Sweet Ruffles a Quilt Tutorial from Meg!

Want to make one??

I received some of this mini ruffle in grey from the lovely Ruffle Fabric peeps so I could do a quilt tutorial for you!

Finished Quilt Size: 40.5" x 44.5"

Materials Needed: 

• 3/4 yards Ruffle Fabric
• 1/2 yard of coordinating quilting cotton print 
• 1/8 yard of FIVE coordinating quilting cotton prints (each print needs to be exactly 4.5", so bump this up if your not confident in the cut.)

Tips for Ruffle Fabric:

• Take time and care cutting ruffle fabric.  You'll need to separate the ruffles with each cut.  Also take care that the ruffles are hanging correctly when sewing.  To do this I recommend a lot of pinning!
• Make sure when you cut your ruffles run horizontal.
• Make sure your ruffles all hang in the same direction when assembling the quilt top.
• Don't stretch!  This is a stretchy material and thankfully very forgiving.  However pin a lot and do your best not to stretch it as you sew, otherwise you'll cause your other prints to gather.
• I had no problem ironing it, it didn't effect the ruffles at all. It also does not shrink if you like to pre-wash.

Step 1: Cutting

• From ruffle fabric cut 5 strips 4.5" x 40.5".  The ruffle should run horizontal in the cut.
• From coordinating prints cut 3 strips 4.5" x 40.5"
• From five coordinating trim to 4.5" x WOF

Step 2: Creating the Squares Row

• Sew the five strips together, top to bottom.  Press.  Refer to the picture below.  
• Sub-cut the prints to 4.5" strips and cut 6.
• Sew end to end for 3 total strips.  Refer to second picture below.

Step 3: Layout

• Lay all your strips on a flat surface.  Arrange in the following order, sew top to bottom and press:

1. Squares Row
2. Ruffle Row
3. Solid Row
4. Ruffle Row
5. Squares Row
6. Ruffle Row
7. Solid Row
8. Ruffle Row
9. Squares Row
10. Ruffle Row
11. Solid Row

Step 4:  Quilting

I haven't quilted mine yet, obviously, but I will share when I do!  Here are a couple of my thoughts.  I plan to straight-line stitch on the cotton fabrics horizontally, maybe every inch.  I will stitch in the ditch above and below the ruffle fabric but DO NOT quilt on top of the ruffle fabric or you'll flatten it!  Sad! 

This will mostly likely be for the little lady :) Two and a half weeks to go!!!  It's a great size for a play quilt on the floor, plus I think those tiny fingers will love the ruffles!

It is such a grown-up color palette which is making me smile!  I've done so many sweet things for her this was fun to be a little more dramatic.

I hope you like it!  It was so fun to make!! I have a couple more Ruffle Fabric projects I'll be sharing so stay tuned!

Fabrics Used:

Grey Mini Ruffle from Ruffle Fabric

Cameo by Amy Butler from Fabric Shoppe (one of the coral prints is from her previous collection Lark)

Applique circles quilt from mansells on the move..

Clare from mansells on the move blog, made this darling circle quilt for her baby. Love this quilt. Clare has all her quilt finishes here, there are some darling ones. She is a travelling Mama, currently in Scotland, her blog header and graphics are darling. Her blog is a fun read, so be sure to head over...

Applique circles quilt

Two quilts in two weeks? There's no stopping me!

This is the first of many quilts I'll be making for our baby who is due next month. I'm loving being able to work on small quilts AND keep them. Before I found out I was pregnant I'd run out of excuses to make a quilt in anything but a superking size for us, but they'll hopefully be lots of excuses to make mini quilts over the next few years.

This quilt is exactly a yard square and is intended to be used as a play mat with a baby gym. The fabric I used is from Moda's It's A Hoot range. I'm slowly learning that there tends to be a bit of a lag between me buying fabric and actually using it for a project, by which stage the yardage has often sold out.

I learned my lesson this time and bought two packs of charm squares and yardage as soon as I saw it on sale. I had a few reservations that the colours were a bit girlie (we don't know what we're having) but when mixed together I think it looks sufficiently unisex....

