A Day at the Beach - Quilt #8

I work in a local school district, and one student that I worked with a lot graduated this past June.  A few of us in the office sew and quilt, so we'd always bring in our completed projects to show each other.  The day I brought in my beach blanket she saw it and asked if I would make her a blanket for graduation.  She requested a beach theme, but something more tropical.

Fortunately she is patient, and understanding.  I wasn't able to get the blanket done on time, but I promised I would have it to her as soon as possible.  Since my husband went out of town for Labor Day weekend, I had plenty of time to play in my sewing room.  I finished it in a few days.  I'm so glad to be able to to give her this blanket in honor of her graduating high school.

I had a pattern in mind when I started this project, but due to the size of the blocks in the beach themed panels I knew I would have to make modifications.  In addition, I try to pre-wash my fabrics before starting a project, and I did with these.  What I didn't realize at the time, is that washing panels is bad.  They come out all skewed.  So I had to further modify my plans.  Ultimately, I made it up as I went along, keeping the original pattern in mind for inspiration.  The finished blocks ended up 13.5" x 13.5".  There are nine of them with a border at the top and bottom.  Since the blanket would be far too busy with those blocks sewn directly together, I added a 1" border around each block.  Finished size of the blanket is approx. 44" x 60".

Some firsts for me:
Using directional fabric (top/bottom border) - seaming them together to make them long enough, and keeping it straight when attaching to the blanket.
Free motion quilting.  I just did one line of it to practice, I made a wavy line in the bottom border piece, to mimic water.

The end result is a very fun, colorful, tropical blanket that has everything representing a fun day at the beach.  I may want to make one for myself!  :)

F... CANCER - Quilt #7

Cancer sucks!  A friend was recently diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma.  He's had lymph nodes removed, had his lungs drained of fluid a few times already, and is now going through chemo.  Hearing of his diagnosis really hit us hard.  Being thousands of miles away, there isn't much we can do for the family.  Even though it's very hot where he lives right now - everytime I see a picture of him in the hospital I think, 'he needs to have a custom blanket', because that is something I can do to let him, and his family, know that we are thinking of him.  So, the search for fabric began.

My husband (Daryl) even got interested in this blanket so we made it a collaborative project.  He made suggestions for fabrics and had veto rights for the stuff I picked out.  Our friend has participated in many Ironman races, both half and full.  His favorite part of the race is biking.  He loves watching sports, he's a chef and he loves his wine.  I scoured the internet and every quilt/fabric store I went into to find a bunch of fabrics I could use for a mash up quilt.

In case my friend, or any of you out there reading, are wondering my thoughts behind the fabrics: here we go. In addition to the interests listed above, I found out his favorite colors are yellow and black because of Lance Armstrong's LIVESTRONG Cancer Charity.  Those fabrics (with LIVESTRONG hand embroidered on them) speak for themselves.  Since an Ironman consists of a bike race, swim race and running race I found fabrics representing each (there were slim pickin's though - thank goodness for the Summer Olympics the stores had sports fabrics in stock).  Then there's the food, chef and wine fabrics.  My favorite find was the print of chef's on bikes with wine and/or bread.  I wanted the blanket to be full of everything that my friend enjoys.  I wanted him to see something new or have it look different everytime he uses it. 

Once all the fabrics were picked out, I brought my friend Dionne into the collaboration.  I needed something that would go together fairly quick because I didn't want it to be a month before I could send this off.  I shared with her Daryl's thoughts on how he wanted the fabrics to go together and we formulated a plan based on a scrappy quilt.  Scrappy quilts are generally small strips sewn together in order to reduce the size of our scrap fabric pile.  I wanted the blanket to be about the size of my couch snuggler, which is 42" x 60", and since we wanted to see enough of each fabric pattern, we decided on the finished strips at 4" x 9".  Since I was staggering each row I'd also need some 4" x 5" pieces to fill in on the ends. 

I found that doing hand embroidery in the car on a long trip really helped to pass the time.  When I got home, I also discovered my writing isn't very good when trying to stitch in a moving vehicle.  In addition to the LIVESTRONG hand embroidery, I added 140.6 in a few places - which is the number of miles in a full Ironman race.  There's one little secret message to cancer inconspicuosly stitched into the blanket.  Since it contains a bad word (hint: look at the title of this post) I won't repeat it here.  I wonder when my friend will find it.  :)

I heard from a friend who's mother had Hodgkins Lymphoma that she was always cold and her skin was very sensitive from the chemo treatments.  So, keeping that in mind I used a soft, cuddly flannel for the back.

