New Quilt Design: Use Fusible Interfacing to get those PERFECT POINTS!

Hello Quilters-

I'm excited to share with you a big quilt block pattern that I designed. The finished product is 32X32.  I hope you enjoy!

Fabric: 

Dark: 4 fat quarters

Lights: 4 fat quarters

White: 2 fat quarters

2 1/4 yds ultralight weight fusible web 

21”X 21” light solid- muslin, flannel, cotton- We are going to 

mark a grid on this

*Because of the scrappy nature of the quilt block, you will have leftover fabric.

Cutting instructions:

From the Dark fat quarters:

Cut 100- 2.5” inch squares- Be sure to cut from a variety of fabrics. 

Cut 3- 6 inch squares- Be sure to cut from a variety of fabrics

From the Light fat quarters:

Cut 23- 6” squares

From the White: 

Cut 52 -white 2.5” squares

Cut 2- 6” squares

From the Fusible Web cut 4- 20X20 inch squares

Half Square Triangle Sewing Instructions:

This method of creating Half Square Triangles yields 8 Half Square Triangles per square combination.

1)Pair up the 6 inch square fabrics right sides together in the following combinations:   

3 sets of dark/light 

2 sets of white/light

9 sets of light/light

2)Mark an X going from corner to corner on one side of each 6” square pair. 

3)Sew 1/4” seam on either side of both diagonal lines.

4)Cut on the horizontal and vertical axis. DO NOT MOVE BETWEEN CUTS. 

  

5)Now cut on the diagonals in both directions. You can use the chalk marks as a guide for cutting.  Again DO NOT MOVE PIECES BETWEEN CUTS

6)Press Half Square Triangles Open and trim down to 2.5” square.

You should have: 

24 Dark/Light Combo

16 White/Light Combo

72 Light/Light Combo 

With your solid light muslin create a grid using a framing square or your long quilting ruler. Measure and draw a 20 X20 inch square. Then mark every 2.5 inches along the vertical and horizontal lines. Connect the marks to create an grid. 

Perfect Piecing with Fusible Interfacing

Step One:

Lay your fusible piece bumpy side up on the grid. Be sure to line up your edges to the outer lines of your grid. 

Step Two:

Arrange your half square triangles and squares on the grid according to the block arrangement diagram. They do not need to be perfectly aligned with the grid lines. Be sure that the fabrics don’t overlap- a little space between the squares is ideal. 

Step Three:

DOUBLE CHECK your fabric arrangement!!! You can’t go back once you’ve ironed them in place. 

Step 4:

Iron your pieces in place. Be sure to press your iron and hold for a few seconds. Then pick it up and move it to the next spot. DO NOT SLIDE the iron around because your pieces will move. Once you’ve set the fabrics then go back and iron once more to make sure that everything is held in place. 

Step 5:

Move over to your sewing machine. Fold the first row over and sew a 1/4 seam along the length.   Repeat with the remaining rows. Repeat for all blocks.

Step 6: 

Cut the fold off of each seam using your rotary cutter or scissors. Then press open the seams. 

Step 7:

Return to your sewing machine and fold over the first row going the opposite direction and sew a 1/4 seam along the length. Repeat with remaining rows. Repeat for all blocks.

Step 8: Again cut off the fold of each seam using your rotary cutter or scissors. Press seams open. 

Step 9: Arrange your blocks. Pin two together checking for seam alignment. Then sew 1/4 along the length. Repeat for the second set. Iron seams in opposite directions. 

Step10: Pin the two rows together. (I like to pin from the middle out to) Check to make sure your seams align. Iron open and ADMIRE your gorgeous block!

Off Set Blocks- 5 full and 2 halves

Finishing your block- There are several ways that you could finish your block off. You could simply sandwich and quilt to create a beautiful wall hanging. Or you could create some more blocks and end up with a gorgeous throw or twin quilt. I am going to go the wall hanging route, but I've put together some images of what the block would look like if you expanded the design. 

Single Block with borders

Four Block Pattern

DIY Utility Tote

Dear Readers-

I am in love with the large utility totes that are popping up everywhere. I have two of them, but I felt like I needed more...you know the feeling...it is apparent in your  my stash. Anyway, I use my utility totes for EVERYTHING- grocery shopping, Costco, swimming bag, winter stuff bag, hauling around Christmas presents etc. They are amazing...but commercially made bags are expensive. I thought there had to be a cheaper option...so I went searching.

