Bordered 9 patch from a jelly roll for the LBL

Once again, I needed a break from the quilt I am working on, and I watched one of Jenny’s Videos.

Bordered 9 Patch

Jenny  shows us to make this block with nine 2.5″ square pcs cut from strips, and I wondered if I could strip it. The answer is “sort of” So once again, I found some ugly fabric [it’s embassassing that I didn’t have to look that hard] and played around.

Bordered 9 patch from a jelly roll for the LBL aka “Little Bit Lazy”

The result is a 10.5″ block which will be 10″ when sewn into a quilt.
Since each strip makes one block, if you do all 42 strips, you can make a 6 row, 7 column quilt which will be at 60″x70″ before borders.
The background requires only 20.5″ per block, so you only need half that amount or 21 strips from 1.5 yards of fabric.
Add 8 more background strips [2 1/4 yards total including background] if you want an inner border with background color, making the quilt now 64″x74″ before the outer border.
There is very little waste – just one pc that can be trimmed to 2.5″ and put aside for a scrappy project. It’s like getting a mini charm pack for free!

*Instructions are per block*

From one print [or jelly roll] strip:
Cut four 6.5″ long pcs, one 2.5″ pc and one 10.5″ long pc [I cut my 6.5″ pieces with it folded so you see 2, but there are 4]

From one of the background strips:
Cut four 2.5″ pcs, and one 10.5″ long pc

Sew the 10.5″ print and background pieces together, and press to the print.
Then trim the end, and subcut into four 2.5″ 2-patch pcs.

Arrange into 9 patch using the lonely print 2.5″ square

Then take 2 of the 2-patch pieces and sew them so the opposites match, making a 4 patch.
Take one of the 2-patch pcs and sew the 2.5″ print square to the side with the background, making a 3 patch that oriented like “print-background-print”.

Take the remaining 2 patch and sew it so the opposites match, making a 6 patch.

Sew the 3 patch to the 6 patch making sure the prints are on all 4 of the outside corners.

The back now looks like this. I supose you could do the swirly thing at the intersections, but I am a little bit lazy, so . . .

Next you want to arrange the two 6.5″ prints on each the side of your 9 patch, and the 4 background squares in the corners.

Then begin sewing the 6.5″ strip to one side of the 9patch
I always try to press to the side with the least number of seams, so that would be toward the 6.5″ strip.

Then sew the 2.5 background squares to one end of the other two 6.5″ prints.
Press these two towards the print to nest when you sew them on to the block.

Repeat for the other 6,5 strip, and the last 2 background pieces, making 3 rows.

Then sew the 3 rows together to finish the block.

I cringed and made two of these blocks to show you the backs. Yes, that means I had 2 of these ugly strips!

Since the pattern is symetrical, when you sew these into a quilt, you should make your odd numbered rows [1,3,5 ect] with the seams pressed out at the top and bottom, then arrange the blocks in the even numbered rows [2,4,6 ect] by turning them 90 degrees [one corner turn] so that those seams will be pressed in at the top and bottom. Then when you sew your rows together, they will nest.

What does one do with 2 Bordered 9 patch blocks made with ugly fabric?

I don’t know yet, but when there’s a call for ugly, I will have the answer.

 

#LittleBitLazy #Bordered9Patch

 

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Pre-Cut Yardage – How Charming!

Many people know that a jelly roll or strip pack contains about 3 yards of fabric. Even I know that I can cut 14 strips per yard, and that’s about it.

What if they don’t make a pre-cut in the collection you like? Or the collection you like is  sold out, or you only like some of the fabrics in the pre-cut collection? What if you are trying to reduce your stash, have a fabric you love already, and just want to cut your own to make that really cute pre-cut pattern? How much yardage do you need?

I have many, many precuts [all bought on sale of course] and many of them need background fabic. I know they make almost every Moda solid color in a layer Cake pack, but I happen to like my backgrounds to have a little bit of pattern to them. So because I hate doing that math more than once, here it is for everyone.