To make this blanket:
Cut
(68)  4.5" x 9.5" strips
(7)    4.5" x 5" strips
Backing and batting: at least 46" x 66"  (You want a couple inches on all sides)
Stitch
(5) pieces into a strip 8 times
(4) pieces into a strip 7 times
the 4.5" x 5" pieces onto each end of the 4 piece strip so it's the same length as the 5 piece strip
All the rows together
Finishing
Create your quilt sandwich of quilt top, batting and backing.  Baste.  Stitch in the ditch following the quilting width instructions of the batting you are using
Bind

Get well soon Rob!  We love you!

~ Enjoy ~

p.s. - for anyone wondering about the post for quilt #6, you haven't missed it - I can't post that for another week or two.  I need to wait until the recipient has seen the blanket first.  But - it's a cute one, and I can't wait to share it with you!

Comfy Couch Blanket - Quilt #3

Most quilt patterns are in sizes of lap/crib, twin, queen and king.  I want something in between.  Maybe I'm just being difficult and refuse to follow 'recipes' as written, but I love sitting under blankets on the couch.

The crib size is too small and twin too big.  This blanket measures 41" x 64", the perfect size for covering one person on the couch, two if you're snuggling.  :)  It has 72 four by four squares and three borders.  It's a basic Four Patch pattern, but I added some length and an extra border.

The colors in my house are based on a western theme.  Browns, beige, rust/deep red, and green.  The polka dot fabric is my focus and while it looks black in this picture it's actually brown.  I also needed a non-neutral color and there was dark blue in the dots, so I pulled that out in one of the borders.  (The blue border is brighter in the picture than it actually is.)

I'm using 7 fabrics + warm & natural batting:

• Fabric A Dark - Focus (36 inner squares and outer border)
• Fabric B Medium - Green leafy (36 four patch inner squares)
• Fabric C Light - Beige (36 four patch inner squares)
• Fabric D Dark - Rust (inner border 1)
• Fabric E Medium - Blue (inner border 2)
• Fabric F Dark - Green (binding)
• Fabric G Light - Camel (flannel backing)

My first quilt I took my time and made sure everything was near perfect.  The second quilt I got a little over confident so there were a few mistakes on it.  I re-grouped, worked through my mistakes and learned a few new things along the way.  Quilt #3 came out really good!  My squares are on point, the inner design didn't stretch, and using flannel for the backing worked out better this time.

A note to the other quilters out there: washing, pressing and starching the fabrics before starting a project is the way to go!

Since four patch quilt patterns are pretty standard, I won't include all the cutting/piecing instructions - but if anyone wants them, let me know.  Border widths are - Inner border one: 3"; Inner border two: 1.5"; Outer border: 4.5".

  

Beach Blanket - Quilt #2

I promised to write about the good and bad of my experiences.  This blanket has both, but I learned some new things and in the end I like the outcome quite a bit.  In this post I'll include my mistakes, accomplishments and the cutting/piecing directions.  This quilt is made up of 72 inside squares, 2 inner borders, an outer border and the binding.  It measures 47" x 50".

Good: I'm getting much better at lining up my pieces.  Almost all of the squares are on point!

Bad: This was supposed to be a four patch... but I got started cutting and stopped reading the directions.  Oh well, I moved forward and starting making it up as I went along.  That's the beauty of quilting - it's flexible and forgiving.

Bad: Originally I had 3 sets of squares.  The focus fabric, the browns (which I did use), and squares made of the 2 inner border fabrics.  I just couldn't find a placement where I liked that last set of squares so I put them in my scrap pile and made more of the browns.

Bad: Once the inside was built I found that the material had stretched in places so it didn't lay really smooth.  Not a deal breaker, but I knew it would be challenging to do the batting and backing.