I made two frames. Each frame was about 10inches wide. 

I found a great tutorial by Jill Cataldo, but I couldn't find the metal U-shaped frames that she used locally. When I went to order them online, they were inexpensive (~ $.70/per unit), but when I got to the checkout shipping was around $15. Taking that into account with the cost of the home decor fabric and the webbing strap, it would have been cheaper to just purchase one from Thrity-One.

So out I went to Lowes to see what I could find to make a frame for the bag. My husband has a pipe bender so I purchase a 6ft length of 1/4 inch steel for around $5.50 thinking that I could bend. It was a little heavier than I would have liked, but I gave it a go.

It wasn't difficult to bend the rod into shape, but I had to play with it a bit. I learned that I had to bend it past 90 degrees to get it to actually be 90 degrees. After I had each of the corners, I made sure that there was some overlap on one of the long sides so I could join the two ends. I used duct tape to wrap the joint tightly and cover the ends to help project the fabric from wear.

The bag itself was very easy to make. It went together easily and it was simple enough to change the size of the bag. I think that I will make a few more using Cataldo's pattern, but try to make a different lighter frame...perhaps I'll use the wire hangers that are just taking up space in my closet =)

QAYG 2: Working with Spray Baste

Dear Quilters-

Week 2 of the QAYG is here! If you are like me, then the least favorite part of whole quilting process is the sandwiching quilt together. I hate pinning...the pokes and pricks, the sore callus you get from opening and closing the pins (though my father-in-law made an awesome tool which has helped incredibly) not to mention the pins become a hassle when you are quilting because you constantly have to stop to take them out. I've heard some other quilters talk about using spray basting to speed up the process, so this week I decided to give the 505 Spray Baste a go. 

It went okay. I wouldn't say that it eliminated the hassle, it just changed it. I struggled to get the right amount of spray evenly across the batting. I wouldn't get enough and the backing wouldn't stick to the batting or I would get too much and it was difficult to reposition and smooth out. I also still pinned around the outer edge of the quilt sandwich. 

I would probably use it it again, but am not sure how it would work on larger pieces. 

Anyway- down to the quilting. I picked a curvy overall quilting motif for this block. I was searching through different quilting books I got for Christmas and found that I really liked the Fandangle motif in Christina Cameli's book Step-by-step Free Motion Quilting.  It was pretty similar to the orange peel I did on the last one, so the U shape was familiar, but the addition of the swirl within the U shape was new to me. 

I used the clear vinyl to audition the motif and thought it would work. I tried it different sizes and variations and settled on two passes across the row. One was too big and three was too small. (Just like the three bears right?)

I wanted to practice drawing out the pattern, so I found this great tool called Sketch Toy. It is a free online drawing app...check it out! I played with it for a bit practicing the design I'd chosen. (Click on the pictures to view the methods for each)

My quilting is improving with each little bit of practice...hopefully I can get to the point where it isn't SO nerve racking to start. With each little trick I learn, I know I am one step closer to making that a reality!

Hope you find these tools as useful as I do!!

J

Dino-Mite Birthday Party

Hiya-

If you've been looking for the upcoming QAYG post, you may have noticed that I've been neglectful of my blog the last couple of weeks. I thought that I'd share with you what I have been up to! I have been preparing for my Little's 3rd birthday party. It seems to me that often I become consumed with a quilt, fitness routine, or in this case...a toddler party!

I had so much fun planning this party. I'll be the first to admit that it took on a life of its own and that perhaps it might be a bit much...BUT I couldn't give up one thing I was so in love with everything.

My Little LOVES dinosaurs! We are talking obsession! So it was clear that a Dinosaur Party was a MUST! I started buy making a banner out of construction paper. I made a template in word for the pennant triangles. Then I inserted a text box in each of the three pennant triangles. I trimmed my construction paper down to 81/2 x 11 and then just printed. Each time I printed different letters and crossed them off to make sure that I didn't have two of the same color next to each.other. Then I used a hole punch to make the holes for the string and then I threaded the string through and hung it up.

I also used dinosaur themed library books, construction paper foot prints (176 to be exact), and large dinosaur figures that we already had ( I also borrowed some from my mom) to decorate shelves, windows, the fireplace etc.










