Square Off Quilt Finished

Just after Christmas I was doing a pattern test for Elisabeth of Brown Bird Designs on her quilt pattern "Square Off". Elisabeth has very generously made this a FREE pattern download from her blog.
Go here to download a FREE copy of this pattern.
  My first post about this quilt is here.

While I've been between custom orders I've been working on quilting this beautiful quilt. Several days were spent in contemplation on how exactly to go about quilting it. One option was to do an all over stipple and call it done. But, as I stared at it those squares kept telling me that they needed to stand out and be the star of the show. After signing up for a Craftsy online quilting class with Angela Walters, I knew exactly how to go about doing the quilting. Since this was a pattern test and not a gift for someone it was the perfect canvas for practicing the stitches I was learning in class!

Today I put the finishing touches on this quilt and was very pleased with the final results.

 I played with several possibilities for quilting the print sections of the quilt, the possibilities I considered were; feathers, Stitch in the ditch around each seam of the squares, 2-3 rows of stitching following the lines of the square. But in the end I chose to leave the squares just as they are with no quilting in those sections.

I still can't decide if that was the best decision of not.
What do you gals think?

"Square Off" Made completely from Half Square Triangles and Squares. A confident Beginner could easily make this quilt!

Since this became a practice quilt for me, I used each section to practice a different combination of designs.

This is my favorite section of quilting, with Paisleys and Swirls

As always I especially like how the back shows off the pattern and quilting!

Back of "Square Off"

There are some more pictures of this quilt available on my photostream on flickr,  click here to see those photos.

Blessings,
Marcia

P.S. Stop by the Shop and take advantage of a $20 savings on just an $80 order
{that's a 25% savings}!!

This is a Test...This is Only a Test

Just before Christmas I was contacted by Elisabeth DeMoo of Brown Bird Designs, about the possibility of putting her very first quilt pattern to the test, looking for any mistakes or recommendations for improvement upon the pattern.

I had a blast making this quilt and considering all the endless possibilities for this particular pattern. Elisabeth did a great job! Right now it's still on the design wall waiting to be quilted and bound, while I consider how I want to quilt it.

"Square Off Lap Quilt" Pattern Written by Elisabeth DeMoo

 The blocks utilize half square triangles to create the visual of squares across the face of the quilt. Elisabeth was smart with her directions for making those half square triangles. She gave us a little extra fabric to work with and once completed the block is trimmed to the desired size. 

I wasn't really paying too close of attention when I was trimming down and squaring up my blocks, but in the end found that I really wish I had paid attention to some details just a bit closer. It is important to keep the corners in the corners....I didn't do that and once pieced together it's obvious. It looks like I didn't get the blocks lined up quite right, but the problem is that I trimmed it off center which moved the corner of the block and throwing off the alignment of the blocks.  

My dad would say, "Ah honey it's okay, nobody driving by 55 will even notice."   As a kid I must have worried about tiny details an awful lot! I remember him saying that quite a bit!!

Lesson learned: Pay attention to details, the small things can make a difference in the end. 

For this particular test I used P&B Textiles Bear Essentials  64 count charm pack. The pattern needs 66 5" squares, so I pulled a couple of leftover medium gray charms out of a Tuxedo charm pack I had used for another quilt. 

After playing with several possibilities for layout I chose to go with a graded look starting with the lightest shades in the upper left corner and ending with the darkest shades in the lower right corner. 

Other possibilities I considered was a completely scrappy look....throwing all the squares in a bag and laying them out however I pulled them out of the bag.  Another possibility was to make each square a single color all blue, all gray, all yellow.

If you're looking for a quick and easy pattern this is definitely one to put at the top of your list. I had the whole thing cut out and pieced in just a few hours. I spent more time moving colors around for the perfect layout than I did sewing. If I had gone with the scrappy look, it would have been even quicker. Of course using the pre-cut 5" charms makes things quicker too.

Checkout Elisabeth's Blog here. She will be publishing the pattern soon.


Now I'm off to work on my sewing studio....I've finally decided on a color for those stark white walls...Ancient Olive. So I've spent the day clearing out the room and preparing for painting.
Pictures of the redo coming soon.

