Baby Blocks Quilt

The width of the four 6" blocks at 24" was too small for the 30" minimum my guild requires for a baby quilt. When I added borders, I wanted to be sure not to exceed the size of my backing fabric, both in width and length.

• Had to add border - 3" each side
• inner line -yellow ½" wide fussy cut at 1"
• main border cut at 2½" wood grain horizontal, finish at 2"
• binding - yellow ½" wide cut at  2½ " wide
• Backing birds
• top 4 x 6" = 24" wide; add two 3" borders = 30"; WOF = 42"   ✓
• top 6 x 6" = 36" high; add two 3" borders = 42"; have 1¼ yd  = 45"  ✓

Previous post (dated 1/4/25) describes the arrangement of the blocks. That post did not contain the teal woodgrain fabric I used for the border. I reserved using the bird fabric as backing, instead of as a border, since its scale lent itself better to that.

Next up is the quilting. My first proposal was a simple diagonal grid (left image). I did not like crossing those center squares, though. I tried diagonal lines that skirted those central squares. This quilting was more dense than I wanted (center image). Then I considered, with all this squareness, some curves might be welcome. I tried the illusion of circles, sewn as a sequence of curves; I chose this rounded option (right image).

I stitched the curves one arc at a time (one fourth of a circle) using my HQ Half Circle Templates I used the outer edge of the 8" half-circle with a ½" echo foot, forcing the arcs to hit at the corners of the 6" squares. Completing one row at a time, per the following diagram, I stitched over to the right on the 1, 2, 3' s and back to the left with the 4's. 

The result looks deceptively like circles.

The borders have more curved squares, made freehand with arcs. I can do small curves freehand, but my skills are not smooth enough to do the larger curves without a template. Highlighter tape that I pencil-marked at intervals helped me line up the points directly across from the squares in the blocks. Highlighter tape  peels off with no sticky residue. I use one strip over and over again, lifting and moving it periodically as I stitch along, so I only have to mark those few vertical slashes once.

I used the same yellow fabric from the narrow insert for the binding. Here is a closeup of the quilt corner with the binding attached; also shown is the FMQ on the border as seen from the back.

 

  

Next are full photos of the front and the back. The finished size is 29½" x 41½". This was a fun, relatively quick project that I am pleased to say was made completely from my stash!

UPDATE:

This quilt was just waiting for the right baby to come along. College friends of my husband and mine, from our college days in the 1970's, are thrilled with the recent birth of their first grandchild, Hailey. I personalized this quilt for her and am sending it off.

Fresh From Writing Goals

I had just completed writing my goals suggestions for 2025 (1/1/25 post) and decided to follow one tip about small projects. This small project checks many goal objectives. It is quick, just for fun, reduces my stash, and give me satisfaction due to a (hopefully) speedy completion. I can share it at my monthly small quilt group meeting so it checks the social box, too. Overall, this block write-up is quite a win-win for 2025. But I better not count my chickens before my eggs are hatched, so here is the project description.

I had a packet of fourteen 2.5" strips all in the same teal colored fabric line from American Jane fabrics that I'd bought a few years ago (pre-COVID, so maybe more than a few years). My best guess for the main color is teal per this following chart.

I used 12 strips, 6 strip pairs. I actually had 14 strips but I set aside two and I have already stashed them away in some forgotten niche of my sewing room. Each of the 6 strip pairs yielded 4 blocks each for a total of 24 blocks; two blocks are the same and the other two are complements of the first two. Each block pair took 2 pieces 6.5" long x 2.5" wide and 3 pieces 2.5" square. Four blocks came from two strip pairs with very little waste consuming 41" [2 x (13" + 7.5"]. I could toss those end selvage scraps very easily with no guilt.

Stitching up the blocks up was quick and easy. Arranging and rearranging them on my design wall took me at least an equal amount of time if not even a bit more. After several random attempts I settled on an organized symmetric arrangement. Although the two bold prints I placed in the four corners were my favorites, placing them central was very distracting and the eye could not wander. My stare was fixated dead center. The bold prints did better in the corners. This arrangement of 4 x 6 blocks measures 24" x 36". The block orientation alternated by 90° to minimize bulk at the seams.

The minimum size for a donation baby quilt for my guild is 30" by 36" so I need to come up with two 3" side borders. I am considering a bird print or a yellow links print I have in my stash. The bird background color is not an exact match but I think it could work, especially as a backing. Now is decision time, which equates to stall time in my book. (Maybe that definition of "quick" may morph a bit.) Here are the fabric choices I am considering for borders, backing, and binding. I have 1¼ yards of the bird print and ½ yard of the yellow links. I think I can make it work.

Back for Basics

I confess. One of my quilting goals for 2021 was to become a closet quilter... use the yardages from my closet. But to do that, surely I have to maintain my stock of basics to go with all those novelty prints. Quilt and craft shows are still not in full swing due to COVID-19 but Sandy Klop, Moda Designer of American Jane Fabrics, holds an open house, quarterly, at her home, of her own fabrics. I went with a friend last Saturday May1st to refresh and replenish my workhorse blender fabrics. These are all half yard cuts. To give a sense of scale, I fold my half-yard cuts such that the height of each of these rolls are ¼ width of fabric, ~10" to 11". The mini-check solids have just enough texture to escape being boring and the stripes are great for binding or narrow divider strips between borders.

