Free Tutorial - Ombré Jelly Roll Quilt

As soon as these Ombre Jelly Rolls by Moda came in to the store I knew I had to make something right away.  Below is what I came up with. 

Fabric needed:  One Ombre Jelly Rolls and One Bella Solids Layer Cake.  The layer cake I used actually had four very light colours in it which I thought worked well with the ombre fabric.

This is a shot of all the jelly roll pieces layed out.  There are two strips each of twenty colours, for a total of 40 strips.  How beautiful is this!!

I placed the strips in groupings of five.  I used the strips in the exact order they were in the jelly roll.  I figure I'm not going to improve on the designer's layout (Vanessa Christenson of V. and Co.)  Remember when piecing several strips together to  reverse your sewing pattern on each new seam.  In other words, sew from top to bottom on the first seam and then the next, flip the set over and sew bottom to top.  This avoids the creation of a dip in the middle of the set.

So this is what you will end up.  Eight sets altogether.  At this point I am drooling over this fabric and colour.

The next step is to sub-cut your strip sets into ten inch pieces.  I did have to square up the ends at east once per set to get a nice square cut.  At the end of each set you will have about 3 inches left.  I cut a 2-1/2" strip from these to use for another project.

Your sub-cut pieces will now measure 10" by 10-1/2".  You need to trim off the excess off the 10-1/2" sides.  This picture shows that I trimmed equal amounts off of each side.

Now you should have 32 ten inch squares.

Even the scraps and gorgeous!!

Here is my layer cake.  I layered one 10 inch square on top of one of my ombre squares with right sides facing.  The solids didn't have a right or wrong side but in case you are using other fabric you will want to make sure both right sides are facing.

I pinned all sides of the ten inch sets.

Next I sewed around all four sides with 1/4" seam.  I saw this technique on a Minnesota Star Quilt Co. video.   I love all their videos.

The next step is to cut from corner to corner, turn and cut across the remaining two corners.  I used my Olfa Spinning Mat quite a bit for this project.  I love my spinning mat!

and here is what you get when you open up the four pieces.  Beautiful half square triangles.  I pressed toward the light (I know a rule breaker) but you can do whichever way you like.  I knew I did not want to press my seams open here because I am going to custom quilt this and I want to have the ditch created by pressing all to one side.

As you can see in this picture, you end up with two different designs in the HST's.  You can pretty much design whatever you want with these.  So many designs out there for HST's.  I did a Pinterest Search and there was tons.

After playing around, I decided on this type of layout.  To get the colour effect I wanted, I did not mix up the colours.  

Look how pretty!!

As the blocks were coming together, I was in awe of the colour.

With my blocks completed, I started playing with layouts.  This was my first maybe, but it didn't make the cut.

This was my semi-final layout.  As my husband pointed out, my two blocks types did not alternate.  I explained to him that I was not looking at the blocks designs, but rather the colour, just the colour.  Really breaking rules in this quilt ... oh my!

I hope you found this tutorial easy to follow.  You can use this way of using jelly rolls and layer cakes for any fabric and design your own with your half square triangles.

Happy New Year Everyone ... my first blog for 2013.

I just finished quilting a new sample for our store.  It was pieced together by Debi Garon who works at The Quilting Bee.  The pattern is called Funky Flowers and designed by Border Creek Station.

Drunkard's Path

Oh oh ... no entry since Labour Day.  This blog is dedicated to Jenny Pedigo of Sew Kind of Wonderful.  She gave me a few digs about my blog not being updated when I saw her at market.  Still took me a while, but here is my latest.

I purchased a new Drunkard's Path die for my AccuCut Studio machine.  I have always loved this block but hated all the cutting ... takes forever, and ever.  Once the die arrived, I couldn't wait to start something.  We (The Quilting Bee) had just received a new civil war line from Moda called Metropolitan Fair.  Love it!  Civil war fabrics are my all time favourite but I love lots of other fabrics too.  This machine takes all the work of cutting completely away, my gosh ... I had so many pieces in so little time, it was amazing. 

I know a lot of people are afraid of sewing curves but it is really quite easy.  I do these blocks without using pins.  This method works well when sewing any of the Sew Kind of Wonderful blocks (Quick Curve Ruler).  Below is the video I learned from.  It features Eliza Wilson from Eliza's Backporch.  She is amazing and I have made quite a few quilts using her designs. 

This is one of Eliza's designs that I made called "Earl Grey".  It is pictured here hanging in our store (previous location).  It is made entirely of drunkard's path blocks and I used no pins until putting the rows together.

My design wall.  Once I got on a roll, these four inch blocks sewed up sew quickly.  I had chains ten feet long.

Mitred borders were called for since it was a border print.

I had so many blocks I ended up with two lap quilts (Christmas presents) and enough to get a good start on another.  Hopefully, I can get these babies quilted this week.

The Quilting Bee will be offering a free class to learn how to sew the drunkard's path block without pins provided you purchase fabric to make a quilt.  We will also cut your fabric for you using our die cut machine.

Today is Labour Day and I hope everyone had a great day with family and friends.  The weather here in Niagara (Ontario) was sunny and warm. 

Alas, I had to go to work to get a table runner quilted.  It is for a class we will be teaching in the fall.  Its from Sue Daley's English Paper Piecing book and was beautifully made by Cathy Hetherington. 

For inspiration, I used Deloa Jones book on feathers.  I love all of DeLoa's books and she has really good templates as well.  My favourite template is her Appliguide which I use all the time for quilting around applique.  We sell her products at our store and our online store.  www.thequiltbee.com

Here is the table runner loaded and ready ... now on with the quilting.

You can just barely see my markings in this one.  My leader grips are showing.  Haven't tried leader grips? check them out on our website www.thequiltbee.com

Looks pretty good.  Not as good as DeLoa by any means but I learned a lot through the process and next time will definitiely be better.

Ten Minute Block

I discovered something new on YouTube last week called "The Ten Minute Block".  It blew me away.  I found it while visiting one of my favourite blogs "Sew Kind of Wonderful" blogspot and looked at some of the other blogs she was following.  I don't remember which blog it was but a blogger was talking about the ten minute block and had a link to the video.  Here is the link.

I have become aware that this block has been around a while but its new to me so I have taken a layer cake from the store and am in the process of making our first sample.  We have ordered two books by "Design Originals" to have in the store for sale.  Once you see the video you will know why I am excited about this.

This is my layer cake fabric.  Its French General by Moda ... Collection Fa La La La La (last year).

Wow, that was fast (maybe a little more than ten minutes because trying to sort out the middle section was a bit fiddly.  Next one should be quicker.  I will time it.

I'm going to do the cathedral window curve as shown in the video.

I have now made six blocks.  All of them took at least 15 minutes but that okay because they really look nice and still pretty darn quick.

Here are a few pics of Urban Birthday quilted.  I finished it yesterday and just have to bind. I quilted it on my Handi Quilter Fusion with Glide thread for the circles on the top.  This thread is awesome ... no breakage whatsoever. I also used their magnaglide pre-wound bobbins with a special bobbin case with the spring removed on the bottom of the case.  Don't use these magnetic bobbins in your regular case because as I learned the hard way, they will break your bobbin case.  The colourful fabric I used Monopoly by Superior and pre-wound bottom line bobbins. I will show a picture of it hanging in the store when its up.

You can't really see, but I did simple feathers in the colourful bits.

New project today ... ten minute block!

Yeah ... I'm done!  Now how to quilt it?

Have I mentioned how much I love this fabric.  Its called "Pretty Little Things" by Free Spirit and you can get it at The Quilting Bee.