Falling Waves From Hell

Today I'll tell you about the...(let me count) third quilt I made.

Let's just say: This one wasn't pretty! I basically hated every single step of the process!

Here's a first glimps of the culprit:

Falling Waves Quilt

 Looks innocent enough, doesn't it? If only it were so...

The Fabric

I found different fabrics in the sales bin at my local quilt shop. They were being sold for $5/m - which is a great deal in an area where fabric is sold for $24/m! I bought three fabrics in shades of pink because I thought they would work together nicely. Definitely not my favourite colour scheme, but it was - comparably - cheap!

The Piecing

This quilt was actually all about practice! I planned (and still plan) to make a quilt with HRTs (Half Rectangle Triangles), but they are not that easy to make without loosing all the points. So I decided to pratcise with HSTs (Half Square Triangles).

I used - what could possibly be described as - the traditional way of making HSTs: put two squares on top of each other, sew down the diagonal twice 1/4" from the middle.

I didn't calculate that every two squares sewn together that way would also yield two HSTs and I ended up with far too many! I was planning on a baby quilt, but now it's closer to the size of a lap quilt!

You can imagine that it took me a long, long time to sew them together, press them (half to the dark, the other half to the white) and square them up! I think I went through a whole audiobook. That's over 30 hours!

I was already fed up just looking at them!

Falling Waves in all its Hellish Glory

Then came the sewing them all together part. I hadn't met the 1/4" seam (or just a consistent near 1/4" seam) yet. Need I say more? Nope, it's blatantly clear I did a lot of ripping, re-sewing, re-ripping and re-sewing of these stupid pink fabrics I didn't like to begin with, sprinkled with imaginative swearing, groaning and foot stomping.

That's also when I learned: There's a moment when you just have to let that idea of all perfect points go and move on! And move on I did - quiet happily I might add!

 

The Backing

Having many leftover HSTs I decided to incorporate same of them in the backing. I decided to go with a strip with an easy heart design. The design and making of the back was probably the most fun part for me. No major hiccoughs either!

Back of the Falling Waves Quilt

The Quilting

Oi vey!

I started off with simple stitch in the ditch - or in my case to the left or the right, over and through the ditch! But it looked a little unfinished so I decided to add a few more lines. Naturally, I didn't really manage to space them evenly. Oh, well, who said it was planned that way anyway?! :P

The Quilting on the Falling Waves Quilt

Of course the whole quilting process didn't go smoothly. Somehow the spare backing and batting got caught in the quilting not once, not twice, but seven times!

More swearing, groaning and foot stomping ensued.

And out came my much used and dearly hated seam ripper!

I don't know why, it never happened before this quilt and never ever after this one (touch wood!).

Let's just say I'm very happy I got this quilt finished (big woohoo!) and bound and stored away!


I still have quiet a few pink HSTs left over in a baggy somewhere. I might pull myself together some time and make a few pillows are mini quilts out of them. Maybe when I'm finally gifting that quilt to someone...



All the best,
Cat.

Disappearing 4 Patch Variation

Hi again!

Some time ago I saw Jenny Doan's tutorial on the Disappearing 4 Patch (D4P). If you're into using precuts, check out her other tutorials, but be aware that your to-do-list might easily double. Click at your own risk, don't blame me, I was nice enough to warn you!

Anyway, the finished D4P block looks like this:

This tutorial is a variation on that block, which I call DD4P (Diagonal Disappearing 4 Patch).

And here is how you make it:

Fabrics Needed

You need at least two different fabrics. But if you have a nice charm pack or even a layer cake at home, that'll look great combined with a matching solid.

Cutting and Sewing

If you're using yardage, cut 5" strips the width of the fabric and sew two strips together. Press the seam to the dark side. Then cut 5" pieces from these strips.

Take two of these pieces, flip one over, so that it forms a 4 patch. Sew them together and press to one side (it doesn't matter which one). I then squared them up (4.5" from the middle) just to make sure they're all the same size.

If you're using charm packs or layer cakes, you'll have to sew them together individually, but you can at least chain piece them.

Now to the trickiest part: Make four cuts (red lines) 1" away from the diagonal (blue lines). Check at least twice that your ruler is lined up properly before cutting, as you can't uncut it!

