WHW RS Sampler Quilt FINISHED!!!

Okay, so this has been finished for awhile now.  I've just been putting off taking pictures.  I now have these two, so we can call this officially finished, right?

For those of you who don't know - back in 2016 I taught a beginner's quilt class to some of the ladies in my neighborhood.  It was tons of fun and I'm hoping to do it again sometime.  Just giving the hubby a little time to recover from all those evenings putting the kids to bed on his own.  ;)

I have an entire page dedicated to this quilt class, with posts and links for every block and every step of the way.  CHECK IT OUT HERE. 

Participants made 12 blocks, each utilizing a different skill which we learned in class that week.  They had the option of making their blocks 12" or 9".  I also wrote up instructions for alternate blocks - different blocks using the same techniques learned that week.

For my quilt, I used a fat eighth bundle of rainbow fabrics from a swap (again through the guild).  There were times when I wondered if all those colors were going to come together in the end, but ultimately I'm calling it a win because it's finished. ;)

I would have arranged my blocks differently, but I REALLY wanted them to be in the same order we made them. 

I made all of "regular" blocks in the 12" size.

I also made all of the "alternate" blocks in the 9" size, for a double sided quilt.  I added the patchwork top/bottom borders to this side to bring it up to size.  I kept the quilting to a simple meander, and bound it with a couple of multicolored prints. 

And there you go!

 Quilt stats:

Started: March 2016

Finished: December 2016

Fabrics: A variety of rainbow prints from a Fat Eighth swap

Batting: Pellon 80/20 Cotton/Poly

Finished size: Approximately 44" x 58"

Recipient: Me.  I'm saving this one in case I teach this class again

Methods used: EVERYTHING!  regular piecing, sliced (disappearing) blocks, strip piecing, HSTs, flying geese, stitch and flip triangles, raw edge applique, foundation paper piecing, EPP, straight line quilting, free motion quilting

Binding: Hand Stitched to the Back

Time to Make: ROUGHLY 20-25 hours?  (NOT including pattern or blog post writing)

WHW RS Sampler Quilt Class: BINDING!

It's time to finish up our quilts!  Wahoo!  The binding is the part where you trim your quilt so that all three layers are even and square, then enclose those raw edges with more fabric.   Make sense?  ;)

First you'll need to trim your quilt so that all four edges are straight and the corners are square.  You can do this with scissors, or with a rotary cutter.  I prefer to use a rotary cutter (with an old blade - batting is rough on rotary cutter blades) and my long (6 x 24) ruler for the sides and my brand new (THANKS GUYS!) big square ruler (mine is 12 x 12) for the corners.
***If you want to fold your backing over to create your binding - DON'T trim your quilt yet!  Follow the 2nd Cluck Cluck Sew tutorial a little further down.  It's an excellent tutorial.

You'll make your binding by cutting long strips of fabric (I cut mine 2.5" wide), stitching them together end to end, then folding it in half so that you have one raw edge and one folded edge.  You'll then attach the long strip to your quilt, aligning the raw edges and connecting the two ends of your strip at the end.  Then you'll fold over the binding and either hand stitch or machine stitch the folded edge to enclose all of your layers.

Here are some of my favorite tutorials for making and attaching quilt binding:

This is an EXCELLENT and very photo-rich tutorial for creating and attaching your binding:

Crazy Mom Quilts

Here is a great tutorial for stitching your binding down by machine:

Cluck Cluck Sew

This tutorial is great for stitching your binding down by hand:

Connecting Threads

Here is the tutorial for using your quilt backing as your binding.  Probably the easiest way to bind a quilt:

Cluck Cluck Sew

And now for a few extras.

This is a very helpful tutorial for getting more precise binding (machine or hand) using Elmer's Glue:

Pile O Fabric

 Flanged binding is a fun way to add a little pop to your quilt:

Sew Fresh Quilts

 Raggy Binding is really fun for little kid quilts:

A Maiden Hair Fern

 And last but not least, don't forget to label your quilts!  This is important because it helps you remember when/why/for whom/by whom a quilt was made.  You might want to include a label if you a making a quilt as a gift for someone and you want them to remember who made it for them.  You might want to include a label if there is something interesting about the quilt you want to remember (like "this was my first quilt," or "I tried curved piecing for the first time on this quilt," or "this quilt was inspired by a quilt my grandmother made").  And it's always a good idea to include the date you finished the quilt. 

