The Quilting is done....and a give away!

It's really done! I spent some time this weekend quilt this little baby and it looks great.

In the outer border I did a loopy meander type of thing.

And in the vertical sashing I did hearts.

In the small horizontal green parts of the sashing I did some circles.

I also stitched in the ditch around each white square and stitched closely around each applique shape. 

I am trying an experiment. Do you use Frixion pens for marking at all? They disappear when you iron the marks. I know the marks are supposed to come back if the fabric gets below freezing, but will go away again if you iron it again. I have heard stories of people shipping their quilts and the marks come back because they got cold on the airplane. I am sending this to Texas in a couple of weeks with my husband and kids when they go to visit and I am interested to see what will happen. I will be sure to forewarn my sister-in-law before she sees it!

If you have been following from the beginning you will remember that this was my sister-in-law's grandmothers project that was never completed, so this is for her. I can't wait until she sees it in person.

I decided my favorite block, although I loved so many of them, is the Umbrella block. A close second is the elephant.

What is your favorite?

Let me know in a comment and I will draw a random name from all the replies for a pack of charm squares from my left over 30's prints! I will draw a name next Sunday, April 6th. 

With hugs,

Deb

Snow Day=SEW day!

Yesterday we had a snow day! So I did the final steps of the Child's Alphabet quilt. I hope my instructions are clear.

The first thing is to cut all the blocks down to 6 1/2" if you made the initial squares a little bigger as I did. Arrange then in columns as they will be in the final quilt.

Next we will make the sashing to go between the blocks in each vertical column.

Cut from the green fabric: 4 X 1 1/2" strips by WOF

Cut from back ground fabric: 8 X 1 1/2" strips by WOF

Sew a background strip to either side of each green strip. This should result in a 3 1/2" wide strip set. Make 4.

Subcut these strip sets into 6 1/2" units. Make 20.

Sew a 6 1/2" sashing unit to the bottom of each alphabet block EXCEPT for the bottom one on each column.

Arrange back onto columns:

Sew the blocks into vertical columns:

Now we will make the sashing between the columns. 

Cut 2 more strips of green (1 1/2" again) and sew together end to end, making one long strip.

Cut 4 background strips. Sew each pair together end to end, making two long strips.

Sew the background strips to either side of the green strip making a long strip set.

Measure the length of your columns. Mine were 51 3/8" long. Cut 3 pieces from your long strip set to this length and sew them between your columns.

Now we will add 3 borders as follows:

1) 1 1/2" background border

2) 1 1/2 " green border

3) 6 1/2" background border

For each border, but 6 strips by WOF and piece together as needed. I like to measure through the center of the quilt at each step and cut the border strips to this length.

We are done!

Click HERE to download a PDF of the instructions.

The layout

I have been playing with a layout for the alphabet quilt in EQ7.  This is what I have come up with to match the description that Nancy gives in the column that she wrote for block 4 (The Doll block). I also used the diagram given in the first column for guidance.

Here is my layout:

These are the fabrics I am using for the sashing and borders for Mildred's quilt:

This is not a 30's print but has all the right colors in it to blend with the blocks.

For this layout, you will need 1/2 yard of the green fabric for sashing and 2 yards of the lighter border and sashing fabric.

Cutting instructions coming soon!!

Have a great quilty weekend!

Deb