Pre-Cut Yardage Chart

Note: My calculations are based on 40″ of usable width.  Yardage inches are in [parentheses] so you can see how close you are – add more for uneven edges, mistakes and the occasional “clean up” edge cutting after several cuts.

Layer Cake pieces – 10″ Squares

4 pieces = 10″
8 pieces = 20″
12 pieces = 30″ – 1 yard [36″]
16 pieces = 40″
20 pieces = 50″
24 pieces = 60″
28 pieces = 70″ – 2 yards [72″]
32 pieces = 80″
36 pieces = 90″
40 pieces = 100″ – 3 yards [108″]
44 pieces = 110″
48 pieces = 120″
52 pieces = 130″
56 pieces = 140″ – 4 yards [144″]
60 pieces = 150″

Charm pieces – 5″ Squares

8 pieces = 5″
16 pieces = 10″
24 pieces = 15″
32 pieces = 20″
40 pieces = 25″
48 pieces = 30″
56 pieces = 35″ – 1 yard [36″]
64 pieces = 40″
72 pieces = 45″
80 pieces = 50″
88 pieces = 55″
96 pieces = 60″
104 pieces = 65″
112 pieces = 70″ – 2 yards [72″]
120 pieces = 75″
128 pieces = 80″
136 pieces = 85″
144 pieces = 90″
152 pieces = 95″
160 pieces = 100″
168 pieces = 105″ – 3 yards [108″]
176 pieces = 110″

Mini Charms or 2.5″ squares

17 pieces from 1 strip = 2.5″
34 pieces from 2 strips = 5″
51 pieces from 3 strips = 7.5″
68 pieces from 4 strips – 10″
85 pieces from 5 strips = 12.5″
102 pieces from 6 strips = 15″
119 pieces from 7 strips = 17.5″ – 1/2 yard [18″]
136 pieces from 8 strips – 20″
153 pieces from 9 strips = 22.5″
170 pieces from 10 strips = 25″
187 pieces from 11 strips = 27.5″
204 pieces from 12 strips – 30″
221 pieces from 13 strips = 32.5″
238 pieces from 14 strips = 35″ – 1 yard [36″]
I hope you never need more than 238 pieces, but if you do, you can use the Jelly roll chart below, and just know that you’ll get 17 pieces from each strip.

 

Jelly roll pieces or 2.5″ strips

1 strip = 2.5″
2 strips = 5″
3 strips = 7.5″
4 strips – 10″
5 strips = 12.5″
6 strips = 15″
7 strips = 17.5″ – 1/2 yard [18″]
8 strips – 20″
9 strips = 22.5″
10 strips = 25″
11 strips = 27.5″
12 strips – 30″
13 strips = 32.5″
14 strips = 35″ – 1 yard [36″]
15 strips = 37.5″
16 strips = 40″
17 strips = 42.5″
18 strips – 45″
19 strips = 47.5″
20 strips = 50″
21 strips = 52.5″ – 1 1/2 yards [54″]
22 strips – 55″
23 strips = 57.5″
24 strips = 60″
25 strips = 62.5″
26 strips – 65″
27 strips = 67.5″
28 strips = 70″ – 2 yards [72″]
29 strips = 72.5″
30 strips = 75″
31 strips = 77.5″
32 strips – 80″
33 strips = 82.5″
34 strips = 85″
35 strips = 87.5″
36 strips – 90″ – 2 1/2 yards [90″]
37 strips = 92.5″
38 strips = 95″
39 strips = 97.5″
40 strips – 100″
41 strips = 102.5″
42 strips = 105″ – 3 yards [108″]

 

Now, again I want to emphasize to buy a bit more than you need because you will have to clean up your edges first, and then again every so often, and we all make mistakes.

Yes, I dug out some of my stash for a photo op cuz it’s pretty, and after doing all that math, I needed something pretty to look at.

#PreCutYardageChart #HowManyYardsDoINeed?

