I know you are all waiting with a pile of scraps on how to construct the blocks for our quilt along! So, I will get right into it. There are just 2 blocks to learn for this quilt:

A scrappy square block:

And a Snowball block:

Both blocks will measure 8.5″ x 8.5″ when you are done (8″ square finished).
For the Baby/Crib size quilt you will need:
18 snowball blocks
17 scrappy squares

For the Lap Size Quilt you will need:
28 snowball blocks
28 scrappy squares

How to make the Scrappy Square blocks:
For this block you will need:
1 – 4.5″ x 4.5″ square of background fabric
4 – 4.5″ x 2.5″ scraps
12 – 2.5″ x 2.5″ scrap squares

First you will make 4 flying geese. You will need 1 2.5″ x 4.5″ rectangle and 2 2.5″ squares for each flying geese block. There are many ways to make flying geese so if you want to use another method, that’s cool too. The finished size will be 2″ x 4″ (2.5″ x 4.5″ before sewn together).

The only “rule” I’m using when putting these blocks together is to try not to get 2 of the same colors next to each other. If that happens, oh well, I’m not going to tear it out or anything. It’s a “design element”…

I like to take the squares and press them in half a few at a time instead of marking diagonal lines on them. It works just as nicely for me but takes less time and I don’t get pen on something I don’t mean to. These squares end up as your background and the rectangle is your goose.

Now take one square and line it up with one side of the rectangle. You can orient this however you would like. I try to remember that I’m cutting off the corner so if there’s a cute picture or something I can try to put that on the keeping part? Does that make sense? You want your right side of the fabrics together.

You will sew directly on the pressed line.

Nice work! Now, you want to cut off the corner and press the background open. So, I take my ruler and put the sewn line on the 1/4″ mark and then cut off the corner, like so:

Hooray! One background is done! Just press it out to a rectangle again and we will do the other side!

Now you will take another pressed square and place it right sides together on the other side so that you form a really cool pyramid and sew directly on that line:

Awesome! Now just cut off the other corner and press out like you just did for the other side.

Look at that cool scrappy little goose! The size will be 4.5″ x 2.5″. If you are a trimmer and want to check and trim if you need to, remember that it’s better to slice off the bottom and sides. Above the goose point should be 1/4″ for seam allowance so the point is flush with the other fabric when you sew it. You will need to make 3 more for this block. I like to chain piece a few blocks worth of geese at a time and then arrange them after but you do what works for you.

Now you will lay out your block like this:
The middle row will be 2 geese and your background square. The geese are pointing away from your background square.

Sew these together in a row. I like to press the seams towards the geese.

The top and bottom rows will be a goose with 2 2.5″ squares on each side:

I also press the seams on these rows toward the geese so I can nest them together when putting the rows together.

Now sew the rows together nesting the seams:


I like to press these last 2 sewn seams open to try to reduce the bulk:

How to Make a Snowball Block:
For this block you will need:
4 – 2.5″ scrap sqaures
1 – 8.5″ x 8.5″ square from the background fabric

This block is very simple. First you want to press seams in the squares (so there’s a line down the middle) like you did for the last block. And then you sew all 4 to the corners like so:

Then cut the corners off just like you did with the flying geese and press open and you are done:

Awesome! Are you ready to make some blocks? Make sure to join the Flickr Group and show off your progress. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have!

Happy Sewing!

Did you join the Flickr Group?

I am pumped that you guys are quilting along with me! I started making my first quilt with this pattern and it rocks. I’m using a Walk in the Woods Jelly Roll by Aneela Hoey. My sister is pregnant and I won’t know the sex for another month or so but, just in case it’s a girl…

I’ve put together fabric requirements for 2 sizes of quilts, baby and lap size. This pattern is VERY precut friendly so if you have a layer cake or jelly roll in your stash wanting to be used here’s your chance! This is also a great way for those of you who don’t have a lot of scraps (yet) to make a scrappy quilt! There’s a lot of variation in the precuts. It’s difficult to give you exact measurements since we are using scraps so I am going to tell you how many of what size pieces of scraps you will need. So, if you have a scrap that is about 10″ x 5″ you can estimate that as (8) 2.5″ squares. Make sense? You don’t have to cut them now but you can if you are super excited!

I added the amount of charms or 10″ squares you will need in case you aren’t using a Moda brand precut (or if you have part of a layer cake or something in your stash). Moda precuts will always have the same amount of precut fabric pieces in them but other manufacturers usually just have 1 of each print of the line. There are also some Etsy sellers who make precuts of lines that don’t normally have them.

