Quilt As You Go - Within a Quilt As You Go

So I am testing the 'Blossoms' quilt pattern from Amanda Murphy Design (she has a ton of new quilt patterns coming out, and they are exceptional!). I made her Garden Paths quilt at the beginning of the month. I don't know if you feel this way ever, but I feel very frustrated when it comes to the actual quilting/binding of my quilts. The quilt tops are so enjoyable to make, but the rest I could just do without. I don't like wrestling all that heavy fabric through my machine, and the last couple of quilts, I just do the quickest and easiest quilting job, like the wavy-line quilting I used for my Heather Ross quilt. It's fine, it's just not the most visually-interesting.

    So, with this quilt I decided to make my life easier. I will never be able to send a quilt off to a long-arm quilter, but I wanted to do something beautiful with this quilt. So, I quilted the small white petals (there are 4 per flower) to batting, so I would be able to make them look pretty, like this:

96 of these babies

Yeah, it was a lot of cutting out, both for the white fabric and for the batting, but worth the effort. Then, I assembled my blocks into groupings of 4 squares, to make one big 18"x18" block. The fabrics are from the Amy Butler Soul Blossoms line. I then attached this block to a piece of batting, and quilted in the 'Rain Drop' effect that I got from my friend, Kim.

If you're not familiar with the 'quilt as you go' concept, basically instead of assembling an entire quilt top and then attaching it to the batting/backing, you work in smaller pieces. So, in my example, I assembled a 18" x 18" block of the quilt, and then quilted it to a 20" x 20" piece of batting (just to account for any shifting as I quilted it). Working with a smaller unit allowed me to more easily turn the fabric through my machine, and I was able to quilt the circles in the 'Rain Drop' effect with ease. You assemble your finished units with 1/4" seams as normal, and when the whole top is finished, attach it do the backing in some way (I'm going to use stitch-in-the-ditch along the 18"x18" blocks).

18" x 18" block...11 more to go!

So, this project is technically a 'quilt-as-you-go' within a 'quilt-as-you-go'. I'm pretty pleased with how it's working out so far, and I know that in future I will definitely purposely look for quilt patterns that I will be able to do something similar to this, so I can skip the dreaded quilting.

If you like the look of this particular quilt, check out my Sew Alongs Summer Calendar, it'll be up for a sew along in August!

Sew Alongs: Summer Calendar

Amanda Murphy 'Blossoms' quilt pattern

This past April, I hosted a sew along for the Sis Boom Jamie Dress. Tons of you sewed along and made the dress (and some made more than one!!). I have a tentative schedule of more sew alongs that will be happening this summer on my blog. All sew alongs will be accompanied by a discount for supplies, and giveaway prizes at the end for all participants.

I would love to do another dress or clothing sew along too...anyone have any suggestions (Colette patterns? Which one?)? Leave me a comment if you have a suggestion, or if you think you might participate! :-)


June 9 - July 1
The Ava Bag from Two Peas in a Pod Designs 

July 4 - July 29
The Madison Bag from Two Peas in a Pod Designs


August 1 - August 29
Amy Butler sewing patterns (any Amy Butler pattern)

Mid-August
Blossoms quilt from Amanda Murphy Design 
(I am testing this right now, and... ::swoon:: )

September
I will be guest posting on My Crafty Crap for the Amy Butler Style Stitches Sew Along when Bree goes on maternity leave with her new baby boy. :-) For the month of September, you can join along even if you don't have the book, because the Blossom Bag pattern is available for free at Sew Mama Sew!

Amy Butler Blossom Bags made by http://poppyprintcreates.blogspot.com

Giveaway Winners!

Thanks to everyone for entering my giveaways! I wish I could make a bag for each and every one of you. :-) I appreciate all your kind words from the bottom of my heart!!

And the winner of the Echino bag is...

Marci Girl who said, "I too am a blog follower!"

I hope you liked my review of this new quilting book! The winner of Jelly Roll Sampler Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott is:

Megan who said, "Oh, and of course I am a follower!"

Thanks again to everyone for commenting, and congratulations to the winners! :-)

SMS Giveaway Day

If you're a new visitor from Sew Mama Sew, welcome!!

