My First True Quilt!! The Sudoku lap quilt

I am so excited to share this post because it is showcasing my first true quilt. The quilt is a lap size quilt which I quilted by doing stitch in the ditch. I pieced the backing together on my own (more to come on that), and I did the binding on my own as well. 

For this quilt my inspiration came from the fact that in my Craftsy Grab Bag box I received back in December it had a Fat Quarter Bundle from Robert Kaufman of 9 fabrics from the Perfectly Perched and Modern Slicker lines. The all matched gorgeously but I wasn't quite sure what type of quilt I would make that had birds, chairs and other random images on it. Well lucky for me my husband and I were talking about Sudoku and how it features 9 unique numbers. I ran with that and actually found a free Craftsy pattern for a Sudoku quilt. 

It was perfect, 9 nine-patches with sashing in between. I knew I could handle nine-patches and that since I was working with fat quarters I made sure to use the Robert Kaufman Quilt Calc app to be check what size squares I should make to ensure I had enough fabric. I settled on 3.5 inch squares. 

The hardest part on this quilt is making sure you keep track of where each square in each block goes. If you don't the Sudoku pattern will not be correct. 

After cutting all my fabric squares and laying them out I labeled the blocks and laid them out on one surface. Then I worked from there to stitch each block together so I knew they were in the right order. 

Knowing which side is the top, bottom, left, and right of each block is important for this quilt. I kept my blocks spread on one surface at all times in the same was I was going to put them on the quilt. I also made fabric swatches identifying which block represents what number so I could reference that information later.  

For the sashing I had 1.5 inch strips. For a future quilt I would have done a little bigger I think. Cutting strips is one area I really need to work on. I will try to cut a few layers of fabric but it never seems to come out great, one part is always about a quarter inch to narrow, which in quilting can cause a huge accuracy problem.

When it came time to prepare the backing I ran into some surprises. I purchased 4 yards of the fabric For the backing from a website online because it was one of the fabrics that went with the fat quarter set that I had. And if you look closely you will notice that it is numbered zero through nine, which kept and perfect theme with my said Sudoku pattern. I purchased 4 yards, because I wanted to make sure I had plenty and I would be able to use it with the scraps left over from my fat quarters. Thank goodness I ordered extra fabric. The quilt top turned out to be wider than the 42 inches that the fabric comes, which meant I had to piece two pieces together to make the fabric cover the back of the quilt. 

Having never pieced a backing together before, I had not thought about the fact that when I cut the two pieces of fabric I should make sure they line up after the quarter inch seam was sewn. It wasn't a huge deal, however I would want to change that for quilts in the future.

The end result of the quilt I was very happy with, and it is used all the time at my house now. 

Valentine's Day Candle Mat and Table Runner

Pinterest and Craftsy have been so inspiring for me! And a bit addicting, as I am sure they probably are for most of you too. 

When looking for valentines day projects I started with fabric before I decided what to make. While on a trip to Joann's If found some great flannel solids on sale so I bought four colors of pink and then white as well. 

Next I set out cutting squares out, I did all my cutting first and then started creating  patchwork heart sets. I decided on making a table runner and a candle mat. 

For the candle mat it was pretty simple, I just took the heart block patter consisting of squares and half square triangles and sewed them together and then added the backing, backing, and binding. I did stitch in the ditch, with my decorative heart stitch around the heart shape for quilting. 

The table runner consisted of three of the heart squares, each with a different background color and heart color. Then I used white sashing and a white backing and binding. I stitched in the ditch around the hearts on this as well, but I also added some decorative heart stitching on the sashing, utilizing pink thread to help it stand out. 

If I were to re-do the table runner I would have put the hearts side by side, horizontally instead of up and down, vertically as they are in the picture below. However, for my first attempts at sewing with flannel while doing patchwork I felt pretty good about these two projects. 

Weekend Update

This weekend went by way to fast! So instead of making three post to cover Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I'm just going to put everything in one post. 

Friday I didn't get much time to work on my quilting, I mainly looked up potential patterns to try to decide what I would want to do with the items that came in my Craftsy grab bag box that I purchased. 

Items In my Craftsy Grab Bag (Fabric Covered Journal, 4 2 inch by 2 inch Moda Mini Charm Packs, a May Fair charm pack, a Roll of 20 coordinating fabrics that are 6 inches wide and 44 inches long, and a Robert Kauffman Fat Quarter Bundle of 10 coordinating fabrics. 

On Friday I didn't decide on what to start next, but I did update my Craftsy account to add my latest projects, including my completed candle mats. When I did that I also pinned the info to my Pinterest. And to my surprise before bed while I was surfing pinterest I saw that Craftsy had repinned my own pin--- and from that 25 people had also pinned it! 

Of Course, I took a Photo of it to share!

As of tonight (Sunday) 42 people have repinned and 8 have liked it! Made me very proud! 

Saturday was spent mainly at work, I worked in the morning and then had my office holiday party in the evening. To ensure I got my next project going I picked a pattern to work of with my Craftsy grab box materials. I decided to use inspiration from Melissa at the Polka Dot Chair blog. She had made quick and easy quilts for her kids using blocks of 6.5 inch by 9.5 inch fabrics. I decided to use my 6 inch cuts to build this quilt so I wouldn't have to do a bunch of cutting. My blocks would be 6 inches by 8.5 I decided because this would allow me to get five blocks from each fabric and have very little waste. So between work and the holiday party I got started on ironing and cutting out my blocks, but didn't get much further than that. 

