Fresh and Fun

I haven't made a quilt in a while. I think my last quilt was for my favorite girl, finished well over a year ago.

If you quilt you know--it's a lot of work, but there is something terribly therapeutic about the hum of a sewing machine . . . the creative process . . . the completion of a well planned project.

A fantastic pair of people just tied the knot. They needed just the right gift. Her pinterest boards and his personality were the inspiration for this quilt.

 

 

 

 

Materials needed:
1/2 yd. of kona cotton in 5 favorite colors. (2 1/2 yds. total)
2 1/2 yds. of white kona cotton (I up-cycled an old high thread count bed sheet)
rotary cutter, cutting mat and plastic quilt ruler
diamond template (I made mine)
twin size batting
twin size sheet for backing (or equivalent yardage)
1/2 yd. of fabric for binding

I would say this is a fast intermediate level quilt. I would not recommend it to a beginner or anyone who hasn't sewn on the bias before.

Step 1:
Cut fabric into 4.5 inch strips. You should have 4 strips in each color, so 20 colored strips and 20 white strips. Each strip should measure 4.5 x about 44 inches.

Step 2:
Arrange strips into groups of 5. I chose a random pattern for this quilt. So each group of 5 was different. Half of the groups had 3 white strips and the other half had 2 white strips. (see picture below) No two groups had the same color combination. Each group was unique, this made for a more random pattern, which was what I was going for.

Step 3:
Sew the strips together (1/4 inch seam allowance) so they look like this:

or like this:

(It may look like I didn't sew or cut straight,

but the seams weren't pressed before I took these pics.)

Step 3 is your time saver step. This speeds up the piecing process dramatically. In theory you could sew more than 5 strips together to save even more time, but I thought 6 or more across would be too hard to cut later. Up to you if you want to try more. Read the next step before you do more than 5 so you know what I mean.

Step 4:

Make a diamond template and cut strips on an angle using your template. This is the shape of each of your blocks. I wanted a long slim diamond shape, The angle measurements of my diamond were 45, 135, 45 and 135. The distance across each set of parallel lines is 4.5 inches. Finished it will be 4 inches across. The height of the finished diamond is 10 3/4 and width, 4 5/16.

Notes:

I stacked my large striped blocks from Step 3 so that the cutting went faster. I just stacked them 2 or 3 deep, otherwise it got a little wonky. Also, don't forget to iron them first! And iron them so the seams lay towards the colored fabric, so they don't show through the white.

As you cut on the angle some of the strips will have 5 blocks and the ends will have less. Save them all, you can use all of them as you piece later.



Step 5:

Arrange the strips into desired pattern. (Easier said than done) This was the most time consuming step. I recommend doing it on a floor where you can leave it and come back to it as needed (unbothered by pets or kids). Making things random and also balanced sometimes requires this for me.

First, I started by making a diamond in the middle, using the longer strips that had 5 full blocks on them. I tried to mix them and place them so that no color was next to each other too much. (random how you like it)

Next, I placed the shorter strips in around the diamond and kept filling it in until I reached the corners of the quilt.

A few things to note.

1) This quilt is on point, meaning the blocks stand on their points and the strips run diagonal. This also means you are sewing most everything on the bias. So be careful not to stretch the fabric as you sew. And lastly this means that you will be trimming things down a bit after you quilt to get really straight edges.

2) My finished quilt measured 8 colored diamonds down by 14 colored diamonds across. When you make the center diamond with the longer strips use these dimensions as a guide.

3) I don't like to waste strips or fabric, so I pieced some of the blocks and strips together near the edges so that I didn't waste as much. This was a little tricky, but to me it was worth it. It made for a bigger quilt and I didn't throw fabric away.

4) Notice in the above picture that there is at least 1/2 of a white block on the edge of the quilt around all 4 sides. This is very important so that you can trim it even later. Again, if you don't have white blocks on the edges, you may have to piece some in.

Step 6:

Sew your strips together into diagonal rows. Use 1/4 inch seams and remember to shift the blocks 1/4 so that edges match where your seam is, that way you have straight rows after you sew. If you don't shift it, you'll notice right away when you open rows up to look at the right side of the fabric.

Step 7:

Sew rows together. Again, this is on the bias, so be careful! I pinned each point so that they matched up perfectly. I am not one for pinning, but I really recommend it for this step of this quilt. When you pin the points, make sure they match up 1/4 inch below the edge, since this is where you will be sewing.

Step 8:

Prepare your backing. The twin sheet that I used for this quilt wasn't quite wide enough, so I ripped it lengthwise near the middle (I like the strip off center a bit) and pieced in some extra white fabric. Make sure your backing is a couple inches larger than your pieced quilt top on each side. 

Step 9:

Iron everything--backing, batting, and pieced quilt top. When you iron the top, iron the seams toward the colored fabric, so that they don't show through the white blocks. Also, if the fabric has pulled funny due to sewing on the bias, this is a great time to stretch it back into it's original shape. Do your best to get it perfectly flat.

 

Step 10:

Machine quilt everything together. I used basting spray glue to stick it all together and then stitched in the ditch. I considered stippling the whole thing, which is usually my favorite, but I really wanted the blocks to pop on this quilt. The ditch stitch was perfect. Plus it was a little faster.

 

Step 11:

Trim all the edges straight. Remember cotton is forgiving, so it don't have to be super prefect, but be as straight as you can. I wanted a narrow binding, so I used 1/4 inch seam allowance as I cut. So basically I measured 1/4 inch out from each point and cut a straight line.
(Do you like how my quilt ruler was truncated by one of my noise-makers who stepped on it and cracked it in half? Gotta love those guys.)

 

Step 12:
Bind your quilt  . . . and whah-lah! Finished!!

I added a tag on the back to mine, it was my first of this style, so it kind of looks like a drunk kindergartner made it, but oh well, it's character. The groom assured me that my sewing machine writing is better than his penmanship, so I felt a little better.

 

I love how the back looks, with all the diamond shaped quilting. Again, I'm glad I chose stitch in the ditch quilting for this project.

This quilt was a joy to make. The vibrant colors, the fresh simple design, thinking of the happy couple, I love the result. I hope they use and enjoy it for years to come. To me a quilt used and enjoyed is proof of a quilt well made and well recieved.

 

Linking up to The Blogger's Quilt Festival