I have *TWO* separate giveaways. Click HERE and also HERE to enter! Good luck!! :-)

Giveaway: Echino Bag

I made this Mabel Bag last year from a Jenna Lou Designs sewing pattern (my most-used pattern!). You can find my pattern review here! Anyway, I haven't really used this bag; I'm not sure why, since it's totally cute! It has zippered pockets inside, and an adjustable strap. It has a purple magnetic snap closure. I thought it would look great on the shoulder of one of my blog readers!

How you can enter to win my Echino bag :

1. Leave me a comment and show me some love!

2. "Follow" my blog (if you're already a follower, super!). Then, just leave a second, SEPARATE comment saying that you follow me.

You can have up to 2 entries. I will randomly choose a winner, who will be the new owner of this great book! The drawing will close on Wednesday, May 25th at 11pm CT. Good luck!

Giveaway and a Book Review!

I was given the pleasure to review Jelly Roll Sampler Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott. I reviewed a previous book by the Lintotts, so I was excited to give this one a look-see.

The basic idea of this book is that there are instructions to make 50 different quilt blocks. For example, there are assorted star blocks. At the beginning and end of the star block section, you can see a quilt using all of the blocks from the instructions (so 2 different quilts). I am not into the fabrics that they used for their quilts; however, strangely enough this is sort of inspiring to me because it gets my brain working to see what kinds of fabrics I could use to make the blocks work for my individual taste.

If you are not into sampler quilts, there are several quilt patterns near the end of the book that utilize some of the block patterns that were discussed throughout. I particularly liked the Rhubarb and Custard Quilt.

The Rhubarb and Custard quilt.

Even if you are a beginning quilter, the patterns and instructions in Jelly Roll Sampler Quilts make the process accessible. At the beginning of the book, the basic techniques are explained, which you can use later in the block instructions. The instructions for the blocks are very well-written and easy to understand. Just to make sure, I tried one of these blocks out for myself. As luck would have it, the host for May for the Mod Stash Quilting Bee chose a sampler quilt in warm colors, so I chose my favorite block from the book and got to work!

I made the top right block from this picture.

The block I chose, Carpenter's Wheel, took me about 2-3 hours to make. This is a 16" block, but I calculated to make it smaller since the block for the quilting bee was supposed to be 12". I used a pink polka dot fabric, with Michael Miller Brady Blossoms and a cute Alexander Henry fabric with yellow lemons on it.

My fabrics cut out

The block is not difficult to make, but it is time consuming since there are so many pieces to assemble. You need 3 differently-colored fabrics to make this block. Maybe I should have chosen different fabrics, since 2 of them had a good amount of white in them? Either way, this block is really stunning in person.

Block that I made...let's call it Pink Lemonade

So...my conclusion on this book is that if you picked it up in person, you might put it back right away if you didn't like the fabrics used inside. HOWEVER...I urge you to seriously consider it, because as you can see, when you use different fabrics, the blocks look completely different. It's sort of a mini encyclopedia of quilt blocks! I am sorry that I have to give this book away, because I totally want it for my sewing library (and I'm not just saying that)!!!

How you can enter to win the book Jelly Roll Sampler Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott:

1. Leave me a comment and show me some love!

2. "Follow" my blog (if you're already a follower, super!). Then, just leave a second, SEPARATE comment saying that you follow me.

You can have up to 2 entries. I will randomly choose a winner, who will be the new owner of this great book! The drawing will close on Wednesday, May 25th at 11pm CT. Good luck!

Sis Boom Meghan Peasant Dress

I whipped up this lovely peasant dress using the Sis Boom Meghan Dress for a super-cool event called The Summer of No Pants 2011 (what a great idea! Go check it out for all the festivities, and my guest post!). Even if you have never sewn clothing for yourself before, this pattern is probably the easiest place to start, and if you're not really into dresses, you can always shorten and make it into a cute top!

Fabric - I used about 1-1/2 yards of Amy Butler Fuchsia Tree in chartreuse, from the Soul Blossoms line. Such an awesome print! Besides the fabric, all you need to make this is a bit of knit elastic for underneath the bust, at the neckline, and for the sleeves.