Here are my two favorite methods for making and attaching a quilt label to the back of my quilt.  

This one is great for those times you remember to label your quilt before quilting it.  :)

My Quilt Infatuation

And this method works great for those of us who always forget the label until the last minute.  

**TIP** Use fusible interfacing as your lining fabric for this tutorial.  Stitch it to your label with the bumpy side FACING the right side of your fabric. Whjen you turn it right sides out, the bumpy side will be on the outside (the bumpy side is that part that will stick to your quilt when you iron it - keeping it in place while you hand stitch it down).  Just make sure not to iron anything until you are actually fusing it to your quilt.  :)

Quilty Pleasures

And of course, here is the handout from our class:
WHW RS Sampler Quilt Class:  Binding

Happy Stitching!

WHW RS Sampler Quilt Class: Free Motion/Straight Line Quilting

Okay!  It's time to talk about quilting our quilts.  Free motion quilting is my favorite.  Once you get the hang of it, you can do so many fun things!  There are a surprising amount of cool things you can do with straight line quilting, too.

Like my last post, this one is going to be pretty much full of me linking to other awesome quilters who have already done the work of demonstrating how to quilt.  My handout has some basic instructions, but you should check out some of these tutorials for sure.

However, I do have one thing I want to say before we start.   I strongly recommend you practice with a small practice piece before you tackle your full quilt.  Make a couple of small practice sandwiches using fabric your not particularly attached to and practice practice practice.  You'll feel better if you work out all the kinks on a small, disposable piece rather than on the quilt you've spent hours and hours making.  ;)

Okay.  Let's quilt.

Start here.  This is one of the places I first learned to free motion quilt.  Her instructions are very good and they start from the VERY beginning.  YES!

A Few Scraps - She even has a few books available!

Free motion Quilting with a home machine:

Craftsy

A few blog posts with tips for succeeding at Free Motion Quilting:

Craftsy

Sew Mama Sew

Once you've gotten the hang of free motion quilting and are ready to try a few new designs, you have GOT to check out this site!  Leah has HUNDREDS of free videos demonstrating quilting designs.  She's amazing.  I hear she even has a couple classes available for beginners and non-beginners alike.  ;)

Leah Day:  Free Motion Quilting Project

Alright.  If straight line quilting is more up your alley, I have rounded up a few links that you may like as well.

Start here for some great beginner ideas for straight line quilting:

Pile O Fabric

Then go here for some more straight line quilting stuff, along with troubleshooting for when things go wrong.  Isn't Alisa great for including that information?

Pile O Fabric

And here are a few posts with some inspiration/tips for straight line quilting:

Canoe Ridge Creations

Sew4Home/Heather Jones

And here are the handouts:
WHW RS Sampler Quilt Class: Basting
WHW RS Sampler Quilt Class: Straight Line and Free Motion Quiltingn (COMING SOON)

Happy quilting!

WHW RS Sample Quilt Class: Basting

Hi friends!

We're almost there!  It's time for basting and quilting.  This is the part where we create a quilt sandwich with our quilt top/batting/backing, temporarily attach them, and the stitch them together using free motion or straight line quilting on our home sewing machine.  Wahoo!  I love the quilting stage.  :)

First off, I created step by step instructions for my students, but I highly recommend you check out a few of the links I'm providing in this post.  Basting and quilting are best learned through demonstration (or photo/video tutorials) followed by lots and lots of practice.  Be patient if it doesn't look amazing on your first try.  Keep going and you'll get better and better, I promise.  :)

NOW.  Before we can quilt our quilts, we need to baste them (meaning we need to temporarily hold them together so that they can withstand lots of smooshing and shoving during the quilting stage). 

There are basically two methods for basting: Pin basting and Spray basting.  I personally prefer spray basting.  It's more expensive, but its easier and faster for me.  Plus it involves way less crawling around on the floor and I seem to get fewer puckers when I spray baste.  On the other hand, I used pins for years when I was first starting out and wasn't ready to make the investment in spray baste.  Both methods are great.  For the record.  I buy my spray baste HERE.  I can usually get 3-4 Queen sized quilts (or 6ish lap quilts or 12ish baby quilts) from one large can.