I had a new tool to play with when I did the binding for this quilt. Previously I have always used this method to finish attaching the binding. It produces great results, but is fiddlely to do. Then when I was searching youtube for quilting tutorial videos for my sister, I found this video which recommends using a binding tool to achieve exactly the same finish. After finally tracking a UK store down that sold them and waiting for the stock to arrive, I can confidently say I won't be going back to the old method!

I also bought myself a copy of Block Party- The Modern Quilting Bee. I have been wanting to get involved with or organise a quilting bee for ages and there are some great ideas and patterns in the book. I'm just trying to decide whether it would be insanity to start a bee with a new baby on the way, or whether it would actually be a rather nice manageable size quilting project - what do you think and would anyone be interested in joining the fun?

Handmade Retro's Double Wedding Ring Quilt!

Today's feature is from Kristy of Handmade Retro...and it is so beautiful!!  I love when we get a great quilt with an even better story!!  She thought out every bit of this project and it is so thoughtful.  Kristy is part of Sew Australia, a great bee with some fun photos to look through and for them she recently shared this great tutorial.  Also she had her first recipe on Moda Bake Shop this summer, can't wait to try it!

It is finished - and I couldn't be more pleased with how it has turned out. 

First a little explanation about the recipients which will make some of the details about the quilt make more sense. The quilt is for my brother, Justin and his wife since last November, Amy. And yes, I realise that makes this a very late wedding present. Amy's blog documenting the planning of their wedding was called Polka Dots and Sunshine, she wore a dress with small dots on the overdress fabric and the flowers at the wedding were yellow. Justin's favourite colour is green. They married in a garden in the foothills of Perth and marked the aisle with handmade pinwheels from scrapbooking paper.

The quilt measures 55" by 65" and is 4 rings by 5 rings making the quilt a lap size. It is the size I had planned from the beginning to be used on the couch or at the end of the bed but if I had several more months I might have gone for a bed size as the piecing is time consuming and, at time tedious, but once I got the hand of it it turned out not to be so hard.

I didn't use a 'pattern' as such but cut everything using templates from Matilda's Own, the set I bought coming with a handy book detiling fabric requirements for different quilt sizes as well as some very detailed and helpul piecing directions and the template designs to square off the edges. The holes in the templates to mark seam intersections was also VERY helpful.

So to the fabric choices and placement. The intersecting squares bringing the rings together were the two colours that represtented Justin and Amy, the green and the yellow. The other prints in the rings included a number of spots as a nod to the wedding's 'shape' theme as well as some other prints to balance these out.

The backing fabric was chosen as a contrast to the front, stripes and spots but the print could have been a little overwhealing without being split. The double pinwheel blocks down the centre is reminicinet of the aisle at their wedding ceremony which was marked by homemade pinwheels made using scrapbook paper.

I echo quilted the rings on my machine. I love the way it looks but it took a lot longer than I thought and really took a lot out of my neck and shoulders. I enjoy quilting all my own quilts but the basic domestic machines certainly have their limits.

Of course it is labelled on the back - the quote is one that came to Amy when planning ceremony readings for the wedding but didn't feel is appropriate to include in the ceremony itself. And of course their names and the wedding date. On the way home with them tomorrow.

Other Posts about this quilt

A Project (with a capital P)

HandmadeRetro: Double Wedding Ring Progress (or procrastination)

HandmadeRetro: A deep breath....and start - The Double Wedding ...

Arc, Melons and Centres - The Double Wedding Ring quilt

A curvy Weekend

RIP Lotus Quilt from Stitches and Scissors

R.I.P

This is a good story, you will want to read it all. It is about a missing quilt! SAD. Darci from Stitches and scissors has a super darling blog, and we came across this story and had to feature it! She has a great bunch of tutorials, a fun "sewers interview series" and her blog has beautiful photos too! Alright, read on...