Pattern Pieces - This dress pattern makes all sizes from 0 through 3X. This is a .pdf pattern, and it calls for 4-5 pattern pieces to be printed out (the bodice pieces are assembled from multiple pieces). There are several length and sleeve options (including a longer bell sleeve) to choose from. The most interesting part of the Sis Boom patterns is that you don't need to struggle to visualize what dress length would work best for you; there are illustrations of several heights of women, and it actually shows the measurements your skirt would need to be and where it would hit on your leg, corresponding to your height! How cool!

Illustrations/Instructions - I have worked with another Sis Boom sewing pattern in the past (the Jamie Dress), and these are the most crystal-clear patterns to work with. Each step is accompanied by a visual explanation, so there shouldn't be much doubt in your mind as to what you need to do next.

To make this dress, all you need to do is assemble the bodice pieces using a straight stitch. You will be making a casing in several places, which is an enclosed area through which you will later insert your elastic, which makes the fabric bunch up and gather toward your body. The skirt is straight.

I did not make any modifications to this pattern while making the dress. Since you are using elastic around the bustline, neck, and arms, you can choose to lengthen or shorten your elastic before sewing it in permanently, which makes it tailor to a variety of different body types.

I've worn this dress several times now, and I usually wear it with a belt (as pictured), as I feel like the belt breaks it up a little bit (and also prevents me from looking like I have no chest to speak of, lol). I am not sure if I like the way the skirt falls straight, as I'm more of a full-skirt type of girl, but I would definitely jump at the chance to make this pattern again as a top!

Conclusion - Thank you to Marigold for hosting this wonderful Summer of No Pants event! I am personally pledging to wear more dresses this summer and save myself from boring old jeans and t-shirts! If you are not new to sewing clothing, this project will be a quick evening affair, and if you've never sewn anything to wear...what are you waiting for?! Because I've gotta tell you...this is so easy, it's just what you need to get your feet wet!

P.S. I'm also linking up toSew Modern Monday and Fabric Tuesday!

Garden Paths Quilt

I tested a quilt pattern that is making its debut at Quilt Market. This is the "Garden Paths" pattern from Amanda Murphy Design. Amanda also designs fabric for Robert Kaufman, and her new line, Veranda, is coming out this summer. You should see some of the other patterns that she has available...wow.

I finished my quilt in time for Mother's Day, but I've had to keep it a secret until now. I am also really excited to be able to post this for the Blogger's Quilt Festival!

Fabric requirements for the pattern.

Fabric - I used an Amy Butler Soul Blossoms jelly roll for this quilt, and the backing fabric is Kona grass green. Additionally, there is a border fabric that is also used for 2-1/2" squares in each row, and for that I used a Jennifer Paganelli Flower Power fabric that I had in my stash. I think this blue fabric goes pretty well with the Amy Butler prints! For the backing, I used a blue king-sized sheet that I got at the thrift store for $2! Finally, the binding is Jessica Leavitt Dogwood fabric.

Illustrations/Instructions - This is the first intricately-pieced quilt that I have made. The other quilts I've finished have been repetitive blocks, like my Heather Ross Quilt or my Tufted Tweets Postage Stamp Quilt. However, the instructions are wonderful and straight-forward. The digital diagrams show you exactly how to sew your strips together, and then later the blocks. It seems daunting, but when done in chunks as the instructions call for, it's really a breeze. It's a wonderful pattern, and I think the end results are really nice.

When assembling the blocks together, they come together really quickly, and it's easy to line them up via the little blue 2-1/2" squares. I finished this quilt in exactly 2 weeks (I was really pushing myself, since I had a deadline).

Conclusion - This is a really wonderful pattern. If you're looking for something different to quilt, this is it! I'd recommend this pattern for someone who has at least one quilted project under their belt.

Amy Butler Weekender Bag

I finished this bag yesterday and breathed a huge sigh of relief. I have made many bags before, but this is the most difficult. The multiple layers of Peltex interfacing you need to sew through, combined with the cording, make it really tricky (although, this is the last step in assembling the exterior; getting through all the other steps is not difficult. Really.). The only thing about the cording is that when sandwiching it between the layers, if you need to sew through it with the Peltex side on top (which you'll have to do at some point, because you'll need to wrangle it through your sewing machine differently at different times), it's really near impossible to feel where the cording is, so I felt like I was sewing blind (I just kept sewing closer and closer to the center, and kept checking, until I felt I had sewn close enough). Anyway.