Baby/Crib Quilt
finished top dimensions – 40″ x 56″

Background Solid – 1.25 yards

2.5″ square scraps – 284
4.5″ x 2.5″ scraps – 72
- or -
5″ Charms – 107 (3 Moda Charm packs)
- or -
1 Moda Layer Cake (you will use 27 10″ squares)
- or -
1 Moda Jelly Roll (you will use 25 2.5″ x 44/45″ strips)

Lap Size Quilt
finished top dimensions – 56″ x 64″

Background Solid – 2 yards

2.5″ square scraps – 448
4.5″ x 2.5″ scraps – 112
- or -
4 Moda Charm Packs (you will use all 168 5″ squares)
- or -
1 Moda Layer Cake (you will use all 42 10″ squares)
- or -
1 Moda Jelly Roll (you will use all 40 2.5″ x 44/45″ strips)

Please let me know if you have any questions and I will try to answer them as promptly as I can!

AND! To help you on your quest for fabrics, I will be posting scrap packs in my shop all week!

AND! Here’s a 15% off coupon code for you to get what you need!
BUST15
I have lots of solids and precuts in stock as well. Just convo me to get a custom listing!

I will post the tutorials for making the 2 blocks used in this quilt on January 12th so get your fabric together soon!
Happy Scrap sorting!

Today is that day! Well, okay, not today. But how about January 12th, 2012? Does that work for you? Hey, that’s not the first of the year! Shouldn’t we be starting then? Maybe. BUT January 12th is a magical day! It’s my birthday! (And, this gives us all time to ACTUALLY sort through the scraps) My birthday gift to you is a super-fun-scrap-busting quilt along with all your Bloggy and Flickr friends! I’m calling it:

Get them out, get ready to sort them and get ready to use them up! Here is the quilt pattern we will be making:

Cool huh? The smallest scrap is 2.5″ square for your reference when sorting. I will be putting the final pattern touches together and of course there will be giveaways and coupons and such from Pink Castle Fabrics!

What’s that? You don’t have scraps? You are still new to quilting? No worries! My shop scraps are OVERFLOWING! I will be making bundles for sale and giveaways. AND this pattern is charm pack friendly! (the lap size shown uses 4 charm packs) Don’t worry if you are a quilting fledgling this pattern is easy enough for a beginner!

I know, I know. You are just as excited as I am! Here’s a button for your blog:

<div align="center"><a href="http://justabitfrayed.wordpress.com/2011/12/29/bust-yo-scraps-quilt-along/" title="Bust Yo Scraps!" target="_blank"><img src="http://justabitfrayed.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/bustyoscraps_150.jpg" alt="Bust Yo Scraps!" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Join the Flickr Group!

Quilt Along Post Links:
Fabric Requirements

Tell all your friends!

Jacey says:
December 12, 2011 at 11:46 am (Edit)
It’s so great of you to share the Pezzy Prints, Brenda! I’m so excited about this line. You know I follow you here, on twiter and of course, on etsy and flickr!

Congrats Jacey! I know you will love it ! For those of you who asked, yes, it is snowing on my blog. It’s a cool feature from WordPress

I’ve been busy busy with the sewing lately. Working on everything except the Xmas gifts that I need to have finished in…6 days??? Sheesh! I’m sure they will all get done. I actually don’t have a lot to make.

Here are the photos of the finished top that I made from the EQ7 pattern from my last post.

I’m very pleased with how quickly it came together! I just sewed some long strips of the prints together and cut them into blocks and sashed them with a Bella Solids Jelly Roll in Blue. Boy, that made my life easy! I still have half the jelly roll left for another project too! I’m still deciding on a backing but I’m sure it will have to wait until next week.

I got fed up with not having a big enough purse to hold all the of the things that go along with having a 2 year old in tow. So, I finally put together a new bag!

This was made using Anna Maria Horner’s Multi Tasker Tote pattern! It is a nice big size and the pattern is well written and easy to put together. I did it in 2 nights watching TV. I used Freezer Paper to help cut out the pattern too which worked nicely! I would make this pattern again for sure. I think it would also make a perfect diaper bag!

I used Tula Pink’s Frog Prince in Indigo for the front and Ta Dot in Apple for the lining and pockets. Now, I just need to find some stuff to fill it up with! I photographed this with a baby quilt inside of it if that gives you a sense of size! Perfect!

Okay, off to work on Xmas presents! I will have more to show off soon!

