Strip Tango Quilt

Hey y'all, this tutorial was originally included in the Oh Sew Baby! tutorial series at Fort Worth Fabric Studio last summer, but it's been awhile, and I felt like it was time to include it here as well!

 This quilt is one of my favorite go-to quilts to make when I need a fast and fun baby quilt.  It's easy to put together, simple to vary, and is fat quarter friendly.  That's a win in my book!

 You'll need at least nine fat quarters for this quilt.  Trim your fat quarters to 20.5 inches.  Then from each fat quarter, cut four strips, 4.5 x 20.5 inches for a total of 36 strips.

This quilt really is a snap to put together if you just remember a couple of important "rules."  First, one full strip length is equal to five strips sewn together in the opposite direction-

 This is going to be important to keep the proportions of your quilt correct.  Secondly, the quilt will measure 48 inches in width, which equals two full strip lengths, plus two "short sides" by 60 inches, which is three full strip lengths.

When I make this pattern, I always like to play around with the layout until I am happy with it, then take a picture.  Trust me, the picture can really help if your layout gets messed up. (ahem, pets and children anyone?)

I chose to lay my strips out into thirds.  Notice that the top third of the quilt has two horizontal strip sets, plus two vertical strips?  The other two thirds each only have one horizontal strip set, but seven vertical strips (remember, five vertical strips are equal to the width of one horizontal set).

Once you've decided on your layout, just start sewing your strips together in sections!  ps- I'm a quilting rebel and I do NOT press this until the very end.  Shhh...don't tell the quilt police!

Just join your sections together and, voila!  Your quilt top is finished!  The important thing to remember with this quilt is to have fun with it.  I like to think of it as a puzzle, but you get to decide where the pieces go!  The result is a modern, random look that appears more difficult than it really is.

This quilt is also really easy to modify to suit your size needs.  Bohemian Charm is another example of a quilt I've made with this pattern.  This one measures 60 x 64 inches, so it is three full strips in width by three full strips, plus one "short side" in length.  I did not choose to construct this one in thirds, and it's actually tough to tell where the different sections are, which I love!  I added some lines to the photo so you can see how this one goes together.

The finished quilt measures 48 x 60 inches.  A perfect size for a baby, but still big enough to be useful for years!

I hope that the next time you need a quick baby quilt, you'll give Strip Tango a try!

Bluebonnets for Baby

Remember that secret sewing project I've been promising?  Well, I'm happy that I finally get to reveal it to you, because it's my turn on the Oh Sew Baby! Tutorial Series at Fort Worth Fabric Studio!

I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to write up a tutorial for my Strip Tango pattern.  Since making Bohemian Charm, this has been one of my go-to patterns when I need a quick quilt that is perfect for showing off pretty fabrics.  In fact, I just posted another quilt I've been working on with this pattern in a twin size!

This quilt only requires nine fat quarters to put together, although I used extra fabrics because I prefer a little more variety.  Since I used more than nine fabrics, I had some leftover strips, which I pieced into the backing.

Springtime in Texas means that roadsides, hills, and fields are covered with bluebonnets- the state flower of Texas.  The beautiful blues and greens of this quilt remind me a lot of that gorgeous sight.  Although my family moved from Texas almost 8 years ago, we really loved the 7 years we lived in Texas, and this is certainly one of the things I miss.  In this photo they look purple, but they are really the most brilliant blue, and are quite a sight to behold. (photo courtesy of www.statesymbolsusa.org)

Head over to Fort Worth Fabric Studio to check out the tutorial for this quilt.  I hope you enjoy it!

Shortcake

Well friends, I'm getting really close to being able to share my pattern with you.  I think it's all finished, but you know how sometimes things make sense in your head, but when you write it down, details can get confusing?  I really want to make sure that didn't happen with the pattern, so it is currently being read and tested by a couple of quilty friends, and once I get the green light from them that everything is clear, I'll be able to release the pattern and show you the quilt.  I do, however, get to show you this little baby quilt that I made from the scraps.

Aren't the colors so happy and sweet?  Bonnie and Camille fabrics (most of these are from the Scrumptious line) always have a way of always making me smile.  ps- you know what else makes me smile?... when my roses are full with tons of lush blooms!

I used every bit of leftover fabric in the quilt, so that left nothing for the back.  So this is not my usual pieced backing.  I love this huge aqua polkadot, and added a little bit of interest with a stripe of red polkadot.  I'm not sure that I would have used such a big polkadot on a bigger quilt, or if I had lots of scraps in the backing because I think it might be too busy.  But for this little one, I think it's just perfect!

I decided to call this one Shortcake because of the sweet colors, the stacked layers, and the fact that it was so quick and easy to put together.  The finished quilt measures 42x42."

Happy Go Lucky Baby Quilt

Lately, I've been working on a little baby quilt made with Bonnie and Camille's Happy Go Lucky fabrics.

You may remember A Dash of Luck, my giant churn dash quilt made from this line.  Well, from a full fat quarter bundle, I was left with one 7.5(ish) inch square of each of the prints.  I've been hanging onto them, trying to figure out the best pattern to stretch them into a quilt of decent size.