Here's my lovely cording.

Fabric - I used 1 yard of Anna Maria Horner Garden Party Tablecloth in Ice for the exterior. The thing about that is, the pattern called for 1-5/8 yard for the exterior. How did I make it work? I used a Kona solid for the reverse sides of the pockets (there's that big pocket on the front of each side, and also a pocket on each of the sides). I usually don't follow the cutting instructions because I feel it wastes a lot of fabric doing it that way (no matter what the pattern). If you're going to do it like this, make sure you lay out your pieces before you cut.

For the straps and cording, I tried to get as close to the color yellow on the Anna Maria Horner fabric as I could. The Kona solid was a teeny tiny bit more green than yellow, but close enough. I used the same fabric on the exterior. The pattern also calls for cotton cording (which you'll sew your fabric around), Peltex interfacing, and woven interfacing. The zipper is a 30" zipper (or you can buy a larger one and trim it down), and I got a nifty "sport" zipper with the big plastic teeth, like I used on my childrens' hoodies. It's pretty awesome with the bigger zipper (you just have to make sure to sew a bigger seam allowance while attaching the zipper to the top panel, so you have enough fabric to sew it down onto).

Pattern Pieces - There's only 3 pattern pieces to cut out (the main/pocket panel, the side pocket, and the top panel). The strap and bottom panel are cut from rectangular measurements. It's so nice not having a zillion pattern pieces to cut out. :-) Although all the interfacing makes up for it (bags always take so much interfacing...much more time consuming, but I always love a stiff bag, so definitely worth the extra effort).

Illustrations/Instructions - I had an old version of the pattern (the version with the Kokka Sunbloom fabric on the front cover), so there was a lot of errata on Amy Butler's website. Most of the changes involve the switching over from Timtex to Peltex. When I got the pattern, I wrote all the changes right on it so I wouldn't have to keep referring over to the site. It's not that big of a deal (although the changes look pretty massive on the site, lol).

As always, Amy's instructions are pretty impeccable. Yes, this bag can be challenging at times, but I didn't have a problem understanding any of the instructions. The challenge is mostly the issue I already mentioned, with sewing the exterior together. I don't think that should keep you from attempting this pattern, though! I didn't make any alterations to the pattern, but what I did do, was when I got to the tough part of assembling the exterior pieces, was that I gave myself 3 days (probably 3 days to do what I could have done in an hour or two, lol). I sewed about a 12" section (that is, sewing through the front, back, top panel, and cording simultaneously). Then I stopped, watched some tv. Came back and sewed another small section. Had a snack. The next day I sewed a corner. That was the toughest, so I did both corners in one day and that's all I did. Basically, I'm saying to tell yourself going in that you're going to take it easy. Do yourself a favor, so you don't need to have a drink to calm your nerves (just kidding).

The bag has a false bottom, and instead of putting a piece of quilting template into it (another thing to buy), I used 3 layers of cardboard. I mean, you're not going to be washing the false bottom either way, so it really doesn't matter what you use. I used this same method when I made the Amy Butler Cosmo Bag (this one doesn't have a false bottom, but it's a gigantic bag so I thought it could use some extra stability in the bottom, so I could put a lot of stuff in the bag), and it worked beautifully.

Conclusion - I would say that this is going to be for an experienced seamstress. I am so in love with how this bag turned out (and don't worry, those little creases in the exterior are from turning it inside and outside so many times, from checking many times to make sure my cording was sewn close enough. They smooth out the more the bag gets used). I saw on Amy Butler's site that people are using this bag for putting their sewing machines into...genius! It does fit my sewing machine, which makes me really excited! If only I had a sewing friend in real life (I can't join the quilt guild here in Chicago, their meetings are always when I am working on Sundays, boo!!), I'd be all set to take my sewing machine somewhere fun! :-)

On a side note, my husband is downstairs shaking the house with all his screaming (nope, not what you were thinking), so go Chicago Bulls. ;-)

P.S. I'm linking up to Sew Modern Monday and Fabric Tuesday!