Here are some excellent links for quilt basting tutorials:

This is one of the best tutorials I have found for pin basting:

Crazy Mom Quilts

These video tutorials for basting, quilting, and binding are also excellent:

Happy Quilting

This is where I learned the tip to iron my quilts arter they have been spray basted.  I took her crafsty class, Quilting Big Projects on a Small Machine and it was LIFE. CHANGING.  Worth every penny.

Obsessive Quilter

A few tips for basting (including a few alternate methods):

Craftsy

Spray basting How-To:

Craftsy

And lastly, if you're interested, here's a thread basting technique that may work for you (I've never tried it):  Sharon Shamber Thread Basting

Here is my handout:  COMING SOON...

Stay tuned for quilting instructions!

WHW RS Sampler Quilt Class: Sashing and Backing

Alrighty then.  The next thing we need to do for quilt class is assemble all our blocks together!

Wahoo! Because the blocks are all so different and we don't want them to get all muddled together, I highly recommend assembling then with sashing (the thin strips of fabric between the blocks, creating a sort of frame around each block).

Here are my finished quilt tops!  Regular blocks in the 12" size on the left, alternate blocks in the 9" size on the right.  I had just enough fabric left over to create the checkerboard borders for the alternate quilt, bringing it up to the same size as the regular quilt.  I'm planning to make a double-sided quilt!

At our quilt class last week, rather than give exact measurements for our particular quilt, I explained how to calculate and prepare sashing strips for ANY quilt. There is even an alternate method for creating sashing. the instructions I made are attached at the end of this pout.
I also found some great resources for you all if, in case you need more inspiration or guidance for assembling your quilt with sashing:

This is an awesome article about sashing:

Craftsy

And a great follow-up on borders:

Craftsy

This is a great blog post for new quilters about sashing and borders, with lots of helpful links:

Sew Fresh Quilts

Check out Jenny Doan's Video here for ideas:  Missouri Star Quilt Company: Quilt Sashing Ideas

A few more pictures of pretty quilts with sashing:

A Quilting Life

A Little Bit Biased

Of course, you don't have to assemble your blocks with sashing. You don't even have to assemble them in a traditional grid - do a Google images (or Pinterest) search for "modern sampler quilt layouts" and you'll see what I mean.

Once your quilt is assembled and you know exactly what size it ends up, it's time to prepare your backing and batting so that you are ready for the quilting process.

Again, I prepared a (pretty extensive) handout explaining all your options here and attached it at the end of this post.

Basically, you need a piece of batting that is at least 2"larger than your quilt top all the way around, and a backing that is at least 4" larger than your quilt top all the way around.

I found some awesome links for you with some ideas for preparing your backing, particularly if you want to piece it to save money.  Check them out:

Holly has a some great tips for creating pieced backs here:

Bits of Everything

Here's a great example of a pieced back made from leftover fabric:

Quilt Story/Nancy Noodle

One idea we never covered is to create a big border to go around your yardage to make your backing bigger:

Cabbage Quilts

 And here's one more post with some ideas for you:

Victoriana Quilt Designs

ONE MORE NOTE - In the handout, I show you an alternate method of creating sashing by sewing sashing pieces onto two sides of your blocks, then assembling the blocks together as if there were no sashing.  Another option similar to this one would be to sew a skinny border around all four sides of every block, then assemble the blocks together.  :)

And here are the handouts
WHW RS Sampler Quilt Class: Sashing and Backing

WHW RS Sampler Quilt Class: Block 12: Hexies (English Paper Piecing)

This is the last block for our quilt class!  Yay!  After this, we'll talk about assembling all the blocks into a quilt top, then quilting and binding it.  :)

For our last technique, I wanted to cover English Paper Piecing, or EPP.  This is where you use paper shapes as your templates and your wrap the fabric around the paper to get it into the shape you want, then you hand sew the shapes together.  By far the most popular type of EPP is the hexagon:

The Zen of Making

Gone Aussie Quilting

Lieblingsdecke

Mommy by Day Crafter by Night

And here are a few quick examples of EPP quilts made with shapes other than the hexie:

