Quick Hunters Star Throw - Part 3

Sandwiching Quilt

You will need a backing fabric of at least 88 by 64 inches, but a bit larger would be better.

1. Place pressed backing right side down on a flat surface large enough to lay flat; tape in place at sides, then corners.
2. Lay batting on top of backing and smooth wrinkles; tape in place at sides, then corners. (If using slippery batting, spray baste to baking and top.)

Quilt as Desired

The book "Quilt as Desired" by Charlene Frable is great book for the beginning quilter as well as the veteran quilter who wants to up their quilting skills. She shows the how, why and when to use different quilting styles and how making potholders and other projects can help you perfect your technique.

Happy Quilting,
Jeanne

Quilt as Desired

To this day, nothing is so difficult for me in making a quilt than trying to figure out how to quilt it. I can do a pretty good meander, echo and stitch in the ditch, but that's getting boring.

Several years ago I read a book about expanding your quilting repertoire (I wish I could remember the name of the book now), and the best advice I got from it was to practice, practice, practice. The author suggested having a stack of 8 inch square quilt sandwiches all done up and waiting to be quilted. She used them to practice new quilting patterns and to warm up before working on that heirloom quilt.

It's great advice and in the book she also had ideas on uses for all your quilt blocks. I figured that I could possibly have too many potholders and table quilts, but I needed lots of practice, so I came up with making book covers too.

So get those small quilt sandwiches together and start practicing with the basics like echoing, stitch in the ditch, meandering, loops, grids, etc. and make sure that everyone you know has plenty of pot holders :)

Happy Quilting!

Sampler Quilt 2011 - Finishing

Quilt Sandwich

1. Backing & backing should measure at least 60 inches by 75 inches.
2. Place pressed backing right side down on a flat surface large enough to lay flat; tape in place at sides, then corners.
3. (Optional) Lay batting on top of backing and smooth wrinkles; tape in place at sides, then corners. (If using slippery batting, spray baste to baking and top.)
4. Put pressed quilt on top right side up.
5. Smooth borders and blocks square, pushing excess toward middle. Quilting will take up slack and quilt will hang better.
6. Pin baste 3 to 4 inches apart in quarters down length and width. Finish pin basting each quarter 3 to 4 inches apart.
7. Quilt as desired.

Binding

1. Lay 2 binding strips right sides together and sew short edge with a ¼ inch seam. 
2. Repeat with remaining strips to make a continuous strip. 
3. Fold and press strip lengthwise in half wrong sides together. 
4. Place binding strip on quilt top lining up raw edges and begin sewing leaving a 5 inch tail using a ¼ inch seam. 
5. Stop ¼ inch before corner with needle down and pivot work as if to sew next side and reverse sew off quilt top. 
6. Fold binding back creating a 45 degree fold, then fold forward matching fold to previously sewn side. 
7. Continue sewing binding and repeat #5 and #6 for each for each corner. 
8. Stop sewing at least 5 inches from beginning. 
9. Trim ends to overlap about ½ inch. 
10. Unfold binding ends, match right sides together and sew short raw edges with a ¼ inch seam. 
11. Refold binding and finish sewing to quilt. 
12. Trim backing and batting close to quilt top edges.
13. Wrap binding around quilt edge to the back side and hand sew using a blind stitch.

Back to making quilt block pattern calculators

I've recently started to create quilt block pattern calculators again. They can be found at www.myquiltgenie.com.


I started making them in 2008 mostly for myself to resize quilt blocks and layouts and have the instructions be changed accordingly. I can't tell you how many times I've had to re-figure the math on a quilt I'd let set too long.


The calculators are block and quilt layout specific so you don't have to do much more than choose a finished size and how many blocks you want to make. Once done you don't even have to remember how to put the blocks together or in the case of quilt layouts, figure out how much border, backing, backing and binding you'll need to finish.


Happy Quilting
Jeanne

ABC Quilts (At Risk Babies & Children's Quilts)

What ABC Quilts are...

ABC Quilts (At Risk Babies & Children's Quilts) was founded in 1988 by Ellen Ahlgren, to give love and comfort to at-risk babies in the form of handmade quilts, and to use this process to promote awareness, community service and prevention education. "At-risk" was defined as those babies born HIV-positive, affected by their mother's drug or alcohol abuse while pregnant, or abandoned. The international network of volunteers has delivered over half a million quilts since ABC Quilts was founded. American Mothers became involved with ABC Quilts in 1992, when its founder, Ellen Ahlgren was named the New Hampshire Mother of the year. In 2006, American Mothers adopted ABC Quilts as a National Project. Quilts are made and donated by people of all ages, and all skill levels. The completed quilts are distributed to local hospitals and agencies that deal with babies and children at risk. --American Mothers, Inc.