Here is to my Lotus Square quilt. It was a gorgeous quilt that I will always treasure, but for some reason has always wanted to leave me. The first time it left me was when I sent it off to the quilters and the post office lost it and I thought it was gone forever and mourned its loss (really cried since it was over 16 yards of fabric that I bought let alone all the time it took to make it). Then the quilter remembered a note that was left on her door from the post office saying she needed to sign for something so she went to the post office and there it was, my quilt. I did a happy dance and was so excited to get it back from the quilter so that I could bind it and get it on my bed to use and to love. I did love this quilt. I used one of my favorite fabric lines Lotus by Amy Butler which made it extra special to me. Once I got it back and added the binding and washed it, I caressed it everyday since it was just so pretty and a joy to sleep under each night.

The second and final time it left me gets us to the tragic ending to this story. On Monday I packaged up the quilt along with my sheets as we were moving to a different house. I had to leave it in the care of my husband and the movers to get it to the new house as I had to watch my two girls. Side note: Moving with small children is awful especially one that is just walking and gets into everything. Anywho back to the tragic story of the quilt. When the movers came to the new house and we unpacked everything and waved goodbye to the movers we were exhausted! The move took all day 5am - 7pm and all we wanted to do was get the beds made so that we could go to sleep. We got all the bags of bedding upstairs and I started making the girls beds. Then I moved on to my bed and as I was unpacking I found out that I only had the shams and pillows for the bed. The quilt and sheets had gone missing! Where could they be??? We called the movers and they said nothing was left in the truck, then we went back to the house to see if it was left there, nope nothing was left. The ending to this story is a mystery. It could have been stolen as we were all in the house and not watching the truck and someone just happened to steal the bag with my quilt in it or somehow it was thrown away even though my husband and the movers both swear nothing was thrown away.

May I be able to stop being sad and depressed about it all and thinking of all the things I should have done and said to the quilt before I left it. I need to stop beating myself up with the "I should have taken care of it myself then this would have never happened" crap and move on. I know this but still.....it is hard.

The Lotus Squared quilt was well loved for the 2 months that we had it on our bed. It kept us warm and cozy this winter for the small time that it was with us. May it Rest in Peace where ever it is.

Previous Posts about the Quilt...


I finally finished the quilt top for my bed!







This thing is HUGE. A California King size. Since there is no way I can quilt this on my machine I have contacted someone to quilt it for me who has a long arm. 


I am finally finished with my Lotus Squared quilt. It took some time as I sent it to get quilted(my first experience doing this and it was great!) then I had to bind the huge thing. I figured out how to make some shams (just really large pillows) and made a couple of throw pillows to make a complete set. My bed is a large bed with it being a California King Size.







This quilt threw a surprise at me once I washed it. It started out being 90"x 112" which was perfect with room to shrink alittle once I washed it. BUT I washed it and it ended up being 107" x 86" which was way to small on the sides. I cried for a couple of hours about it. All the time I spent making it and now it doesn't fit. I realized that this is only the second quilt that I have used cotton batting and cotton shrinks way more than polyester batting which had to be a part of it. I called my Mom (who I know I have mentioned is a sewing genius) and she mentioned that she has had to turn quilts the other way many times and that I should try that. She said it would not go all the way to the top but who cared when the shams and pillows would cover it. So my friends that is what I did and it is now perfect and there are no more tears. 

I really really love it. The colors are amazing. For those that are wondering I used Amy Butler's fabric line Lotus, in the blue and red color way along with Kona Cotton in Ash.


FINAL POST ABOUT THE MISSING QUILT
My Luck has Changed.

Well apparently it was I who was lost and not my quilt. Who knew that getting a Thank You card out of my Hope Chest would change my life?!?!?!

I will start at the beginning for those that are just joining in. My family moved right after Christmas. I had just finished a quilt for my bed and had it returned from the long arm quilter and only had it on my bed for 2 months when we moved. In the move the quilt was LOST. My family searched EVERYWHERE. After looking everywhere we gave up becasue what else can you do. I wrote this R.I.P. post and started thinking of a new quilt. Well 1 day shy of 4 months of losing the quilt I FOUND IT!!!!!







