WHW RS Sampler Quilt Class: Block 3: Rail Fence (Strip Piecing)

Our 3rd block for our WHWRS Quilt class is the rail fence block:

It is made using a fun technique called "strip piecing."  Here's a fun Strip Piecing/Rail Fence Quilt tutorial:  Cluck Cluck Sew.  This block can be made in any size, as long as the width of the strip set is the same as the width you will be cutting from the strip set.  Clear as mud?  Don't worry - I'll walk you through it at our meeting on May 5th.  If you want to get a head start on cutting, you'll need THREE strips of fabric measuring 2.5" x 26" (for the 12" blocks).  If you're like me and your fabric is not long enough to get a 26" strip, then cut SIX strips 2.5" x 13". 

Cluck Cluck Sew

Here are a few examples of Rail Fence quilt BLOCKS (sources linked in captions):

Lifestyle:  How Stuff Works

Quiltaholics.com

This is the most traditional layout for a quilt made from Rail Fence Blocks:

Quilters Cache

And here are a few more traditional Rail Fence quilts:

Generations Quilt Patterns

Generations Quilt Patterns

Claudia's Quilt Shop

And a few more modern looking Rail Fence quilts:

Must Love Quilts

 

She Can Quilt

A Crafty Fox

Red Pepper Quilts

A Quilting Life

Also, for our alternate block I'm going to deviate a little bit from the original plan.  I'll be providing instructions for making a block similar to this quilt (also by Cluck Cluck Sew) that uses strip piecing and is SUPER EASY.  :)

Cluck Cluck Sew

Here are my blocks for this week:

Here are the patterns for this week:  WHW RS Quilt Class:  Block 3:  Rail Fence

Maggie's Baby Charm Quilt

A dear family friend is having her first baby soon.  I needed to whip up a quick baby quilt for her shower last weekend, and this is what I came up with:

The design was inspired by this quilt I've had pinned on Pinterest for forever.  Maybe you've seen it before?  I designed this particular version myself, it was pretty easy.  The best part?  It uses EXACTLY one charm pack. Yep.  42 (well, 41.5) 5" squares and some yardage.  Whoop! 

The backing is this cute green flannel I've been hoarding for awhile.  I didn't have quite enough of it, so I snuck in this strip of orange dimple dot minky for fun.  :)

For the quilting, I went with an overall pattern because I needed something fast.  Every time I do an all over quilting design, I wonder why I don't do it more often.  I LOVE how this one turned out!

The fabric is called "Block Party" by Sandy Gervais for Moda.  I gave the boys a couple different charm packs to choose from and they picked this one.  My friend is having a girl, so hopefully this works for her!  Also, I can't wait until my boys are tall enough to hold ALL my quilts for me!  ;)

 

Quilt stats:

Started: April 2, 2016

Finished: April 7, 2016

Fabrics: "Block Party" by Sandy Gervais, Kona White

Batting: Pellon Nature's Touch 80/20 

Finished size: Approx. 38" x 39"

Recipient: Baby Cheney

Methods used:  Piecing, Free Motion Quilting

Binding: Hand stitched to the back

Time to make:  Approx. 8 hours (half of which was hand binding, LOL)

Finish Along Goal List: Quarter 2

It's time to set goals for another quarter!  I only finished one thing from last quarter's list, but I have actually finished two things from my list in the past couple of days and just need to blog about them.  :)

SO.  Here are the goals from last quarter that I want to carry over to this one:

1.  King Diamond Ripple.  I officially finished this last night, but don't consider it completely finished until I can figure out how to photograph it and blog about it.  It's huge - over 100" square, so photography will be a challenge, but here's a sneak peak:

2.  Growth Chart for Noah.  His birthday is this month.  Yikes!

3.  Apron for myself.  I keep wondering if I should just scrap this and buy a cute one off Etsy... but for now, I'm keeping the goal since I've already got the fabric.  :)

4.  Bibs for the shop (at least 12).  Just need to photograph the girly group!

5.  8 Rummy mats.

6.  Swoon 16 in Blushing.  I had myself a little cutting marathon while my machine was in the shop for a week.  Now I just need to figure out how to get rid of my kids for a week so I can sew these up!  (Only kidding - sort of...)

7.  Owl Quilt from Sew Sweet Baby Quilts.

8. Baby quilt (or puff quilt) using either one of my charm packs (Wishes, Noteworthy, Summerfest, Hello Friend, Bump to Baby, or Just my Type - okay, I'm addicted to charm packs...)