 

 

OMG challenge x3

So, here it is, time for the One Monthly Goal again, and this time I am making it in, under the wire.
Sept 2nd, I endeavered to make 3 quilts for Texas. I finished one, and started the other two, and then we have had to work every stinkin Fri to date.

I did a couple things unusual for me: I used a pattern, and I did not alter it. AND I used a good Jelly roll! * Gasp*

Yes I,
#1, successfully resisted the urge to alter a pattern.
#2, opened up the “Hop, Skip and a Jump” Jelly roll by Moda, and recklessly used it!

I know some of you were waiting to see what I would do with some of my “over 50” Jelly rolls, and if I would use any “good ones” since all my previous posts were using up the ugly ones . . .

Of course being me, I did make a very modern design out of 30’s prints, because it’s just my nature to go against the common grain.

Bob and Weave is being quilted right now.

S Block [not M block]  which I did alter, to use only 3 sizes of 2.5″ strips. All done in plaids.

S block is quilted, and awaiting binding. Only the top is shown here. I got creative with the back, which will be shown in another post, since I have only until midnight to get the OMG post done, and I got obligated, through no fault of my own, to go to a birthday party tonight.

and here is one of the [12] Sunbonnet Sue blocks I bought 5 years ago at a garage sale from a sweet lady who made them. She is needle turned applique, and I’ve been wanting to give her a home for quite some time now. I finally designed and started making the blocks that would show her off and result in a nice size quilt to wrap myself up in.

She got shelved back in September, when I embarked on the Quilts for Texas project. Not knowing  who these would go to, I made one patriotic, and wanted to make one girly, and one manly. As soon as those are finished, I will resume these blocks, and Sunbonnet Sue will take her rightful place in my lap – by the end of October!

At least that is my goal. Can I do it? Even if I have to work every stinkin Fri?

The good news is that all Fridays are overtime, and we know what that means . . .  MPF!

More Pretty Fabric!

PS I still have over 50 Jelly rolls because a Kaffe Fasset one went on sale, and I never pass up a Kaffe precut at 50% off.

#OneMonthlyGoal #QuiltsForTexas #MorePrettyFabric

Ugly Jelly Part deux Gets Prettier – Baby Quilt

Sew, when I last posted, I had a pile of scrap strips sets left over, from the Ugly Jelly Part deux – Baby Quilt, waiting to be made into a quilt for the other Twin baby. At first, it didn’t look promising.

I really liked the Arkansas Traveler block and had it on my todo list. There are several versions, of this 4 patch diamond in a square block, but they are all put together with the diamonds touching in the middle, making a striking pattern.

Arkansas Traveler Block that inspired me is located here.

Looking at it for the first time, I already knew there had to be a way to make it with strips sets, and skip the paper piecing. I filed it away in my brain to make it one day.
After about 48 hours of contemplating how to make a quilt out of the scraps from yet another ugly jelly quilt, The part of my brain that had stored this pattern, and the part that was looking for a pattern finally lined up. This could be the perfect block. They were in strip sets already, and I wanted to make this block in strip sets, so why not?

As it turned out, some ladies I met at my first all day sew, spied my featherweight, and told me about a new FW [Do I have to keep spelling out Featherweight?] group that was to meet the first Fri of the month, and even though I had to work that Fri, I went after work. For an hour. I usuallly don’t work on Friday’s but sometimes I do. [Can you say “more pretty fabric?”] Why not check out this group for an hour instead of being stuck there all day possibly feeling uncomfortable, right? I mean, I have never been in any sort of sewing group before. I hoped it wouldn’t be like school where people form groups simply to exclude other people. I really like my FW, but it’s just a sewing machine. It doesn’t make me better than anyone else. It turned out that they were all very nice ladies, and no one gave me that first day at high school impression. Yay!
Being ya’ll don’t know me that well yet, I’ll just tell you I am very curious. I like to know how stuff works, and won’t stop until I find out, and I poke around in stores, just to see if they have anything that looks either pretty or handy. Seeing I didn’t have any time to sew, I did just that. Low and behold, I found June Tailor’s “Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend” 60 degree slotted ruler! Oh yeah, I’m a ruler junky, too. “I need this” I announced. I probably startled somebody, but was too excited to care.
I had already made a few cuts in my strip sets, but it had been slow going. Too much time aligning the ruler for one cut. Ugh! I rushed home with my new toy, and unwrapped this baby quickly. Easy to line up,  make 3  cuts, and get 2 at a time.