I can never have too many polka dots; the size, color, and dot density of these make them incredibly versatile as blenders. Sometimes the stock in quilt stores leans toward the loud print and novelty fabrics that scream "look at me" and sell more rapidly so I am pleased to find a source of the shyer fabrics that play well with others.

These new patterns, called bubble pop, can be good blenders, too, although on a less subtle scale. The two white and black half-yards on the left will go with many other fabrics. I can envision the orange and yellow pair in a construction theme quilt or possibly in a Halloween wall hanging. The black alphabet is quiet and too darn cute to pass up; plus the scale is small enough that I still think of it as good blender material.

Ok, ok, I was only to buy basics but the rich colors and delicate flowers called to me and I answered. A half yard of each will actually spice up a patriotic quilt.

My friend and I chose to have lunch at a small deli, Life is Sweet Bakery and Cafe, that just happened to be next to an open quilt store, Wooden Gate Quilts. Like potato chips where nobody can eat just one, once I'd bought the flower prints, I caved and bought a one-yard clearance cut of this darling fabric titled "if i were a mermaid" from the DeLeon Design Group of the Alexander Henry Fabric Collection. Just think of all the colorful blenders I can put with this!

Quilting In the Garden

September is a very quilt-y month for me. The weekend after my guild's quilt show (post for 9/19/17) and the same weekend as the Pleasanton Craft Fair (post for 10/3/17) my local nursery Alden Lane Nursery, hosted their annual outdoor Quilting in the Garden show. At Alden Lane, the quilts are hung on clothes lines strung between four-hundred-year old oak trees. They are put up by nursery staff and guild volunteers Saturday morning, taken down Saturday evening so as not to be exposed overnight, then put up again on Sunday morning and taken down one last time on Sunday evening. 

I was part of the Saturday take down; it is a lot of fun. Over the years of this annual event, the nursery has developed and fine tuned the process down to a science. With many hands, the raising and lowering of the quilts works as a well oiled machine. There are pulley and rope tenders, clothes pin attacher and removers, clothespin distribution and collection managers, quilt folders, baggers, labelers and pullers of the fleet of wagons that traverse the aisles of the garden outdoor area. 

Here is just a handful of my favorites sights from the show of close to 300 quilts on display. The quilts are by local artists and, in 2017, by Featured Artist Edydta Sitar, Guest Artist Debby Schnable, with Special Guests Alex Anderson and Jennifer Sampou. Here I am at the entry which sports a mini-pumpkin patch and quilts from some of the local artists.

Although not a quilt, I love this whimsical, welcoming cow at the entry.

Number 177 is a precision pieced Edyta Sitar creation. The mottled shadowing of the oak leaves from the tree branches do not lend themselves to awesome photos but they do create an inspirational outdoor ambience that is further enhanced as the breeze blows and the quilts flutter in gentle undulations.

I particularly liked the colors in Number 193, another Edyta Sitar quilt.

Notice how her background fabric was a subtle stripe, one that she was careful to consistently orient throughout.

You can never go wrong with a the color scheme of Number 91 Living in the Moment Blue and Yellow.

Number 33 was titled Triangle Bubble Dance. I am more of a traditionalist than a modern quilter but the asymmetry of this one drew me in.

I loved the bright colors of Number 13 titled 30 Spools of Thread.  Most of all, the dappled leaf shadows and arching branches of the old oaks represent the feel of the show.

I toured the show, making no purchases from the vendors. Then I sat down for my two hour time slot where I was a volunteer for my guild, selling tickets for our fund raising opportunity quilt. That was all well and good except that our booth was right next to the Sandy Klop booth of American Jane fabrics. Even though I had made purchases the previous day at the Pleasanton Craft Fair (10/3/17 post), I bought an eight piece stack of half yards of her pinstripes from the new line titled Merry-Go-Round. Aren't the colors luscious? I also find good stripes hard to come by so this was a serrendipitous find!

It had been a pleasant afternoon. I helped with the Saturday evening quilt take down. Then I waved bye to the friendly scarecrow as I exited. You can watch the 2015 YouTube video for a more extensive overview of the annual Alden Lane Nursery event Quilting in the Garden. I am linking up now with Let's Bee Social #197.

Just for Fun Outings

Sandy Klop, designer of American Jane fabrics and patterns holds an open house quarterly at her home in Walnut Creek, California. I have been to her February 2017, August 2016, and June 2016 events, each time showing up with a different friend. Sandy this time called me an ambassador for American Jane. Since I have used up only a small portion of my purchases there from those previous visits, I was determined refrain from buying any more kits and to acquire only fabric with a specific purpose. I was pretty successful. My friend Renée who accompanied me this visit did not show as much restraint; however, I was very happy to shop vicariously through her!