AND here are the projects that I'm ADDING to the list this month :p

9.  Kaleidoscope in The Sweet Life (see #6).

10.  Do.Good Stitches Quilt.  April is my month.  I've asked for blocks like these and the quilt is going to be AMAZING.

11.  Carpenter Star for Donna.  I've received another quilt commission!  I'm so excited because this is the first one I've had through Etsy, and not through a friend/family member.  I'll be making a Carpenter Star quilt using these blue/gray/cream Grunge fabrics.  Cutting is now underway...

 

 

12.  Moda All-Star Row quilt.  I participated in this Row-Along and ended up with this super cute quilt top.  Now I just need to finish it!

13.  Photo Book for Noah.  Did I mention it's his birthday this month?  I think he needs a fabric photo book like this one.


Also, I'll be working on my WHWRS Sampler Quilt for my class throughout the quarter, but don't plan to finish it until next quarter. 

Think that's enough?  I do.  It's going to be a fun quarter.  Linking up:

WHW RS Sampler Quilt Class: Block 2: NINE PATCH (plus matching seams)

Hi everyone!

We're getting a head start on our next block.  I realized last time that it might have been helpful for my class members if I had provided a little bit of information about the block beforehand so that they could make their fabric choices early.  :p

SO.  This post will be about the Nine Patch block with some inspiration photos to get you all started.  Then, once the class is over I'll come back and update THIS POST with all the other information we talked about in class.  Sound good?  Alrighty then.

This week we will be learning about matching seams.  When you sew two pieces together, you don't have to worry about matching anything.  But when you sew those two pieces to another set of two pieces, then suddenly you have an intersection where four fabrics are touching.  We want the corners of those four fabrics to meet perfectly.  One of the easiest ways to do this is by nesting seams.  Here is a great tutorial that talks about matching seams:  SewMamaSew.  (The second half of this tutorial actually covers something we'll be talking about in a few weeks - chain piecing.)  Another thing to remember is to PIN!  Until you feel confident in your sewing abilities, use lots of pins.  Place your pins perpendicular to the edge of the fabric - one on each side of the seam. 

The Nine Patch block is just that - nine patches sewn together in a 3x3 grid.  If you are making the 12 inch blocks, you will need to cut nine 4.5 inch squares (you don't have to cut your squares ahead of time!  You can cut them at my house using my stuff when you come to class!)  If you're making the 9 inch blocks, you'll need nine 3.5 inch squares.

Here are some examples of Nine Patch blocks (sources cited in captions):

Just Quilty

Connecting Threads - GREAT TUTORIAL!

Generations Quilt Patterns

This is the version I'll probably make:

Red Pepper Quilts

And some nine patch quilts:

Sew Inspired

Red Pepper Quilts

Simple Simon and Company

Connecting Threads

Craftsy

Oh Fransson

And, just for your reference, this is what I'll be sharing as the alternate block:

Here are my two blocks, one Nine Patch and one Double Four Patch:

And here are the patterns:  WHW RS Quilt Class:  Block 2:  Nine Patch

WHW RS Sampler Quilt Class: Block 1: LOG CABIN (plus 1/4 inch seams, pressing, and cutting)

Hey!  It's time to post about the first block we made for Quilt Class!  I decided to go with the Log Cabin block first, since there are no seams to match and I knew it would give us plenty of opportunities to practice sewing a straight, 1/4 inch seam (and incidentally, we also had plenty of practice figuring out how to use our ruler/rotary cutters).  :)

 

 SO.  First things first.  When you are making quilt blocks, it is ESSENTIAL that you use a consistent, 1/4 inch seam (as opposed to the larger 1/2 inch seam commonly used in garment making).  So before we did anything else, we all practiced sewing 1/4 inch seams.  There is an awesome tutorial that covers what I'm talking about here:  GenXQuilters

Once we had our 1/4 inch seams mastered, we talked about pressing.  Here are a couple quick blog posts on pressing:  SewMamaSew and Craftsy

And then, of course, we had to talk about rotary cutting.  Check out this post here:  PileOFabric

And now it is finally time to make our block!  Here are a few examples of log cabin blocks (click on the caption to go directly to the photo source):

Traditional Log Cabin blocks are two colors and look like this:

Generations Quilt Patterns

And here are some examples of what traditional Log Cabin blocks look like in a quilt:

All About Quilts

All About Quilts

All About Quilts

All About Quilts

More modern Log Cabin blocks and quilts look like these:

Piecemeal Quilts - EXCELLENT POST ABOUT LOG CABIN QUILTS!