Then I paired up my 2 piece diamond strips, and began sewing them together.

That was the easy part. Oh, it wouldn’t have been, if I had to cut each diamond and make 4 patches out of them. Thank you June Tailor!

Now to take that paper piece template, cut the 2 pieces a little bigger than neccessary, and cut those from strips instead of using larger cuts to paper piece. I used 2.5 by 9 inch long strips for the small pieces, and 2.5 by 11 inches long for the large ones. Any left overs were cut into 2.5 by 2.5 squares for other quilts.

I taped the template piece to my ruler, and lined it up at and angle to cut.

Then I chain pieced one semi-triangular piece to my 4 patch diamonds at a time. These don’t have to be perfect because like the paper piece pattern, I will be trimming each finished block.

The other Arkansas Traveler quilts I have seen, all have the 4 blocks sewn together points tounching, to make the larger blocks.  One quilt I saw has these large blocks alternate with the same size block in the background fabric, which I liked the look of, but a baby quilt is too small for the alternate pattern to show up, so I had an idea.

Instead of sewing all 4 of the diamond blocks together to make one block, I would sash them and use cornerstones that alternate the color and background fabrics.

No matter where your eyes fall on it, the blocks join their neighbor to make the bigger block. It also looks a bit like butterflys.

I hadn’t put a border on the matching pinwheel quilt yet, because I want to make these quilts the same size. Which turned out to be a good thing, because this quilt was too long. Ugh! First I removed a row. Then it was too short. So I unsewed the row in half, then turned it to match the pattern, and sewed the half row back on.

The pinwheel was quilted with straight lines in the ditch outlining the pinwheels. Then I read the quilt spacing specs for the batting I was using [2 to 4 inches – who DOES that?], and after kicking myself for buying this batting, I had Emmy Lou do her serpentine stitch through the middle of each one.
This Arkansas Traveler was quilted in the ditch down the sides of the long sashing pieces first. Then I came in on the sides following the sashing, and stopping at every 4 patch diamond, and did a sort of figure eight encasing two of the diamond patches.

That was a lot of turning, but I like how it looks, and I think I made my 2 to 4 inches.

After borders, I had 50×55 [with a 4 inch border] for the pinwheel and 50×57 [with 2 inch border] for the Arkansas Traveler and I’m calling it close enough!

They both got the same binding, washed up nice, and are boxed and ready to ship.
I really like these twin quilts. It almost looks like I know what I’m doing.
I am really done with pink now.

#ArkansasTraveler #TwinQuilts #DoneWithPink #UglyJellyQuilt #UglyHasATwinSister #IfItsStillUglyYouDidntCutItSmallEnough

Ugly Jelly Part deux – Baby Quilt

Ugly Jelly makes a baby!
This was an easy quilt, and fun to make.
I was asked by Brat to make, and I quote “a quilt” for another Navy friend. The thing is, this friend had twins! Great! So, I had to figure on making two quilts, both alike, yet different. My first thought was to make same quilt, but add a different element of color. Of course that is the easiest, so I chose a design I had recently made to use precuts. I bought the fabric:  one layer cake, and Kona’s color of the year for sashing, and thought “easy peasy” while waiting for my squishy to arrive. When I got ready to make it, I noticed Kona’s Flamingo Pink didn’t quite match the large floral prints of the layer cake that I wanted to use. Back burner!
So it sat a bit until I got this idea from a book to make pinwheels out of a strip set. I have over 50 jelly rolls, and still have some of those ugly ones that I made my first Ugly Jelly Quilt from in other colorways. Time to use them up! Thank goodness they only came in sets of 20 strips. I grabbed 3 rolls knowing I would pull out some of the more hideous ones.

