Double Take Quilt-Along

Ok, I admit it, I'm a quilt-a-long addict. I guess I can add that to my blog header next to chai addict! What I really like about the quilt-a-long format is the discipline. Just ask my husband, I work best with deadlines. So when the quilt-a-long format came along, the engineer in me really responded to it. It's just like a project plan - a clear objective, resource allocation, weekly milestones. It was a match made in heaven. I've gotten so many quilt tops done with this format, I can hardly believe how productive I've become.

So when I finished my last quilt-a-long, I decided I wanted to try one of my own. So here we are.

The design for this quilt top was inspired by a Quilt Mockup Tutorial on Fresh Lemons. The tutorial talks about how to design a quilt using Photoshop Elements. I had previously been using another graphics program, but the software company decided to stop making it for the Mac and the VERY old version I owned couldn't keep up with my computer's operating system anymore. So I was very excited to learn how to use Photoshop Elements for quilt design. As I took the tutorial, I quickly realized there was a great quilt design in the blocks I was building, twisting, and turning. With permission from Faith at Fresh Lemons, I decided to use the quilt that came out of that tutorial for a quilt-a-long. Check-out the Fresh Lemons website for more inspiration and to take the Quilt Mockup Tutorial. Thanks, Faith!

I'm calling this design Double Take - amazingly, it is made out of only two quilt blocks! Quilt-a-long with me! Since this quilt is only made up of two blocks, it will take no time at all.

Posts

July 6: Fabric Selection

July 13: Cutting and Block Piecing

July 20: Assembly

July 27: Quilting

Feel free to post your progress on the Flickr site!

Artful Home - Piecing

The piecing instructions fror the main blocks were pretty straight forward.  Here is a recap:

1) Mark the diagonal of the half square triangles.

2) Sew the HST to the center block.

3) Cut the excess from the HST.

4&5) Attach the first round of strips.

6) Attach the second set of HSTs (cut the excess here as well).

7&8) Attach the second round of strips.

9) Finished blocks.

One thing the instructions did not discuss...if you are OCD about corners like me, you will want the HST from the second round to line up with the corner of the HST from the first round:

To do this is pretty easy:

1) After marking your HST block (for the second round), fold the HST block in half perpendicular to the marking in order to find the dead center point.

2) Here you have the center crease crossing the marked diagonal.  The intersection is the center point

3) Stick a pin in the wrong side of the HST through the center point.

4) Stick the pin in the exact corner of the first round HST.

5) Set the HST block in place.

6) Sew all the HSTs to the block.

Here are the pieced blocks so far:

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.  

Happy Juniper

While she absolutely hates when I quilt (because she can't sit on my lap), Juniper definitely enjoys the benefits of quilting!

Disappearing 9-patch

I've never done a block of the month before, so when my cohort Bobbi at AMGQ suggested doing one, I thought I would give it a try.  One of the blocks, the disappearing 9-patch, I quickly decided I wanted to make a whole quilt top out of.  I liked the look of using only two fabric in the disappearing 9-patch, so I wanted to stick with that.  I was so excited that I started piecing right away.  Then.....

...I realized I did not have enough fabric from the print.  And not only did I not have enough fabric, but the fabric I bought was OUT OF PRINT!  Yikes.  I did manage to find some on ebay, but not enough to make the size top that I wanted.  So, plan B.  I bought a complimentary fabric from the same line, Pillow and Maxfield.  

  

The second print fabric is also out of print, but, again, I was able to find some on ebay.  It was enough to make the top I wanted.  The only question was, how to arrange it, now that I already had pieced and cut the first print.  Here were some options that I thought would work, but wasn't 100% happy with.

My husband liked the left one better.  I had been leaning towards the right one (yes, i realize there are two pieces turned wrong in the middle on the left side).  What I didn't like about the left was that I my eyes didn't know where to rest when looking at it.  The left layout just seemed a little chaotic, and as an engineer, I prefer structure!  But, there also seemed to be something about the right layout that did not convince me to start piecing it.

So I kept at it and finally settled on this..

There is movement, yet my eyes don't hurt when I look at it!  Now, onto piecing....

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.

     

Tokyo Subway Top Complete

The Tokyo Subway quilt top is finally complete! I started to work on this quilt at the inaugural AMQG quilt retreat, shortly before leaving for a month long trip to Japan, where I would be working the majority of the time in Tokyo. I thought it would be a fitting reminder of the time that I spent there. Little did I know, it would be a trip I would never forget! One day before I was scheduled to leave, the fifth largest earthquake in recorded history occurred just 200 miles north of where I was living. Prior to that week I had never been in an earthquake in my life. By the end of the week I had been in four earthquakes (all greater than 6.0, including the 9.0) and several dozen aftershocks. I was extremely lucky to be far enough away from the epicenter that the Tsunami did not impact where I was. The devastating images that came out of the area north of us were unfathomable. My heart goes out to all those whose lives were impacted by the quake and subsequent tsunami and nuclear disaster.

This past weekend we held the 2nd AMQG quilt retreat at the Wimberley Quilt Ranch and I was able to finally finish piecing the top. With the exception of two fabrics (I'll never tell which ones!), I used fabric that was from my stash. My fabric addiction, ok hoarding, finally paid off!

Two things that I did on this quilt I will likely never do again. The first is that I did not chain piece. While I felt it was appropriate for this particular top, because it would have been impossible to keep all the blocks straight had I chain pieced, when you don't chain piece, the start point for every seam is not locked as tightly as when you do. This lead to several spots where I had to redo the seams because they were coming apart. (I'll try and post an example image of this later.)

Second, I pressed the seams open. While the modern art movement has embraced pressing the seams open, I do not like it. First of all, it is cumbersome to do. Secondly, it made matching the seams difficult. Thirdly (is that a word?), when you insert the pins to match the seams, you have to put the pin heads on the outside of the fabric (see image to the left). This makes it difficult to sew over the seams with your quarter inch foot. It also caused me to break many, many needles. Normally, when I pin, I put the pin head on the fabric side, and make sure the tip of the pin is just about 1/4 inch from the edge. This way, when you sew over the pins, you are barely sewing over the tip of the pin, which can move out of the way if need be. When you put the pin heads outside the fabric the pin seems less free to move around. Next time I will stick to pressing seams to one side.

Checkout some more pics here.

Now, onto quilting it....