Sunday, I spent the morning baking cookies for our HOA's annual Ladies Luncheon and Cookie Exchange, but when I returned from the luncheon I set forth working off the calories by cutting fabric. I got all my blocks cut out (with only one small miss cut-- where I cut 2 blocks an inch shorter than they needed to be) and then took them to the living room to space plan. 

I liked how in Melissa's quilt she had a row that was offset, and you cut the first block in that row in half and then moved the second part of it to the end of that row. So I did my planning and decided instead of doing 7 blocks across, and 12 blocks down as I planned I would do 6 blocks by 12 and it'd be a good size for use in our living room. 

I went forth with sewing each row together, first the ones with all standard blocks, then the ones with the 1/2 block, I chain pieced each row, and ironed them all at once instead of between stitchings, this saved me a ton of time. I should have done that when I was working on the Christmas Tree Skirt (Live and Learn I guess!). 

Once I started linking the rows I realized that the rows with the 1/2 blocks were a 1/4 inch shorter than the whole block rows due to seam allowance. I also had found the blocks weren't all a perfect 6 inches tall. So when I got everything sewed together I laid it out on my living room floor and took my long ruler to one side and started trimming. I ended up getting it cut straight 66.5 Inches Long by 46.5 Inches Wide, can't say I had a good method for doing this but I got the job done and was happy with the result. 

I have to say I would have never chose the fabrics on my own, but I love them. I'm a huge fan of purple and the husbands a big fan of green so this will look really nice in our house. 

To finish the quilt I'll need to go get backing fabric, batting, and a binding fabric (which I'm thinking solid purple for both of those). I can't wait to get going on finishing the quilt so we can use it. I will probably choose to stitch in the ditch which is what Melissa of Polka Dot Chair did.

A Day Without Sewing

With the completion of the tree skirt, I needed to take some time today to explore what would be my next project. Instead of working on putting together a few random blocks for practice I went to the Internet to explore patterns. I found a bunch of fun patterns through www.craftsy.com, as well as McCall's, and www.free-quilting.com. I saved them on my computer and my pinterest to help me keep track of ideas. 

By the end of the night I decided my project for tomorrow will be to make Candle Mats. I saw a few on Craftsy as well as pinterest and they are really cute and they'd make the perfect secret santa project for my office. My inspiration candle mat was this from Pinterest via Etsy.

I loved the pinwheels and that they quilted each individual wheel. 

Trying Out New Blocks

Day Three:

Today started with work and a family get together so when I got home I didn't think I'd spend too much time working on quilting. Let's just say I was wrong--- I realized once I start something I enjoy I do not want to stop. I got home about 8pm and ended up working on a few blocks until 2am. 

To start the evening I knew I needed to work on my rotary cutting skills as I had a few pieces of fabric I've had to set aside for later already because for one reason or another I didn't cut it to the proper size. To practice I cut small squares some 2.5" by 2.5" and others 2" by 2" and then made this 9 Square block. I think it turned out pretty well. I'm certainly getting better at watching my 1/4 inch seam allowance. And that maybe because I did get my new 1/4 inch quilting foot for the sewing machine and have been using it as my guide. 

Quick and Easy Xmas Nine-Square Block

Once I had this block down and felt better about cutting I decided to make another panel of fabric that I could use to make a 9-Square block later on. I chose the pastel fabric I got from Goodwill as the base, and then the White Fabric Fat Square from Joann's as the middle strip. I did 2" strips. Which is why the white looks like 1.5" in comparison to both pastels (that lovely 1/4 inch seam allowance!). Once I got the fabric cut this was very quick to put together.

Loving the colors just need to find something to use for opposites on block.

The first real block for the evening that I attempted was from a website called Craftsy which has great quilting patterns and tutorials. I subscribed to the Block of the Month class, which teaches you two new blocks that you can do each month of the year and then at the end of the year you'll have created a full quilt. I had watched the January block video over the weekend, and thought it seemed easy enough. So I choose two fabrics, one red Christmas fabric from Savers, and the the white Fat Quarter from Joann's. The block I was being taught to make as a Slash and Strip, where you start with a large red square of fabric, and then cut it in half on the diagonal, then sew in a white strip. After that is complete you slash the square again in the opposite direction and add in another stripping, doing this two more times down the diagonals. In the end you should have a 12.5" by 12.5" square. Because my white fabric strips weren't long enough I ended up squaring up my fabric and making the block a 9.5" by 9.5" so if in the future I decided to use it I could. While this block didn't come out the size I was planning it was fun to make and present a bit of a challenge which was nice. 

Slash and Strip Block Completed

After creating all of those I wanted to find a pattern to follow. I figured out the McCall's has an amazing list of FREE Quilt Block Patterns  from there I used the Bridle Path Block Pattern. I didn't have enough types of fabric that would work together to create the center the way the pattern showed so I decided to just use my variety of Christmas patterns and then adjust the middle of the block to match the outside squares. When I was finishing up this block it was 2am, so as I was determining the layout of the final two blue/white blocks in the last row (see below) you'll see that I chose to have the 1/2 snow men facing upward.. when I showed this block as the completed project to my husband he pointed out it looked a little wonky with the blocks being placed that way instead of matching the other three blue/white blocks. I told him he was being picky and it was fine and decided to go to bed. (Flash forward to 9 a.m. on Day 4--- I look at the photo I took of the block and realize I need to go downstairs and use my seam ripper to fix the last row). 

I am not going for perfect, just practice!