Friday 18 February 2011

Quilt-a-long, Last 2 blocks! And making the Quilt Top

Hurrah, the final blocks!  We are now making the far left and far right blocks for the middle row.  Place your 2 solid squares exactly on top of each other,  grain  running down the fabric.  If your fabric is not a solid and therefore not the same on both sides you will need to put the right sides together, as you cut it you will be looking at the wrong side of the fabric on the top square.  The first cut will be horizontal and 4.25 inches (four and a quarter if you struggle with decimals!) inches down from the top of the square (see pic)
Cutting lines-middle row blocks far left and far right
The second cut is also horizontal, this time 4 inches down from the last cut- or if you prefer  4.25 inches from the bottom of the square.  The 3rd cut is vertical, 5 inches from the right edge and the 4th cut, vertical again and 3.5 inches from the left edge.  The square in the centre should measure 4 inches on each side-have a check! 
You should now be able to peel off the top layer of each piece and lay it out in a horizontal mirror image so you have 2 blocks cut, for either side of the centre block that you made way back in the beginning.   Fix your block labels on with a pin.

Take the centre square of the left block and use it as the template to fussy cut the centre triangle fabric.  Repeat for the right block.  Assemble your blocks using the same tutorial as before, courtesy of Victoria. Your end quilt will look better and wonky stars more like a circle if you keep the triangle points of the stars on the smallish side.  Here are my far left and far right middle row blocks to give you an idea of the sizes. 


Now to assemble the whole thing!  We are going to make three horizontal rows and then stitch them together.  Pin your top left corner and top centre block together.  I pin the far ends of the seam first and then pin down all the triangle point seams.
Sew a 1/4 inch seam.  I use a stitch length of 1.8, just in case that helps!  I then press the seam open but if you want to press to one side- its your quilt, go ahead!
Add the right corner block in the same way, pressing the seam open.  repeat for centre row and bottom row.  Now join your rows together carefully matching your seams together.  Quilt top finished!
To make the quilt sandwich stage easier i pressed all the seams again with homemade spray starch.  I used Tara's recipe but without the lavender, thought best to have no scent for a baby.  If you want to go on ahead and are happy making your  sandwich, do so- I'll see you soon for quilting and binding.  By the way, if you are going to be brave like me and do a bias cut binding, you will only need a fat quarter of fabric!
sib blog

5 comments:

  1. This has really turned out so sweet! I'm sure that has nothing to do with your fantastic fabric choices! Glad you like my starch recipe as well, thanks .

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  2. That is beautiful! I love the picture of it all from the back, I'm scared to quilt it looks so complicated, so it's great to see how it all fits together at the back. Love it. Have a lovely weekend.
    Kandi x

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  3. Hi Kerry,

    It looks so beautiful!!!! thank you!
    Amelie

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  4. Yay!!! It totally looks like a circle! I hope I get a chance to finish my blocks this weekend! Thanks for the link to the starch...I saw a recipe for a homemade one awhile ago but I didn't bookmark it. Hope you have a great weekend!

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  5. This is so easy to follow, Kerry! Lots of pictures will definitely help me when I make this quilt too! And the labels are just what we need!
    Now I can't wait to see how you quilt this and make a binding tape out of just a fat quarter!!

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