Darth Vader Quilt (#44)

Making this pixel quilt of Darth Vader was great fun.  The pattern comes from WS Kane Patterns on Etsy where she provides clear instructions for fabric requirements and multiple grid templates for you to download (and mark up to your hearts content!)

I used small post it notes to isolate 5 rows up & 5 rows down - and then assembled these larger squares together, working from the top of the pattern to the bottom.  For me, it was easier than working left to right, row by row.  

There are multiple patterns from cross stitch, knitting, crochet and bead sites that you can use to make a pixel quilt (or search '8-bit pixel quilts' and of course, Pinterest for ideas) - although you have to be careful that the design is not too wide or long to accommodate a 2.5" square.  Too large and your quilt will be enormous.  This Darth Vader template was perfect in its dimensions.

Quilting was done using a 3.5 straight stitch length in a 3" diagonal grid. Using Aurifil 50wt. medium grey #1158 and light grey minky on the back - the darker image of Darth Vader stays the focal point.

What made this so enjoyable was letting go of perfection expectations ... I threw all the little black & pepper Kona squares into a big box and did the random pickup method with my eyes closed ...  I washed, starched, ironed and cut as carefully as possible these little squares - and still, I was a little off on a few!

Do these 'mistakes' mean the end of pixel quilting ... no way ... pixel quilts are on my bucket list!
 A very cool website that allows you to make a pixel pattern from your own image is: KnitPro

{ Update: finished another pixel quilt, the little blue Totoro - here.}

Materials:
WS Kane Patterns / Darth Vader
Kona white, ash, black & pepper
Architextures Crosshatch in Shadow / Robert Kaufman
Mirror Ball Dot in onyx - Michael Miller
Mini Confetti / Dear Stella
Minky dimple dot / silver or light grey
Binding: Aged Solids in black/3 Sisters for Moda 
Aurifil 50wt. Dove & Medium Grey #1158
Size: 60"x 76"
October 2015

Spa 9-patch Quilt (#43)

A 9-patch block made with Deb Strain's Spa line from Moda,  proves that the combination of blue and white can be both fresh & traditional at the same time.

Spa uses beautiful scroll designs and mosaic motifs in multiple shades of blue - from light to cobalt. This collection is like looking at Blue Willow china or Delft pottery.  Your eye can always find something to enjoy.

White Kona sashing & borders lighten up the front, and help separate the Midnight Blue minky on the back.  My initial choice for the back minky was a light grey because I was worried it would be 'too blue' - but the darker back worked nicely to give the quilt more visual weight.

Tension issues can arise when using  minky.  If you use a dark bottom thread and the tension is a little off, or you get stuck with the batting and minky making your walking foot work extra hard - the darker thread can show up on the lighter quilt top. 
 Here's my win/win solution - I use a light thread in the bobbin.  (in this case it was the middle spool of grey blue)

Aurifil 50wt. is perfect since it sinks and almost disappears into the 3mm pile of the minky.   This totally works for me; no stress about thread show on the front and the back looks great since you can still see the stitching lines ... I can't wait to use more dark minkys!

Materials:
Spa by Deb Strain / Moda
Kona white
Aurifil 50wt. dove(#2600), white & grey blue (#5007)
Warm & White batting
Midnight blue dimple dot minky
Size: 57"x 72"
October 2015

Another Noteworthy Quilt (#42)

Using the softer colors of the Noteworthy collection worked better than expected to make this hourglass quilt.  I purchased 2 fat quarter bundles of what I thought was the entire collection.  It wasn't - and missing were the cuter elements ... birds on the wire and the bucket list notes in various colors.

Since Noteworthy came out in 2012 - it was easier to find a few yards of one design - I choose the blue bucket list to 'flesh' out the plainer patterns.  

Cutting the half square triangles from my Accuquilt 6.5" die - I assembled them into hourglass blocks (see how to here at the bottom of the Far Far Away post).

Because half the quilt is light blue, the overall vibe is calm & soothing. Bright white minky on the back doesn't conflict with the muted palette and the zig zag quilting in Aurifil 50wt. grey blue (#5007) and white (#2024) just sinks beautifully into the whole design.  

Materials:
Noteworthy for Sweetwater by Moda
Aurifil 50wt. Grey Blue / White
Warm & White batting
White minky
Size:58' x 74.5"
August 2015

Peak Hour Half Hexi Baby Quilt (#41)

The fourth, and last quilt to be made with Peak Hour by Riley Blake.  With some left over jelly roll strips and a 10" layer cake, I thought it would be fun to experiment making a hexagon pattern.

Here is what worked best for me:  for the jelly roll 2.5" strips, the small half hexagon from Missouri Star Quilt Co. worked nicely. For the 10" squares (layer cake) I used Lori Holt's  large Hexie Half ruler.

