Quilt As You Go Block Tutorial!

Want to know all about the magical world of quilt as you go blocks?  I thought you did.  It's pretty awesome and forgiving if you don't feel like measuring or thinking, and they go pretty fast, so you can make a bunch in one go and they're already quilted!

So first you cut your batting.  I cut mine 12.5 because that's the size of my ruler.  Of course, it's going to shrink on you once you start quilting and you'll want to square it up again when you're finished.  So if you want to have bigger finished squares, cut the batting bigger, probably by at least 1.5 inches.

Now, this is the fun part, and where I started to deviate from all the tutorials and how-to's that I found.  That first piece of fabric, just plop it down in the center.  Don't measure where it's going, or try to center it perfectly.  I didn't even care if that piece of fabric was actually squared off itself.  Just put it down and quilt some lines back and forth over it.  I used the outside edge of my foot as a guide, but I'd do some quilted lines wider, skinnier, or a mix of the two.

Then, lay the next piece of fabric down and sew it down.  Again, don't over think it, just make sure that when you sew, it's a straight line so that you're fabric will lay flat once you flip it over to quilt.  (Of course, if you botch that bit, you can just make your first quilted pass really close to the seam to really make it lay down.  Told you it was great if you didn't want to be accurate!)

Quilt it down!  

That weird zig zag bothering you?  I found a bunch of featherweight fusible interfacing and I'm using it to piece together my batting scraps, but I don't trust it, so I do a super big zaggle to hold it together.

I used every scrap possible, which meant that sometimes I'd sew them together to make up the length that I needed.  It's pretty fun to mash together all those little bits, and I got to do some fussy cutting to add cars and flowers to some of my other blocks.

The placement of each layer is different from a traditional log cabin block because I didn't add my sides in a consistent pattern, like always going clockwise when sewing down the next layer, or doing top and bottom then sides.  I just sew with whatever scraps looked good and require the least amount of cutting.  Sometimes, like here, it would get a bit rectangle-y and I'll try to even it out a little.  Other time's I'll just keep adding wherever.

Keep adding layers until the entire piece of batting is covered.  

Then you trim it down to the size you want.  Like I said, I initially made my batting squares 12.5", but I trim them down to 12".  

These are really fun to make, and the weirder they look, the more I like them when they're all together.  I just have four more to make then I can officially finish this quilt.  I'm pretty excited to finally get to cuddle under it!  

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday and Live a Colorful Life for Really Random Thursday!

WIP Wednesday!

I've sadly been away from my machine for a couple days now for an impromptu trip to Connecticut to visit with family.  I'm sure it's plenty sad out there on the cold porch all alone.  I'll be back at it finishing up my Rainbow QAYG for real soon.

Right before husband and I took off, we managed to pick a full bushel of apples with the kids and some friends.  When I went through them, I realized we hadn't been entirely clear on the "only pick red apples, not green apples!"  Oh well.  I was going to make apple sauce and pie filling with the apples we probably wouldn't eat in time anyway.

The long car ride did give me plenty of time to finish up my Sweatshirt Sweater.  I almost finished binding off the neck before it got too dark to knit, so I finished it at home and then weaved in all my ends.  

I'm probably going to end up ripping out the neck ribbing though.  It's just so bacon-y, and the front ribs just don't squish together like they should.  I probably did something funky when I picked up the bound off stitches.  Or maybe I should knit a few more decrease rows, so the ribs have less ground to cover.  As it is, the neckline is pretty generous, and could stand to shrink some.

In the meantime, I started back up on my fair isle scarf.  The pattern is from Tricksy Knitter.  I started this because I saw my friend Letty doing something ridiculous with two yarns at our Stitch and Bitch meet up a few months ago.  After I insisted she was breaking some sort of law of yarn physics, she showed me what double knitting was and I started this project (check out this video, it may break your brain!).

I kind of went big, because who wants to mess around with smaller patterns when there's leaping deer out there!  I hope to do another full repeat of the pattern and then change direction so the deer and trees will be right side up when you hang it around your neck.

Linking up with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!

 

A Finished Rainbow QAYG Top!!

I'm so excited!  I managed to finish the top of this quilt last night.  (I would like to thank my wonderful quilting assistants: Coke, Ice cream, and Star Trek; without you three, I would have been sleeping well before this was finished.)

I'm quite happy with how this turned out.  I was worried that it would be dominated by all the pink and purple since I'd originally wanted the the quilt to only have a couple little on the corners.  Well, when I decided to go twin sized, I made three more blocks of each color, which worried me, but since the middle is mostly blues and greens, it doesn't scream "PINK!!"  It's more, "hey dude, rainbow!"

The only minor hiccup in this quilt was last night as I was trimming all those blocks up, I realized they'd shrunk because of the quilting.  I suppose I should have seen something like that coming since quilting a normal quilt usually ends up with the quilt shrinking or growing and requiring some squaring up.  But I just trimmed them all down to 12" instead of my expected 12.5" and everything was hunky dory.

When I finished the top last night and measures 58" x 92", which is a little scant on the sides and long on the bottom.  So I decided to just wait until morning to try it on the little dude's twin bed to decide whether I needed to add another row.

