Design Wall Monday

There was a change in the order that I worked on projects this past weekend. I was going to use the rag quilt as a leader and ender project, but because of the size of blocks I used and the fact that I would have had to change the thread each time I sewed one of these, it was going to a pain. So I just made the rag quilt by itself. Here it is after the first washing.

I always wash these at least two times (usually three times) before giving them away. After the first washing, I trim off long loose threads, clean up the back (which always has lots of stray threads on it when I use flannel instead of homespuns), and check for any seams that may have accidentally been snipped open.

I like the rectangular blocks. Besides being much quicker to make, I just like how it looks. I often quilt something other than just an X through the rectangles, but this time that's all I did.

I always add an extra couple strips of fabric to the outside edge to all my rag quilts. (This time I chose a light-colored piece of homespun to frame the quilt. I think it looks like a binding, which I like.) Without doing that, I feel like the edge is too raggedy looking. All other seams have four pieces of fabric coming together to create a nice thick, chenille-like finish. On the outside (without my additional trim), there would only be two, and I think it would look "thin" and cheap.

After shrinking up, this quilt measures about 62" x 80". 

I'm back to working on the Disappearing Nine Patch and finding suitable borders for the scrappy Nine Patch quilts I showed in previous posts.

What are you working on today?

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Monday Making

Two Quilts!

One simple block, made 64 times, and I've got the insides of two quilts completed. Here's the simple, scrappy nine patch block, snowballed which makes it end up on point.

This is simple to make, especially if you are using left over jelly roll strips, or 2 1/2" stash strips. I had a variety of strips left over from a jelly roll (I can't remember the name!), as well as some "kid-friendly" scraps from fat quarters. I cut all of my strips 2 1/2" x 22" and made strip sets. I thought that would be quicker than working with all 2 1/2" squares, but provide a bit more variety than working with 42" strips. Because I wanted to use all the fabric scraps, I made a total of 24 strip sets and then cut them into a total of 192 - 2 1/2" segments, which resulted in 64 - Nine Patch blocks.

I added triangles to each block (snowballed the blocks) and after trimming, the blocks measured 9", unfinished. I showed this step HERE and HERE. 

I used 30 blocks for this straight layout.

I used 33 blocks for this staggered layout.

I've decided to add a small floating border of the black to both quilts and then begin the stash search for outside borders. Right now, both quilts measure about 42" x 51" and I'm thinking about adding a 2" floating border. That's only because all the squares measure 2" finished; and because if I do that, I will use up most of the black fabric. The little bit that is left will be cut and put into the strip bins that I've started. It sure feels good to have made these entirely from stash. Yippee!! 

I've still been working on the Disappearing Nine Patch blocks. Here's the progress of that so far.

Pretty soon, this will be the "main" project and I'll be starting a new leader and ender. It just so happens that I'm ready for that. 😄

I want to make a quick rag quilt for a mid-January birthday gift and I've pulled the fabrics. These are cut and ready to sew. I even have the batting ready, but that isn't pictured here. I'm using rectangles instead of squares, just because I wanted something a little different. I'll post pictures of this as I start working on it.

Enjoy your weekend! It's cold here and I plan to spend a good amount of time hanging out by the sewing machine. I hope you get that opportunity as well.

Design Wall Monday

I decided that I want to make simple rag quilts for all of the young grandkids for Christmas this year, and the first one is done - almost.

As I was clipping this, I realized that I forgot to add the extra trim along the edges. I have it cut and ready to add; and since I had already started clipping, I decided to clip the entire inside and then go back and clip along the edges after I added the trim.

I have all the fabric for the other rag quilts and it is cut, along with the batting. I'm sewing these as leader and ender projects so it may seem like it's taking a long time to complete them, but it really isn't. 

That's what I love about leader and ender projects. Since I've been slowing sewing a seam or two while working on other projects, I've quilted a bunch of these squares and even put some rows together. When I decided to concentrate on the rag quilt, I just needed to complete two rows and then sew the rows together. Easy Peasy!

I love productivity!

What are you working on today? 

Check out Judy L's Patchwork Times http://www.patchworktimes.com/2014/09/15/design-wall-september-15-2014/

to see what other quilters have on their design walls.   

Rag Quilt

While we were at Nikki's she brought out a rag quilt for us to use. I really like rag quilts. They are so warm and easy to make!

When we first got the rag quilt bug a number of years ago, Nikki and Lynn each made a bunch of them. They made a couple for themselves, some for their grandparents, my brother John, my sister-in-law Ellen, and I don't even remember who else. John and Ellen's were made using Monroeville's school colors and they plotted out the blocks so they created a big M. These quilts were large (9" blocks set 9 x 11) and were great during football games!

During this time, Nikki was always sketching out quilt possibilities and there was one really pretty quilt that she drew. I knew she really like it because she started to search my flannel stash and save up money to buy the fabrics she needed. Unbeknownst to her, I took this sketch and made the quilt. I gave it to her on Christmas that year. She was still in high school or in her first year of college, so it probably was made about ten years ago.

Don't you just love it when people use the quilts you make for them? It always makes me feel so good.  :-)

I think I want to make another one similar to this. Now, what should I put in the center?