I was very lucky finding a layer cake since this design was released 3 years ago ... and was more short on fabric than I thought.  No worries - white Kona came to my rescue to fill out the gaps.

A half hexagon quilt, much like a  tumbler quilt, has to be laid out row by row to balance color. 

It is easier to see the hexagon shapes when the 'top' and 'bottom' hexi's match, but if you don't have enough fabric - mismatched works fine - as does combining the two different sizes.  

The half hexagon templates are fun - the larger size is my favorite as it comes together really, really fast! Quilting was done with Aurifil 50wt white in a loose zigzag, 2" apart - making a beautiful design through the batting and flannel back.

Materials:
Peak Hour / Riley Blake
White Kona
Amy Butler / Sunspots in olive
Aurifil 50wt. white
Warm & White batting
Size: 47" x 54"
July 2015

Under The Stars (#40)

Cindy Lammon of Hyacinth Quilt Designs made a beautiful quilt with this pattern and was generous enough to post on her blog the dimensions for the fabric squares and sashing.   She said, "feel free to copy away" and so I did.  

Cindy's blocks are more complex and showcased fussy cut images while I kept these simple since the fabric was too cute to cut!

 Fabric.com always gives you an extra inch in their cuts, so 1 yard of each design & careful cutting  gave me enough blocks to make two quilts.  Extra yardage was needed for the boarder which was cut at 4.5" and after quilting - trimmed to 4" on all sides.

The white Kona sashing is cut 1.5" wide and all fabrics were starched. I did make a layout for this quilt before I started sewing ... mostly so two designs wouldn't be next to each other.  Even when I knew I had laid out the middle row wrong it didn't matter because I couldn't figure out my mistake. It just goes to show that this lovely simple pattern is forgiving as well.  

 To make this feel like a camping quilt to snuggle up in - and give the illusion of wrapping oneself up in the night - the back is ash grey minky and the simple zig zag quilting is done with Aurifil 50wt. light sand (#2000) and grey smoke (#5004).  Quilting down the center of the white sashing from top to bottom & side to side - makes a really nice 4" grid throughout.

Materials:
Under the Stars from Timless Treasures
Kona white
Aurifil 50wt. / light sand / grey smoke
Dimple dot minky / ash grey
Warm & white batting
Cindy Lammon / Hyacinth Quilt Desgins
Size: 59" x 72"
July 2015

Chillingsworth Quilts (#38 & #39)

A half yard bundle of Chillingsworth fabric made two great skeleton quilts - inspired by a picture from the International Quilt Market, June 2014.

Left:  59" x 69"             Right:  60" x 69"

The quilt tops were cut and sewn at the same time to help me keep track of the layouts. 

They sat finished for a year, waiting for me to learn free motion quilting so I could stitch around the skeletons.  I never learned so it was time to experiment.

I did a grid pattern that was pretty nice - using this video from Nancy Zieman.  She uses this technique on a placemat but I found it also works on something as large as the skeleton panel (24"x44").  My lines are spaced 3" apart and since this panel didn't have an edge to sew off - I just sewed down the side of the panel until I came to a part that needed quilting.  This panel was done with one continuous line of stitching, following a grid made with a Washable Wonder blue marker.

This skeleton panel was done free form using a walking foot - going forward & backwards and around the image ... much harder since my sewing machine was too small for so much minky & batting stuffed into the throat. Never again!

The darker areas of the quilt were sewn with broken zigzags and straight stitching.  Aurifil 50wt. thread was used for piecing & quilting - and worked really well tension wise - the grey stayed on the top, the light sand on the bottom. 

Materials:
Chillingsworth /designed by Echo Park
Aurifil 50wt.
Warm & White batting
Minky / dimple dot beige
July 2015

Another California Girl Quilt (#37)

Two jelly rolls and two different patterns make up this pretty quilt using California Girl by Fig Tree for Moda.  The patterns are simple - a square block (instructions below) and small strips (or a coin pattern).

The truth is, I began two different quilts at two different times and had already cut the jelly rolls for each.  When both quilts were going to end up too small -  I just combined them into one.

The best part of using the pre-cut collection from Moda (or any other manufacturer), is that the end results harmonize - and that was a plus for me since the fabric came out in 2012. There was no stress since every piece worked - and there were many, many pieces.

I opted for a dimple dot minky in taupe instead of honey browns or light creams since this quilt is going to a home with that palette. Those colors would also work for the back. (The coordinating coral color binding was also a request - but a nice choice is the ocean blue like my other California Girl quilt - more of a contrast.)

While California Girl has overall softer colors, its like many other muted collections that benefit from white accents or sashing.  The white allows the designs to pop out and makes the final quilt look clean & fresh.

