I began a pretty green quilt for myself about a year ago. It was something I was doing in-between other projects. As a result, it took waaaaaay longer to finish than many of my other quilts. But finished it is.
I pinned all the layers together at the beginning of April and here it is June. Felt like longer!
I should have taken a picture with all the safety pins in it. They always look so punk that way.
On to sewing all the t-shirt pieces together. After choosing a background fabric, the first thing I did was to sew strips along the sides.
This is where the not measuring or doing much math came in. My goal was to section the design into blocks and sew each of those together. If the final design came out a little different in size than the original layout, then so be it. I guessed at the amount to go in between these first few and trimmed it back after I laid them all out on the floor. Continue reading…
Batiks are my favorite fabrics. I love to see them paired with a super traditional pattern. I’ve been sewing since I was 10 years old and quilting since I was about 31. One of the first books on quilting that I bought focused on the Jacob’s Ladder pattern. I didn’t really like the book all that well. It’s hard to get excited from a bunch of black and white drawings. But I liked all the different ways the standard Jacob’s Ladder block could be arranged.
Two years ago, my sister Bekkie married her long-time boyfriend Joe. At that point I thought, here is the perfect time to make that pattern I’ve been wanting to make for the last 20+ years.
Sections Ready to be Sewn into Squares
I sorted my batiks into lights and darks. In one case, I had a fabric I used as both. I was planning a queen size quilt, so I drew up my pattern on graph paper and figured out how many of each section I needed to make. I cut strips for the 4 square sections and triangles for the half square sections. Weeks of sewing ensued. (Since I have a full time job and a soap business on the side, it takes me a while to do something this large.)
Sorting into Squares
The Design Wall & Table
The Design Wall
My goal with each color choice was not to duplicate the same fabric in any single square.About a week was spent on the layout. I ran out of room on my design wall, so I worked on the table as well, eventually sewing sections together as I went so didn’t lose track of what went where.
In some places the edges seemed to blur, and in others, it was very defined. Just what I was hoping for. But, as I usually end up doing, I had too many final squares in the end. It’s like those things that mysteriously multiply in your closet. You can’t figure where they came from, but you look at it as a bonus! So I made 2 matching 16″ pillows (12″ squares with 2″ borders added.)
It was done in time for a first anniversary/Christmas present.
Front and 16″ pillows
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