I thought that the easiest menu would be a Nacho Bar: I called it the Cretaceous Cafe. It turned out to be very easy to put together because I didn't have to worry about my guests' special dietary needs because there were so many options. We made Chipotle Chicken , Queso, Pineapple Black Bean Salsa, Guacamole, Tomato Salsa, Veggie Tray w/ dip, Fruit Tray w/ Dip ( This is fabulous! I use plain yogurt), and Yellow Cake, Chocolate Cupcakes (Vegan Friendly), and Cookies.

If you'd like to have some of the other recipes, let me know and I'll email them to you. They are family recipes that I haven't put online. 





Cake Inspiration: I searched on Pinterest for a Dinosaur Cake that would be easy yet stunning, and Katie at Butterlust had the perfect one. She included her recipe for the cake, though I didn't use it because I was looking for a yellow cake. I also modified the ganache a bit because mine was too thin. I just added more dark chocolate to take care of the problem.

Cake Recipe: I love Rosie @Sweetapolita. Her cake recipes turn out wonderfully! I used this cake recipe for my sister's wedding cake and it turned out amazing!

Frosting Recipe: This recipe is a Swiss Meringue Buttercream also from Rosie@ Sweetapolita. It makes 10 cups which is a lot. But I used it to fill and frost a 3 layer 8 inch cake as well as frost my cupcakes. It is delicious and great for piping. It isn't as sweet as American Buttercream which is perfect for us!

I made some chalkboard fabric table runners so I could easily label all of the foods. It is great because these just wipe off and can be reused. You can find the Chalkboard fabric at Nancy's Notions.  I found a Chalk Marker at Walmart that worked great. You can use regular chalk, but I didn't want it to rub off around the food.

I also made my Little a birthday shirt to wear at his party. It was very easy! I purchased a plain shirt at Walmart, then created an image in a word document to print off on Transfer Artist Paper and iron onto the shirt. He loved it!















We also had several activities for the Kids to participate in at the party.

Dino Dig:
I set up a Dino Dig station for the kiddos. I purchased a large shallow tub and filled it with cloud dough and plastic dinosaur figures. The kiddos could dig around and find different dinosaurs to take home.  Cloud dough is awesome!! My little LOVES playing with it. It is a mixture of flour and baby oil.

Recipe: Mix 8 cups flour with 1/2 cup baby oil (I've heard mineral oil or veggie oil will work, but I prefer the smell of baby oil) For this bin I used 4 1/5 5lbs bags of flour and 2 1/2 bottles of baby oil. 







Dino Egg Hunt: 

I hid 60 large "Dinosaur" eggs filled with dinosaur figurines around the house. Before the hunt began I handed out dinosaur pillow cases I'd made as a take-a-way/egg basket. The toddlers had a lot of fun searching for them and packing them away in the cases.

Story Time: 
After all of the eggs were found, we sat down to open our eggs and look through the "loot". While they were examining their dinosaurs, I read a short dinosaur book.










Dinosaur Magnets: 
I have these fabulous dinosaur cookie cutters that cut out the silhouettes of the dinosaur as well as presses in the skeleton. They made perfect salt dough figures! I decided to glue magnets onto the back before the party and then have toddlers paint them using some neon temper paint.

The party was a lot of work but it was all worth it because my Little LOVED every minute of it. I'm not gonna lie....so did I!

Now that the party planning is over with for another year, I can get back to quilting and sharing what I've learned.

QAYG 1: Trouble choosing a quilting motif? I've got a fast easy solution!

Alright Quilters-

I started working on my 36" QAYG blocks. For these blocks I am focusing on the quilting. I thought they would be perfect for working on my Free Motion Quilting proficiency. But I have found that before I could work on the proficiency side of the FMQ, I actually had to make a decision regarding the quilting itself.

I find myself experiencing a kind of paralysis when it comes to completing a project. I work frantically to complete a quilt top, but then once the top is pieced I seem to freeze. I fear ruining a beautiful quilt top. I agonize over choosing just the right quilting design for the quilt I'm already in love with. How can I best enhance the blocks and fabrics? What if I choose a design that detracts from the block or clashes with the fabric prints?? All those hours spent picking fabric, cutting, and piecing would go down the drain. This last step....becomes frustrating.

I know that I am not alone. I have heard many of the women in my quilting group say they experience this same frustration. I am happy to say that I think that I might have found a solution to our problem. At least, I have found a way to audition quilting motifs and practice on my quilts in a meaningful way that is also cost effective!

I had purchased the vinyl before Christmas for making Eye Spy bags for the littles in my family, and had a lot left over. I was racking my brain for something to do with it when it hit me. It is so simple that when I thought of it, I kicked myself for not thinking of it sooner. I could use the vinyl to audition quilting motifs.

