Layer Cake Tumble

Looking for a quick quilt? My most recent finish, Layer Cake Tumble,  makes use of a layer cake and junior jelly roll. And if you are thinking I'm tempting you with dessert, these are actually precut 10' squares and a half-size set of 2 1/2" strips. 

As for dessert, I recently made a Grapefruit Cake. Except today I dropped it, upside-down onto my kitchen floor, Wilton turntable included. Whomp whomp. I may have used a bread knife to cut the bottom part (newly positioned as the top) off for salvaging. 😬 But you are all sworn to secrecy as to why the remaining cake has been settled into a plastic storage container.

Back to the quilt. My fabrics of choice were a Firefly Layer Cake by Sarah Watts for Ruby Star Society and a black Bella Solids Junior Jelly Roll. I adore the moths, fireflies, and mushrooms. Posing alongside the layer cake are my OLFA Splash rotary cutter and 6" Sweet Snips. Besides being pretty and in my favorite color, they are primo at their function.

   

If you want to make things easy for yourself, Fat Quarter Shop has a quilt kit featuring Picnic Pop by Me & My Sister Designs available. There's even a backing set to help you coordinate your finish. 

If you want to make things harder for yourself, which seems to be my specialty, pick directional fabrics, and then be overly compulsive about them all facing upward. In reality, even though this pattern looks complicated, it's a misnomer. Every block is composed the same way, and constructed of only three pieces. 

After a recent quilting project that I complete with a really dense, small scale free-motion design, I decided to up the scale in an effort to finish in a more gratifying time span for this quilt. I decided on a paisley using Superior So Fine 715 Ezz Rock for the top and solid black to match an Alison Glass black fabric I chose for backing. It would have been advisable to check my tension before getting too carried away, as I have some spots on the back where the top thread has pulled to the back, revealing a loop of brilliant orange and hot pink. My Albuquerque Modern Quilt Guild long-arm group, a group of talented quilters and fine human beings, suggested using a mirror below the back to get a better perspective of how things are going.

Check out the YouTube video and download the free pattern. Share your version using the hashtags #LayerCakeTumbleQuilt and #ShortcutQuilt.

Mini Charm Chiffon

Today I introduce Mini Charm Chiffon to you. It has an organized randomness to it that works well for a scrappy look, but makes use of mini charms.

Pick up your free pattern for this quick and pretty 36.5" square project. It requires four mini charm packs (140 squares), 1 yard of background and 1/2 yard of binding. Fat Quarter Shop has a Quilt Kit available in Love Lily by April Rosenthal for Moda. 

Check out Kimberly's YouTube video.

I used Sunprint 2021 Day Trinket for the background and a charm pack of Sunprint 2021 cut into quarters in place of the mini charm packs. I set aside the white and black prints to edit the selection into a cheery rainbow.

For the quilting, I did diagonal lines 3/4" apart only on the background.

I bound and backed this with Alison Glass Sunprint 2021 Cosmo Tuesday.

What have you been making lately?

Fat Eighth Flapjacks Quilt

Fat Quarter Shop has released a new free Shortcut Quilt pattern and YouTube video. They offer a quilt kit and backing set in Lady Bird by Crystal Manning.

For my rendition, I used Sunprint 2021 Day Trinket by Alison Glass yardage for the background and a Bloom Pure Solids Fat Quarter Bundle. Check out all the beautiful Art Gallery Pure Solids Fat Quarter Bundles Fat Quarter Shop has available. 

Bundles come with a clever card specifying the name of each individual fabric.

The pattern calls for twenty-two 9" x 20" rectangles cut into six 3" x 8" rectangles (132 total). Instead, I cut the fat quarters into two 6"x 18" strips. I cut the background into twenty-two 3" x 18" strips. These were sewn together before cross-cutting into 3" x 10 1/2" strips to be assembled into blocks.

The final quilt size is 60 1/2" x 70 1/2".

This pattern is a wonderful way to highlight scrappy fabrics, fun prints, or a favorite collection.

For the quilting, I stitched organic curves running horizontally.

