Name: Stephanie
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Web Site: http://quiltaddictsanonymous.com/
Bio: I'm a social media marketing professional by day and a quilter by night.
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- 7 bobbins used during the quilting process
- 84 nine patch units
- 85 snowball units
- 424 inches of hand sewn binding
- 1,128, 2-inch squares in the border
- Cut fabric strips across the crosswise grain (parallel to the selvage) instead of the lengthwise grain to keep fabric from stretching and distorting during the sewing process
- Fold four fat quarters in half and stack them with the selvages together to cut all the strips you need for four blocks of fabric. Side note, this is not for the faint of heart or a dull rotary cutter
- Layout all the strips in order to be sewn and you can chain piece the entire log cabin block
‘Man of Steel’ inspired quilt
June 17th, 2013
It is a pretty rare occasion when I know exactly what I’m going to do with a piece of fabric when I buy it. Normally I see a fabric I like, I buy anywhere from half to 2 yards, and then I wait for the fabric to tell me what it would like to become. Clearly the fabric doesn’t speak to me, like an audible voice from God to a prophet. But over time I get a feel for the print, color, motif size and an idea forms in my head.
That was the case with a few Superman prints I bought a couple years ago. My husband was in a quilt shop with me – a dangerous move on my part – when he was pulled from his boredom and spotted two Superman comic book prints.
“Can we get those?” he asked.
When your husband asks you to buy fabric, you say yes. Of course he then asked if all fabric cost $10 a yard when we checked out. I should have said, “Oh no, that’s just because of the licensing fees for the Superman image.”
I wasn’t that witty and he knew the truth from then on.
The fabric sat in my sewing room, prewashed and neatly folded until Saturday morning. My husband and I were getting ready to go see the “Man of Steel” movie. You see my husband is OBSESSED with Superman. We own every Superman movie, he has multiple Superman T-shirts, a book on the history of Superman, a Superman Snuggie. Heck my husband even has a scar on his head from pretending to fly as a child. He flew alright … right into a mailbox.
But as he noted that he felt like a kid on Christmas morning, the pattern for the Superman fabric jumped into my head.
I had one print of vintage Superman comic covers that would be difficult to cut up in small pieces and maintain its appeal. So I decided to use it as one large block. To find out how large to make it, I measured from the bottom of one comic book to the bottom of the same point when it repeated.
The number was 11 1/2 inches, which became the size of my block, including the seam allowance, and I cut 12, 11 1/2 inch blocks from the fabric.
At this point my husband couldn’t take it anymore and I took a break to go see “Man of Steel” with him. We liked it. There was a good story, lots of action and who doesn’t love Henry Cavill’s abs? I also brought my husband into the quilt shop again after the movie to pick out red and yellow fabric to match the Superman prints for the next step.
I measured the comic book panels to see how wide two panels measured, 6 1/2 by 7 1/2 inches. From there I added my seam allowances and fussy cut 13, 7 by 8 inch comic book panels.
I needed the block to measure 11 1/2 inches to match the other square, so I framed the comic book panel in yellow fabric to make it 10 inches square (8 x 2 inch strips to the top and bottom and 10 x 1 1/2 inch strips to the sides), and then added 3 1/2 inches of red fabric to all sides of the yellow (3 1/2 x 10 to the top and bottom and 3 1/2 x 16 1/2 to the sides).
Besides increasing the size of the block, using solid prints to frame the center fabric gives the eye a place to rest, adding balance to a quilt filled with very busy prints.
Now if you’re following along with the math here, then yes, I did just tell you to create a block that measures 16 1/2 inches square, and no, that does not fit next to an 11 1/2 inch block. But now comes the fun part. Tilt your ruler to the side, position it so the corners of the yellow fabric are 1/4 of an inch inside the 11 1/2 inch mark on all corners and cut.
Isn’t the tilted block so much more interesting than one pieced straight on? Plus the tilt echos the look of the comic book cover fabric on the alternating block.
Now the hard work is done and you just have to sew the blocks together alternating the pieced blocks with the solid fabric. I also added a small border of 2 inch wide yellow fabric and 2 inch red squares in the corners on all sides. The finished quilt measures 58 inches square, not bad for a quilt top I started and finished in just one weekend.
