Quilting Mod

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Fat Quarter Shop Boxed Sets

Did you miss out on the super cool notions Fat Quarter Shop surprised subscribers with in their Sew Sampler boxes this past year? Fat Quarter Shop is now offering greatly discounted boxed sets including some of their best items that you may have lamented missing out on earlier. Buy them before the limited quantities get snatched up (affiliate links present)!

Thursday, January 4, 2018

Wonderland Quilt Along Block #4: Keys and Bottle

It's time for this month's Wonderland Quilt Along blocks. As a quick overview, I'll introduce one block a month for the year until we reach the final layout by the end of 2018. The top will finish at 46" x 60" with 3" borders attached, 40" x 54" without.

This month, you'll need to bring out those paper-piecing skills. If you're new here, or to paper-piecing, you may want to check out the Block #2 tutorial.

You'll also need to download the pattern, and you might want to join the Facebook community of quilters making their own.

I recommend using a thin, strong cotton thread to keep the seams from getting too bulky. The only thread I use for paper-piecing is 50 wt Aurifil. I use a color that blends with the background. For this project, I have been using Aurifil #2021 Natural White.

We will be stepping it up a little with multiple units. Not to worry, the paper-piecing process is the same. They'll just be a few pieces to sew together, traditional-style, once the units are pieced and trimmed to the unfinished (with seam allowance included) size.

I like to do the first step (Cover Piece 1. Add Piece 2 by sewing along the line separating 1 & 2, with right sides together and a shortened stitch. Press open. Trim seam allowance.) on all of the units at the same time. Then I do the next step on all the pieces, and so on. This streamlines the process for me since it's less laps around the sewing room.

I tend to pull from my scraps or cut a piece that will generously cover each area, as determined by pinching on seam allowance side of the line and doing a test flip.

Some units get finished. As for the others, I just keep placing, piecing, and pressing.

Once all the units are completed, I sew them together with a 1/4" seam allowance.

And then, it all comes together!

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Arrowhead Quilt

I wrapped up (literally and figuratively) a quilt for my mother's Christmas present. The pattern is the Arrowhead Quilt from the 13 Spools Tribal Block Club.

I used a white solid, along with fabrics from the Transformation collection by Sarah Vedeler from Contempo Studio. I wanted to detail the background with free-motion and ruler work to highlight the negative space. All the quilting was done with Aurifil White #2024.

This piece is an example of alternate grid work, which I intended to use in conjunction with my November guest post for the Modern Quilt Along at Simple Simon and Company. (Except, I think Elizabeth & Liz might have forgotten 😊.)

I started with diagonal, straight lines to stabilize the top and divide up the space. From there, I used the quilt as a testing grounds for an assortment of border designs. Affiliate links occur in my resources below, as well as non-standardized naming of patterns. The designs have different names depending on the source, much like quilt blocks.

Moving from the corners inward, I used Triangle Spiral; the Swirl Chain from Angela Walter's Borders and Backgrounds Craftsy class; Bow Tie from Lori Kennedy's Free-Motion Machine Quilting 1-2-3; an elaborate border designed by renowned teacher Jessica Gamez; Figure 8/Ribbon Candy from Small Changes, Big Variety; Simple V filled with Pebbles; Chain Squares from Small Changes, Big Variety and Free Motion Quilting with Angela Walters; Brackets from Angela Walter's Borders and Backgrounds and Free Motion Quilting with Angela Walters filled with Twist/Wishbone/Figure 8's; Stacked Triangles; Connecting Waves from Making Connections; Arcs; Kaleidoscope taught by Christina at A Few Scraps; S's; Serpentine Line from Help! How Do I Quilt It? or Twisted Rope; and Custom Feathers from Free-Motion Quilting with Feathers.

The video I used to create the Kaleidoscope free-motion pattern follows:

Ruler work was used on the Dot-to-Dot Simple V design and the elaborate border incorporated thanks to step-by-step guidance from Jessica Gamez of Jessica's Quilting Studio in her Border Symphony techniques I admired from quilting she did on Almost Like the Blues. Any irregularities are from my execution of the technique, rather than her instruction, I assure you. I marked points using a Clover wet-erase marker.

I pulled scraps that matched the colors of the prints used in the top from my color-sorted scrap bins, and cut the ones that were large enough into 2 1/2" strips. These were joined together to create my scrappy binding. It makes a cheery and economical option.