The Going Away Quilt

This started as the "Asian Strip Gift Quilt", then it became "Tammy's Quilt", and now it has become "The Going Away Quilt". My friend, Tammy, is at this very moment driving across the country with her sister-in-law Susie (0ne of the funniest women inside AND outside of West Texas) on her way to Chicago where she will live forever. Or until retirement. Whichever comes first.

Tammy and Susie are driving Tammy's truck, along with all the stuff the movers wouldn't pack, like the liquor and the guns. And somewhere in all that is "The Going Away Quilt":

Tammy and I picked all Asian themed fabrics, for a rich looking quilt. We got most of them at the Quilt Man in Ashland, Virginia. My instructions for this easy, fast quilt from 30 fat quarters is here.

The quilting was done, again, by Susan Caldwell at Quilting Around the Block, and the design is called "Oriental". Here are some close ups, although they don't show how beautiful this pantograph is:

The quilting was done in gold thread, which blends with the golds in the fabrics, but I am happy with it. I love the quilt, and I love the friend I gave it to.

When we bought the fabrics for the quilt, Tammy also bought some pillowcase kits to go with the quilt. So last Sunday, Tammy had her first sewing lesson and made her very first pillowcase:

She was pleased as punch how it turned out and I was even more so. She ended up making two pillowcases, and we had a great time.

Parting Shot: Tammy will want to kill me for posting this because she is sans makeup, but here is Tammy lying on her new quilt with her newly made pillowcases. She will have to forgive me because I miss her so much already:

Asian Strip Gift Quilt Top Done!

Despite my injured hand, I was able to get the borders on Tammy's Asian Strip Gift Quilt and it turned out very well. It's hard to photo because it is so big (82.5 inches by 97 inches) and I am reduced to taking pictures in the backyard grass, but here are a few:



I can't wait to see what it will look like after it is quilted. I am thinking gold thread for the quilting, so of course I need to find the perfect backing fabric. Which I don't have. Another excuse to look at, and shop for, fabric. Good thing my New Year's goals don't include reducing fabric purchases.

But the borders were the only things I managed sewing-wise. My hand absolutely would not allow any cutting out; I can't put any pressure on it, so I satisfied myself with getting this quilt top done and not pressing my luck.

To further my goal of making a double wedding ring quilt and to occupy myself, I ordered an instruction book and a template from John Flynn's website today. I'll take a look at it and see what I am in for when it arrives. Apparently, he has a strip piecing method for the rings. If you have any experience with this method (or any other advice for a double wedding ring quilt!), please let me know.

Also, inspired by Judy over at Patchwork Times, I asked Santa to bring me this book "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" so I could learn how to make bread. I made my first bread dough, ever, tonight, and it is the refrigerator waiting to be baked tomorrow. I'll let you know how my first bread baking experience unfolds!

Parting Shot: My Christmas gift from VickiW! I love it, and it is hanging in my sewing room/former dining room where all the magic happens. She saw it on Etsy and thought it was "me". She was so right:

Strip Gift Quilt

The Strip Gift Quilt is done! And I am very happy with the result. Here you can see the quilting Susan Caldwell did at Quilting Around the Block:




Here is a close up:



As I have reported before, the concept of the Gift Quilt came from VickiW and Anne, who created a pattern that could be made from 20 fat quarters easily and with very little waste. I devised this version, consisting of strips for the blocks to make it even easier.

These photos show the double sized quilt (68 in x 82.5 in) and it can be made with 20 fat quarters and 1/2 yard (or so) of sashing fabric. The queen sized version (82.5 in x 97 in) can be made with 30 fat quarters. This is so easy and fun; it is a particularly good pattern to show off a collection of fabrics by a particular designer (the above quilt was made using Piece O'Cake fabrics).