You will need a large piece of clear vinyl, expo marker or vis-a-vis, quilt top, quilting design inspiration (I am currently reading Shape by Shape by Angela Walters) and camera.

My piece of vinyl is 36"X36". I am planning on binding it using some of my leftover binding materials to keep myself from drawing off the edge. I haven't yet, because the pieces I am working with are smaller than the vinyl, so I am not concerned about drawing off the edge. If you are working with a smaller piece of vinyl or larger quilt top, then I would bind my vinyl before I tried auditioning any quilt motifs.

Lay the quilt top down and place the vinyl overtop. Now comes the fun part. I auditioned many different quilting patterns- both overall and custom. It was amazing to me that designs that I thought I'd love, I couldn't stand. I made sure to take pictures before I erased a design, so that I could compare them to each other before I made a final decision.

Once you have made a decision of the motif you are going to be using, then sandwich your quilt and pick your thread. I love contrasting threads on my fabrics, because the quilting really stands out. I typically like to use a variegated thread because it can pick up all of the different colors in the fabrics that I use.  I do have to admit that recently I have become a fan of the blended threads used in negative space quilting.

I started quilting my design using the larger quilting foot. I call it the "Starship Enterprise". I have used this quilting foot for a bit now, and I've really liked it, but I was struggling to quilt smoothly. So I changed quilting feet to a closed free motion foot- I think that it is also called a darning foot- and my quilting became so much smoother. I think that I will continue to practice quilting with this foot for the time being and let the "Enterprise" take a much needed break =).

I am pleased with the quilting motif that I choose, and I am going to be auditioning my quilting motifs from now on. I will be confident that I am no longer going to ruin my quilt top. I am hoping that this little change will help my UFO pile decrease =)

I hope you have found this tip to be helpful. What are some other methods you have found to get past the paralysis?

Happy Quilting-
J

Get Ready for Valentine's Day: Free Printable

Dear Valentine's Day Groupies-

This post is for you! I am going to take a quick step away from the quilting world for this post...so please enjoy or forgive depending on your relationship with Valentine's Day. I couldn't let Valentine's Day pass without sharing my Little's Valentine's for his friends this year. They turned out so stinking cute!

He is obsessed with dinosaurs at this particular point in time, so I in turn have dinosaurs on the brain. I started playing around with some ideas for Valentine's Day- all dino related and full of really awful punny puns. 

These Valentines were so fun to make. I found a word cloud maker online called Tagul that was free and relatively easy to use. Check out the link to create your own custom Valentine or download my pre-made Valentine's below. 

I hope you find these as 'dino'mite as I do!

Raptor Valentine

Stegosaurus Valentine

Snowman

Howdy-

I love winter and I love the snow and so does my Little. We are outside for a bit each day enjoying the fluffy white winter wonderland that has blanketed our little town.  The Post Independent reported that Glenwood Springs has received nearly 60 inches this winter- our average is only 37. We still have more snow coming this weekend and perhaps a few more spring snows to enjoy. 




This snowy weather brings fun adventures like- sledding, learning to run a snowblower ( I'd never used one prior to this winter's heavy snows), and romping in the snow drifts. However, I also like to be warm and cozy. I look forward to coming back indoors and getting all cozied up underneath a warm quilt and reading some books with my Little. Which brings me to the purpose of this blog post. I have completed one of my goals for the year. My Snuggly Snowman Quilt.

Back in October of 2015 at Glenwood Sewing Center, I came across some adorable soft flannel snowmen that I just couldn't live without. I promised myself that before it winter was over, I'd enjoy a snuggle or two under a cozy flannel quilt. Nancy Zieman has a great pattern that I thought would fun and bring out the best in the large print fabrics I was going to use. This is a pretty versatile and fun pattern that goes together fast and easy. There are so many different ways you can play with the blocks. I chose to do two sizes. 18" square and 9" square with the hopes of making the snowmen seem as if they were falling like snowflakes. I played with the color placements a little before I was satisfied- as is the case with most of us.

I chose to do some simple quilting on because I didn't want the quilting to detract from the soft flannel.

Don't rush the winter, for in a few short months, we'll be wishing for some reprieve from the heat!

Half Square Triangle Lifesaver

Okay Quilters-

The Saturday Sampler group that I attend has been doing the Go Big Blocks. Each month there are TONS of HSTs. I have been doing the semi-traditional method- yielding 2 HST for each block.