Flower Quilt Block

I was really behind on this April block for the Mod Stash Quilting Bee. Yikes! Hilary sent everyone a light gray broadcloth, and we were supposed to work with the theme of "flowers". Any kind of block, not too brightly-colored, any size. I decided to use some Amy Butler scraps and applique the scraps down with a zig-zag stitch. Hopefully she likes her block!

Tutorial: Rainbow Sherbet Table Runner

At the beginning of the year, I won a wonderful 22-square charm pack from Seaside Stitches. The fabrics were from Sandi Henderson's Meadowsweet line. I finally figured out what to make with them, so I thought I would share what I did in this one-evening project!

Table Runner
Finished size: 28" x 12"


Materials
- 21 five-inch charm squares
- 32" x 15" backing fabric
- 32" x 15" piece of batting
- approximately 90" of double-fold bias (see Step 7)
- rotary cutter/cutting mat
- coordinating thread

Step 1.
Start by taking a charm square and cutting it in half. Set one half aside. Take the remaining half and cut it in half again. This will leave you with a rectangle that is 5" x 2.5" and two squares that are each 2.5" x 2.5". Repeat with all of the charm squares.

Step 2.
Take two of the 2.5" x 2.5" squares. Sew them, right sides together, along one edge. Press seam open. Randomly align some of your squares vertically and some of them horizontally, as pictured above. Some of the fabrics that I used were directional (in the case of the strawberries), so I took note of this when grouping the squares. If your prints are not directional, then you don't have to worry about the alignment. Repeat this step until all of your 2.5" squares are sewn together in sets of two.

Step 3.
Take one of your 5" x 2.5" rectangles and one of your 2.5" square sets that you just sewed together. With the right sides together, place the long edge of the rectangle even with the long edge of your square set. Sew together. Press seam open. Again, take note of any directional prints and combine them appropriately. Sew approximately half of them with the rectangle placed vertically (the block on the left), and half with the rectangle placed horizontally (the block on the right).

Step 4.
You probably noticed, after sewing your blocks together, that the rectangle portion hangs longer than the other side of the block. Trim the excess with your rotary cutter. Now your block will be an even 4.5" x 4.5".

Step 5.
Now that your blocks are all assembled, it's time to choose your layout! You will be laying the blocks out in 3 rows of 7 blocks per row. The picture above shows how to proceed with the layout. Starting from left to right, your blocks will be:
1. Rectangle at top of block.
2. Rectangle at left of block.
3. Rectangle at bottom of block.
4. Rectangle at right of block.

Repeat this sequence until you reach the end of the row. When starting on the second row, you will continue the sequence from where you left off on the first row. Repeat for the third row until you have used all 21 blocks.

Step 6.
Sew the blocks in the first row together to make one long strip. Repeat for the second and third rows. Note: if you come across any adjacent blocks with the smaller squares touching, make sure to match up the seam so that the squares will align (for example, in the picture above, do you see the two strawberry prints to the right of the two plaid prints? Those squares should be level). You will press the seams of the first and third rows to the right, and press the seams of the second row to the left. This will help you match up seams when you sew the rows together. Sew the first two to the second, and the second row to the third. Press seams open. Now the front of your table runner is complete!

Step 7.
Take your backing fabric and lay it with the wrong side facing you. Place the batting on top. Then place the top of your table runner with the right side facing you. Pin in many places to help the layers stay flat and together. Now you are ready to quilt the layers together. I used a straight line vertical stitch, the width of my presser foot, across the entire table runner. Trim the excess backing and batting from all sides.

Step 8.
For this step, you may use store-bought double fold bias, or you can make your own! I made my own by cutting a 2" strip from selvage to selvage. Then I cut one more and sewed the short ends together. Press the strip in half, length-wise. Open up your strip and press the bottom of the strip up toward the crease. Then press the top of the strip up toward the crease. Fold your original crease so that your raw edges are enclosed, and your bias is ready to go!

Step 8.
I am lazy and don't much like hand-sewing, so I did a cheater method (with a zig-zag stitch) for the binding of this table runner. There is a great tutorial for both the correct way and the cheater way over at MADE.


And...you're done! This table runner makes a nice little quilting project that you can quickly make with one charm pack.