Quilting was done with a medium broken zigzag using the sides of the squares as a guide - then straight stitching using a 3.5 stitch length down the middle of each square.

The basic pattern for the block uses a pre-cut jelly roll or 2.5" wide piece of fabric.  Begin by cutting a center square 2.5" (I used white throughout) and chain piecing the 2.5" squares on the top and bottom.  
Move to step 2 and sew 2.5" x 6.5" on the sides - chain piecing again.  
I press my seams open and trimmed to 6".  Join 4 six inch squares together and make a block - trim to 11"
White sashing was 2.5" strips of Kona cotton.

Materials:
California Girl by Fig Tree/Moda
Kona white
Dimple dot minky / taupe
Aurifil 50wt / light sand (#2000) & beige (#2314)
Warm & white batting
Size: 65"x83"
July 2015

Far Far Away Quilt (#36)

The challenge with Far Far Away by Heather Ross was to "save the unicorns and the princess" from the rotary cutter. A quick measure showed that a width of 6" was the best for both.

Except for the princess fabric, I cut 14 fat quarters into 6" squares to make a simple quilt.  Enter my recent love affair with the Accuquilt half square triangle and the fact that I found you could make an hour glass block with it ...well, the first quilt idea went out the window. (Pictures how to do this are below)

There is no pattern for this quilt which means there are no 'mistakes' or rules.  First, I cut out as many unicorns as I could - then matched the remaining fabric in pairs to harmonize.  There is a lot going on with all these patterns and similar colors seemed best.

I sewed all the 'hour glass blocks' together and trimmed to 6" - and didn't count or stress about how many or where they were going.
After this basic sewing was done, I cut the princess fabric to 6" wide and made two long strips - one white, one pink. 

The princess fabric gave me my starting point for length -  after that it was just laying out what looked best, making sure the unicorn squares were balanced on either side.  I never made a count for how many squares I had - there is a scrappy element to this design and leftovers would just 'fill in' when necessary.

When the middle portion was finished, I needed to 'build' up the rest of the quilt to a twin size.  I got a request for 'more pink' - so 2 yards of pink princesses made up the sides. 

 Left over hour glass blocks were added to another yard of frogs - and they made up a big border on the top and bottom.  

Star minky makes up the back and the quilting was done with a bright pretty pink Aurifil 50wt.  Only after I did my usual zig zag over the large seams did I experiment with 3" diagonal lines in a diamond pattern using a straight stitch (length 3.0 to 3.5). 

Materials:
Far Far Away / Heather Ross
Warm & White batting
Aurifil Bright Pink / #2425
Star minky
Accuquilt 4.5" finished HST
Size: 72" x 85"
April 2015 

How to make an hour glass block with the Accuquilt half square 4.5" finished triangle.

Starch and cut your fabric as usual - a 6" square of fabric works best on the die.





Shown here is how you make a regular half square triangle - you sew on the LONG side - using a scant 1/4" seam.

This is your basic method for making the herringbone, chevron and diamond blocks that use HST.

However - to make an hour glass block - you take your triangles - and sew the SHORT sides together.






Lay out one hour glass block at a time to minimize mistakes.






After you have your 2 halves - sew those together and trim to a perfect 6" square ... voila, an hour glass block.

Sweet As Honey Quilt (#35)

Sweet as Honey by Bonnie Christine is a beautiful collection of autumn hues that look so pretty in a random tumbler pattern.  20 fat quarters were cut using a 6.5" Accuquilt tumbler die - with left overs cut into small squares that filled out the sides.  

Ironing and starching are a must since Art Gallery fabric is thinner and more delicate than most quilting cottons, so don't go too fast when you start sewing your pieces. 

 If you go too fast with those first stitches (mine were very small at 1.5) this thinner fabric can dip into the needle 'hole' and you end up with lots of really small stitches on top of each other - almost impossible to cut apart since the fabric is so fragile.

I tried a new combination of layering - cotton top / Warm & White batting / minky back.  

I was worried that minky and batting would be too massive for this dainty cotton - but it wasn't.  There didn't seem to be much weight difference between using my usual flannel in the middle versus the Warm & White - and I kept the size modest with lap quilt dimensions.

(Note:  Warm & White/Natural seems thinner to me now than when I started quilting a few years ago.  Back then, a minky/batting combo seemed just too heavy.)

Quilting was a medium sized broken zig zag in Aurifil 50wt. Sand, following the tumbler shape and then down the middle from top to bottom.  

Materials:
Sweet as Honey / Art Gallery 
Warm & White batting
Aurifil  Sand 50wt.
Minky dimple dot in Camel
Accuquilt 6.5" tumbler
Size: 58 "x 75"
April 2015