I finally decided to keep it very simple and cut the squares in half, sew them into rows of "bricks," and sash them with Kona Coal.  Even still, I had to throw in some solid navy, white, and some cute orange and green polkadot fabrics to make the quilt big enough.  It will finish at about 45x52 inches.  When the quilt is turned the other way, it kind of looks like a coin quilt, although the bricks are 3 inches, which is a bit wide for "coins."

I'm not really sure what the plan is for this one yet.  I've been thinking that I want to start donating to the large children's hospital here to use for preemies, and our guild has some plans for that.  But I don't know any of the size requirements for those kinds of donations.  So once it's finished,I'll probably just hang onto this one until I find out!

Discovering Dawn

Well, my Fall Break of leisurely sewing is coming to a close, but not before I finished one final quilt.  Yeah, that makes three for the week.  For real- My Quilt Infatuation...it's more than a name.  It's kind of a problem.

I have to give a shout out to Janet at Simply Pieced.  Last month, when she hosted our local MQG meeting, that girl was cleaning out some of her stash!  She made this quilt with the Eden's Dream line by Studio E, and decided that she was finished with the fabric.  I ended up with almost a full fat quarter of 8 different prints.  A girl can always use more fabric, right?  Thanks, Janet!

I wanted to use this fabric judiciously, so I needed a fairly simple pattern that would create as little waste as possible.  I stretched the fabrics by adding some Kona Coal, Kona Baby Blue, and that cute lime green print which coordinated so perfectly!  I ended up making some 25 patch blocks and alternating with framed 9 patches.  The squares are 2 inches finished.  I used Kona Bone and the creamy ivory is the perfect compliment to the soft colors of the fabrics.  I quilted with a meander in soft pink, and I just love how it looks against the quilt.

I don't see many 25 patches around.  Usually, I see either 16 patches or 36 patches, with good reason now that I think of it.  You can't speed piece 25 patches in the same way since there is an odd number across.  So, to make the 25 patches quickly, I made a 16 patch, then attached a row of four to one side, then a row of 5 down the other side.  Well duh!  That makes sense, right?  I'm a little embarrassed to admit that it actually took a couple of blocks before I started doing them this way.  Then, of course it went much faster.

I used every single scrap of fabric in the top, so that left none for the backing.  That allowed me the freedom to choose a busier print for the backing though, so it's all good!  I just love this gray and cream scroll fabric, and I added an offset stripe of blue just to break it up a little bit.  The binding is Kona Coal, since I already had plenty of it in my stash.

When I first saw these fabrics, the colors immediately reminded me of dawn.  The colors are bright, but something about them is soft as well.  Maybe it's the gray and cream mixed in?  The framed patches give the illusion of looking through windows and peeking out at the sometimes foggy early morning light of dawn.  So, I've named this one Discovering Dawn.  It measures 50x50.  I'm really happy with the way this one turned out, and I'm listing it in my etsy shop!

Besides the fact that Fall Break is ending, the other reason that I rushed to get this one finished up is because my beloved Bernina's service light came on.  It's a little bit troubling, since I've only had her since April.  My dealer assures me that she shouldn't need regular service already, but since Discovering Dawn is her 28th quilt, I wonder if that's the case.  Even though several of these quilts were baby quilts, I think that's still a pretty big workload for 6 months.  I really hope that's it and nothing is actually wrong.  Seriously though- what am I going to do for 1-2 weeks while she's gone?

Tips for a Fast Finish

As I mentioned in my yesterday's NTT post, this quilt was done in a big hurry- three nights to be precise.  I know...crazy!

I will admit that there were some late nights involved in getting it finished, but since next week is Fall Break and this is for my principal, that simply could not be avoided.  There are a few tricks I have up my sleeve to finish quilts FAST when I need to.

1.  Pattern choice is key-  I pick patterns that are simple to sew and quick to cut.  Even with varying the 

    direction of the strips in this quilt, this top was quick to put together.  I could have had the strips 

    going all the same direction and it would have been even faster.

2.  Shop your stash-  Rather than choose colors that I wanted and try to make my stash fit those colors, I  

     allowed my stash to determine the colors.  I didn't have to go the the fabric store in order to get 

     down to business.  I also try to keep a well-rounded stash so that I have plenty of choices!

3.  Multitask-  I know this is easier said than done with little ones, but I sew while helping with 

     homework, between stirring dinner on the stove, while watching TV, etc.  If I have 10 extra 

     minutes, I'm sewing.

4.  Make the quilting easy-  Everybody has their favorite go-to quilting method.  Mine is 

     meandering/stippling.  I just love it (I know you can tell).  It's relaxing for me, and really quick.

Even with a fast finish, quilting should be fun!  These are four ways that I keep my sewing stress-free- even when I'm under pressure to get something done quick!

I've named this one Fishing at the Creek.  I can just see a little boy in overalls on the banks of beautiful, clear water on a summer day.  I always tend to have lots of blue and green in my stash.  I guess it's because I find these colors so happy and peaceful, that I'm just drawn to them.  

You can also see the backing fabric really well in this picture.  I really lucked out with this Denyse Schmidt fabric with the perfect shade of blue and the little green dots.  Incidentally, this is the only fabric I purchased especially for this quilt.  You probably recognize those lime dots too- that's left over from Serendipity.  And of course, no backing of mine would be complete without adding in the scraps!

The finished quilt measures 48 inches square and I hope that it is loved for years and years by that sweet little baby boy.