Warning: The following image may not be suitable for sewists of fine taste.

I had some templates cut for me at the local hardware store years ago to use for fussy cutting, so I found my 3.5″ one, and drew a line 1 1/8th inch from the top across to 1 1/8th from the bottom on the other side, and made a test strip. I cut it, assembled it, and liked it. I later added little feet to the template so it would float over the seam, and not move while I cut them.

Each strip set will cut into 11 pieces, but you only need  8 pieces to make 2 blocks. 3 more pieces is not enough for another block. I will worry about those left overs later.

The drawn line shows up better if it is on the ‘down’ side. Simply line up with the seam, and cut.

Turn and cut again

Turn again, and cut again.

Once more.

2 stacks of 4 pieces, and here’s the leftovers. If I was doing a 2 color quilt, I could use these better, but I’m not.

These blocks can be arranged either way.

I would need 56 blocks to do a 7×8 layout bringing it to 42×48. That’s 56 strips sewn into 28 pairs.

Once I removed the more hideous ones, I replaced them with some pink strips cut from Timeless Treasures.

I will never buy a roll of strips from this company again. I still have 6 more reminders of this mistake.

After all the strip sets were sewn, I set up an assembly line in front of the TV, and cut the whole thing while watching one single movie! The 3.5 template set on my small rotating cutting board enabled me to spin and cut on all 4 sides without moving the template.

Yes, that’s a sandwich baggie taped to the side of the table.

Meanwhile my Sew Sampler box [by Fat Quarter Shop] had arrived on the same day as my new wooden wall paper roller. The SS box contained a seam roller tool by clover, so I tried both. I wanted to like the wood one that was only $8, and I might have, if not for how nice the clover one fits in my hand, plus is exactly as wide as the seam. It retails for about $14. Again, I never would have bought this, but since it came in my box, I am really diggin it! In fact I went to a newly formed Featherweight group a couple of towns away, and showed them what I was working on, and a lady there was so impressed with the tool, that she bought one on her phone while I was there. The other ladies were fascinated [after I explained what a Sew Sampler box was] that I get Christmas  delivered to me once a month!

Then I made an assembly line sewing station. I lined them up, and ran through 4 sets of 2 at first, then took the first two off the chain, pressed them with the seam roller, placed them together, and ran them through, completing one block.

Then 2 more sets of two, cut two more off the chain, put completed block asside, rolled the seams, place together, and run them under the needle.

Every 3rd piece in the chain was a completed block until they were all done.

It took longer to arrange them on my “quilt wall” than it did to sew them.
The whole thing was done in a weekend.

Tips:

1. When making the blocks, because the colors all meet in the center, you don’t have to focus on matching the seems so much. Instead, focus on  matching the edges of the fabric, and you won’t have to trim or square up these blocks before sewing them together.

2. When sewing the blocks into rows, I did not press the seams until they were all sewn. That way, I could press one row’s seams to the east, and the next row’s seams to the west, so they all nested. Yes, I press to one side so I can [say it with me] stitch in the ditch.

3. I have a set of numbered pins, that I used on the first block in each row, because order is sew important on a scrappy quilt like this! It takes a lot of work to make stuff look random. [the tiny white circles in quilt below are the numbered pins]

Now I must mull over how to make another quilt out of the scraps! Ugly scraps. Ugh!

Stay tuned. It gets prettier! I promise.

The other Twin quilt is done, so here is the rest of the pictures.

I didn’t add the border until I got the second one done, so they’d be the same size.

The pinwheel was quilted with straight lines in the ditch outlining the pinwheels. Then I read the quilt spacing specs for the batting I was using [2 to 4 inches – who DOES that?].

After kicking myself, I had Emmy Lou do her serpentine stitch through the middle of each one.

Ooops! I forgot I had light blue thread in Emmy’s bobbin.

After borders, I had 50×55 [with a 4 inch border] for the pinwheel and 50×57 [with 2 inch border] for the other Twins Quilt and I’m calling it close enough!

