How big is that?

I made a decision before I went on vacation. This quilt I was working on is going to be the quilt for the XL Twin bed we have in the extra bedroom. That is huge. Way bigger than the lap size quilts I have made already. All of the sudden we are getting much bigger and quickly.

In case you are curious, an XL Twin is 39 x 80 inches. The biggest quilt I have made is 42 x 42. So this is like two quilts put together. That doesn't sound that bad does it?

Here is my sketch. Each square is 9 inches finished and 9.5 unfinished (.25 seam allowance). My quilt will end up being 54 x 90 inches if I use this sketch - which I am kind of attached to at this point. And I don't want to move things around too much...





The shaded gray squares are for my focus fabric. The blue jacks. All the white squares will be individual blocks that I am making as I type. Well not really. You can't sew and type at the same time. Not enough fingers!  


So I will need a total of 40 blocks to fill the white squares... So far? I have 14 done. 1 that is half done. It is right in the middle of the picture. It is made of scraps - and I don't have enough yet. But there will be three or four of that square - if not more. So just you wait. So I have about 26 more to make. Not bad. Plus some of the long strips of focus fabric. But that came in the mail today - so that will be done before dinner!


Long story short? I love this quilt. I especially love that it is hanging on the wall in our dining room. I adore that I have moved the blocks around so many time. I am trying to keep them looking balanced. It is fun. Every time someone comes over, the pieces move again. I also love that if I get frustrated, I can walk away from this quilt, do another project and come back to it without much consequence. 


Here are some of the newest blocks. And some of my favorites. And some of the more interesting ones to look at. And some boring ones for symmetry.

QCC - a happy quilting update

Would you like an update on my most recent Quilting Course? The Complete Course? QCC - Quilting Complete Course. I thought you would.

I have gone to 4 classes so far. We have learned how to:

1. Start a project. Picking fabrics that coordinate to make a cohesive quilt. I started with three of my accent fabrics (because I had them and liked them). Then I found the blue jacks. The reds and polka dots were part of the same line as the jacks. It just seemed meant to be.
2. Straight cuts using the rotary blade. We made 9 Patches, and Strip Sets. Super easy. Just need to remember to measure after every step.   
3. Half Square Triangles (HST). We made the Anvil and Churn Dash. There are a lot of variations you can make using the HST. There are a few more that I want to try for this quilt. So more updates to come I guess.
4. Curves. Oh Geez.  This was new. Seriously new. And hard. Although, as Annette promised, it got much easier with practice. And then I saw a quilt top made entirely of polka dots, and kind of fell in love a lot. So originally I was saying never again. And now... not so much. It might be on the to make list for the summer.

The first three weeks were hard for me. Not because the content was hard, but because I knew a lot of it. I am not saying that I know everything there is to know. Because I don't. HELLO?!?!?! I just started quilting less than a year ago. I don't know half of everything there is to know.


I have learned a lot. I have also gotten a lot of patterns that I can make using each skill. The class has been great about showing me other things I can do using the same skills.

I am making a lot of blocks this weekend. There are a few variations I want to try that will add some pizazz to my quilt. I thought it was going to be a lap quilt, but if I add more blocks, it will get bigger. Same with my butt and cupcakes. Not that its relevant today... Focus. So check back in a few days for more pictures and blocks. Maybe even some how to's.

Quilting. The Complete Course.

So this story starts a few weeks ago. We went to Mohegan Sun in Connecticut to gamble. We each won some money playing Black Jack and then moved to the craps table. Unfortunately, Matt lost all his money, but I won almost $200! CRAZY! I started slow but cozied up to the people next to me who gave me a few tips. I have a secret - I know how to play craps. I don't know the terminology, but I know how to win. I have found (through research) that standing there and saying I don't know how to play makes the people around me give me lost of hints and tips that I don't know. And so I won a ton!!!!

Then go back a few more days before that. I finished my quilting class, Adventures in Quilting. And that week we were in Connecticut, I finished sewing on the binding. It is officially done. And Joyce (my teacher) suggested that if we wanted to take another class we should take the Complete Course. It is a sampler quilt. It has 13 blocks and 4 large border pieces. Each of the blocks is different and practices a different skill. I wanted to sign up for this course. I wanted it a lot. But it was a lot more expensive than Adventures in Quilting was. So much more money.

So put the whole thing together. I won money. The course cost money... It is like it was meant to be! So I took my winnings and registered for that course and here we are two weeks into the course and I have pictures to share with you.

Week 1. We talked about supplies and the how-to's of cutting. We talked about the grain and bias of the fabric. I knew some of this information from the books I have and the previous course. But there was a lot of info that was new to me. The biggest tip for me was so stupid. Annette (my new teacher) said something so smart and filled with common sense: measure after each cut and after each seam.

Week 2. We started sewing. Each of our machines got a once over by Annette to make sure we were ready to go. Then we practiced. For homework we cut 1.5 x 6 inch strips (from some hideous fabric that was provided to us - gross) and practiced sewing them with 1/4 inch seams. And here is where we measured to make sure we were accurate. I WAS! I high-fived my fabric. Is that weird?  I didn't think so either.

Then we worked on a sample 9 patch. Now I made twenty 9 patches for the last quilt. I can make those in my sleep. But this time I applied the new tip: MEASURE! For this quilt all our squares should be 9.5 inches square. So I measured again and I was sooooo accurate!




Homework this week? Two squares.
So let's start my quilt. Want to see my fabrics? Annette told us to pick a focus fabric and then 5-6 fat quarters. I expect to buy more fabric later. It just seems inevitable. But these are the fabrics I have so far.

The jacks are my focus fabric. I love them. I have been stalking them in the store for the last 5 weeks. Every time I went to the store I went over and talked to them. I pet them. I was that weird lady. But I loved them. I just didn't have a reason to purchase them. Until this class. I even tried avoiding them for a while before realizing that we were meant to be together. I even bought 3 other fabrics (the reds and polka dots) from the same line because we were meant for each other. I had the two smaller grays, the green leaves, and blue flowers. I bought the large gray daisies again. They were in the Adventures quilt too.

So two squares done!
First I made my 9 patch. And I measured it! Awesome and accurate! So much better than the other quilts!



Then my 2 by 2. This was new to me. YAY! I started by making 2 strip sets. I cut my fabric to the desired width and length. And sewed them together. Measure again. Here I had to take one apart and put it back together. I had not sewn it consistently. Once I had it right, I cut the strips into 5 inch squares. Then I put them together. I tried them two ways - the cream spiral or the green spiral. The green was soooo overwhelming visually. So I went with the cream spiral. This was so easy to make. I took four 5 inch squares and rotated them. Taadah! I did it! And I measured it. And it worked! Thank goodness I measured after every step. If I hadn't redone the strip sets, my finished square would not have worked out at all. It would not have been square.

Now, I am honest. I don't like to sugar coat it. I am not loving this course yet. I say yet because it is still early in the course, and so far we have done things that I know how to do. I am excited about some of the upcoming weeks. But so far. Not so much. Maybe soon. Hopefully soon.