Alyssa Quilt: part 3 (finishing it up)

Today it's time to finish up this quilt!

You can check out Step 1 and Step 2 in prior blog posts

Step 1:

 Last time we pieced the blocks together so the first step today is add your border.  On this quilt I added a 3 1/2" border of a coordinating Miss Kate fabric.  On the twin Alyssa quilt I will be adding two borders, the inner border will be a 2 1/2" white border (my light color will be white on that quilt) and the outer will be a 4" colorful border.

Step 2:

Baste your quilt.  (I duck tape my individual pieces to the concrete floor in my basement and then pin them together.)

Step 3: 

Quilt your quilt.  

Step 4:

Bind your quilt (sorry on this post I'm not going into much detail on this)

Most quilts I stitch the binding to the front and then hand stitch the binding to the back, but baby quilts get washed more and need more strength so I stitch the binding to the back first and the stitch it to the front like this:

There you have it, these quilts are so easy to make!  

I made two of these Alyssa style baby quilts (and I still have fabric to make another quilt for a cousin having their first baby):

One had one floralish back and one has a polka dot back so they can be used for twins. They are both available in shop on etsy

I have linked up to:  Freshly Pieced // MyQuiltInfatuation  // Quilt Story // Free Motion By The River // Blossom Heart Quilts // Sew Fresh Quilts

Broken Herringbone Finished At Last!

I started this quilt in August of 2013.  I never dreamed that it would take me a whole 14 months to finish this, after all Molly Sparkles had this as a 12 week QAL.  I kept up with the QAL for about 9 weeks and then put the project aside for 9 months!  I do not want my quilts to turn out like all my scrapbooks!!!

I have posted before about the baptist fan and quilting it.  Honestly I do t know that I will ever quilt this pattern again.  It's beautiful but takes a long time to mark and quilt.  Great to have done but not good enough to entice me to do it again.  

I'm sorry that you can see the markings on the quilt still, My last step is washing off all the markings.  I do love this quilt and am going to put it on my guest bedroom bed.

The fabric is a Robert Kaufmann jelly roll and a Kona cotton grey.  The back really does match the front even though my nighttime lights are crazy wierd tonight.

I have linked up to:  Freshly Pieced // MyQuiltInfatuation  // Quilt Story // Free Motion By The River // Blossom Heart Quilts // Sew Fresh Quilts

Happy Times

Happy Birthday to my sweet little 5 year old.  I can't believe she is this old already!

WIP Wednesday

Freezer Meals are some of my favorite things.  But, those of you that know me know that sometimes when i do projects, I go a little overboard.  Last week, I decided to make freezer meals on Tuesday.  I found the recipes, best sales, did my shopping and planned to make 27 meals.  One thing I forgot was that I can't stack things in my freezer until they're frozen!

I did make 25 meals yesterday and still have two more to make today.

After making all of these, I needed to sit down and what better place to set down to than the sewing machine!

I did finish this baby boy quilt and it binding.  This is the first quilt that I have ever machine bound and it turned out really good.  Thanks quilters for sharing with me how to do this.

It is made with almost all Riley Blake Fabrics and is available on etsy

And here is my Alyssa quilt which I also listed on etsy

It's made with Moda's Miss Kate line and has a aqua flannel back 

I will make a post on this later!

I have linked up to:  Freshly Pieced // MyQuiltInfatuation  // Quilt Story // Free Motion By The River // Blossom Heart Quilts // Sew Fresh Quilts  

Alyssa: part 2

Click here to get to Alyssa: Part 1

Click here to get to Alyssa: finishing it up

With the Miss Kate line, setting aside 8 strips of light fabric (I'm only using the brighter fabrics for this quilt) I created 72 strip blocks 4 1/2" x 8 1/2".  The current quilt I am making only needs 20 blocks, leaving me plenty for future projects.

Now on to our next steps

Step 6:

Our blocks are going to go together like this, one neutral strip sewn to each side of a strip block, making it a 8 1/2" square block.

 It will work much faster if you will chain piece them together.

 We create this by first sewing a neutral strips onto the edge of a  strip block.

After sewing one neutral piece onto each block, iron that side with the seam towards to neutral strip.  I left my blocks linked together until after I had ironed the.  It makes the process much faster and more organized.

Next, stitch in the other side and iron it just as you did the first side.

Step 7:

Square up your blocks to all be 8 1/2" square

Step 8: 

Lay your blocks out into the desired pattern

Step 9:

As you complete this step, you will have to iron as you go.  This will keep your seems laying flat and not making bulk behind your quilt.

Sew your quilt together in rows, 1 at a time.  Iron towards the neutral strip.  

Now you get to do the fun part :). 

Sew two rows together!

Here is my tips:  1: make sure the seams kiss when they meet 2.  When ironing I used the Eleanor Burns method, for the seam shown see how they are going counter clockwise, iron your row joining seam that way. Then 3: pop the seam and flatten it so that it will lay completely flat leaving no bulk and allowing you front to lay perfectly.

This is what the quilt looks like until Part 3, which is to come soon!

I have linked up to:  Freshly Pieced // MyQuiltInfatuation  // Quilt Story // Free Motion By The River // Blossom Heart Quilts // Sew Fresh Quilts