A few weeks ago I bought myself an early Christmas present. I have been wanting Electric Quilt 7 (EQ7) for a while now so I bought it! YAY! I haven’t exhausted all the options in this program, yet, so I’m only calling this a mini review. For those of you not familiar with EQ7, it’s quilt design software. It comes with an extensive block library and an easy interface to drag and drop and color and re-color. Sounds cool, right?

First, I installed the software. No problems there. Next, I purchased some of the Stash updates (which are fabric libraries that come out each season) and began to install those. I had a lot of problems there. None of the discs were loading. I Googled the problem and found little help on forums. I finally decided to call the company. I was expecting to be on hold forever but nope! A nice woman answered and sent me to the tech team who emailed me instructions on how to fix the problem. Worked like a charm!

*** IF you are having problems installing your EQ Stash Packs, try this! ***
*** Remember to install them in order from the earliest date (Spring 2009 – Fall 2011) ***
Turn off User Account Control (UAC):
* Go to START > Control Panel.
* Click “Classic View” in the left column.
* Double-click Users.
* Choose “Turn user account control on/off.”
* Uncheck it.
* Restart your computer, if necessary.

I tried to come up with some amazing quilts all by myself. It was not happening. Computer Programming was my first major in college so, I think I’m above average in computer literacy and I couldn’t figure it out. I then went to YouTube to search for tutorials and there are a bunch that look good but they are in Spanish. The Electric Quilt company has some on YouTube but I think they are more to advertise the product. Then I found the video tutorials IN the program…lol, how convenient! Of course I didn’t think to look there. I watched them all and the program clicked! Believe me, there are still things I have questions about but I was able to mess around with it enough to come up with this quilt:

I was able to put this together in one Episode of Dexter. The thing I liked best was being able to easily change colors. I changed that to this in 2 minutes:

This is great if you aren’t sure what colors to choose. AND if you have the stash packs (or scan and upload fabrics from your own stash), you can use those in the program to REALLY see what it looks like:

This one is using Empire Weave in Dandelion, Dot to Dot in Aqua, Sundae Stripe in Lime, and Free Spirit Solids in Nugray. Pretty cool!

Then, once you have the quilt created you can print the pattern for your reference (which did help) and it will print fabric requirements for the colors or fabrics you chose. Since I ended up strip piecing this top it told me to cut almost twice as much fabric as I needed. So, I’d double check that next time. I did end up finishing the quilt top this weekend but it’s been so yukky out, I haven’t gotten a photo. Here’s a sneak peak of the top in progress:

I will show you the whole top soon, I am really pleased with how it turned out. It was very easy to put together. I used a Bella Solids jelly roll to sash it, which made it even quicker!

SO, bottom line, should you buy EQ7?

Pros:
– Has a block library already
– Easy to use (after watching the videos)
– Can easily resize and change colors if you aren’t sure
– Great if you are making a pattern, even has exporting pictures for publications

Cons:
– Most blocks and appliques included are very traditional
– Fabrics included are very traditional

If you are someone who always improv pieces a quilt, this is probably not for you. EQ7 DOES let you create your own blocks which is very helpful if you are writing a pattern or just like to make your own blocks. It’s MUCH easier than using Photoshop or another program for blocks and changing colors. Here’s an example of a Mega Man block I created for a pillow I’m putting together for an Xmas present:

SUPER EASY. Personally, I love it! I have a few new quilts already being designed. If you like to make modern takes on traditional blocks or create your own blocks and make block based quilts, you’ll love it. I say, Buy It!

There will be more reviews as I use more features of the program!

***
I will be selling EQ7 in my shop. If it’s out of stock, I’d be happy to order a copy especially for you, just send me a convo!
***

Today, I am giving away a Pezzy Prints Jelly Roll from my shop, Pink Castle Fabrics!

This has 40 2.5″ strips of every long awaited color of the new Mono Pez or Magic Bean print by Sandy Klop for American Jane!

The giveaway is closing December 16th at 5pm PST. I am going to draw a random number for a winner. Leave me a comment about anything you’d like! NO hoops to jump through. If you want to follow my blog, of course I would love that, or like me on Facebook of course I’m okay with that too! And don’t forget to favorite my shop on Etsy! (you know, if you want to!)

AND for reading this far down go ahead and take 10% off any purchases you make in my shop while the giveaway is going on! Use the coupon code BLOG10. Treat yourself to something nice for the Holidays.

The giveaway is open internationally as well! Good Luck and welcome to all my new friends!

