Quilting Mod : July 2014

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Constellation Quilt Along Part III: Finishing

You have arrived at the final installment of the Constellation Quilt Along.

If you are looking for the other Constellation Quilt Along Posts, here they are:

Part II: Layout

It's time to baste, quilt, and bind your quilt. Here's a list of some of my favorite online tutorials if you are unfamiliar with the processes for turning your top into a quilt:

Basting from Kati @ From the Blue Chair

Binding @ Pile O' Fabric, Red Pepper Quilts, and yours truly

Free Motion Quilting from Elizabeth Hartman @ Oh, Fransson!, Christina Cameli, Christa, and Kati @ From the Blue Chair

A handy tip I discovered with this quilt is to lay out your backing on the floor or your table, tape down the edges with masking tape, and then roll your batting on a large cardboard tube. This makes it much easier to roll the batting out smoothly onto your backing. Then, roll the quilt top on the tube with the right side facing the tube. Unroll the top onto the batting. I received the tubes from Fabric.com when I ordered laminated cotton. You could probably use an empty gift wrap tube instead, if your quilt top isn't too large.

I free-motion quilted circles connected with straight lines to mimic the constellations on the background fabric.

The backing is Michael Miller Galaxy Visa pulled from my novelty stash.

The binding is made from the same glow-in-the-dark fabric that I used for the stars.

If you are joining along, upload pictures of your progress to the Flickr Group.

Grab a button, if you so desire:

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Bee Blocks - July

This month's Stash Bee Hive 3 block might look familiar.

That's because Francine of Mocha Wild Child chose the Wonky Pinwheel block that was selected for the Hope Circle of do. Good Stitches in March. The careful observer may notice the color scheme and arrangement differ.

However, both were created using the Wonky Pinwheel tutorial from Natalie at Greenleaf Goods.

You can check out the Stash Bee Flickr pool for other examples, as well as blocks from the other hives.

The July Hope Circle of do. Good Stitches blocks were Improv Flowers created using Aneela Hoey's tutorial.

These blocks measure 12 1/2" unfinished. Kimberly Swink requested pink, orange, red or yellow for the centers and an outer round of green. Each flower progresses from light to dark or vice versa. I added stitch and flip leaves to a few just for the fun of it.

I'll be linking up with the awesome parties on my Linky Party Page including:

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Constellation Quilt Along Part II: Layout

Welcome to the second installment of the Constellation Quilt Along.

Refer to this layout diagram for quilt top assembly. Use 1/4" seam allowances.

Layout Diagram for Constellation Quilt Along @ Quilting Mod

Cut each piece to the size listed (includes 1/4" seam allowance). Label each piece with a piece of masking tape marked with its corresponding letter in permanent marker.

A: 5" x 3"

B: 5" x 5"

C: 8" x 12"

D: 3 1/2" x 5"

E: 5" x 3"

F: 3 1/2" x 7 1/2"

G: 20" x 15"

H: 12 1/2" x 26 1/2"

I: 18" x 3"

J: 4" x 6 1/2"

K: 5" x 1"

L: 5" x 1 1/2"

M: 4" x 6 1/2"

N: 2" x 5"

O: 7 1/2" x 5"

P: 2" x 5"

Q: 6 1/2" x 2"

R: 8" x 2"

S: 3 1/2" x 5"

T: 8" x 3"

U: 3 1/2" x 5"

V: 10 1/2" x 13 1/2"

Borders: 6 1/2" x (Measure your quilt across the top, bottom, and middle. Average for this measurement.)

First, attach the long side of A, D, E, K, N, O, P, S, and U to star blocks. Then, attach B to the A unit, F to the E unit, L to the K unit, Q to the P unit, R to the S unit, and T to the U unit. Next, attach C to the AB unit, D to the EF unit, J to the KL unit, N to the PQ unit, and RS to the TU unit. After that, attach ABC to DEF, JKL to M, and RSTU to V. Then, attach ABCDEF to G and JKLM to O. Attach ABCDEFG to H and JKLMO to NPQ. Add I to JKLMNOPQ. Attach IJKLMNOPQ to RSTUV.

Attach ABCDEFGH to IJKLMNOPQRSTUV. Lastly, add the borders.

If you are looking for the other Constellation Quilt Along Posts, here they are:

Part I: Wonky Stars

Part II: Layout

Part III: Finishing -- Coming July 26

If you are joining along, upload pictures of your progress to the Flickr Group.

Grab a button, if you so desire:

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Round Robin - Royalee's Quilt

When I received Royalee's quilt, it had a lot going on. I couldn't help but notice its unabashed scappiness. The commonalities amongst the blocks were a log cabin structure, some floral prints, and the inclusion of tone on tone white strips.

I decided to tone down the busyness by adding some negative space. I kept with the log cabin structure and liberal use of color. I did include a little surprise within the piecing that Royalee will discover when she takes her quilt into a dark room. If you've been reading my blog, can you guess what this fabric is?

I look forward to seeing what my group members add next.
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Constellation Quilt Along Part I: Wonky Stars

Welcome back to the Constellation Quilt Along.

Today, we are going to make some wonky stars. For the Constellation Quilt, the finished blocks will be 4 1/2", but you can also make wonky stars in other sizes for other projects. For this project, cut four strips of the background fabric and 3 strips of the star fabric 2" x the width of fabric (42"+). Cross cut these into 72 2" background squares and 45 star fabric squares. Cut 36 of the star fabric squares once on the diagonal.

Lay a triangle of the star fabric right sides together on a background square. The longest side should extend from one side to a neighboring side with the corners sticking off the sides. Stitch with a 1/4" inch seam along the long side of the star fabric triangles.

Press the star fabric toward the corner.

Flip the square over so the wrong side is upward. Cut off the portion of the triangle that extends beyond the square.

Flip the square back over so the right side is facing upward. Fold the star fabric triangle away from the corner it was covering. Lay a ruler along the longest edge of the star fabric triangle, and cut off the background fabric corner, leaving a 1/4" seam.

Repeat the process with a neighboring corner by first placing a second star fabric triangle.

Then, press toward the corner.

Flip over, cut of the fabric that extends beyond the square, and flip back over again.

Remove the extra background fabric from the corner.

Lay out a nine patch made from four double stitch and flip triangles, four background squares in the corners, and a star fabric square in the center. Sew it together with 1/4" seams.

See you next week for the continuation of the Constellation Quilt Along.

Grab a button if you'd like.

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Constellation Quilt Along

Welcome to the Constellation Quilt Along.

For me, it all started with constellation and glow-in-the-dark Fairy Frost fabric, and the need to create some wonky star samples for my UNM Continuing Education quilting class.

You might wonder why I would have such a thing as glow-in-the-dark fabric on hand, not to mention the glow-in-the-dark thread.

Coats & Clark Glow in the Dark Thread 100yds Yellow

Aside from a sale on Halloween fabric a while back, night time illumination takes me back to my childhood--one enlightened by these adorable critters.

But I digress. Let's focus on the quilt, rather than my barely-surpressed campaign to bring back Glo Friends.

My son greatly enjoys heading to the back yard at night with his daddy, the iPad, and a constellation ap. Seriously, whatever happened to Glo Friends being good enough? Kids these days...