Take the four long corner pieces and exchange them:

Now sew the block back together. Be careful when handling these pieces, as you are working on the bias. So no excessive tugging!

 

First, sew the white longer strips to the small hourglass in the middle, then the two triangles to the black strips. Make sure that they line up on top. Don't worry about the bottom, we'll get to that in a bit!

 

Press the seams on the two triangles towards the black middle strip and the seams on the middle piece outwards. Now you can nestle the seams, when you sew the three pieces together. I pressed the final two seams open to reduce the bulk in the middle of the block.

 

 

Now for the final squaring up: Line up the middle seam at the 3.5" mark and also make sure that the vertical seam is perpendicular. Then cut off the fabric on the side. Rinse and repeat on all sides.

 

And here is your finished block. It's 7" unfinished and 6.5" finished.

 

 

Tipps and Tricks

 

There are just a few things that I'd like to add:

• Make sure you don't handle the pieces too much, as everything is on the bias.
• Press carefully, you don't want to distort the pieces.
• Don't cut too many blocks at once, it'll just cause chaos and you don't really want to waste time finding the matching pieces.
• Use pins when sewing together the three pieces of the block. The seams do nestle nicely, but the ends aren't straight, so you don't want them slipping around.
• You can basically adapt the size of the block to any measurement you like, be it 6" or 10" or even bigger. Just be aware that a 4 patch with 10" squares gets quite big and easily outgrows your cutting mat or ruler! Also, if you choose bigger squares, you might want to adjust the width of the diagonal cuts. I personally wouldn't go much smaller than 5" squares, as it might get quite fiddly and practically make the hourglass in the middle disappear.

 

Layout Ideas

There are two possible ways to lay out your block. This is the first one:

 

Here is a mock up with these colours for a bigger quilt:

 

Or maybe you prefer a more colourful option:

 



 

 

Or how about a more pastelly approach:

 

 

 

Here is the example for the second layout:

 

 

You just have to turn two of the blocks around so that the same colour meets up in the middle and forms a secondary design.

 

That's how it would look like on a bigger scale and with some more colour:

 

I couldn't resist and also made a mock up with borders:

 

 

 

As Jenny Doan would say: Isn't that a darling quilt?!

 

I hope you like it and try it. I'd love to see a quilt with this pattern!

 

 

All the best,

Cat

 



My First Quilt

I decided to show you the quilts I've made so far. I only started quilting this January, so there are not that many to share yet (but I have a little booklet where I collect quilting ideas, I'm at a whopping 20 new design ideas!).

 

The Fabric

I picked up two batik jelly rolls in Walmart when I was in New Orleans last Christmas. I actually wanted to go to Michael's or JoAnn's. However, they were a bit too far out and not really reachable with public transport so I had to make due with Walmart's. It certainly wasn't the best quality quilting cotton, but I figured it was good enough to start with. Who wants to spend a fortune when you don't even know it'll turn out ok? Besides I'd already spent a lot on a cutting mat, a rotary cutter and a couple rulers.

 

And this is what I came up with for my first ever finished quilt:

 

"First Rainbow"

I called it "First Rainbow". It's about 36"x36".

The Piecing

It wasn't actually the first quilt top I pieced, I made a Strip 'n Flip top first, but then realised that it was rather big, so I decided to make a smaller baby quilt with the leftover fabrics. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to wrangle such a big quilt through my machine for all the quilting and wanted to have a smaller practise piece. Turns out it worked just fine!

I used one strip of each colour and added a thinner black strip, then cut them into three pieces, so that it would end up in a square. If you look closely, you realise the blocks are not exactly square. I didn't use a 1/4" foot at the time, but my normal presser foot and anyway, I was very knew to the whole inch concept. I am happy to report that I've gotten better - both with the 1/4" seam and the calculations with inches!


In the making - late at night


When joining the blocks I ran into another problem: on some sides I had additional black strips, on others there was none...It took some re-arranging and thinking, but in the end I only had to rip two seams. The Quilting Police would probably have stuck me into Quilting Camp for 5 years, no probation. Luckily, I escaped that fate!