See all of it bunched at the bottom?  I think most of that will just hang nicely if I didn't have the foot board, and I could just tuck it under.  But it will hang much lower there than on the sides. 

See?  It hangs a little under a full block on the sides, but a whole block and a half on the bottom.  So I'm going to ponder for the day whether to add another strip of blocks to the side.  Luckily, I got all of those batting and purple scraps, so I don't think it will be a problem.  

One more, because I just love how they look all stacked up!

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish It Up Friday and over at Lily's Quilts for Fresh Sewing Day!

UR Here Swap and Some Vintage Goodness!

Just finished up this little Starbucks cup sleeve.  I really am cutting it down to the wire on my last two swaps of the month.  I think because there's one thing to swap, then ANY goodie you want to add, there are just too many possibilities and my brain just wants to make all the things!

This one is for the UR Here Starbucks Mug Swap on Flickr.  Perfect timing, because we just broke our Starbucks mug, so we only have one giant mug left.  The rest are those little tea cups that you get with a dish set, and they really don't cut it when I need coffee in the morning.

But I did at least finish this today.  I even planned ahead and made sure to have a cup model for the sleeve.   Starbucks might have a faulty drive thru speaker, because I swear I said I just wanted a cup, but they heard PUMPKIN SPICE!!! OMG!!!  Oh well, I made sure to drink all that latte so nothing could possibly spill on the sleeve, because I'm a good and cautious person.

I kind of used two different tutorials to make this.  The basic "how do you make it" tutorial came from One Crafty Home.  I also used the template from there.  Then I poked around some more and found this tutorial from Jeni Baker and loved her stripey sleeve.  Handy since I had a bunch of Anna Maria Horner already cut into strips!

I might make up a drawstring bag or a mug rug to add to the pile of goodies, but I'm really bad at time management this last week, so we'll see.

Oh, and that book?  Found by accident at a community yard sale last weekend.  For $1, I just bought it without looking inside, but it's pretty magical.  It's everything I usually end up Googling when I make clothes (plus things I didn't even know about) all printed back in 1977!  There's so much good info in here, but also "How to Sew Shag" and "How to Make Foam Furniture for Your Rec Room!"  Amazing find!

Linking up with Live a Colorful Life for Really Random Thursday and Kelly over at My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday and Flamingo Toes for Think Pink Sunday!

 

WIP Wednesday

I've decided to just punch this out.  To go completely crazy and sew like a mad woman until this Rainbow QAYG quilt is done.  All those blocks that are off center are the ones I've added since this weekend.  That includes three purple blocks that could not have happened if I didn't have two friend's with plenty of purple scraps to spare.

Still a little doubtful if I'll have enough to finish three more pink blocks.  I may have to start knocking on random quilter's doors begging.  Sure I could just cut into the stash, but where's the fun in that!

Of the sixteen I needed to add, I've finished ten!  Downhill skating from here!

And doesn't this lovely pile of knitting look almost sweater shaped?  It's so close!  I have a few more chest decreases left, and then I can start shaping the shoulders and knitting the neck ribbing!  It's so close and I want to wear it because I'm starting to get a bit cold sewing on the porch, and I could use another cozy sweater.

Linking up with Lee for WIP Wednesday!

 

Chugging Along!

I finally decided that I needed to get started on this project again.  It's such an easy sew since I don't have to cut a bunch of pieces or match seams.  But I did need a small vacation from it after deciding I needed 16 (!!!) more blocks to bring it up to a twin size quilt.

Well, after sewing up a couple pairs of pants and some selfish sewing, I'm back at it.  I poured over my big scrap bin and dug out some more pieces from the way bottom.  And I pulled some scraps from my weekend sewing and added a couple spots of Anna Maria Horner to the two lighter blocks.

Also, can you find Darth Vader and C-3P0 on the dark blue block?  I found some scraps from my son's PJs and had to add them.

Plus, I managed to come back from Jess's place with this awesome pile of batting and fabric scraps.  My new block count includes three purple blocks and three pink blocks.  I'm not big on using those colors, so it was a stretch for me to even get the few that I already made.  Luckily, purple is the one color that Jess seems to always have in stock.  That bag will probably make up the purple blocks, and there's a few pink scraps that might get me part of the way to my goal there.

And seriously, that's probably all the batting I'll need for the rest of the blocks.  I'm going to cut it all out tomorrow to see where I stand, and then piece together the rest.  I think if I get all the batting blocks cut, it will be easier to just sew my butt off.

Linking up with Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday and I Have To Say for Show and Tell Tuesday!

More Parsley Pants!

Just a quick post today. I'm trying out the BlogGo app for my phone since I'm out an about. Not bad, but you can only do so much typing on a phone before you get tired of it. 

I finished up these teal, sparkly courduroy pants last night. I think I can officially call the children set for fall pants. I might actually start quilting now, or I might just start sewing up tops. Depends on what shiny thing I see next. 

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish It Up Friday , Better Off Thread for Sew Cute Tuesday and The Train to Crazy for Make It Wear It Thursday!