{Quilt Pattern} Squares on Point

Hiii There,

As I said in my previous post, I will be teaching a few classes at my local sewing shop. The shop has had a ton of requests for quilting classes, and  the owner and other teachers aren't really quilters, so they've asked me to come up with some beginner quilting classes and whip up samples for those classes. 

First things first... I had to pick some fabric. As usual, my obsession with Anna Maria Horner continues. I selected some prints from her Innocent Crush collection, as well as a LouLouthi print. I am not sure where/what that print on the far left below is, I grabbed it from the sew shop. 

Quilt Design:

I wanted something really simple for the newbie quilters. I wanted a design with big squares that went together very simple. Here is what I came up with:

 
Fabric cutting:

And the quilt top comes together ... sooooo easy!!!!

 The only "squaring up" that this quilt needed was a few corners clipped.

Onto the quilting .... 

Although, in retrospect, the quilting pattern was definitely not the easiest because I had to wrangle a lot of the quilt under the machine at once. I am going to have them quilt this pattern instead .... 

Then comes the much dreaded binding of the quilt. I am definitely going to show all of my newbie quilters how to machine stitch the binding, it is so much easier that hand stitching!!

All done!!  I completed the quilt in about 10 hours total, which included a lot of time for writing and editing the pattern for the students, as well as watching the whole last season of Awkward on MTV. My husband says that I tend to zone out like a 3 year old, twirling my hair standing about 1 foot from the TV, so I can safely assume that a solid 2 hours were wasted that way. 

I actually really am in love with the color combo here. I think that beginner quilters really want to get a feel for the process of constructing a quilt, which they will get to here. They will have to do a little bit of cutting, they will piece squares and triangles both, they will spray baste the quilt, they will get experience with straight-line quilting, they will cut and sew binding, and lastly they will attach the binding via machine stitching. 

What do you guys think? Is this a pretty easy beginner quilt? Do you live in New York's Capital Region and want to take this class? E-mail me! 

HOLLER!

My Sweet Charli Bed Set {Wrap Up}

I am so excited to show you the fully completed project that I've been working on for my Goddaughter Charli. 

Excuse this post, as it is going to be a very self-indulgent-glamor-shot-heavy-post.

When my girlfriend Tricia first asked us (Husband and I) to be her daughter's Godparents, we were thrilled. Neither of us has ever been such a thing, and we don't have little ones of our own yet (we're only 26, mind you). As a crafter, the first things that crossed my mind were, "OMG what am I going to make Charli? It needs to be awesome."

I asked Tricia if she has picked out a bed set for Charli for once she is out of the crib. She said no. I said amazinngggg. I planned to make her a Twin Quilt, with a matching Pillowcase, and Pillow Sham.  I wanted her to have a totally completed bed set. 

Now I love quilts. I love everything about them. Except... that it is so difficult to find matching pillowcases! Making Charli a full set for her bed was the perfect solution. 

 
See all of the My Sweet Charli related posts by typing "Charli" into my search bar. Because I am UBER slow at completing things, there were probably 15 posts in total over the past 8 months.

First, I had some clean up work to do. I don't have a serger, and am not really interested in having ANOTHER piece of machinery around here. But I did want to secure the inside seams of both pillows just so that they don't unravel in the wash. 

I decided to zig-zag stitch around all of the seams. As you can see, it looks a lot more secure. 

  (Before)

 (After)

I also wanted to totally clean up the quilt. It has been laying around for months now and it really needed to be de-linted. I also wanted to give it the once over for threads, etc. 

Now it's time for some Glamor Shots. I am actually really proud of this project. It turned out exactly as I had planned, with pretty much zero failures. That doesn't happen often. 

I really love how everything came together. I like how the fabrics from the pillow cases come directly from the quilt fabrics. MAN are they soft too!! I was worried that the pillow case wouldn't be as soft because its not 9,000 thread count egyptian cotton. Not to worry, these Tula Pink fabrics are equally luxurious.

I loved this quilt so much. I am going to be sad to see it go, despite the fact that it is going to a good home. I can't decide which prin tis my favorite, they are all so lovely.

I can't remember if I showed you the back. I did the back entirely in the print below. I just love it. The front is definitely girl, with the reds, pinks, purples, etc. But just in case our little Charli or her mama get sick of pink, she has the green side to flip to. 

I quilted this quilt with straight lines. It is by far the easiest to do for me with this sized quilt. I have no idea what the finished dimensions are, but it is a large twin quilt. 

A few final shots of the quilt. I love how the pattern is definitely geometric. Rectangles and straight lines. But then the fabrics are so pretty and girly. I hope Charli likes it. I know her mama will, the colors are so up her alley.

This Twin Bed Set is off to Germany to live with its new family, complete with a little note for Charli ...

This is another project completed and off My Bucket List. Check out the My Finished Projects page for all of the projects I have completed to date. 

HOLLER!

Figgy Rail Fence Endings Part II

I finished all of the quilting on this baby!

 (Straight-line quilting along the border, back view)

 (Straight-line quilting on the border, quilt top view)

(Crosshatch quilting on the center, rail fence, portion)

So now that I have finished all the quilting, it is time to bind the quilt. This is where I am totally stuck! Nothing I pick out looks good. I spent a SOLID 2 hours staring at the quilt and trying to match it up with stuff in my stash and I have nothing. I am determined to finish it up this weekend, so I will have to make a run to the fabric store and find something that goes. I tried these from my stash, but they just don't do it for me:

xoxoxo