OMG September Spring Robin Top Finish

I just love OMG!  I am the kind of person that needs a little extra push to put things on the top burner.  I finished the top of my Spring Robin quilt.  I wasn't sure if I should sell the top or quilt the thing and give it away.  I decided to quilt and finish it.  That will be my next OMG. 

I chose the lighter fabric with flowers and the blue tree branch fabric for the border.  All of these fabrics are from the Spring Robin collection by Clothworks.  

 This purple is what I've chosen for the binding.  

Linking to: OMG, Can I Get A Whoop, Whoop, NTT, 

Donation Quilt #1

Earlier this month I posted a process for making your strips equal 1600 inches for making a 1600 quilt from scraps.  You can find that process HERE.  I've pieced, quilted and bound the first one and handed it over to my daughter Helen, who is the manager of our Long Term Care facility.  I have 8 more to go.  

Just a note, yes she is old enough.  She has a very youthful appearance.  Both of her little munchkins were hiding behind the quilt when the picture was taken.

Linking to: Oh Scrap,  Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, WOW, Let's Be Social, Midweek Makers, Brag About Your Beauties,

Jewel - A 10 Inch Square Pattern

Moda Fabrics coined the term Layer Cake when they developed the first 10 inch square pre-cuts.  Other companies began putting their fabric collections together in 10 inch square precut stacks and had to come up with another name for their products.  Many companies just call their product 10 inch squares.  The term Layer Cake has come to mean a bundle of precut 10 inch squares.  

I sell 10 inch square bundles in my shop, Run'n Stitch.  You can find the shop HERE.  There are a bazillion books and patterns for 2.5 inch rolls, but I have found fewer patterns for 10 inch squares.  I am on a quest to develop some patterns to use with my squares.  I think 10 inch squares are great to work with because you can make larger fabric blocks from each square and you aren't confined to 2.5" strips of fabric.  I thought I'd attempt to make classic quilt patterns using 10 inch squares.

This pattern is called Jewel, and is a variation of the Jacob's Ladder quilt block.  I am using a bundle by Kaffe Fassett.  My background fabric is a Kona Cotton.  

This is a tutorial for making the block.  

Step 1 - For 1 block you will need a 10 inch square of the main fabric and a 10 inch square of the background fabric.  

Step 2 - Pair the two with right sides together. Cut the square into (2) 2.5 inch strips and (1) 5 inch strip.

Step 3 - Cut the 5 inch strips into (2) 5 inch squares and cut on the diagonal.

Step 4 - Sew your 2.5 inch strips together and your triangles together.

Step 5 - Cut your 4.5 inch strips into 2.5 inch by 4.5 inch rectangles.  Cut your half-square triangle blocks down to 4.5 inch squares.  You will have (4) 4.5 inch half square triangle blocks and (8) 2.5 inch by 4.5 inch rectangles.

Step 6 - Sew your 2.5 inch by 4.5 inch rectangles together to make a 4 patch block.  You will have (4) 4.5 inch blocks.

I am still working on this quilt pattern so stay tuned for next steps.

Linking to:  Oh Scrap, Saturday Sparks, Linky Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Let's Bee Social, Needle and Thread Thursday, 

1600 Quilt Made With Scraps

In 2013 I published a post about cutting 2.5" strips and sewing them together to make a scrappy strip quilt.  Find that post HERE.

I made 3 different quilts from the strips over the years, but most of them were stashed away in my sewing room in bags and tubs.  A few days ago, I decided I needed to go through my rather small quilt stash and organize the fabrics.  I found the strips again and I decided I needed to get rid of them. I called my daughter, who is the director of the Long Term Care Unit in our local hospital, and asked her if she needed any quilts for her residents.  She said she would love some.  Since I have someone expecting a finished product, it is likely I will get them done.  

My scrap lengths measure from 2.5 inches to  44 inches.  I need (40) - 42 inch strips to equal 1680" with is the length of the strips, end to end, of a jelly roll.  I also have to consider seam allowance for the strips because there will be lots of them.  

I wanted each quilt to be about the size of a quilt sewn together from a jelly roll so I set up a measuring tape, a note pad and pencil on my ironing table.  Next I put the strips next to the tape to equal the length of 22".  Next I set more strips on top of the first to equal a measurement of 22".  I now had strips that equaled 44 inches.  For each set of strips that measure 44", I put a tally on my notepad.  Some strips were already 44 inches so I cut them in half and tallied 1 on my note pad.  Some strips were already 22 inches, so I stacked two next to the measuring tape, put another tally mark on the note pad and set them on the pile.  For the rest of the strips, I lay them end to end next to the tape until they equaled 22 inches and then lay another group of strips end to end on top of the first until they equaled 22 inches, and marked a tally on the note pad. Every strip set that went on the pile was tallied, until the tallies added up to 40.  

I did this with all of my strips and came up with 9 bags of strips ready to be sewn together into a 1600 quilt.

Many of the strips had jagged edges or salvage edges, so I kept my little rotary cutter, ruler and mat next to my pile.

This is a pile of fabric strips that will be about 1680 inches long when the strips are sewn together end to end.

After sewing the scraps end to end,  I cut the threads and pressed the seams.  

Here is one finished quilt top.  I used strips from the blue bag to do this one.  There are fabrics in here from projects I've done over the last 4 decades.  I had a fun little walk down memory lane when I put this together.  I have one more bag of blue strips.  I have a green bag, a brown bag, a black bag, two pink-orange-red bags, and a brown and green bag.   I hope to eventually have a post with the finished quilts...fingers crossed!

I have found that keeping a bag next to my machine is really handy.  I can use the strips as leaders and enders.  I can work on it if I have a couple of spare minutes.  Since they are bagged up and ready to sew, I can easily work on them whenever I have some time. 

 This was the view from my window while I was working on the quilt.  My sewing machine is set up   in front of this window.  The Alaska Marine Highway ship, Malaspina was heading South.

These twins have been fun to watch this summer.  I think they must live in the forest next to my house.

Linking to
Can I Get A Whoop, Whoop, Oh Scrap, Crazy Mom Quilts, Monday Making, Linky Tuesday, Midweek Makers

Jelly Girl Quilt

I own a little fabric shop and I love visiting with quilters and crafters.  I love teaching classes.  I love developing displays.  I love making samples for items in my shop.  But the hardest thing to do, the thing I dread every season,  is picking out fabric other people will purchase.  

Last season I found a collection called 'Blueberry Buckle', which I absolutely loved, and I bought the entire collection.  I believed that the soft blues and mellow tans would make a lovely quilt to bundle up under in front of a crackling fire.   It turns out however, I may be the only person on the planet who loves this fabric... well there is one lady in this town who can't seem to get enough of it either, but she doesn't want 19 bolts.   It's a good thing I love it because I will probably be using it in all kinds of projects.  

The first thing I made with the first full collection of fabric I have ever purchased, was a quilt using a pattern that was used to advertise the collection, Jelly Girl by Fig Tree & Co.   This is a jelly roll pattern. The blocks are made by sewing jelly roll strips together...really.  I put the quilt together and of course I loved it.  

Because the blocks are made out of jelly roll strips, this quilt doesn't take long to put together.  The key for this quilt was finding a fabric for the background that didn't overpower or blend in with the light colors.  I chose a white on off-white and I like the way it offset the blues and tans.

Find this bundle and yardage of all 19 fabrics of the Blueberry Buckle Collection HERE.

Linking to:

Finished or Not Linky Party, Can I Get A Whoop, Whoop, Off The Wall Friday, O Scrap, Monday Making, Linky Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Let's Be Social, Needle and Thread Thursday,