Quilt Update: Sorting and Sewing Strips

Last week's quilt update was all about cutting the fabric for my quilt, and this week the real fun began! (Check out this post from the Old Red Barn Co. for the instructions on making the blocks.)

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First up was designing groups of six fabrics each to make the blocks with. My goal was to have each color and pattern represented in each block, which was really easy at the start, but got trickier as I went along. My one tip here: find a big space (the family room floor for me) where you can just spread out as much as needed! My husband fell asleep in the chair next to me while I was working on this and woke to find our room completely plastered in pinks, greens and aquas, I think he was a little confused at first!

(Sorry about the really bad pictures, that's what happens when I mix basement lighting with my basic-point-and-shoot camera)

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Next it was time to sew! The quilt-along mentions that you can pin your strips of fabric or not pin them. My recommendation is to NOT pin them. By simply taking your time sewing and making sure that your fabrics are lined up as you go along, you will save yourself TONS of time!

Aren't you impressed that I can sew with one hand,

and take a picture with the other?!?

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As excited as I am for this quilt, sewing strips of fabric over and over and over did get a little boring, so I did some alternating between sewing a few sections, then ironing a few. You know, just to spice things up a bit!

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Just trust me though, your reward will come when your craft room starts to look like this:

That's called: PROGRESS!
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Next up, cutting the strips down to block size, yippee!

Quilt Update: Cutting the Fabric

My big batch of Paula Prass fabric arrived in the mail, and within hours I had started my quilt! I have to admit, the fabric is a little brighter than what I was expecting it to be, but I guess that's just a chance one takes when ordering fabric online. I still really like it though, so I'm giving it a shot. If when all is said and done, I decide that it's too bright for what I was looking for in Claire's room, then we'll just have a fab new quilt to use outside. No worries!

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So, I'm not going to recreate the tutorial for you as I go, I'll just link to each step at the Old Red Barn Co. The instructions for cutting the fabric for the quilt can be found here.

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The tutorial requires 12 half yards of fabric, but my set came with 18 fabrics, and because I felt bad leaving any of them out, I opted to use them all. So, I had a little more cutting to do, but I think it will be worth it to have the variety I've got. Any extra strips I may have will just go towards a matching pillow sham. I would estimate that cutting all 18 fabrics took me about 2 hours. Keep in mind that I'm not a pro, and there were some interruptions, so all things considered, that probably wasn't too bad.

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I have to admit, I was a big doubter of the whole fold-your-fabric-over-and-cut method. I had a really hard time believing how I would honestly end up with straight strips of fabric by doing that, but it works! Not to mention it saves TONS of time. If you're not sure of your cutting abilities, do what I did and start with a "forgiving" fabric first, (i.e. a floral pattern as opposed to stripes).

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And finally, God bless rotary cutters and self-healing mats. By no means try to do a quilt without them, you would go nuts with all the cutting required, seriously.

Now, after all the work you've done, line up your pretty strips of fabric and admire how amazing they are. And, if you're like me, take a picture to make the moment last!

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Next up, designing sets of 6 fabrics each, and then, SEWING!

Jumping In!

A few months back, I watched as several gals from the blogging community tried out making quilts through the help of this quilt-along tutorial at The Old Red Barn Co. I really wanted to try it out as well, and for some reason that I'm not sure, I didn't do it.

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BUT, it's never too late to start, right?!?

SO, last night, I ordered this whole stack of Paula Prass Summer Soiree goodness to try out my first quilt!

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As a side note, I really should NOT have ordered this and then immediately tried to go to bed afterwards. I was up all night (no really, all night) quilting in my head because I was just too excited.

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We're thinking of moving Claire to a "big girl bed" this winter, and so my hope is to make her a cheery and bright quilt to keep her cozy and happy in her new big girl bed.

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I'll keep you posted on the progress, wish me luck!