Square in a Square Quilt

One of my favorite quilts to date.  I love the colors in this quilt!!!  I made it as a Christmas present to my niece and it suits her personality perfectly!!!  Especially the zebra print! :)

It is an easy quilt to make, and with the right fabrics - makes such a great quilt.  I got my inspiration from the Building Blocks tutorial on Moda Bake Shop.  I just changed it up slightly to make the quilt a lot bigger.  The instructions for how I made it are included below.

This is a lengthy post with lots of pictures - sorry about that!  I took lots of photos....so I decided to share them with you.  I bought this fabric at Joann's a few years ago in fat quarter bundles.  I bought 4 bundles of 5 (I think) fat quarters in each bundle.  I love the colors, but I'm not sure they still carry any of these fabrics.  Even though I got it at Joann's, it still seemed like good quality fabric when I was sewing.

The finished quilt is pretty large - I didn't even intend on it being that big when I was planning it out.  I forgot to measure the finished size, but I think it would fit on a twin size bed pretty good.

I had it quilted at my local quilt store that I take all my quilts to.  I chose a circular or spiral design.  I always like it after washing when it gets the "puckery" look.

There are 48 squares total, and arranged in a 6 by 8 design.  I used 1" plain white sashing between them all, and then added 2 borders to the outside to frame it all in.  For the borders, I just used a matching purple and black fabric that I had on hand.

And, for the backing, I just pieced together several different coordinating fabrics together.   The purple on top row is the same as the inner border on the front, the teal in the next row and bottom row is the teal that I used for the binding too, the black is a mini black & white polka dot that is used on the front as the outer border, the next purple print is The Linden Fabric Collection designed by Melissa Saylor for P&B Textiles, and finally just a small row of plain white.

I even attached a little label to the back and wrote on it for my niece.  I am sure she'll get good use out of it, and I know she's appreciative.  She's a great girl!

She actually just moved into a new house, so she'll need something to cuddle up with and keep her warm in her new basement bedroom.

So, here's how I put it together.....

I followed the instructions in the blog, just cut my pieces in different increments.  I started with two 8 3/4" squares.  I used 8 3/4" squares because I could get 4 squares out of a fat quarter with a little extra.

Stack the two squares on top of each other.  Choose two squares that coordinate well together....like a light/dark combination.  Then, cut 1 1/2" off the bottom and slide that section out of the way.  Keep everything stacked together and arranged in the same way as it was before cutting.

From the remaining section, cut 4" off the bottom - which is the middle section.

So, you now have 3 strips.  The bottom section is 1 1/2", middle section is 4", and the top section is 3 1/4".

Then, from the middle section above, cut 3 1/4" off the left side.  Carefully slide the 3 1/4" section off to the side.  

From the remaining section, cut off another 4".  

After all the cutting, you have cut the middle section into 3 1/4", 4", and 1 1/2" pieces just like the strips above.    

Now for the sewing....  Exchange the two middle 4" squares to alternate the colors.  Then sew the two smalls sections onto the middle square.

Then, sew the top and bottom sections onto that.  I lined up the edges on the left side so that the patterns in the fabric designs would line up.

Next, cut off the overhanging sections on the right.

And that's the first square!

Repeat the sewing steps for the other square.

I continued repeating these steps 24 times to make 48 individual squares.  I organized them into the 6 x 8 pattern on the floor so that the colors were spread out evenly.

Then, I added the sashing and borders and finished the top.  That was all!  It was easy to make and came together quickly. 

And, here's the last photo.  This one includes my little helper....he's always got to be in the middle of all the photos.  He's a wild one!!

Terrain Quilt

As I mentioned here, I was busy this holiday season making lots of homemade gifts for my family for Christmas.  This is the first post about those projects (I'm finally getting to it!) and I decided to share the Terrain quilt that I made as a Christmas present to my Mom.