Fabric requirements
Note: This pattern can be used with any large print and panel. But these measurements are just guidelines and may change depending on the repeat of your large print and panel motif. I recommend airing on the side of caution and purchasing extra fabric.
Large print (Superman comic book covers) – 1 1/2 yards
Panel (Comic book panel) – Enough to fussy cut 13 block centers, for me this was 1 1/2 yards and my fabric looked like Swiss cheese when I was done.
Yellow solid – 1 yard
Red solid – 2 1/2 yards (half-a-yard is for binding)
Quilt reveal: Snowpocalypse
June 13th, 2013
Snowpocaplypse
More snow than you would ever need, or could imagine.
- Urban Dictionary
This quilt’s original name was Winter Blues. I started it during a heat wave last summer. The idea was to trick myself into feeling cooler during a string of 90+ degree days. But as it grew, and grew, and grew some more … it demanded a new name.
You see, I hog the covers. My husband isn’t too thrilled about it. So I designed the quilt so the center would fit the top of our king sized mattress and then have a full 14 inch drop on all four sides. To give you a better idea of just how big this quilt is, here is Snowpocalypse by the numbers:
I’m not a complete glutton for punishment. All of the nine patches and the border was made using strip piecing. I didn’t even use pins to put the border together thanks to some careful pressing so that saved hours of time.
I quilted it myself at Quilting By You, where I can rent time on a longarm machine. I used swirls in the pieced border, a kind of squiggle in the skinny border and a medium-sized meander in the center. Normally I prefer to use a variegated thread for quilting, but for this quilt I just wanted plain white.
I absolutely love everything about this quilt, from the drape over the edge of the bed, to the quilting in the border that reminds me of swirling snow, to not hearing my husband complain that I’ve stolen all the covers.
To see more pictures of this quilt, please visit Quilt Addicts Anonymous on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/QuiltAddictsAnonymous
Now if you’re not ready for Snowpocalypse, but you like this pattern. I did make a smaller lap-sized version of this quilt and the pattern is available on Craftsy.
6 hour crib quilt
June 11th, 2013
My co-worker is expecting her first child. I don’t make a quilt for every baby shower I go to, but I knew she’d appreciate it and wanted to do something special for her and her little girl.
I started the recon early to figure out what she was planning for her nursery. I lucked out and found out she had already figured out the colors and even found a fabric line she liked, Michael Miller Out To Sea. Her mom was going to help with some basic sewing for the room, but didn’t know how to quilt.
I ordered the fabric but didn’t have time to start the quilt until the day before the shower. I was in trouble.
I wanted to do something cute, but it needed to be fast and simple. My solution was strip pieced half square triangles. First I sewed all seven 2 inch strips together, pressing all the seams in one direction. Then I cross cut those strips to create 11 inch squares and turned the squares into half square triangles to get this.
To make the quilt more modern, and save on time I surrounded the blocks with two 7 1/2 inch strips of Kona White. The entire process, cutting, piecing, quilting and binding took just 6 hours. I was ready for the shower and still got some sleep the night before the shower.
Wedding quilt reveal … no not mine, that’s still a UFO
June 10th, 2013
This is the week of quilt top reveals. Not because I was extra good at fulfilling my New Year’s resolution to finish two quilts for every one I start, but because I finally found the cord to transfer photos from my camera to my computer. Details.
Today’s finish was my first completed UFO of the year and was on the list of the top four quilts I’d like to complete, my sister’s wedding quilt.
I put the final stitches in the binding of this one on January 4. But before you think I’m really serious about New Year’s resolutions, I do have to confess that all I had to finish was two sides of binding when the clock struck midnight on January 1. Binding just happens to be my least favorite part of the quilting process and it is not unusual for quilts to sit in my sewing room for a year or more before I finish this step.
But back to the story of this quilt. For my wedding, I made six-inch quilt blocks in my wedding colors with a 4-inch piece of tone-on-tone fabric in the center for guests to sign at the reception. I thought they would just sign their name, but with 4-inches of space there were well wishes, advice and one sexual reference I didn’t dare explain to my grandmother when we were reading the messages over breakfast. That’s what you get when you combine pens, fabric and an open bar.
As time went on, some of the friends and relatives who have signed the quilt have passed on, making it more special with time.
