Twisted Nines: Tutorial

Twisted Nines is an easy baby quilt, perfect for beginners who want to take their quilting to the next step. The quilt finishes at 39 inches square.

Materials: 
To start you are going to need 2 charm packs (Dot. Dot. Dash-), and a quarter yard of solid fabric (Kona Midnight). I used fabric from yardage but if you can also use a fat quarter.
*Charm packs need to have 42 pieces of fabric each.

Disappearing 9 Patch Block: (Click the link if you are not familiar with this block)
To start sew the charm squares into a three by three block. You will use 9 charm squares for each block. Cut down the center vertically and horizontally to create four smaller blocks. Here is a visual. You will have 36 small blocks and 3 charm squares left over when finished.

The Twist: 
From the solid fabric cut three (if using yardage) 3 inch wide strips.  Subcut into 36 - 3 inch squares. Then mark a line diagonally across the square, sew along line. Trim excess a quarter inch from the sewn line. Press open. If you would like a shortcut, try the Frog Tape Trick.

Block:
Each block consists of 4 smaller blocks arranged the same way. Create 9 blocks in total. Then arrange them in a 3 by 3 layout. Sew the block together and you're finished!

Larger Size: 

Increase the size by using 3 charm packs. Sew the disappearing nine patch block, you will end up with 56 small blocks and no remaining charm squares. Cut your (1/2 yard) of solid fabric into 3 inch strips and subcut into 56 - 3 inch squares. Sew following the twist directions. Layout blocks in a 7 by 8 configuration.  Final quilt size will measure approximately, 45 inches by 52 inches.

Fabric Used: - 1.75 yards

Net Loss: - 72 yards YTD

Little Baby Girl Quilt

It's official, fall is over. New England is in that dreary season where everything is dormant and isn't covered in snow yet. The world is a depressing shade of gray. The background does nothing to the contrast of this little quilt made for a dear, best friend for her first baby. The collection is Wildflowers from Camelot. 

She was very specific in her request, no pink and not overly girly. Well then, peach it was and although this quilt isn't pink it's still girly (I win). The chartreuse and aqua balance it out to make it less girly, but it's still sweet. I used the Penny Patch pattern from Stitched in Color.  It's been on my to do list for quite sometime and ended up playing well with the colors from this line. I sewed up extra parts and they became bits and pieces for the backing.

Net Zero Update: 

This little quilt used 4.75 yards in total, including the top pieces, binding and pieced backing. Last month I was a net of - 25.25 and I am starting this month down another -4.75 yards, for a total of -30 yards. Yay me!

- Patch & Chels

Modern Maples

Finally finished my Modern Maples quilt! I backed this one using some number fabric from Ikea and a grey binding.  This time around I also tried the spiral top quilting. It was difficult at the center with my small domestic sewing machine, but started to get easier as less fabric had to fit through the throat!

This one might be one of my favorites!  Now it just needs to find a good home.

Sew long for now,

Patch & Chels

Modern Maples

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!  Every year I take off to Vermont for a weekend camping extravaganza.  My minions are doing my posting today :)  I have been looking forward to a relaxing weekend with friends for some time now.  Just so excited it's finally here!  Last year it snowed and was still great, so nothing is going to ruin this weekend.

Lately, I have seen so many people make such great modern maples quilts, I had to try it out. (ok, more like, has been on my to do list for a while now!)  This one is going to baby sized quilt, so nothing too big.  Plus, Pinterest has been a huge inspiration as well.  So amazed by people's creativity ...

Isn't this pile great?  Best of all, it all got pulled from my stash.  Yay, me!  I thought these colors would show a great variety of maple-ish colors.  My favorite tree is the the Crimson King Maple so that 4th fabric from the bottom, is paying homage to that beautiful tree!

Also using my 500 Quilt Blocks book again (still in love).  It has every block imaginable, with easy to follow directions, and a million variations.  For this quilt I am going with Variation 1, which finishes at 9 inches square.  The final quilt will be about 36 inches by 45 inches, hopefully.

