Saturday, November 19, 2016

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.




Sunday, November 13, 2016

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. 




Sunday, November 6, 2016

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.