Lesson: I don't usually pre-wash my materials, but I told Judi I was planning to use flannel as the backing and she said I would need to wash both the quilt top and the backing since they will shrink differently.  Something I didn't know at the time - if you wash a quilt top before it's put together with the batting and backing - the seams fray pretty bad, and even came apart in 2 places, so I had to repair it.  From now on, I will pre-wash my fabrics before I start cutting and piecing!

Lesson: When using a focus fabric that is single directional and is intended for both the inside design and a border - make sure you have enough fabric to keep that direction by cutting the pieces both length of grain and cross grain.  Fortunately, I did.  Or, piece your inner design in different directions so it doesn't matter which direction your border is going. 

Lesson: Starch your fabrics well before cutting.  This will eliminate having to press as often during the building process and the fabrics won't stretch as much.  My new process starts with washing the fabrics, then I steam press the fabrics.  Next I apply a good amount of starch to the whole thing, turn it over and press.  Repeat for the other side.

Ok, now to the good stuff -
Materials list:
Up to 7 fabrics (I used 5)
36 - Seashell buttons
1 - DMC Perle #5 yarn

Cutting measurements are assuming 42" wide fabric and include a 1/4" seam allowance.

Fabric	# Strips	Width	# yards
1 (part of square)	4	2.5"	3/8
2 (part of square)	4	2.5"	3/8
3 (focus fabric)	4	4.5"	5/8
4 (inner border 1)	4	3.5"	1/2
5 (inner border 2)	4	1.5"	1/4
6 (outer border)	5 *	4.5"	1
7 (binding)	5	2.5"	3/8
8 (batting)	1	50" x 53"
9 (backing)	1	50" x 53"

In my quilt, Fabric 3, 6 and 7 are the same.
* Alternate cutting option if you are using single directional fabric and you want it oriented correctly (and you have enough fabric): 2 strips, 4.5" wide (going length of grain) and 2 strips 53" long (going cross grain).

• Sew Fabric 1 and 2 strips together to make four 4.5" strips.
• Cut strips into 4.5" squares - you need 36 of them.
• Cut Fabric 3 strips into 4.5" squares - you need 36 of them.
• Lay out squares as shown (or arrange squares however you like) and sew them together by rows.
• Sew the rows together.
• You now have the inside built.
• Attach Fabric 4 left/right sides first, then trim and do the top/bottom pieces.
• Attach Fabric 5 the same as 4.
• Sew together Fabric 6 pieces for the left/right sides so they are long enough (skip this step if you are using the alternate cutting option).
• Attach Fabric 6 top/bottom sides first, then trim and do the left/right sides.
• Your quilt top is now finished!
• Cut your batting and backing, you want it larger than the top.
• Attach quilt top to the batting.  Smooth it starting from the middle and work your way out, pinning as you go.  When you've got it as smooth as possible, replace straight pins with safety pins (makes it easier for attaching buttons).
• Using DMC Perle #5, hand sew buttons to quilt top and batting.
• Attach top and batting to backing, smoothing the same as above.
• Stitch in the ditch around a few squares in the middle, and around at least one of the inner borders.  (This ensures your backing stays put during washing and heavy use.)
• Make your binding by stitching the strips together and pressing it in half. 
• Attach to the front of the quilt, raw edges together.
• Flip the folded edge over the raw edge and press (just makes it easier for hand sewing).
• Use a slipstitch to attach the folded edge to the backing.

You're done!  Congratulations!

Gwen's blanket

I've been posting mostly recipes, so I'm due for something about sewing.  Since my current project is still a few days away from completion, I'll show my first baby quilt.  A friend in Arizona has a three year old and I've wanted to send her something for awhile... but it had to be meaningful.  Now that I've learned how to quilt, a little blanket seemed the perfect thing.  My friend (and mentor) Judi suggested a rail fence design to start off with.  My friend Dionne and I went shopping for materials and she's amazing at putting fabrics together.  Between the two of us we came up with some great ideas.  I was so excited to see it put together, I worked feverishly to get it done - even through power outages!  (My husband hooked up a deep cycle battery and power inverter.)

Little Gwen's room is done in fuschia, brown, dark aqua and dark lime green.  The picture just doesn't do this quilt justice - it is so much cuter in person - the colors aren't quite right in the photo either.  The pink border has little polka dots, the inner dark color is actually brown, even though it looks black from here.  Click the pictures to see them larger...