Red Pepper Quilts

Ellison Lane

Wombat Quilts

From the Blue Chair

Tallgrass Priarie Studio

Tallgrass Priarie Studio

And finally, we talked briefly about the difference between our focus block - the Log Cabin, and the alternate block - Courthouse Steps.  Basically, they are the same block except for the way they are constructed.  Log Cabin blocks are made one log at a time, with each log added in a circle around the center.  Courthouse Step blocks are made by adding two logs at a time - one to each side of the center.  This picture shows the difference between the two:

Martingale

I made one of each style of block.  (I plan to make a quilt with rainbow colors, by the way.  It was SO FUN seeing everyone's fabric choices the other night!)  My Log Cabin block is 12 inches and my Courthouse Steps block is 9 inches:

And finally, click here for the patterns:  WHW RS Quilt Class:  Block 1: Log Cabin

Do.Good Stitches: Final Humility Quilt

Well, I finished another quilt for Do.Good Stitches!

This one was a little interesting.  At the end of 2015, we had several members decide that their plates were too full and they needed to let go of our little quilting bee.  (Sad face).  So in January, we re-evaluated.  Half of us wanted to stay, so I took over as quilter and asked for THIS block.  I picked something super simple and easy, because I was hoping we would be able to find some new members to flesh out our group.  In the end, we decided it was better to just disband our little group and spread its members out amongst other Do.Good Stitches groups in need of members.  We were all sad to see our little group broken up, but excited to start a new adventure with each of our new groups.  Besides, I feel like I have made a bunch of new friends and I will continue to follow their work! 

SO.  Without any more talking by me, here are the best pictures I was able to come up with for our final Humility circle quilt.  It is being donated to Primary Children's Hospital in SLC, Utah.  :)

WHW RS Sampler Quilt Class: SUPPLIES

Hi everyone!  We had our first meeting for my sampler quilt class last night and it was lots of fun!  We pretty much talked about everything and everything you need to know to get started with quilting.  There was a lot of info to share, so I'm going to break it up over the next few posts.  :)

There are TONS of awesome tutorials out there for pretty much anything you need to know about quilt making.  Rather than re-inventing the wheel by writing up a brand new pretty blog post, I'm going to direct you to some of my favorites every week.  And then I'll include a copy of whatever handout I gave out at our meeting, so you can see my two cents.  :)

For a really awesome set of tutorials for beginners that includes everything you need to know about making a quilt from the very start to the very end, check out this series here:  Pile O Fabric - Beginning Quilting Series

Let's talk about ALL the supplies you need for quilting first.  Here is my favorite blog post on the topic (which includes links to a few more if you are looking for extra reading):
Pile O Fabric:  Quilting Tools/Notions 101

 

And here is a copy of the handout I gave to my students at our meeting:

These supplies are essential:

-Sewing machine

-100% Cotton fabric

-Thread

-Needles (for your machine)

-Scissors (for fabric only)

-Iron/ironing surface

-Pins

-Seam ripper

-Rotary cutter/ruler/mat

            -Start with a 6” x 24” acrylic ruler

-Batting

            -Thin cotton batting (or cotton/poly blend) is best (I buy mine at JoAnn, Walmart, or Amazon)

            - Warm and Natural is a very popular brand - it's expensive, though. 

            - I recommend Pellon brand batting.  It's high quality, but not quite as expensive (and sometimes you can even get it at Walmart)

-Safety pins (for basting/quilting)

-Masking or painters tape (for basting/quilting)

These supplies are awesome, but not required:

-Sewing machine extension table

-Quarter inch presser foot

-Open toe/Darning foot (for free motion quilting)

-Walking foot (for straight line quilting)

-Spray Starch

-More rulers = 6” and 12” square are great

-Elmer’s Glue (for appliqué, binding, etc)

-Freezer paper (for appliqué, etc)

-Fusible adhesive (for appliqué) – Heat N Bond Lite, or Wonder Under

-Small scissors or thread snips

-Embroidery needle (for hand binding/appliqué)

-Curved safety pins (for basting/quilting)

-Spray Baste (for basting/quilting – I recommend 505 Temporary Adhesive)

-Marking pens (for quilting) – water soluble, frixion heat erasable, or chalk

-Gloves (for quilting) – “Machingers” or gardening gloves  - something grippy

-Small hair clips or Wonder clips (for binding)

-Graph paper or notebook (for designing, or making notes)