Ready to start cutting!  The background for the block is going to be done in a variety of low volume prints.  I think I am going to be crazy about this one.  Actually I am crazy for any low volume background.  It's my new favorite.

Sew long for now, 

CHELS & PATCH 

A Weekend Finish!

This weekend I got one of my quilt binding's hand stitched.  This poor quilt has been sitting around for a while now.  Usually I get slowed down at basting, lately it's been at hand stitching.  

Grey & White Chevrons

36 inch. x 36 inch.

The blocks for this quilt were finished before I even gave a thought about blogging.  So there are no process pictures for this one.  I am just excited this finally got finished and out of my UFO basket!   It's taken forever, for no reason.  

Not sure what kind of flowers these are but they just looked so pretty.  Plus, I find it very difficult to photograph red/pinks so this was great practice.  After about 30ish shots, I found one that worked!  Anyone else dread having to photograph red/pinks?

Sew long for now, 

PATCH & CHELS

Jelly Roll Race ... Take 2

I get all the Missouri Star Quilt Company tutorials on You Tube, and let's say they are fantastic.  They are great, descriptive, and visual movies that helped me as a beginning quilter.  Jenny always shares great little patterns for pre-cuts and helpful tips.  When the Jelly Roll Race 2 tutorial got posted, I thought this would be great way to bust through some of my scraps!  (I always cut fabric scraps into pre-cut sizes and store by size to make my life easier.)  So I pulled 42 different strips by wof, and a pulled a pile of white 2.5 inch squares and got sewing.  Here is a little scrap/stash busting at it's finest :)

And the race begins ...

This quilt came together quickly and I enjoyed the process.  The first two folds I thought were never going to end, but after that it didn't take long to finish.  I enjoy the white squares scattered throughout the quilt.  They add some randomness and break up the strips.

I also have to share that Missouri Star Quilt Company now has all their video patterns as a magazine.   No ads and everything that is great about the videos as a hard copy at a very reasonable price.  I must confess they have once again out done themselves :)

Look at all those pretty pre-cut projects!

Overall, I am so impressed with this quilt. This was a win/win.  My scrap pile is missing 42 strips and it was fun to make :)  Now I just need to find some quick projects for 5 inch squares.  

Sew long for now, 

CHELS

Odds and Ends

This weekend I got the luxury of heading north and visiting my parents.  These little succulents were hanging out in the window just begging to be photographed!  I have tried growing them but they just don't hold up so well with my green thumb.  

I also convinced my Dad to rearrange the yard for a photo shoot!  He is such a great Dad.  

"Yep, Dad.  Please put the wood cage little to to the right.  Thank you."

"Oh, and please close up the doors!"  

All for this!  A photo shoot of my Odds and Ends quilt top finished.  *Sorry for the slight blur, it was so windy.

I started with a layer cake of Odds and Ends by Cosmo Cricket.  Then used this tutorial by Missouri Star Quilt Company to make the HST.  In the video she used charm packs and made a pinwheel.  I just modified for a layer cake, but, easiest way to make 4 HST at once!

My Grandmother also dug out my baby quilt my mother made me when I was a baby.  I didn't remember this quilt at all. This one got me a touch emotional!  Here it is looking very loved.  

Signing out from the Huckins homestead.  This is actually Dad's other barn!  

Sew long for now, 

CHELS

Completed Granny Squares

Look what got finished!  This little guy is making it's debut as a finished quilt.  I just love how the bold threads look along side the blocks. 

I also added small diamonds between the blocks and a boarder around the outside edge.  

The binding is scrappy.  A scrappy quilt deserves a scrappy binding.  As I use up fabric, I cut a 2.5 inch piece and sew the strips together.  Eventually I had enough binding for the quilt.  (Another great way to use up those small pieces instead of tossing them out.)

 Here are the final images with the binding on.  

And the back is also scrappy!  Talk about a super scrappy quilt!

Now it's time to sit in that rocker with a good book!

Sew long for now, 

CHELS