One Quilt, One Day, Start to Finish

Yesterday I made this quilt:

OK, so it is only 11" x 13" but it's finished!

The backstory:

Our guild, the Heritage Quilters of Huntsville, is having a little contest this year:

1. Check a book out from our large library
2. Make a quilt from the book
3. Bring the quilt to a guild meeting
4. Fill out a slip
5. At the end of the guild year, August, two people will win $50 gift certificates to my favorite shop, Patches & Stitches .

I had known about this for a few months with no plans to participate. At the last guild meeting, Thursday, the Librarian made a pitch for this because, more than half way through the year, there was only ONE participant, the Librarian herself.

So the next day I was in Patches on other business and since our library is housed there, I checked out this book, Little Handfuls of Scraps  by Edyta Sitar:

That night I looked all through the book--there are several designs I really like in it. I selected the one I wanted to make, Sophie, page 66.

The next day, yesterday, I was ready to begin about 11 a.m. I selected all the fabrics from a shoebox full of reproduction prints I keep close at hand. All the pieces were cut out and assembled on a flannel board I use to take blocks ready to sew from the cutting table to the  machine:

I sewed and  pressed, took a short lunch break, sewed and pressed some more and  had the top done pretty quickly. I cut the batting and backing to size, ready for quilting.

My plan was to hand-quilt it as I needed a hand project for evening sewing. But first I would stitch-in-the-ditch on the Bernina Q20 sit-down longarm machine. That didn't take long so I thought, I'll just machine quilt the entire thing. That didn't take long either, less than 45 minutes to fill the squares with "orange peel" designs, using curved rulers.

Next, it was time to trim it, cut and create the binding, cut and create the hanging sleeve, and attach the binding and sleeve by machine.  By 3 p.m. it was done. Last evening I hand-stitched the binding and sleeve in place and this morning I hung it in the hallway.

So, one quilt, one day. I sent an email to the Librarian to let her know her pitch was heard by at least one of us. She was happy. Next month I'll take it to show and put my name in the hat.

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

Joining Rows to Create a Quilt Top

I've been asked to explain my process when joining rows of blocks to create a quilt top.

This tutorial applies to a "Straight Set quilt". For information about an "On-Point Set quilt" go here.

Using this antique top I bought last year as an example, I will show you my process.  

Garden of Eden blocks

This is a design done in EQ7 of a simple pieced quilt top with rows of blocks and sashing with cornerstones:




First, I design the layout, choosing which blocks go where.  As I usually make quilts with lots of fabrics, this can take a little time.  In this example, all the blocks are the same so I just put them on the design wall and start sewing.

We will start with the first row of sashing/cornerstones and call this Row 1.

There are a total of 8 of these rows:  1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15.

There are rows of pieced blocks, let's call this Row 2:

There are 7 rows of pieced blocks, Rows 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14.

Working from the top, I sew the first row of sashing, from left to right.  Row 1. This goes quickly.

I then sew the first row of blocks. Row 2.  This takes a little more time, as the seams are longer.

Now I join Row 1 to Row 2, carefully matching the intersections where the sashing and cornerstones meet.  Yes, I pin all those intersections.

Unit 1/2:

Now I put that unit back on the wall and sew the next set of these units, Row 3 to Row 4.  When I have that done, Unit 3/4, I join them to Unit 1/2:

Now I repeat with the next set of sashing and block rows:

Unit 1/2/3/4 + Unit 5/6/7/8

=

This is the TOP HALF of the quilt.  I put it back on the design wall and proceed in the same manner to create the bottom half of the quilt.  NOTE the final row of sashing/cornerstones on the bottom:

Then I simply join the top half to the bottom half:

All that is left to do is add the four borders and this top is done.  Why don't I just start at the top and keep going?  Because as the quilt grows it gets more awkward to deal with the whole thing.  By breaking it down into sections, I only have the entire quilt under the needle for that final seaming, joining the two halves.  If you want to start at the top and just keep going, that's perfectly OK, it's your quilt, do it your way.  

IMPORTANT TIPS FOR BORDERS:  Do not just cut a long piece of fabric (or piece a long border), sew it on and whack off the extra.  This will pretty much ensure your quilt is out of square.  MEASURE your quilt and cut the borders the actual size they need to be to precisely fit your quilt. In this example the sashing rows finish at 2.5 inches and the block rows are 11" high. 

In a PERFECT world, my seams would all be exactly 1/4" and the top would now measure 97.5" x 84", before adding that outer border.  That is raw edge to raw edge. Measure your quilt to find out what size yours really is before proceeding.  Cut borders to fit YOUR quilt.

 The left and right borders are cut (or pieced to become) 5.5" wide x 97.5" long.  After they are sewn to the left and right sides of the quilt, I measure again and cut the top and bottom borders 5.5" x 94".  Sew on the top and bottom borders and you have a completed quilt top, that will finish at 93.5" x 107".  

NOTE:  I mark the center of each border and pin each outside edge and the center.  Then I use as many pins as necessary to keep the border neat and tidy while sewing.  With borders this long, I put pins about every 5".  The more pins you use, the more likely your borders will fit nicely.  We are using the accurately cut borders to create a quilt top that is square, not wonky.  

ANOTHER NOTE ABOUT BORDERS:  While it is generally best to cut your borders on the lengthwise grain for more stability of the borders, I often cut them crosswise and piece them to the correct length.  The most common reason for this is I don't want to buy more fabric just so I don't have to piece a border and can have it all on the lengthwise grain.  I use what I have.  It would take 1.75 yards to cut these borders crosswise, but you would need at least 2.75 yards to cut lengthwise.  And you would have a long piece leftover, approximately 18" x 99".  Yes, you could use that for the binding, but the point is: Do what makes sense for YOU and this quilt.  If this will hang on the wall, use lengthwise cut borders.  But if it's going on a bed I don't think it makes a lot of difference.  You get to choose.  

If you are still with me, I hope this makes sense and gives you a road map to follow as you piece your next quilt top.

Oh, and I had to use diagrams from EQ7 for this tutorial because here is where I stand with my reproduction quilt so far:

Let's Quilt!

Barbara 

X Block Swap

The X Block Swap top is done--now to machine quilt in the ditch and hand quilt in the larger triangles.  I really like how this came out.  Had to stop myself from adding a wide border on the outside--that's so late 20th century, not how this one would have been done in the late 1800's.

Jump on over to Judy L's Design Wall Monday Judy L's Design Wall Monday blog to see what other's are doing.

Let's Quilt!

Barbara