Instructions: Cut from each fat quarter strips that are 15 inches in length of the following widths: 5 inches, 4 inches, 3 inches, 3 inches, 2 inches, and 4 inches. Set one of the 4 inch strip aside. (This four inch fabric will be used in your border.) Your remaining strips will look like this:

Cut all 20 of your fat quarters like this except one. That one will be cut the same, except that you need to cut your 4 inch border strip to be 16 inches long instead of 15 inches long. You will then cut the 4 inch border strip into 4 four inch squares which will be used as your corner blocks like this:

As you cut your strips, stack them in the same order by size. Then arrange the stacks in the order that you will sew them. I like to sew my strips in the blocks from left to right as such: 3 inch strip, 2 inch, 5 inch, 3 inch, 4 inch. So my stacks look like this:

Now you want to shuffle the fabrics in each stack so that each block you sew will be different. Leave the first stack (which is on the far left) alone. For the second stack, take the top 4 fabrics and move them to the bottom of the stack. Like this:

For the third stack, move the top 7 fabrics to the bottom. For the fourth stack, move the top 11 fabrics to the bottom. For the fifth stack, move the top 14 fabrics to the bottom. So my stacks look like this:

Now sew your blocks together. Just take the top fabric from each stack and sew the strips together. Each block will be different. And each block should be a 15 inch square. If not, trim it to 15 inches or trim all of them to a slightly smaller size - whatever you prefer. Make sure your four inch border strips are the same length as your blocks.

With 20 fat quarters, you will end up with 20 blocks. Sew the blocks in 5 rows of 4 blocks each, alternating the stripes vertically and horizontally, like this:

Now cut 2 inch strips from your sashing fabric and add the sashing to the two sides of your quilt. Then join 5 of your 4 inch border fabrics together and sew them to the sashing on each side of your quilt, like so:

Now sew your sashing fabric to the top and bottom of your quilt. Next sew four of your 4 inch border fabrics together. Add a four inch piece of sashing to a corner square and sew the corner square to each end of the border. Do this for both the top and bottom. Like this:




And you are done! Quick, with very little fabric waste! (You will end up with one 4 inch border strip leftover.) I enjoyed this so much that I am going to make the queen sized version for my friend Tammy from Asian themed fabrics we bought at The Quilt Man today. For the queen sized version, you make it the same way, except you will need 30 fat quarters and you shuffle your fabrics thusly: in the second stack move the top 5 fabrics to the bottom, in the third stack move the top 11 fabrics to the bottom, in the fourth stack move the top 16 fabrics to the bottom, in the fifth stack move the top 22 fabrics to the bottom.


Tammy was amazed at the fabric selection and had a great time picking the 30 fat quarters for her quilt! It is always fun to introduce a non-sewer to the joys of fabric. She was inspired enough to go with me to my other favorite LQS, Quilting Adventures, and buy fabric to make pillowcases herself to coordinate with her new quilt. Tammy is going to learn to sew! The quilting angels are singing!


Parting shot: our haul from our fabric shopping today. Much fun was had by all!

Work In Progress Wednesday

It's a really good thing I made that binding this weekend; on Tuesday, Susan Caldwell of Quilting Around the Block called me to tell me my quilt was done. I can't remember the name of the pantograph she used to quilt it, but it was perfect with the Piece O'Cake fabric I used. As soon as I got it home, I started sewing on the binding, which I oh so convienently had on hand. Tonight I will start handstitching it to the back.

This weekend I hope to post instructions for this very easy and fast quilt. My version is based on a quilt pattern VickiW and Anne designed a few years ago. They dubbed it the "Gift Quilt" because the concept was to take 20 fat quarters (for a twin) or 30 fat quarters (for a queen) and quickly make a quilt with no unused fabric. I've made a couple of the "Gift Quilts" as a result, and always enjoyed it. Not long ago, I had an idea on how to make it even more easy and I sketched it out on a piece of paper (I'm no artist, trust) and emailed it to VickiW. She saw no flaw in my plan, so the quilt pictured above is the prototype. I'm calling it the "Strip Gift Quilt".

I'll show you a photo this weekend when I get a chance to photograph the whole quilt and I'll begin to post the instructions. I can't wait to make more of these.

Parting shot: It has turned cold here this week. Yesterday we had snow flurries, first time I have ever seen such in November. So here's a photo to remind us of warmer weather which I took at Anne's river house back around Labor Day during the whole Craft Week extravaganza: