I LOVE BROWN

Last Christmas my quilting friends had a beige and brown exchange. We ended up with 40 6" squares, enough for a small quilt but I had a larger one in mind. I added more light, medium and dark beige/browns from my sash and my sister's to make 145 squares with sashing. This will be another king size wedding quilt for my grandnephew.

The pattern I followed ("Illusion In Neutrals" BH&G American Patchwork & Quilting, Dec. 2009, pg. 94) instructed you to sew the sashing around the square before cutting the diagonal. By doing this corners had extra seams and bulk. Knowing that I would have to be careful with the bias, I chose to cut the triangles first, add the strips and then cut the angles at the tips.

The lightest combinations are arranged at the center. Moving out, combinations of lights and mediums are added next. 

I am now sewing medium and dark squares. They will be arranged in 2 rows all around. More to come.

DRUNKARD'S PATH from Scraps, WEDDING QUILT #5

Autumn, my grandniece, will be the recipient of this quilt. She is only 12, so it is stored in a cloth bag for now with a label telling her that it was made with love by her Aunt Janet.

This had been on my to do list for years. I found this different adaptation using multiple prints of light and dark instead of the traditional 2 color design. The original quilt size is 54" x 66" but I added extra blocks to make it king size. I started by collecting scraps from various sources, cutting no more than 12 of each shape from both light and dark prints. Part way into the cutting I realized that the pattern called for more light scraps than dark. I wasn't going to discard the extras so I made the outer squares the reverse of light and dark. You may notice the difference or not. 

I chose to hand piece the curves because of their size but also because I was laid up with foot surgery. The blocks were machine pieced.

In planning the layout, I used 12'x12' scrapbook paper to arrange the small squares. I rolled masking tape and fixed them in place on the paper until ready to sew each block. By laying out all the squares first I achieved a balanced design. 

The repeat of the border fit perfectly at the corners even with increasing the size. I finished by hand quilting circles that outlined the curves.

Here's the pattern if you'd like to try this. Just click on the pictures to print the actual size.

"BIG BROTHER" & "LITTLE BROTHER"

"BIG BROTHER" "LITTLE BROTHER"

My daughter-in-law saved my grandsons' "baby" clothes in hopes that I would make a quilt for each of the boys. They are now 5 and 3 years old. The challenge was to blend a variety of colors, deal with various fabric types and include key logos in both quilts i.e." DUKE" and "OXY".

I started by cutting and reducing the bulky clothing into usable "squares". As I was cutting up the T-Shirts, I realized that the brand labels and printed sizes inside should be used too. I also found that I could leave the ribbed neckline, pockets or the snap front from some body suits.

I laid out the various size pieces on the floor, distributing colors to repeat throughout. The remaining fabric was cut up and used for sashing and additional squares.

I did a lot of stitch-in-the-ditch and diagonal grids but I also had fun doing free motion designs that reflected the image in the logo. Since so many of boys clothing is made of plaids and stripes, it was natural to use plaid and stripe backing fabrics.