The second my sister heard my plans, she requested one when she got married. Never mind the fact that it would still be a year before she started dating the man who would be her husband when she made the request.
After her engagement and the bridesmaids gathered to choose a dress, we went on a fabric shopping trip, bringing along a swatch of the bridesmaid dress fabric for reference. My sister, who is not a quilter, picked out all the fabric and declared how good she was at picking out coordinating prints. I just smiled. She only had three fabrics and the backing to pick.
And then I paper pieced 80, 6 inch pink and fuchsia blocks, which was a task unto itself She assures me her husband will not get sick of the color. Considering I’ve known him since preschool, I think she’s right.
My goal was to get it quilted by her one year wedding anniversary, which I did. By the time I ran all the threads, removed the markings from the border template and finished the binding, I was six months behind schedule, which isn’t that bad when you compare it to my wedding quilt, which still isn’t finished even though my four year wedding anniversary is coming up. Details.
Another UFO down!
June 5th, 2013
One of the gals in my sit-n-sew was expecting her first child and trying to start and finish a chevron baby quilt before the little guy arrived. She was already in the third trimester.
So the rest of the Next Generation Sit-n-Sew (we’re all in our 20s and 30s) decided we’d make one for her. We all made half square triangles using navy prints in our stash and Kona white. Since every quilters 1/4-inch seam is a little different, we all used the method of making half square triangles from squares so we’d be able to trim them to the same size. That meant I could assemble the quilt top and it would lie flat without much fuss. It’s a great technique for group quilts.
But that was a year ago … and the quilt top just hung in my sewing room closet, with the batting and backing all ready to go for a year.
I know. I have a problem. That’s why this year I’m trying to finish as many UFOs as possible. This quilt makes three so far this year.
But I finally took the top over to Quilting By You, rented time on the long arm machine there and knocked out the quilting in 90 minutes. Seriously, 90 minutes … why did I wait a whole year to do a 90 minute project? I told you, I have a problem.
Then another member of our sit-n-sew bound the quilt, or it would have taken another year to get done, and we finally presented it just before the little guy’s first birthday.
What UFOs have you been putting off finishing?
Quilting with Marti Michell
June 4th, 2013
I took quilting celebrity Marti Michell’s Fat Quarter Log Cabin class last weekend. As I got ready, my husband predicted I would be a bad student, and he was right.
I completely blew up the pattern.
We were supposed to cut a 3-inch square for the center and then add 1-inch strips until the block measured 13 inches finished. But I’ve always wanted to make a quilt that combined the maple leaf and log cabin block. And by always, I mean I may have had a basket full of neatly folded fat quarters in fall colors to make a king-sized quilt for three years.
The idea of making 64, 3-inch maple leafs sounded like a recipe for disaster, so I opted for 6-inch maple leaf centers surrounded by 1-inch strips to make a block that measures 12 inches finished.
But I’m not a terrible student. I did follow all the instructions for Marti Michell’s log cabin construction method and learned some great tips. Here they are:
And if you’re really serious about making a log cabin quilt from fat quarters, I suggest buying one of Marti Michell’s rulers for cutting log cabin strips from fat quarters. It comes with instructions on how to use it to cut strips to size to ensure your block is true size and square when you’re finished.
Going tropical for my next T-shirt quilt
May 5th, 2013
I know many of you have found this blog because of my How to Make a T-shirt Quilt video tutorial. That class is one of the most popular ones I teach at my local quilt shop. I prefer to teach by first demonstrating the techniques, then assisting as the students practice. That means I get about two shirts done each time I teach the class.
The last time I taught the class I finished the top of the quilt I had been using to demonstrate on. That means I’ve taught the class a lot and I had to dig through the tubs in my basement to find a new set of T-shirts to turn into a quilt. I came up with a stack of vacation shirts.
Normally my fabric choices for the sashing and cornerstones on a T-shirt quilt is pretty neutral. But for this one, I wanted the fabric to take me to somewhere warm whenever I saw it. I came up with an orange batik for the sashing and blue for the cornerstones. It’s wild, but hopefully it will help transport me to Hawaii, Mexico and summers by the lake in Wisconsin.
In class on Saturday I attached the sashing to a T-shirt I got on a brewery tour on my honeymoon. I love how the orange batik really brings out the colors of the hula girl in the T-shirt.
