for your project.  When I pulled this quilt out, I found that I didn't have the pattern.  Luckily I had put one of the blocks together so I could figure the pattern out.  It would have been a shame to throw away all of those neatly cut little pieces.

2.  You may not like the quilt or pattern when you decide to finish it.  Styles and colors change.  Something that was trendy and interesting 4 or 5 years ago may seem dated and uninteresting when you dig it out of your UFO pile.

3.  You may not be able to find fabrics you need to finish your quilt.  As we all know, fabrics go out of print and you may find yourself in a pickle when you are just short of the amount needed for the finish.

All three of these things happened with this quilt.  I was able to cobble together a small quilt from the fabrics that were cut out.  The fabrics are old enough to be out of print and the colors are a little dated too.  Luckily I LOVE anything blue so I can live with the colors.  The ideal binding would have been the pansy fabric but I didn't have enough.  I auditioned many different fabrics for the binding and this was the best I could do.  I don't love it but it works.

I am very happy to have this quilt finished.  I love the quilt pattern.  I love the blue.   The main thing is that it's done.  On to my next OMG project!

Linking to: OMG, MCM, Monday Making, Moving it Forward Monday, Linky Tuesday,Midweek Makers, Let's Bee Social, NTT Blog Archives, Finished or Not Friday, Finish it Up Friday, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop,

Jelly Roll Quilt Tutorial

Two things happened yesterday....I finished my Cherry Fizz quilt top and we had our first snow of the season, termination dust.  

Last week I wrote a post about a mistake block I made.  I made a quilt top using this block and I put together a little tutorial.   Please note that this pattern has been tested by me only.  I wrote the notes as I was putting this together.  If you find a mistake, please let me know.

A full jelly roll will give you 84 blocks so you could make a quilt that is 12 rows with 7 blocks in each row which would measure 56" wide by 96" long without borders.  If you make two equal sized quilts, you can make a quilt that has 7 rows with 6 blocks in each row, which will measure 48" by 56" without borders.  I decided to make two quilts with this jelly roll because I didn't like the way all of the fabrics in this jelly roll looked in this quilt.  I also really like to make lap quilts.

If you want to make this quilt, this is what you need for one quilt that measures 56" X 96":  1 Jelly Roll and 3 yards of background fabric-for a quilt without borders.  If you want to put borders on the quilt, add the amount you need for the border to your materials.

Cutting:  
     Cut each of your jelly roll strips into (4) 6.5" rectangles and (4) 2.5" squares.

     Cut your background fabric into (11) 2.5" strips and (11) 6.5" strips. 

Sewing:
Sew all of your 2.5" jelly roll squares to your 6.5" background strips and all of your 6.5" rectangles to your 2.5" background strips.

Press the seam toward the jelly roll fabrics.

Cut each of your strips into 2.5" X 8.5" strips as shown.

You will have 168 sets of 8.5 inch strips.

Sew all of these strips together to make a 4.5" X 8.5" rectangle as shown. Be sure the background 2.5" square is on the top of the strip and sew on the right side of the strip. 

You will have a  sets that look like this.  

Sew two sets together to make a block.  Here are a couple of ideas for how to sew the sets together.  

Press all of the seams in one direction.  It doesn't matter which direction.

When you sew your blocks together, you can turn your block whichever way the seams from each set of blocks butt together.    

 This is what I have left from this Jelly Roll.  I have another block in mind.  Stay tuned.

You can purchase this quilt flimsy from my Etsy shop.

Find fabrics for this quilt in my Run 'n Stitch Shop HERE

Linking To: Oh Scrap,  MCM, Monday Making, Moving It Forward, Handmade Monday,  Linky Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Let's Bee Social, NTT, Can I Get A Whoop, Whoop, Show off Saturday, Tutorial Tuesday

Jelly Roll Fun

I am working on my first OMG challenge.  It's a challenge for me because I have to get the thing done.  Find the quilt HERE.  After putting together all of the blocks, this is what I had left.  There isn't enough to make another row, so I guess it's time to put a border on the thing.  I don't have a lot to work with, but let's see what I can do.

I played with these fabrics and was able to put together a little border and am ready to start quilting.  

I was digging in the dark corners of my fabric stash, looking for just the right fabric for a backing for the pansy quilt, when I found this sweet little jelly roll.

I haven't made a jelly roll quilt for a long time and I wanted to cut it up right away and start sewing but I wasn't quilt sure what to make.  I was browsing my favorite quilt blogs to get an idea and came across Katy Quilts post, Finish It Up Friday-Twist and thought, "That's what I want to do!"  

I cut some strips and started sewing, because that's how I do things-no pesky paper and pencil for planning.  Sometimes things even turn out.  

When I sewed the block together I realized I hadn't quilt figured out how to make the block, which is usually the case.  I grabbed my seam ripper, but stopped.  I decided that I would just leave the block as it was and move forward.  I'm not sure what the finished quilt will look like but here goes.

Notice the sweet berry print on the white fabric.  It's perfect for this project.

Honestly, I've never seen a bad jelly roll pattern so whatever happens is good, right.

Linking to:  Oh Scrap,  MCM, Monday Making,  Sew Cute Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Finished or Bit Friday, Can I Get A Whoop, Whoop, Show Off Saturday Let's Bee Social,