#UglyJellyQuilt #UglyHasABaby #IfItsStillUglyYouDidntCutItSmallEnough #QuiltInAWeekend

Minnie To The Max

Sometimes you just gotta do something relaxing, that doesn’t take much brain power.
This is that quilt.
I like fabric panels, even though I know there will be no lines . . . ahem . . . ditches to follow when I quilt it.

There’s a girl at work who is pregnant. One day, she  told me she would have 2 girls, and I asked if she was having twins. She said no, she had one girl already, and showed me some pictures of her family at a birthday party. The theme was pink Minnie Mouse. Probably a month later, I was drooling over fabric online, when I found some pink Minne Mouse fabric that reminded me of her. I threw  a couple yards in with my order, thinking I may make a baby quilt for my co-worker.
I was only thinking about it because I feared that somone else would want me to make them a quilt, too.

I have many thoughts on “Request sewing” but the bottom line is I don’t care for it. I really have enough to do, and I sew some out of need, and some for fun. The thing is we can’t control many things in life, but I can control what I sew.

Then I came across a Minnie panel with some pink in it, and decided I wasn’t going to overthink this, and just make her a darling baby quilt already! I would give it to her quietly, and hope I wouldn’t get any requests.
I ordered the panel, then cut strip pieces that I thought I would make a nice piano key border – something I haven’t done yet. Hey, why not practice on other peoples quilts?

When it came, I saw it was much too big to be the center of a baby quilt. Most panels are 24×44, but this one was 36×44. I hung it up for inspiration, and thought why not the back? That certainly solves two problems. 1 How to make a quilt out of a larger panel, and 2 what to put on the back!

I had already cut 12 – 2 1/2″ strips of each contrasting colors, so I decided to do the whole quilt out of them. Notice the Remnant Quilt  pieces I was taking a “think break” from in the background.

The 2 1/2″ strips were fed through Mustang when my brain needed a break from the remnant quilt process.

I sewed the 2 contrast colors together, then sew those two strip sets together , alternating the colors to make a tube. Like I did for my Dish mat

The 6 resulting tubes of stips should cut to 8 – 6″ blocks each, but I got 9 out of mine. Normally, I’d use all 48 or [54 if you get 9] blocks, but I was limited to the size of the panel. I have some fabric left, so maybe I make another?

Once I joined the blocks to make a row, I pressed the first row on one direction, and the second row in the other.

I usually press to the dark, but when I stitched the rows together, they were quite bulky, so I pressed them open, making a note to myself not to stitch in that ditch.

I always place a pin in the top row to help keep me from sewing the next row to the top.

I arranged 42 blocks 6 across by 7 down, and quilted in the ditch diagonally in each direction.

Then I stitched around the  square in the center of each block, removing the pins after I completed each square so I wouldn’t miss one.

The back looks kinda good!

Sometimes a contrast binding is called for, especially when the quilt contains large prints. I found some black fabric with white hearts, and used it for the binding.

Finished!

Yes, I did try to agonise  over thread colors, but went with pink on top and white on the bottom, and now I am happy I did.

My husband remarked that she may not know which side is the front!

Just for beginer quilters who use home machines, the quilting was a cinch! Here are my crudely drawn quilting diagrams.

First diagonal lines in one direction

Then diagonally in the other direction

Then outline the whole design following the V’s  on the edge of the border.

Finally, I outlined the little squares formed by the pattern. This was easy to stop with needle down in the corners, and spin the quilt through the throat of my machine to sew the next line in the square.

Simple, and easy for a domestic sewing machine.

The monday I was going to give the girl this quilt, she was off for maternity leave already, so I gave it to her best friend to give to her. No fan fare was made of it, so I am happy about it.

I think I’m ready to tackle another quilt!

• which I am already playing hooky from as I write this.

 

 

#MinneMouseQuilt #JellyRollStripPiecing #PanelForQuiltBack #NoSuchThingAsa$50Quilt #ThankYouForNotAskingMeToMakeYouaQuilt