The Quilting

I used plain black fabric as backing and a fleece throw from Ikea for batting. Batting is quiet expensive around here (even when ordering in the US online, the shipping costs always floor me). That's why it turned out rather thick and should probably be called a play mat.

I bought specially waxed quilting thread (66% poly, 33% cotton) for the quilting and it worked fine. It is mostly quilted in the ditch - or I should say in, next to, over and in the vicinity of the ditch. :D

The border is quilted rather heavily and I used my foot as guidance. As you can see (don't look that closely, leave me some dignity here, please!) they are not that regular and there were a few puckers, too. Oh well, who cares? Non-quilters won't look that closely anyway! Right? Right?!


 

Detail of the quilted border

Adding the binding was the only frustrating part for me. First, I mucked up the joining of the two strips (they were twisted) and of course, I had already cut off the ends. So after trying and re-trying, the only thing that I could to was cut off the ends and join them in a straight seam. I also blame this unfortunate event - I secretly call it The Big Binding Bind of 2014 - for now being very obsessive when joining binding strips. I at least check 10 times before cutting anything off.

I tried to sew on the binding by machine, but after doing one side I realised that there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that it would look good. So I ripped it all and hand sewed it. It sure took more time, but the result isn't bad at all!


As of now, this little quilt is still waiting for a new owner. I hope some family member or friend will get pregnant soon! :D


All the best,
Cat

Lady Edith's Rectangles

 

When Inspiration Hits

I was surfing the other day and of course I ended up oggling all the pretty fabrics that can be found online. One fabric line that always catches my eye is Andover's Downton Abbey. This time when looking at Lady Edith's line (which I find to be a bit too modern to fit in with the rest, but that's not the point here) I found the Patches Blue fabric:



source: https://www.fabric.com/buy/0314288/downton-abbey-lady-edith-patches-blue

And I suddenly realised that this would make a terrific quilt pattern!

So here is a quick and dirty tutorial:

 

Fabrics Needed

You'll need three different fabrics. One with a beautiful print, two with small ones or solids. I would choose at least one solid fabric, just to let your eyes have a resting point.

 

Cutting and Sewing

Cut 4" strips WOF from the small prints/solids.

Take one strip each and sew them together lengthwise. Then cut 6" pieces crosswise from the strips. If you're lucky, you'll get 7 pieces from one strip set. But just to be on the safe side, calculate with 6 per strip set when buying your fabric.

 

Now take two of the pieces, flip one of them and sew them into a rectangular 4 patch.

 

 

And that is the first finished block! Once you finished them all, measure them (they should be 7.5"x11.5") and square - or rectangle as the case might be - them up. Only then cut the focus fabric to this size as well. This way you can make sure that you won't have to recut your fabric.

 

And now you have the two blocks necessary to complete the quilt top:

 

 

As the focus fabric I chose Kaffe Fassett's Millefiore Blue for this mock-up.

 

 

And here is how the completed top would look like:

 

As you can see, it's a really fast and easy way of making a quilt. You can choose an equal number of rows and columns and it will still end up as a rectangular due to the form of the blocks. Of course you can also vary the size of the strips at the beginning and make the blocks as big or as small as you want!

 

You can make the cutest baby quilts with this pattern (especially if you have to have it done by tomorrow, because of the last minute invite to the baby shower), or display the colours of your favourite sports team.

 

Maybe even finally cut into that wonderful fabric you bought that is far too pretty to cut into, because it is just so beautiful and you don't really want to cut it up into small pieces (Come on, you know The One, it's been in your stash for a while now and you secretly get up in the night, take it out of your closet, pet it lovingly and whisper breathlessly "My precioussssss!").

 

With these big blocks your fabric will be displayed beautifully!

 

 

Let me know if something is unclear to you. I am happy to help!

 

As always, I would love to see your quilt if you decide to use this pattern.

 

Best,

Cat


Update:  Fellow blogger Preeti Harris actually used this design idea to create an adorable baby quilt. How cool is that?! I felt like Christmas in July!

Here is a sneak peak:



Preeti's Pretty Giraffe Baby Quilt

Head on over to her blog to read Lady Edith rides a Giraffe (how's that for a creative blog post name?!). But be prepared to spend some time there, 'cause you'll find some interesting stuff!