Here's what it looked like before I tore it apart today, just imagine more of a mess.
http://littlepinkrosequiltingandsewing.blogspot.com/2011/12/sewing-studio-redo.html


Have A Blessed Day!
Marcia

Pattern Testing {Finished}

Doing this pattern test for Bijou Lovely was so much fun!  Of course any excuse to make another quilt is an excuse that makes me happy.  I've blogged about this project here and here if you'd like to see those posts.

You might notice that the orange fabric is not the same orange print pictured in my original post.  I have to be honest, I messed up while I was cutting the fabric. I wasn't paying close enough attention to what I was doing. Didn't even realize what I'd done until I laid it with the pieces already cut and it wasn't the same. UGH!

I even played with doing some piecing to fix my mistake, but to no avail, I had messed it up in such a royal way, even piecing it wouldn't fix it.  So it was back to my stash to find another piece of fabric to use in it's place. I like what I found and it works nicely with the other fabrics. But, I don't think it's as pretty as the other print.

After spending more time than I probably should have contemplating what type of quilting to do, I went for an allover stipple stitch. In the end I realized that with all the other quilts I have on deck that need to be finished in the next couple of months, I needed to make the quilting on this one something that wouldn't take too long.

Stippling

Close up of "Flower Power" from Hoffman Fabrics - A favorite of mine

For the binding I chose a yardage of fabric that I received at the NOVA Modern Quilt Guild Christmas party gift exchange. It's a beautiful rainbow stripe from Kensington Studio for Quilting Treasures.  The binding is cut on the bias to give that wrap around spiral effect. The backing I chose is "Fizz" by P&B Textiles, another of my favorite pieces of fabric.

I Took the finished quilt outside to get some of the pictures in natural light with the hope that the colors would come out in the picture better than they did in pictures of the top from my last post. Seems to have done the trick. 

Despite the cold temps and clouds I had a great time staging the quilt. Even with the cloudy conditions there was enough natural light that the colors seem to have cooperated much better with being photographed this time.

My favorite of all today's pictures, "Colorblock Quilt" with a mockingbird nest in the tree

Next up on my sewing table is finishing a black & white beauty. Looking forward to seeing this one comes together in the end!  You can see its beginnings here.


{{HUGS}}

Pattern Testing {the top}

Spent a couple of hours this morning finishing the piecing of the "Colorblock" quilt pattern I'm testing for Bijou Lovely.   If you're looking for a quick baby quilt with an easy to follow pattern, I'd highly recommend ordering, "Colorblock" from Bijou Lovely as soon as she publishes it!

A perfect quilt to feature a favorite fat quarter bundle or to highlight some of your favorite fabrics.

On my test quilt I used one of my favorite pieces of fabric for the center column, "Flower Power" from Hoffman Fabrics.  The camera flash didn't do it justice and made it look like there's more of a difference between it and the other fabrics than there actually is.  I'm going to have to play with my camera and see if I can figure out how to keep it from doing that, though I'm not even sure it's possible.

The rest of the fabric used was a hodge-podge of fat quarters I've collected from several different shops. Unfortunately none of the pieces had a selvage carrying the name of the fabric or company that made it. 

I've been playing with some different ideas for quilting this little cutie. At first I thought I'd go with a basic allover stippling, but then I keep imaging each block with something different and now I  can't decide what to do on it. May have to let it cook for a day or two before diving into the quilting.

Hope you're having a creative & greatly blessed Wednesday!!

{{{Hugs}}}

Pattern Testing!

A few days ago, BIJOU Lovely, one of the quilting bloggers I follow was looking for quilters to test a new quilt pattern for her.  This afternoon I was notified that I was one of the many volunteers who had been chosen to test her pattern! I'm so excited that I've already printed off the pattern and found the perfect fabrics from my stash for it.

The rainbow strips will be used for the binding. The rest is for the quilt top. The only thing left to add is some white for the sashing and something for the backing. It looks like a pattern that will come together pretty quickly.

I Can hardly wait to get stated!

{{HUGS}}