Design Wall Monday: All In A Row

Today’s DWM project is another UFO that has been sitting far too long.  This is a simple little Churn Dash variation with nine patch centers.  It is a Kim Diehl design from the book All-Time Favorite Scrap Quilts.  My small quilting group is meeting next Thursday and I would REALLY like to have this finished for show and tell.  The blocks are sewn and I have sashing, cornerstone and border fabric all selected so it’s only a matter of sitting down and finishing—always easier said than done with new projects constantly calling my name!!

Check out what other beautiful projects are on design walls today at Patchwork Times.



Old business:  the winner of the Marmalade Charm squares from last Monday’s giveaway is Lea. Lea, I don’t have an email address for you so please contact me with your mailing address and I’ll drop your charms in the mail right away.

Design Wall Monday-Scrappy Rails

“You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”  Jack London

For quilters this quote needs to be changed from “club” to “rotary cutter.”  I try to come up with a stashbusting quilt each month for my sewing group.  My inspiration kind of hit a road block this month and the original design needs more work so I pieced this simple block.  



If every other block is turned 90 degrees diagonal chains form.  This kind of quilt doesn’t really require borders so I think I’ll just make blocks, set them together and call it a day.  I’ll probably end up making 63 blocks and set them 7 x 9.  They are 10” blocks so it will be end up large twin or regular full-size—a good size for the emergency shelter.  For some reason, I just can’t get the color right on the photos.  Then chain fabric is not nearly as pink as it looks here.  Oh well, you get the idea. 
Be sure to check out all the other great projects at Patchwork Times.

Technorati Tags: piecing,scrap quilt

Here are instructions for the block.  I’m using leftover strips so it’s hard to say exactly how much yardage you’ll need.  It will also depend on how many blocks you are making.  It takes a little more than one strip to make a block.  For a quilt the size I’m making (70 x 90) you would need about 80 strips.  You also need 1-1/2 yards of chain fabric and about 3/4 yard for binding.

For each block cut the following from assorted 2-1/2” strips:
Two 2-1/2” x 8-1/2” rectangles (A)
Two 2-1/2” x 6-1/2” rectangles (B)
Two 2-1/2” x 4-1/2” rectangles (C)
Two 2-1/2” x 2-1/2” squares (D)
You will also need five 2-1/2” squares of the chain fabric for each block. €



Sewing for one block:
1.  Sew a square of chain fabric to 8-1/2” rectangles.  Press toward the chain fabric.  Make 2



2.  Sew a 2-1/2” square of print fabric to a 2-1/2” square of chain fabric.  Sew a 4-1/2 rectangle to the other end of the chain fabric. Press both seams toward chain fabric. Make 2.



3.  Sew 4-1/2” rectangles to a chain square.  Press both seams toward chain fabric. Make 1



4.  Sew the units from step 1 to the units from step 2. Make 2



5.  Rotate one of these units 180 degrees (flip it upside down).



6.  Sew the unit from step 3 in the middle of these units.  Press seams to one side.

Design Wall Monday-Scrap Basket Surprise Quilt

This has been a UFO for a long time.  Our small group worked through the book Scrap Basket Surprises by Kim Brackett a couple of years ago.  I started almost all of the quilts but couldn’t keep up with finishing one a month.  The blocks were made for this quilt so I sewed them together and now it’s ready for a border.  I wanted to use red but it didn’t look quite right so I’ll have to dig through the stash to find something I like better.  Our group meets this Thursday so I’d like to get it quilted for show and tell.  This is one of my all time favorite books.  There are so many great patterns in it that I could probably spend the rest of my life making these quilts.



To see more great works in progress check out the links at Patchwork Times.

Good News Thursday: Sunshine!

Judy at Patchwork Times encouraged us to share some good news or a gratitude today.  That is such a nice idea so I’ll share some good things from the past week.  First of all, we have sunshine today and the temperature seems to be moving a little higher.  I think the snow will be gone soon even with the prediction that we’ll get another inch or two on Saturday morning.  Everyone I see is so ready for spring to be here and to be able to get outside.  Right now I’m just thankful for bright sunshine. 

I’m grateful that both my kids are doing well as they approach the end of their school years.  My son will take his first round of boards in medical school a couple of months from now and so far he isn’t in a panic over it.  My daughter has an internship set for the summer and she’ll be living at home (I’m REALLY happy about that!!).  This week she was elected as an officer in her Food Science Club and she was very excited about that.

I’m also glad that I don’t have to work tomorrow so I am planning a quilting marathon. There are several quilt tops ready to go and I received a box with six more to quilt for Quilts Beyond Borders.  Later today I’ll cut batting and piece backs so it will be quilt, quilt, quilt tomorrow!

Really, there’s so much I’m thankful for, but those are the highlights of the week.  Click here to visit the links at Patchwork Times with more good news from others.

Design Wall Monday-Scrappy Stars

My drawer of 2-1/2” strips is overflowing and I came across a pattern named Breezy Batiks on Moda’s website that uses lots and lots of 2-1/2” squares (pattern is here).  I’m using all scraps for this quilt and making it bigger than the pattern—probably twin size so I can donate it to the emergency shelter. The blocks are easy to make but fairly time consuming since there are a lot of little pieces.  This is my favorite kind of quilt though, with hundreds of different fabrics.  It’s a walk down memory lane with every square I pick up!

Be sure to check out what everyone else is working on at Patchwork Times.

Bonus Triangle Project

In an earlier post I mentioned an idea I had for using the bonus triangles leftover from my Pineapple Blossom quilt.  I had 96 half-square triangles to use and came up with this.



I debated whether or not to add a border of the print fabric on the top and bottom but this was already kind of long and skinny so decided the border made it look too disproportionate.  Anyway, this meets the size requirements for Quilts Beyond Borders and would make a nice donation quilt.

It was very easy to make.  I simply sewed the triangle squares together in a zigzag strip.  To make the piecing easier I sewed the aqua border strips to the print strips before sewing them to the zigzag strips.  The aqua strips were cut 1-1/2” wide and the print was cut 3-1/2” wide.



The half-square triangle blocks were an odd size since they were cut from the corners of the Pineapple Blossom blocks.  It didn’t matter what size they were because they were all the same.  I explained how I cut them here.  I laid all three strips out and they were within 1/8” of being the same length.  Yaay!

I then matched and pinned the cut end of the sashing strips with the zigzag strips



and cut four of them the same length.



It was then a simple matter to sew the sashing strips to the zigzag strips.  After pressing toward the sashing strips I measured the width of the quilt top and cut two more 1-1/2” strips of the aqua to this measurement and sewed them to the top and bottom.

Voila!  This easy project is now in the queue for quilting!