Friendship Star Baby Quilt

Every year my husband and I travel south in January.  We live in Petersburg, which is located on an island in Southeast Alaska.  The only way to get on or off the island is to fly or take a boat. We pack our truck with our dog and necessities and travel to either Prince Rupert, BC, Canada or Bellingham, Washington on the Alaska Marine Highway System.  Once we get to the mainland, we drive to Anacortes, Washington and pick up our 5th wheel trailer and head toward the sun.  Last January I packed a small tote with quilting projects so I could sew along the way.  The trip to Bellingham is 2.5 days and it can be pretty gray outside and uneventful, so a quilt project is perfect for the journey.  I made this friendship star on the ferry between Petersburg and Bellingham.  Once the top was finished, it went into a bag and put in a safe place.

I pulled this friendship star quilt out of the UFO pile recently to get it ready to quilt.  

 I chose this lemony yellow and white dot for the backing fabric.  Don't you hate it when this happens.   This quilt was about 45 inches wide and the fabric is 42 inches wide.  I didn't want to cut another piece of fabric for just 3 inches, so I decided do a little piecing for the backing.

I pulled out my my stash of '30's reproduction fabric, which is pretty limited. 

 As I was digging, I found these 2.5" squares.  I decided to make a nine patch strip with the squares.

 I put the strip right down the middle of the backing fabric.

I layered the batting and quilt onto the back.  I folded the batting and top in half and put the center fold on the center of the 9 patch strip.  This quilt is ready to go.  It is back in the UFO pile-but it's ready.

Linking to:  NTT, Can I Get A Whoop, Whoop,  Finished or Not Friday, Oh Scrap, 

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

Charm Square Table Topper Tutorial

Aren't pre-cuts just the bomb!  I love to use pre-cuts because I love to make scrappy things.  With Pre-cuts, all the colors match and most of the cutting is done.  I put together this little pattern/tutorial for use with 5" squares to make this little table topper. You can use Moda Charm Squares or you can use fabric from your stash.   Isn't it adorable.

I had some leftover Charm Squares from a prior project.  I didn't have quite enough for the quilt so I had to cut a few from other fabric.  All fabrics were from the same line so the colors matched perfectly.

 This pattern makes a table topper that's 23" square

 For this pattern you will need:
(29) 5" squares
1/3 yard of coordinating fabric
Batting and backing for a 23" square

Step 1 

Set aside 12 squares to be used for the middle border. 

 Step 2

Cutting

From the coordinating fabric (1/3 yard): (WOF means width of fabric)

Cut (4) 2-1/2" X WOF strips.  Cross cut these fabrics into (2) 2-1/2" X 18-1/2" strips and (2) 2-1/2" X 22-1/2" WOF strips

Cut (1) 1" X WOF strip.  Cross cut into (2) 1" X 8-1/2" strips and (2) 1" X 9-1/2" strips.

Cut (17) 5" squares in half so you have (34) 2-1/2" X 5" rectangles.

Cut (2) 5" X 2-1/2" rectangles into (4) 2-1/2" square. Set aside.

You will sew rectangles together and you want scrappy, so I just flipped one stack over and began sewing the top rectangle from one stack to the bottom rectangle of the other stack.

                           

Step 3
Chain stitch your rectangles and press toward the darkest fabric.

Step 4

Place one set of 4-1/2" X 5" blocks on top of another set of another 4-1/2" X 5" block, right sides together, butting the seam. Cut into (2) 2-1/2 X 4-1/2" rectangles. Do this with (4) pairs of 4-1/2" X 5" blocks or (8) blocks.



From each pair, you will have 4 rectangles

Step 5
Sew 4 sets together to make (4) 4 patch units.  Sew the remaining together to make (4) strips of 4 squares.

Step 6

Sew two (2) 4 patch blocks together.

Sew these blocks together to make a 16 block center piece.

Step 7

Cut the remaining 4-1/2" X 5" blocks into 2-1/2" X 5" rectangle units.

Step 8

Using the (4) 4 square strips from Step 5 and these remaining rectangle units, sew end to end so you have (2) strips with 10 and (2) strips with (12) 2-1/2" squares.  Using the 2-1/2" squares you 'set aside' in step 2, add one square to each strip so you have (2) strips with 11 squares and (2) strips with 13 squares.

Step 9

Sew the 2-1/2" X 8-1/2" strips to opposites sides of the center piece.

Then sew the 2-1/2" X 9-1/2" strips to the other sides of the center piece.

Step 10

Sew your 5" square blocks into (2) sets of 4 and (2) sets of 2. Press toward the dark fabric.

  

Step 11

Sew both of the 2 block units to opposite ends of the center unit.

Sew the 4 block units to the other ends of the center unit.

Step 12

Sew the (2) 2-1/2 X 18-1/2" inner border strips to opposite sides of the piece.

Then sew the (2) 2-1/2" X 22-1/2" strips to the other ends of the piece.

Step 13

Next, sew the 11 square border strip to two sides of the piece.

Finally, sew the 13 square boarder strip to the other two sides of the piece.

Step 14 (can't stop with 13 steps;)

Stand back and admire your lovely little table topper and think about how you will quilt it.

This is another version of this pattern finished.  I used a full Charm Pack for this one so I had enough of the squares left to cut into 2-1/2" X 5" rectangles, which I sewed together to make a scrappy binding

Linking To:
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