Queen Sized Quilt While Ruby Naps

My husband and I were apart due to military service when we were first getting started, with both of us at different duty stations he got to pick out most of our furniture and home decor without me. For the most part he did an excellent job, but then there was our bedroom comforter. He had asked me what color I wanted and I said red, envisioning deep crimson or a rich 'red like you mean it' red. When I finally joined him in our apartment I found that I was looking at more of an orangey red with brown stripes in several different shades. Not my cup of tea, but it was warm and it worked and being 7 months pregnant I had bigger fish to fry. Now that my daughter is 8 months old however I am going to put the sewing machine he got me for Christmas to good use! 

       If you are looking to try quilt

            First thing when making a quilt you need to pick out the fabric for your facing, personally I like classic elegant colors so I went with white, black, and a black and white print. (a woman in Joann Fabric once told me you need a light color a dark color and an in-between and that advice has been pretty spot on). I have a fear or running out of fabric in the middle of a project so I got two yards of each color (my bed is queen sized so it turns out i only had just enough!) *update- I actually ran out of black! I was an inch short! had to improvise*

Then throw those fabrics right into the wash. Pre-washing when quilting is essential! I forgot to do it on half of my fabrics for a recent project. I didn't realize my mistake until the binding had been back-stitched. A baby quilt that cant be washed doesn't make much sense so now I have a nice wall hanging.

Either pull then fabrics right out of the dryer or give them a quick swipe with the iron, the less wrinkles there are the better your squares will look!  I decided on six inch squares, you can go smaller or bigger but for me the six inch is the most versatile. I use four inch squares for baby projects.  I cut half of each color of fabric into squares and then clear off a spot on the floor to do a little brainstorming.

To start off any project I usually have something in mind but I like wiggle room as I go, so I test out different layouts to see what kind of design I like best .

After I pick a design I pin down the squares in strips, I started off with my core and decided to build around.  Each strip was ten strips long and I started sewing when I had ten strips pinned . To pin I put the fabric 'right side' to 'right side' in a line.  That is where using squares makes things very simple, unless the fabric you pick has a direction you cant accidentally pin it wrong unless you pin it backside up!

      At the sewing machine I make sure I have a full bobbin and full spool of matching thread.  (I went with black, since I had such contrasting colors I picked the one I liked best) Then I pick a seam allowance, I generally use a 3/8 seam but its really about personal preference, what is important is that you use the same one throughout the project!  

      Once my strips are sewn  I iron the seams flat, not required but it helps make things look sharp.  The best way to do that is put your project face down on the ironing board, open the seam so you can see the 'right side' of the two sewn together fabrics and iron them so they are 'open'. I pin them together pining each seam to its corresponding seam on the other strip, on patchworks with diagonal strips this helps to keep your pattern true.  

      All the sewing is just straight lines so you can do beautiful work with just basic skills.  My original layout was way smaller than queen size so I built around it using four strips of sewn together squares that increased in length by one square every layer.  I work that way so I can see the clear progress of the quilt to stop myself from feeling stalled. (that stalled feeling is why I have a box of undone projects that stare at me when I start something new).     

      On my last layer of black squares I realized I had a problem.  I was one inch short of having enough squares to make it completely black.  I had plenty of white and plenty of pattern and even plenty of scraps of black but no whole 6 by 6 piece to be found, so I had to change my design a bit, adding patterned squares to the corners.  (Now I have 3 black 6 by 6 squares just kicking around but maybe I will use them to make a matching pillow case.)

     At this point most of the work is done, I iron it flat and go for the batting and the backing.On this particular project I am cheating for the backing, I bought a queen sized sheet and am using that, its cheaper and less labor intensive but you can quilt your backing as well if you are feeling motivated. 

      I sew my quilts like pillows I lay the facing face up lay the backing on top of it face down and the batting on top of that, then I pin and sew, leaving enough room open to turn the project inside out.I turn it inside out so that the facing is on top the back on bottom and the batting in the middle where it belongs.  I iron the quilt flat and then place a stitch (usually a decorative one instead of just straight) around the edge, sealing the hole I left to turn the project right side out.  You can choose to use quilt binding, for some reason I just prefer the pillow method.

     Your quilt is technically done but I like to tack all 3 layers together. On kids quilts I use bright colored yarn, but on this one I will use black to keep  a clean look.  Every other square I stitch a little x into the place where four square come together, very small so that it isn't visible.  Once I am done with that I can lay down and give that quilt a test drive.