When we, my sister-in-law and I, got the pattern for this month, there were 56 HST. I know in the long run this isn't a lot, but I was tired of them and it seemed like so many. My sister-in-law was over and she was also tired of the monotonous HST method we were using. So we did some research....i.e. go to Pinterest.

We found several solutions to quickly assembling many HST here and here.  The first tutorial is for making big batches- 18 HST at once. The second is for making 8 HST at one go. After adjusting our pattern for big batches, we found that with the fabric from our kit we were limited to the 8 at one time HST method.

We decided to give it a try. It was so much faster to do 8 at once. It actually cut our time in half. I am looking forward to giving the 18 HST method a try soon!!

It is so fun to find different ways to get the same thing accomplished in sewing. I have two more Saturday Sampler meetings at Glenwood Sewing Center, so maybe I'll find another method I like better, but for now. These two are my go to HST methods!

Until next week-
Jesslyn


Our HST triangles were going to be 4.5" blocks.

1) Cut out your 10 inch squares

2) Mark the diagonal in both directions.
















3) Sew 1/4'' on both sides of the diagonal in both directions.

4) Cut the block in half horizontally and vertically. ( I was so glad that I had a spinning rotary mat for this process, because it is important to leave your square in place for both the horizontal and vertical cut.) Then cut between the sewn lines on the diagonal in both directions.

Vertical/ horizontal cuts

Diagonal cuts

4) Iron open and trim to 4.5" blocks. This is another instance were having a spinning rotary mat comes in very handy. It makes trimming blocks a breeze!

New Year...New Projects

Happy New Year Quilters!

As the new year begins... my goal setting and list making starts in earnest. Let me be clear- I AM A TO DO LIST JUNKIE. I thrive on making to do lists. It is such a thrill to cross something off the list that sometimes I will add an extra to the list just so I can cross it off or break down a larger item so I have more to cross off!

This year I have a "To Do List" of quilts. I want to make 12 different quilts this year. Each quilt will fall in a focus group: color, quilting, design, or technique. 

-Color- Color plays a huge role in how a pattern plays out in a quilt. It amazes me how a quilt can change simply based on the different colors chosen. Besides playing with the different colors, you also have to take in to consideration the values of those fabrics. So in the Twister quilt, I'll be playing with colors and in the Neutral Quilt, I'm going to play with values. 

Twister Quilt- Color Play

Neutral Quilt

-Quilting- I have many quilt tops that are in limbo. I get the top pieced, but then can't decide how to quilt the top. It is almost as if I am paralyzed with the fear of ruining a quilt top. I want to be comfortable with quilting designs that this is no longer a huge struggle.

As I peruse Pinterest, I'm drawn to the beautiful quilts quilted by Angela Walters and Judi Madsen. Their designs are not only beautiful, but I'd say make the quilts stand out. I aspire to quilt as beautifully as either of these women. Of course, in order to do that one must practice, practice, practice. But on these quilts I'll pay special attention to the quilting.

I am most excited about the QAYG quilting sampler. For the Saturday Sampler at Glenwood Sew this year, they've been teaching big blocks. I've decided to take each of those blocks and focus on quilting using different designs in a few new books that I got for Christmas. The idea is that each block being 36" square will be the perfect size to focus on quilting and overall design. Then I'll connect them to make one beautiful quilt. 

QAYG- Quilting Sampler

Hexagon Quilt- Halloween

Saturday Sampler- Green and Purple

Quilt Blue Scrappy

-Design- I want to stretch my imagination and design two original quilts. It may not seem like much to only design two quilts, but for me it will be a challenge. I find so many beautiful patterns out there that I think that my originality and creativity are stifled because it is far easier for me to buy a pattern than to sit down and create. 

Original Design Quilt

Monster Quilt 

-Technique- Every quilter has a desire to get better, to broaden their horizons and find new or different ways to create the same block. I'd like to explore some of these different techniques and find one or maybe a few that I like enough to be my go to techniques. 

Flying Geese

Double Disappearing Nine Patch

Drunkard’s Path Baby Quilt

-Seasonal- I want to make quilts for each season, starting with Winter. 

Snowman Quilt

I look forward to sharing with you my progress for the year. I hope you join me in creating a "To Do List" of Quilts to complete this year as well. 

Can't wait to see the creative juices flow!!
Until next time-

Jesslyn