My mom and husband each needed a Thank You card last night and at the foot of my bed I keep my Hope Chest that I keep odds and ends in and I went to get one out of there and once I opened it I just starred! Apparently I was making weird noises since my husband comes in and was like what is going on. I couldn't talk and just pointed to the bag that was on top of everything in my Hope Chest. Brett was like, oh is that your quilt????? Hmmmm YES YES IT WAS! I pulled the bag out and ripped it open ran into my parents room and my mom and I just wanted to cry (but we didn't) we just could not believe that I had found it. These 4 months that it had been missing it had been at the foot of the bed the whole time inside my Hope Chest. So close to the bed that it was meant to be on. Hilarious I know. Apparently I was the one that could not remember where it was. Moving does really mess you up!







I am just so happy that I have it and my bed isn't ugly anymore!!!!

A Wedding Quilt by Dan

A bit ago Dan from Piece and Press linked up to Fabric Tuesday.  When I went back to check out the link I was having so much fun seeing his things, he just has a fresh, modern and urban take on quilting, I found myself quite intrigued!  He's self-described as designing gardens and sewing quilts.  Sounds fun!  Here's his Wedding Quilt:

We just gave this quilt to some good friends for their wedding. The pattern is 'Sexy Hexy' available for free from Amy Butler. It was a lot of fun to make and I enjoyed working with the bold bright prints. It was also my first experience working with glue stick - the center hexagons are stabilized with freezer paper, the seam allowances glue sticked to the back of the paper, and then top stitched to the already assembled outer rings of the hexagon. It made the tricky business of matching the corners very easy.

The biggest challenge on this project was completely self imposed. I fussy cut all the hexagon sides (except the columbine and lindy leaf, if memory serves) for maximum kaleidoscope effect. That's a lot of fussing! But I'm glad I did it.

The pieced back is a calmer palette of two blue fabrics.

I ran with the floral theme for the quilting. It's a free motion loopy daisy pattern (photo by Stacey Sharman).

The quilt is finished with a hand-embroidered label attached to the corner binding on the back of the blanket (photo by Stacey Sharman).

Fabrics:
Lindy Leaf, Pocketbook  and Welcome Road by Heather Bailey for Free Spirit
Sunflower, Flower Fields and Columbine by Joel Dewberry for Free Spirit
Bubble Burst by Anna Maria Horner for Free Spirit
Lotus Pond by Amy Butler for Free Spirit
Sophie's Garden by Erin McMorris for Free Spirit
Posh Petals by Khristian Howell for Anthology Fabrics
Mod Trees by Giancini Atelier for Anthology Fabrics

Raggedy Owl's quilt for Weston

First let me just say THANK YOU!  You all have been so sweet to me with your birthday wishes and honestly I appreciate each and every one.  It is so touching to see all those comments from people who I've never met in real life.  And I did have a great birthday and topped it off with a weekend craft getaway!!

Remember that Megan's give away of part of her stash to one of our followers runs through this Friday.  Check out this post for more details and to see the fabric!

Okay and now today's feature is Angela from Raggedy Owl.  She's got a really cute site, so fun to browse through.  I especially love these Christmas pillows she just finished.  Well I found this quilt being featured today through her flickr  account and asked her to please share!  I especially {heart} the backing!

This is Weston's quilt. He really wanted bright colors and triangles, so this is what we came up with.

This quilt is full of American Jane (Happy Campers, Wee Play, Recess) and Katie Jump Rope, with a little bit of Amy Butler and Lush thrown in. The backing is from an Ikea duvet cover, and the binding is Lush woodgrain.

It is slightly narrower than a typical twin sized quilt. I made it that way so that it would comfortably fit the boys' bunkbeds without hanging over the edges too much.

And Weston really loves it. :)

And look, she made matching ones for the brothers!!!  How cute is that photo?



Thanks Angela!  Psst Megan posted some of her Christmas decor on Fresh Poppy Design, check it out! :)

Heather's first time free motion quilting...

This is a bit of a scary reveal for me. I made my Mod Tweet pattern in a brighter, girlier, springy colorway. I used mostly Amy Butler's Love line. I had just gotten my nice sewing machine from my husband, and I wanted to try to free motion quilt.