The reorganization of my sewing room is in order as well. Out of sheer embarrassment I will not show you photos. Let’s just say it looks like a fabric bomb went off in there. My shop is organized and clean but I don’t have a good organization system for my personal stuff, yet. Anyway, so, I have decided to get some clear plastic bins and only allow 5 projects to be going on at a time. That should leave me enough to choose from when I sit down to sew.

I started 2 new projects this week and I have 3 finishes to show off. I will show off the one today and then spread out the other two so it looks like I’m more productive…LOL!

Quilt Stats
Name: Picnic in the Square
Fabrics: All prints are from Denyse Schmidt’s DS Quilts Picnic and Fairgrounds lines. Sashing is Kona White.
Binding: Blue Gingham print from Picnic Fairgrounds
Quilting: Straight line quilting (done by me).

There’s no real pattern to the quilt, I just made something up to feature the fabrics. Although, apparently I was influenced by Emily’s Quilt made with this line. I didn’t even realize I’d sort of copied her until I saw her finished quilt…ha! Oh well, great minds think alike. Or, my mind remembers awesome things and wants to copy them.

After finishing my blocks, I wanted to make the quilt bigger so I added on the scrappy boarder with some extras and I’m really glad I did. I love the size and now it looks nice and framed. I pieced the back with extra squares from the front and some bigger pieces I had from the line. And I wanted a binding to stand out so I chose the blue. I am also a big fan of gingham I was too lazy to measure it so I have no idea the actual size but I’d say, large lap size. I’m glad to have it finally done, I’m very happy with the way it turned out!

Next finish up soon!

I wanted to pop in and show off!

Look what I got! Amber (One Shabby Chick) made me this awesome Interlocking Wonky Star pillow. I love it so much. Seriously, I love that pattern. She saw that I had Favorited this mini by Faith over at Fresh Lemons. You can also witness another amazing quilt with this pattern by my friend Emily – here.

I didn’t get a good finished photo of the quilt I made for PTS6. My secret partner was Angela. I made her this 24″ pillow:

Well, that’s the top anyway. I backed it with Light Jade.

Another successful swap!

I was waiting to get the Picnic Plaid in Pond for the backing for (it seems like) forever!

This was made using Ashley from Film in the Fridge‘s Rectangle Squared block tutorial. All the navy colors on the front are from Joel Dewberry’s Modern Meadow and the green prints are from Jenean Morrison’s California Dreamin. Hence the name: “Dreamin in the Meadow”. The sashing is Kona White and the binding and backing are also Modern Meadow prints!

This was one of the first quilt tops that I have ever made. If you look closely (please dont…!) you can see how the blocks don’t quite fit up everywhere. I learned the importance of a consistent scant 1/4 inch seam and why I should square up my blocks! But I think the pattern is fairly forgiving for a beginner and it looks just fine. Any non-quilter can be fooled I think! This was also the first hand sewn binding I’ve ever done! I have to say that I was intimidated by the whole process but after reading Amy’s hand binding tutorial I felt better. It was rather relaxing and I love the way it looks! So much nicer than the machine binding. I may be hooked. And I got to watch TV while binding. And I love TV (hello! Walking Dead!)…

More Photos!:

I’m happy to be back to quilting things for myself and completing projects! More to come

I’m also excited that it’s Blogger’s Quilt Festival time again! (Speaking of Amy’s Creative Side…)

I’m linking up and I can’t wait to see all the quilts!

I’ve been neglecting my blog but working on my Etsy shop. I now have over 100 sales and almost 400 items in my shop! I should have 400 (at least) but there are some items I haven’t even had time to list! Crazy!

Here is some eye candy to show off some things that I have done recently. I just finished my bee blocks for the 4 x 5 Bee:

It was a lot of fun but I’m going to sit out next quarter. I still have to finish my 3 x 6 blocks this week and catch up on some other bee blocks.

I can finally show off the Map of Canada pillow I made for Sylvia for the Make Mine Modern Swap (please excuse the lame iPhone photos, I was too lazy to use my camera):

I saw this awesome map idea in Sylvia’s mosaic and I thought, “OH! I can do that! Canada will be easy!” So, I had my boyfriend help me make applique templates for all the provinces. I figured there’s like a handful compared to all the states we have. Piece of cake, right? NO! They have about 1000 islands up there! Anyway, I didn’t add every single island. I used a different color for each province and free motioned around them to keep them from coming off in the wash (I used Wonder Under to stick them on). I had to learn how to free motion for this project but I think it turned out all right!

Okay, that’s all for now. I should try to sleep…
I’m linking up with Canoe Ridge Creations for Sew Modern Monday