There’s just one small problem with this quilt … I don’t have enough vacation T-shirts to finish it. I wonder if I can talk my husband into going on vacation so I can get enough shirts to finish it. :)
Improve your quilting with a Craftsy class by Carol Doak
May 3rd, 2013
My quilting changed forever when I took a class from Carol Doak. She came to lecture and teach classes at my quilt guild and that class transformed me from a so-so quilter, to one who can execute just about anything I envision in my mind.
Dubbed the Queen of Paper Piecing, Carol is a great teacher and got me hooked on the quilting technique. I love it because paper piecing is essentially sewing by numbers, but it allows you to produce beautiful, accurate work. Once you learn how to paper piece your friends will ooh and ahh over you work, thinking you are a master quilter. But you’ll know it wasn’t that hard at all.
Carol Doak has slowed down her travel and teaching schedule, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn to paper piece from her. She has a new class on Craftsy, a website where you can learn all manner of new skills from HD videos taught by expert instructors. And that’s all on your own time, in the comfort of your own sewing room.
Since I learned how to paper piece, my quilting went from ho-hum traditional blocks to stunning New York Beauty blocks, beautiful tree skirts and a wedding quilt. If you’re looking for a way to improve your quilting, I highly recommend signing up for Carol Doak’s class.
Teaching my mom to be a quilt addict
April 26th, 2013
My mom is learning to quilt. If you ask her, she’ll say she’s learning how to make table runners and she doesn’t want to make large quilts. But I just think she hasn’t been fully indoctrinated yet.
She has a very demanding job and is looking for something fun to do to relax. So I’ve been teaching her how to make a simple table runner from a charm pack. I made dozens of these when I was first starting to quilt. They’re really easy because there’s very little cutting involved. You just have to lay out the charm squares in a pattern that is pleasing to you, sew them into rows and sew the rows into the table runner top. Easy peasy.
She’s doing really well, learning how to sew a consistent quarter-inch seam, press her patchwork so the seams abut, quilt in straight lines using a walking foot and bind by hand.
While I worked on binding my sister’s baby quilt, my mom put the final stitches in her first project, a spring table runner made from a charm pack in my stash. We looked like quite the pair sitting on the couch together sewing binding on our projects.
But the reason why I think it is just a matter of time before she graduates onto bigger projects, is she has already caught the fabric bug. Before she even had her first top pieced, she bought two more charm packs and coordinating yardage for more table runners. Then when we were on a family trip to the quilt shop to pick out fabric for my sister’s baby quilt, she spotted yet another project, a duck panel with a pieced border.
When she spotted it she said, loudly so my sister could hear, “That’s like what we worked on last weekend right?” referring to the giraffe baby quilt we made with my cousin for my sister’s baby. My sister wasn’t supposed to know about the quilt and she looked from my mom to me with an, I know you’re up to something look.
I shot my mom a warning glance, hoping she’d get the hint not to say any more and told her that it was definitely a project she could handle.
That night we had a family craft night. My grandma knitted, my sister crocheted and my mom was supposed to be working on her first table runner project. But instead I helped her cut out the panel and borders because she just couldn’t wait to get started.
So she’s been quilting for about six months, has finished one project (two if you count the baby quilt we made with my cousin for my sister), two UFOs and a fabric for a third project. I think she’s going to fit in just fine with the rest of us quilt addicts.
Making quilting a family affair
April 11th, 2013
I’ve been working on a super-secret quilt. Correction, my mom, cousin and I have been working on a super-secret quilt.
My mom and cousin are learning to sew, so we got together for a family sewing day over the winter. My mom wanted to work on her first quilted table runner and my cousin wanted to learn how to make a pillow cover for her dad.
But we also worked on a quilt for my sister who is expecting her first child. I found a giraffe panel that was just adorable and fits with the jungle theme of her nursery. I got a few coordinating prints to use as borders to make the quilt as easy as possible to piece.
I taught my mom and and cousin to use a ruler, rotary cutter and sew a quarter-inch seam. In one afternoon they pieced the top and then I quilted it.
My sister really was surprised to see a quilt made by all three of us and I’m glad the baby will have a quilt made by all his family members.
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