I’m in the market for a new leader/ender project. I picked up this gorgeous piece of fabric a while back and thought it might be the perfect constant for another scrappy quilt.
Remember this full bin of 2 1/2 inch squares? That last little project didn’t put a dent in it.
I grabbed this die to cut up some of the blue.
Here is my test block. I quite like this.
I’m in a bit of a quandary though. I realized when I cut these squares that this background fabric is 60 inches wide. I have over two yards of it. It would make a perfect quilt back, so maybe I should save it for that.
What would you do?
Have a great day!
PS I almost forgot! Click here to register for this week’s AccuQuilt Live! You don’t want to miss out on the fun prizes!
I made this little quilt quite a few years ago now, but those that have seen it seem to really enjoy it. So I thought I’d make and share a new version today, along with a quick tutorial so you can make your own. It’s my little Valentine to all of my dear readers.
You will need about 2/3 of a yard of background fabric and 24 – 2 1/2” squares (A) in any colors you want.
Cut your background fabric into 8 – 2 1/2 by WOF strips.
Subcut your background strips as follows. I recommend cutting the longest pieces first.
B Cut 6 – 2 1/2 inch squares
C Cut 5 – 2 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches
D Cut 4 – 2 1/2 by 6 1/2 inches
E Cut 2 – 2 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches
F Cut 4 – 2 1/2 by 10 1/2 inches
G Cut 5 – 2 1/2 by 12 1/2 inches
Lay out your colored squares as shown below.
Then place background pieces in their positions as follows.
Sew pieces into columns. Press seams in each column in opposite directions. Next, sew your columns together.
Cut side borders 2 1/2 by 20 1/2 inches and add to each side. Cut top and bottom borders 2 1/2 by 26 1/2 inches and add to top and bottom. Press seams toward the borders.
Quilt as desired! And come back on Friday to see my finished Valentine. If you make a quilt using this little tutorial, please post on Instagram and tag me in your post (@katyquilts).
I was feeling rather unsettled about some things last week. After running some errands, I headed toward the mountains. Turns out that was just what I needed.
It’s a place where I can listen and learn.
The beauty is unmistakable, thorns and all.
It is a place of resilience.
It is ancient.
There is life and death, and beauty in both.
I hope today that you will be able to find a place that restores your soul. A place where you can listen and hear the whisper of God.
My little map quilt is done and I’ve decided to call it Road Trip.
See that little Jeep all loaded up and driving from Michigan to Arizona? I probably should have pointed it the other way, since we will head back before long.
I originally planned to quilt this with straight lines, but grabbed this pantograph instead. Since everything I do is hand guided, this is far from perfect.
It gives great texture, but it isn’t easy to get it right and every wobble shows.
I was glad I tried it out on a very small quilt! This is 22 by 28 inches.
And what does this have to do with anything? I like to take photos in the corner of my backyard. Our neighbor has a lemon tree and she said we can have all the lemons we can reach. I just noticed they are almost ready!
You can see a wee bit of our lime tree below. It’s pretty small yet, but it has a bit of fruit starting.
Time for another Throwback Thursday post! The following post was originally published on February 28th, 2010. Enjoy!
Dear Jane……I’m sorry, but……
I just don’t think I can follow your rules. I know you worked hard on all those 4 1/2″ blocks and I tried to follow the book, really I did. But it just isn’t going to happen. Love and admiration, Katy
A number of years ago, my local guild makde a Dear Jane raffle quilt. There were a lot of leftover photocopies of pages and someone gave them to me. I was quite fascinated and decided to make some of the blocks. I got kind of hooked on it and yet I had other blocks that I liked that were not in the book. I made them anyway. I invented more blocks with things that are important to me: a school house, my family members’ initials, scissors, a cross etc. I made 100 blocks and put them together into this:
This picture is washed out but most of the prints are repros or things that just look old to me. You can’t tell but the border is quilted with feathers. I won a ribbon at a local show with this for Best Traditional. I love this quilt and had a lot of fun making it my way and my own.
Fast forward a few years and I am again thinking I should do the Dear Jane thing. I bought the book. I made patterns. I made some blocks. This past week I discovered the 25 or so I had done and decided to make more. Some of these are really fussy to make. I thought about simplifying a few blocks but the very thought made me feel like a criminal or at least a serious slacker….
I remembered this quilt I finished earlier and got it out of the closet. I am going to put a sleeve on it and hang it in my front room. I remembered how much I loved this and how fun it was to make without being married to the pattern.
Once again, I decided to ditch Jane. I will still make plenty of blocks from the book but I will change them with wild abandon. I will add and subtract to my hearts content. The world doesn’t need one more Jane Stickle wanna be quilt from me.
I think I will call this, Sister Kate, She Hath Done What She Could…..
If you read this far, you may be wondering what actually happened to these blocks. You can read about my finished quilt, Calamity Jane here.
Remember that bin of 2 1/2” squares I showed you the other day? I actually have two of those bins. That one was all repro fabrics, this one is more bright/modern prints. Basically anything that isn’t Civil War, ends up here.
So I started messing around on the design wall.
I needed some low volume bits so I opened up this long hoarded charm pack.
And ta daaaa!
Nothing is sewn yet, but I’m hoping you can tell what it is. If you’ve been around a while, you might remember this map quilt that I made for Daugher #3 and SIL.
I got the idea for this from Pinterest. I spent a lot of time trying to rack down a pattern or designer to give credit. Most pins sent me to Craftsy, but once there, I couldn’t find anything about this. Mine isn’t exactly the same and I have no idea of the size of the original. ETA: I found a connection between this and a now defunct company called Rebel Craft Media, but that is all I know.
I’m not sure where I’m going with this. Sometimes I need to remind myself that not every quilt needs to be huge.
Now I’m wondering if it needs borders. It’s too small for a bed quilt and too big for a throw quilt. Here are the two border option from my stash.
I’m not crazy about either one. I probably have something that would work back in Michigan. I know I have the perfect backing piece there.
Hmmmm….I’m going to have to think about this.
In the mean time, I was asked what size these rectangles were cut. They are 2 1/2 inch by 4 1/2 inches. The four patches finish at 4 inches, and the quarter square triangles finish at 6 inches on the long side. Hope this helps!
Have a great day!
Oh, I nearly forgot! AccuQuilt has some great specials this week.
Not only that, but you can get a free GO! Me did cutter!
It’s turning out bigger than I originally planned, so I ran out of the QST pieces I cut. Of course, I don’t have any more of that fabric. I’m hoping these pieces will blend well enough.
There is plenty still to be done on this top, like resolving the bottom edge of these strips.
My goal is to have the top done this week.
Click here to register for the next AccuQuilt Live!
I have a bunch of this perle cotton, so I decided to use it for the quilting. After doing a couple fans, I’ve realized I’ll probably run out. That’s okay. It’s a make do kind of quilt.
Let’s see if I can finish this before heading back to Michigan for the summer.
KatyQuilts 