Dee's Doodles

Three Owls Handmade

Kamie Murdock

These hexies aren't sewn together by hand, but this technique is super fun and creates amazing texture:

Modern Handcraft

NOW.  Let's talk about how this is EPP thing is done.  I found this set of tutorials here and it is pretty awesome and very well done - this is exactly what we will be doing in our class:
The Zen of Making: EPP Hexies Part 1
The Zen of Making: EPP Hexies Part 2




Alright.  Here is the pattern:  WHW RS Sampler Quilt Class:  Block 12:  EPP

Here are is an awesome (FREE) link for creating your own Hexagon templates in pretty much any size:
Geta Grama Quilting Studio: Tips for Cutting Hexagon Templates
We'll be using the 2" Hexies for the 12" block, and the 1.5" Hexies for the 9" block

And here is a link to the alternate block we're making:  Sew Mama Sew: Star Hexies Tutorial
It uses the exact same technique, just with different shapes.  My tip for this block - DON'T clip the little dog ears that stick out from the corners.  :)  
I resized the pattern so that it will fit better with our block sizes.  The bigger one is for the 12" block and the smaller one is for the 9" block.  Don't forget to print it at 100%, or "actual size" - Diamond Star Hexie Pattern.

WHWRS Sampler Quilt Class: Block 11: Foundation Paper Piecing

Alright friends, It's time for paper piecing!  Paper piecing is awesome for making quilt blocks with odd angles, sharp points, complicated designs, or anything that would be difficult to get precise results with traditional piecing.  One of my favorite paper piecing projects to date is this set of pillows I made for my two sisters:

Made and designed by ME!

Here are some other examples of quilt blocks made with this technique (with varying degrees of difficulty/intensity, in no particular order):

Piece By Number - THIS IS A GREAT SITE FOR FINDING FREE PAPER PIECED PATTERNS!

Generations Quilt Patterns

Don't Call Me Betsy

I Finally Have Time

Wombat Quilts - ANOTHER EXCELLENT SOURCE FOR FREE PATTERNS

Fave Quilts

Shape Moth

Lillyella

Freequiltpatterns

As you can see, the possibilities are pretty much endless!  If you have something specific in mind - I bet you could find a pattern for it by doing a google images search.  :)

Now for the technique.  Most people paper piece by sewing directly onto regular old paper.  Here are two GREAT tutorials, especially for beginners:
Ellison Lane
Craftsy

I really like to use a special method that requires freezer paper instead of regular paper.  I'll be teaching the traditional method in class, but in case you're interested in this alternate method, here's an awesome tutorial:
Green Cheese Quilting

And here is another method I found in my search.  I haven't tried it myself, but it looks interesting:
I Finally Have Time


Here is the link to the block we will be making for our quilt class.  If you are making the 9 inch block, you will need to print it at 75%.

Craft Sew Create

Here is another great beginner block you could do as an alternate.  It's a little easier than the spinning cards block, and has fewer pieces.  Amanda's block finishes at 10 inches, so I have adjusted the size for you so you can make 9 inch and 12 inch blocks.

Crazy Mom Quilts via Craftsy

Also, I'm providing instructions for an alternate block - the Scrappy String block. 

Film in the Fridge

This block is AWESOME for using up scraps.  It is a paper pieced block, but you don't have to use a pattern.  You just start with a piece of paper and sew your strips onto it.  My favorite string block tutorial is here:
Film in the Fridge

Here are a few more examples of some awesome scrappy string quilts.  ("Scrappy" usually means it was made from scraps, so that there is lots and lots of variety and most scrappy quilts don't necessarily follow a color scheme.  They can be all over the place or very controlled).

Married to a BMW

Film in the Fridge

Here are the instructions.  A couple of notes I forgot to add - make sure you use a dry iron (steam will distort the paper).  Also make sure to use PAPER SCISSORS, and old rotary blade, and an old needle.  Paper is really hard on these things. 
WHW RS Sampler Quilt Class:  Block 11:  Paper Piecing

And here are the patterns you'll need to make the blocks:
Super Card Trick Pattern - Print at 100% for 12" block, Print at 75" for 9" block
Kaleidoscope Pattern - Print 4 copies of page 1 for 12" block, Print 2 copies of page 2 for 9" block