Artful Home - Finished Quilt!

Here is the finished quilt top.  I picked four patterns to alternate in the main blocks, used a swirly design in the border and made triangles in between the blocks and borders.  I love the way it turned out!  If you are interested in making the top, take a trip down to Valli and Kim - they have the entire line of fabric in their store. An you can find the pattern on-line here!

 

Artful Home Quilt - Cutting

First order of business....cutting.  Though the instructions on what sizes to cut each fat quarter were pretty straight forward, the diagram provided was not quite to scale.  I found it much easier to do the following:

1) Square left and lower edges of the fat quarter.
2) Cut both 'A' pieces as the diagram indicates.
3) Then, cut a 9" strip straight across the remaining width of the fat quarter. 
4) Cut the 'B' and 'C' pieces from the 9" strip.
5) Now cut a piece 2 1/4" wide the 9" length.  Then cut this strip into the four 'F' pieces, since 2 1/4 * 4  = 9"!
 6) Proceed to cutting the remaining pieces from the fat quarters as shown in the instructions.  

Once I had all the fat quarters cut, the rest of the cuts were a piece of cake!

While getting ready for my first round of piecing, I laid the cut pieces out in the order they would be sewn into the quilt top and found that I liked the look of the square-on-squares.  Hum, maybe I need to pick up some more of this fabric from Valli and Kim to make another top! :)

Artful Home Quilt from Valli and Kim

I recently discovered a new addition to the quilt store scene in the Austin Area: Valli and Kim down in Dripping Springs.  If you haven't been yet, it's a must visit.  The store is stocked with the latest trends in modern quilting fabrics, from Kate Spain, Joel Dewberry, Basic Gray and much, much more.  I just picked up this gorgeous Henry Glass fabric from there and am eager to get quilting with it.  The Henry Glass website even has a free design download specifically for these fabrics.  I'll be going over the instructions on how to piece the top over the next few weeks, so feel free to join in.  Valli and Kim stocks the entire line, called the Artful Home from Henry Glass.  Download the instructions for the pattern here.  

Twisted Sister

I am in love, L.O.V.E., love with this quilt pattern.  It's so quick and easy, but looks complex.  I was introduced to this pattern by my AMQG quilt comrade, Heather.  She showed me how to make it at last months AMQG sew-day at Valli and Kim.  You can buy a template to make this pattern, or just make one of your own out of cardboard.  Actually, I think Valli and Kim sells the plastic template....I, however, did not notice this until after I had finished with the top!

At first, I was very confused by how this would work, so I took a picture at each step:

You just sew all the squares together, then use the twisted template to re-cut the squares, then simply re-assemble.  So quick and easy!  I was able to get it done in an entire weekend.  My only complaint is that there was a lot of wasted fabric, but i think I will be able to use it on the back somehow.

I'm so in love with this pattern that I'm already planning my next one.  This time I'll used a more structured layout and only four fabrics.  I found the coolest space invaders and pac man fabric at Fabric.com.  They have a May coupon code (DOD511) that's good for a 15% discount.