Rail Fence Quilt

A while back I had a stack of 5" charm squares from this great line of Xanadu Batik fabrics from Moda. I cut each charm square in half to make two pieces 2.5" x 5". 

 I then sewed them together in pairs and trimmed them to 4.5"x4.5".

 After arranging them on my design wall, I sewed them together into a couple table runners.

I quilted them with straight lines as shown and sold one from my Etsy shop and the other at a market just before Christmas. That person took her runner home and loved it so much she wanted a bed quilt made from the same fabrics.

 As this bundle of fabrics was discontinued, I had to do a little searching to find enough fabrics for a queen size quilt. Eventually I found a fat quarter bundle and a jelly roll from Sisters and Quilters on Etsy. Sandra was very kind to get me an actual shipping quote so I didn't have to overpay postage. Definitely worth it to ask if you see high postage rates for something you are interested in on Etsy.

 I kept the pattern similar to the table runners by going with a three strip rail fence block using 2.5" strips. Block size is 6.5" square unfinished. I used pretty much all of the jelly roll and most of the fat quarters. The leftovers have gone into my batik bin for future projects.

The binding is a blue batik from another fabric line. I was looking for something more in the green/browns, but it was hard to find something close. Sometimes I have to go with something different than I originally planned.

 This was a great project to start 2019 with and I'm already working on my next custom queen quilt and I'll post it in a few weeks.

--Ann

Small Quilts: New Techniques

If you've followed me for any length of time, you will know that I love to made small quilts in between my larger projects. I love small quilts for lots of reasons; they challenge my piecing ability, they don't take a lot of fabric, they are finished quickly, and they are great for trying out new techniques.

Square Table Runner

 I purchased my Brother embroidery machine, not just for the ability to embroidery some of the fabulous designs out there, but also to try to add some more advanced quilting designs to my smaller projects. This little quilt is just over 18" square. I scaled down one of my favourite 12" blocks, a friendship star and I substituted some four-patch squares for some plain squares.

Layout #1

Originally, I was going to make a longer skinny runner with the blocks, but after playing around with them on my design wall, I changed my mind and made it square.

Layout #2

If you don't have a design wall, use the floor or the top of a bed. Somewhere you can stand back and look at the overall effect of your arrangements. And be open to changing your design mid way through construction. Another way to look at your quilt is through a photo - take a quick snap shot with your phone and you'll see your quilts in a whole new light!

Quilting on the Embroidery Machine

After piecing the top and layering it with a backing and batting, it was time to quilt. I normally do free motion quilting on my Janome 8900 machine and don't leave a lot of extra batting or backing around the edges as it's not really needed. BUT if you are going to use your embroidery machine, you WILL need extra fabric to properly hoop your quilt. I missed this step and had to add some extra fabric all around, but it would have been much easier to have the extra fabric from the beginning.

Quilting on the Embroidery Machine

I picked a design I really liked from Embroidery Online #80185 (Geometric Quilting Motifs) and expanded it to fit my hoop. My squares were 6" finished and the quilting design on my embroidery machine was around 5.5" to fit my hoop size. Take care when hooping your quilt that it stays square within your hoop, don't stretch it out of shape. There's no need for stabilizer when quilting on an embroidery machine. You may want to machine baste with a long stitch to hold all the layers together (I used pins and removed them in the area I was working) plus a basting stitch around the edges of the quilt. I did not do this and had some issues with the quilt top and batting getting caught on the embroidery foot and flipping over, getting stitched down and having to do some un-sewing to fix it.

Quilting on the Embroidery Machine

Start with a new needle, preferrably an 80 or 90 embroidery needle. Put in a full bobbin and carefully thread your upper thread. My machine allows me to centre the design easily to the centre of the block and when it's all lined up and centred, I started stitching. I repeated the same design around the quilt, centred on each block and each four-patch in the sashing.

Friendship Star Quilt with Machine Embroidery Quilting

The design I picked left more unquilted space than I would have liked - next time I'll find a design that is more square than round. But overall, the process was straightforward and I liked the finished project.

Friendship Star Quilt with Machine Embroidery Quilting

All in all, this was a successful try at a new technique and the quilted table runner looks great!

--Ann

Selvedge Mug Rugs

I collect the selvedge from my bought fabrics so I can make these pretty mug rugs. Normally, this piece of the fabric ends up in the trash, but I will cut them off both sides of a piece of yardage. When fabric is pressed and squared and ready to be cut, I line up my ruler and cut about 1" off the edges. This gives me the white strip with the fabric details like designer, manufacturer and colors plus about 1/2" of the actual printed fabric. Some people prefer to sew and not see any of the fabric, but I like the pop of color that I get with this width.

Selvedge Mug Rug

These are simple, quilt as you go pieces. Cut your backing and batting about 1/2" larger all around than your desired finished size. Lay a single piece of selvedge from one corner to the opposite corner. Line up a second piece over the raw edge (the colorful fabric edge), overlapping about 1/4". Sew close to the selvedge edge of the second piece, through both fabrics, the batting and the backing. I use a white or off-white thread for almost all my selvedge piecing. Continue adding strips in this method right through to the corner.

Selvedge Mug Rug

On the other half, tuck the raw edge under the selvedge edge and stitch through all layers. Repeat until your batting is covered with strips of selvedge.

Selvedge Mug Rug with scrap binding

Trim your quilted piece to your desired finished size. I make mine 7"x9" and I can bind with a single strip of fabric cut the width of fabric. Or I will look through the left over pieces of binding from other projects to see if there is a piece or a few pieces that can be pieced together to make a binding.

Selvedge Mug Rugs

Super fun to make, these mug rugs make great gifts!

--Ann

Moda Love Quilt

Search Moda Love Quilt anywhere you're online (Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.) and you'll find so many examples of this beautiful quilt. It's a free pattern found here https://www.unitednotions.com/Moda-Love-Layer-Cake-Quilt.pdf

And sew easy! I started with a pack of 10" squares from the fabric line Grandale by Keera Job Design Studio from Riley Blake Designs that I already had, added a background and I was ready to sew.

I have to say that I was amazed how quickly this quilt went together. It finished at 70" square, but I went a little larger by adding a border. If you want to do this, buy some yardage at the same time you purchase your 10" squares.

This is now waiting to be quilted as soon as I get some backing!

--Ann