My previous DL2Q post was about a spur of the moment quilt top I whipped together from a Moda Storybook charm pack in coral, aqua, taupe, and yellow. I needed backing fabric. Pinks are hard to match and so are blues so I thought a backing out of yellow would be the easiest. I found this cute fabric which is really four in one. I thought it would add interest if I ran it crosswise and used three of the four bands, eliminating the heaviest darkest one. I needed to back a 54" x 54" top and so calculated I needed twice the width, 108". I bought 3¼ yards crossing my fingers it would go with the yellow of the Storybook fabric.

I had some fabric swatches with me but only in the taupe, coral and aqua, none in yellow. This meant I had only cell phone pictures to go on - not a wise approach, I know. They are shown them in the next picture. I knew that banded print was not the true lemon yellow of the upper left corner of the nine-patch. It had more of a gold tone but I hoped it might read like the yellow chickadees on the taupe background in the lower right of the nine-patch. I would need to wait until I returned home and could see the top and backing together to be sure.

Once home, when I saw them together for real, the blend was not as pleasing as I had hoped. Bummer. At least I was very fortunate that those 3¼ yards were of a fabric in 4 bands. I now had about a ¾ yard of each of four different yellows to pad my stash. I could easily incorporate them in quilt blocks since each was a fairly workable mini-print type blender. Those 3¼ yard strips of the alphabet were a nice bonus for accent stripes or narrow sashings. Also ¾ yard is just enough for a binding. That is my recovery plan and I am sticking to it.

I also picked up a packet of one dozen jelly roll width strips at the American Jane open house. I like that Sandy Klop repackages her strips in quantities less than a jelly roll and in a self-consistent color palette. It makes them much more useful. I think the previous time I was at her quarterly open house (in February 2017) I bought a similar packet also in oranges. The strips are originally intended to go into a paper-pieced mandala like I'd made once before and liked. This second packet will allow me to double up on some of the prints I like and substitute out a few that are cute but sort of seem to stick out. The zippers and multi-colored pezzies can be grouped by themselves for example. I had checked out at the register and was feeling pretty proud of myself that I had limited my purchases. Then a tote bag pattern caught my eye and I added it to the mix. I may or may not use the multi-colored strips omitted from the mandala to make this carryall, but the pattern looked easy enough and very scrap friendly.

After leaving the open house, my friend and I went about 15 minutes south to stop at Wooden Gate Quilts in Danville. I was browsing the 50% off sale rack and POW – I spotted it – the perfect backing fabric. I did have some fabric scraps with me that I laid out on the bolt and I knew instantly that this backing option was just right.

The wavy lines give a bit of whimsy but still echo the grid idea. The darker tone offsets the abundance of white on the front. I bought 3¼ yards at half-price.

Also in the bargain bin I found a yard of a green grid fabric that reminds of a Frank Lloyd Wright window.

I'd seen this lined grid fabric, shown on the left, the previous time I'd been at Wooden Gates and liked it, but passed it by. The fact that I still liked it and it was still there was a sign, so I bought it. I also saw among the fat quarters a funky dot shown on the right. It is from the Tula Pink Tabby Road line and is called fur balls. I thought it was oddly ugly enough to be super cute. The periwinkle and barfy green color combination and irregularly shaped splotches called to me.

Renée was not as enamored with it as I was until, when we got home, I looked up the Tabby Road fabric line on the computer. She is a cat lover and when she saw the line had kitties and cans of tuna she was determined to get some of those food tins for herself. I teased her that I had unleashed the fabric monster in her.

We left the Wooden Gate quilt shop and had a pleasant relaxed lunch before heading home and re-examining our purchased treasures.

The next day I headed out to the downtown quilt shop of my home town of Livermore to spend a gift certificate to In Between Stitches. I selected a pattern and a book, still trying to rein in any impulse purchases for my stash. A patriotic quilt pattern called to me. Look at all the reds, white, and blues I can use up! Zinnie's Choice is by Lynn Wilder, a local designer we are lucky to have live and work in our area. She has a blog of her own titled Sew'n Wild Oaks and here is the link to more details about this pattern.

Then I bought the book Angles with Ease 2 that is to be used with a wedge ruler. The back cover is what drew me in. I think those monsters are outrageously adorable.

I liked the winter quilt within called Let It Snow. I am attracted to houses and trees in quilts. I am not so sure about all the white to FMQ however. That could be a challenge for me.

The other patterns in there all had an appeal and a charm of their own. The third one in from the right, Petals on a String was featured on the front cover. But I think it was really the monsters from the back cover that sold me.

I have shared my purchases to a sufficient level of detail to satisfy my quilty daughter. Also I have procrastinated long enough with seaming the backing and creating the quilt sandwiches for my Storybook quilt above and my Whirligiggles top, that I am off to do that now. Yee gads! I just noticed that the last time I'd touched my Whirligiggles quilt was three months ago, with a lot of activity back in February, my most recent DL2Q post being February 22nd. There are certain transitions in quilt making that always seem to halt my progress. Seaming the backing in order to make the quilt sandwich and then deciding on the FMQ pattern are two of them. Maybe with practice or an attitude adjustment I will get better at these steps. After linking up to Let's Bee Social #180, I really will get to those quilt sandwiches. Hmmm. I hope I have enough batting...