Aurifil 50 wt were my threads of choice in Plum 4030, Light Jade 1148, Antique Rose 2430, Fuchsia 4020, Emerald 2865, Lemon 2115 and Light Grey Turquoise 2805 for the bobbin.

I backed this with Alison Glass Favorites Remix in Sunshine from my stash.

Along with the other Shortcut Quilts, I recommend this pattern for a fast make that doesn't involve massive background experience, but is still enjoyable for more experienced quilters that want a stress-free project.

It's kid-approved!

Mini Charm Muffins Quilt Along with Fat Quarter Shop

Welcome! Today's project is the sweetest little wall hanging or baby quilt. 

I'm joining Fat Quarter Shop's Mini Charm Muffins Quilt Along which is part of the Shortcut Series. 

Fat Quarter Shop has a kit available featuring Apricot and Ash by Carey Yoder, or you can pick up the free pattern and choose your own fabric selection for the 34.5" square kit. I chose the adorable agrarian collection, Farm Charm by Gingiber. which balances red, aqua, and neutrals. 

While I used to always pick black, white, or cream for backgrounds, I've grown to love other options. This time, I went with Kona Azure. The binding is Strawberry Lattice.

I would do a few things differently in hindsight. For one, I would not hide a dozen mini charm squares from myself by laying a cutting mat out of the way and over the top of them. I couldn't find the missing squares for the life of me, and had my suspicious that one of the four children quarantined within my household were responsible... until after I cut additional squares from the binding fabric, took apart enough 9-patches to intersperse the replacement squares, and put the blocks back together. Figures!

Secondly, because I'm a bit compulsive (um.. okay, a lot) it bothers me if fabrics are going every which way. If you can pep-talk your mind into being chill about topsy turvy, perfect! If you're more like me, I recommend you make the sixteen 9 Patches first. Then add the stitch and flip triangles to three of four corners. Make sure you have an even number of 9 Patches exempting each corner (four of each arrangement). Trying to keep track of which 2.5" squares needed a corner added with all of them separate required far too much concentration to keep them oriented upright.

For the quilting, I used my walking foot to do some echoing in the sashing. Then I filled in the squares with loop-the-loops. 

For the mini charm squares, I did a design from Making Connections---A Free-Motion Quilting Workbook.

The backing is Farmhouse Floral by Nancy Neiman for Penny Rose Fabrics.

Check out the Fat Quarter Shop blog for their post featuring all the participants.

Jelly Belly Bars Quilt

Have you ever made up a quilt pattern that was so quick and easy that you started pulling stacks of fabric to make versions 2 and 3? That's how the Jelly Belly Bars Quilt was for me. I'm joining in on the #jellybellybars Quilt Along highlighted on the Jolly Jabber Fat Quarter Shop blog.

First off, I wouldn't want you to miss out on the fun, so you'll be needing to pick up the free pattern.

The great thing about Fat Quarter Shop quilt alongs is that there's always a YouTube video. Check out their channel, or better yet, subscribe.

To make things easier, Fat Quarter Shop offers a Jelly Belly Bars Quilt Kit and Backing Set featuring Fiddle Dee Dee by Me and My Sister Designs.

          

The Jelly Belly Bar Quilt is made with a Jelly Roll (2 1/2" x width of fabric strips) and a Jolly Bar. Jolly Bars are an exclusive Fat Quarter Shop 5" x 10" precut that includes a coordinating pattern. Fat Quarter Shop even has a wide selection of Jolly Bar kits.

My rendition features Zuma by Tula Pink for Free Spirit Fabrics.

I purchased some additional yardage so I would be able to fussy but some 5" x 10" rectangles for the centers.

A layer cake cut in half could also be used.

It would be fun to inset blocks within the 5" x 10" sections. It looks like I'm not the only one who had this thought cross their mind. Check out this version employing Flying Geese. I have a holiday version in mind with paper-pieced centers.

The pattern is well-written, but I do have a little pointer. In the final step before quilt assembly, 6 3/4" is trimmed from six blocks. Since this portion is discarded, there's no need to add the final 2 1/2" x 9" side to six of the blocks.

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