I started and finished the top quite a while ago in March, but finished the rest right before Christmas!  I purchased some charm packs a while back of Terrain by Kate Spain for Moda.  I think her fabric lines are so pretty - she's one of my favorites.

I also really liked the "Reveille" pattern, which is one of Miss Rosie's Schnibble patterns.  So, I started cutting it up to make the Terrain-Reveille quilt.

I used the same design as "Reveille," but I modified my finished quilt to use more blocks and additional borders to make it bigger.  Here's a stack of my work in progress....

After piecing the individual squares together, I squared each of them up and started sewing them together in rows.

The 30 blocks were arranged in 5 x 6 grid.

Then I used the leftover fabric to create a pieced border like the "Reveille" pattern.  I added white strips and a wide teal border.  The teal fabric was just some fabric I already had.

   

The border helped make the quilt a lot bigger, which was my goal.

For backing, I used one of my favorite Terrain prints, shown below....

I pieced the backing with some extra Terrain fabric and some white strips.  I think the white strips helped separate all the colors on the back.

I took it to be quilted at my local quilt store in a flourish-like design, as you can see in the photos.

I really liked the colors and thought that it made a unique combination when laid out together.

The quilt was quite a bit of work, but appreciated by my Mom I'm sure!  She's a sewer, but she doesn't often get homemade items as gifts.  I applied this little label to the back so she'll remember who it's from! :)

This will be a great quilt to use as a throw blanket on a bed or sofa.  Hope it's enjoyed!

Stay tuned....

I know it has been such a long time since I've posted anything!  That's not because I haven't been sewing......in fact, I've been sewing like crazy.

I am making quite a few homemade Christmas gifts this year.  Including 5 quilts, a bag, and several pillowcases.  Whew!!!

I will post more on these after Christmas, because who knows who will be looking here before then!

Here's a few sneak peaks to know what's coming...
(These photos were just from my phone....so excuse the quality!)

Cowboy Flag Banner

As I mentioned here, my youngest son had a cowboy-themed birthday party recently.  I couldn't find many cowboy party decorations - although I didn't look too hard...just the party aisle at Target, Walmart, etc.  So, I kept it simple and made this banner instead of buying anything....

I had the red bandana fabric which was perfect, so just found some others that matched.  I cut flags each 9 inches tall, and used the 45 degree marker on my ruler to cut them out.

I should have taken pictures of that process.  I think there are tutorials out there for making bunting, or flag banners, though.

I just sewed along the sides of the flags with right-sides together.  I then turned them inside out, leaving the top edge open.  I folded the top down about 1/4", and then folded again ~1/4".  I sewed along the bottom edge of the fold (as close to the edge as possible).  I left enough room to thread some twine through.

I laid the flags out in the order that I wanted and "threaded" them onto some cheap twine I bought at Walmart for only around a dollar.  I was able to make 3 banners - 2 long ones and 1 shorter one.

The long ones had 13 flags each with about 6-12 inches between them.  The shorter one had only 6 flags - which I used along the buffet in my kitchen.  I also made the red bandana napkins on the buffet with the same red bandana fabric I had.  I just cut two big squares out, and sewed them together with right-sides together and left a small opening.  Then, I turned it inside-out and sewed a 1/4-1/2" from the edge all the way around.

You can see the horse cupcakes I made for his birthday in the background.  I think I'll be ordering a cake from the grocery store next year though.  That darn Pinterest made me think they looked easy to make!!!  I had peanuts, popcorn, and Chex Mix out as snacks too.

I bought the boys and their cousins each bandanas and cheap cowboy hats to wear at the party, which I laid on the table for decoration.  I also wrapped the silverware with napkins and tied with the twine, and got Mason jars out for the water glasses.

And, that was it!  Very simple and very cheap for an easy Cowboy party.  Sorry the photos aren't better.  I looked back at his party photos and realized that I forgot to get some good ones of the party decor!!!  The lighting wasn't very good at all!

One last look at the cute little birthday boy....