I figured that each quilt that I did myself was saving $50ish dollars, so each one I do myself I am subtracting from the price of my sewing machine. So as soon as I do 20 quilts, my machine is paid off. You all get the justification right? Please tell me I am not the only one who does this.  So now I need to go out and buy yards and yards of fabric, to make 20 quilts, to free motion quilt myself, to pay off my machine. Right?

I tried just loopy loops. I read this was the easiest way. I did the whole safety pin thing, and just gave it a try. It was super fun! I am not totally happy with it. And I know I need to work on my speed or something, because my tension seems to be off when I free motion (any advice here?0

I am really happy with how it turned out. I can't wait to attempt another one.  Any advice for free motion quilting in the comments would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks to everyone of our followers. You have made this blog really fun and gratifying for me and Megan. We love hearing from you in comments or emails, so keep em coming!

Daydreams, Teeny tiny quilts...

If you are at all emotional right come back and read later. This one is really hard for me to post. I have never lost a child. I don't know anything close to that pain. But I do know the love I have for each of my children and just the thought of losing one of them is too much. This is such a sweet and special quilt from Liz of teeny tiny quilts. Liz, I don't know you at all, but the fact that you would take the time to make up this quilt for a little 2 year old you never knew, I just know you are a wonderful person. Thank goodness for people like you!

DAYDREAMS

This quilt is for a little girl named Willa, a girl not much younger than my own nearly-three-year-olds. I don’t actually know her. She lives in Pennsylvania, and her mother is a friend of a friend. This friend of mine pointed me to Willa’s mom’s blog. I read it and I cried and cried and cried. Willa is dying.

In addition to being born with a rare and serious medical condition, they then discovered a tumor. Cancer. Inoperable. I’m not sure she was even two years old at the time.

My heart broke into a million tiny pieces. I wanted so badly to do something to help, but what can I do? Aside from not being a doctor or a creator of miracles, I don’t even live anywhere close to them. I can’t make a batch of cookies or bring over a few nights’ worth of dinner.

But I can sew. I could make Willa a quilt. Is it a particularly practical gift? No, I suppose not. But I have a little girl. She likes to get surprises in the mail, she likes pretty things. All I can hope to do is to send a little smile via Express Mail.

Oh, and the latest blog entry says that the tumor is growing. They’ve stopped treatment and met with hospice. Willa is at home. That’s why I rushed to finish it as fast as I could. I thought there might be more time, but I was so very sadly wrong. So I finished it and sent it Express. Tracking says it arrived last week. I haven’t heard from Willa’s mom, yet. I have no idea if it made it there in time.

As for the practical details of the quilt:

It is my second time doing the Stacked Coins tutorial, which I cannot recommend highly enough. If you have a couple of charm packs lying around and want to make something beautiful and super fast, this is the ticket. It’s the perfect size for a baby/toddler quilt, about 40×50. The charm packs in this case were Moda Daydreams, which is a few years old but I found them last fall in Colorado and was waiting for just the right use.

Backing is Amy Butler Full Moon Dots in Camel and a blue tone-on-tone butterfly print from my stash, which the selvedge said was by Anna Griffin. Binding is Full Moon Dots in Lime. I quilted it in my favorite (and fast, though my machine was acting up and breaking thread a lot) loopy stipple, and the white pretty much disappears into the quilt.

Like I said, I have no idea if it made it there in time for Willa to see it or snuggle with it. I can only hope that it gave her, and her mom, a smile.

UPDATE, JULY 8

I got a beautiful thank you card in the mail from Willa’s mom. Not only did Willa get it and like it, “she hugs it and won’t let anyone take it away.”

UPDATE, JULY 9

Unfortunately, the post-script of the story is that, the day after I got the thank you note from Heather, Willa passed away on July 9, 2010. She was not quite 2 1/2. So sad. But I'm glad the quilt arrived and gave her a smile.

On a happier note, go check out Liz's site.  This woman has some serious quilting inspiration! She is definitely one of those girls that makes you feel like you don't know how to manage time at all if she can crank out all she does. She has her own personal quilting factory with one employee! Seriously! Just looking all she completes makes me tired! Thanks Liz.