January Project - The Christmas Quilt - Complete*!

*If we call the completed top for the Christmas quilt a "completed project."
(You can click on the picture for more detail.)

The truth is: to finish this quilt, I'll need batting and a backing fabric - and I just don't have it in the budget right now to buy either. So I'm calling it done, and giving myself a pass on the technicality.

But I think I was successful - I was able to complete the quilt top. I remembered what I was doing. I discovered that everything I'd learned about piecing a quilt top, well, it's not so much that I remembered it as I realized it's just all still in there. It was like my fingers moved to do things before I could think about the next step. What I did remember was the satisfaction in looking at all of those little pieces of fabric, pulled together to make something beautiful. (Well, I consider it beautiful).

I mentioned, when I introduced the project, that I had chosen a fabric for the lattice (the longer strips surrounding each block) that was proving difficult to cut. My solution? I finally just chose another fabric. Such an obvious solution that it eluded me for 4 1/2 years.

In the end, an enthusiastic thumbs up on this quilt pattern, too. Thimbleberries is always good, and the directions on this quilt are no exception. It went together quickly and rather simply. And it did accomplish what I wanted for this fabric - the overall affect is 100% "Hi! I'm a Christmas Quilt!" The fabric I fell in love with is highlighted, but blended. And I've got my whimsical little Eiffel Towers on display.

As this project *technically* isn't "finished" - you'll be seeing it again. This looks like a project I'll be able to machine quilt myself (I'm not so good at the machine quilting - but this has a lot of straight lines to follow). And I'll add a table runner for the table underneath where the quilt will hang. Or maybe a Christmas tree skirt for the tree I keep imagining I'll put in the foyer and decorate differently than the tree in the living room. I don't know ... it's February already - I guess I have to stop thinking about Christmas for awhile.

On to February's project!

Strip Sets and the Shape Cut Ruler

The pattern I chose for the Christmas quilt utilizes "strip sets" in the construction of the blocks. It's a great pattern for not-so-experienced quilters - you simply cut your fabric into strips, sew the long strips together, cut those strips into pieces (sets) and then sew those together. Without the need for any complicated techniques, you have several completed blocks. If you can manage to sew two strips of fabric together, you can make this quilt.

These directions for making the Nine Patch Block shows you what I'm talking about. A typical beginning quilt is the Rail Fence quilt, which is an exclusively strip set-constructed (or strip pieced) quilt.

The pattern I used - Harvest Patch - is constructed of strip sets that are off-set (at an angle) and then paired with triangles in the corners to create a square.

First, here is a sample of a strip set - and the piece cut from the strip:


Here you can see how each of the pieces cut from the strip had a cream triangle added to each end. At an angle, they create the block:

The two red fabrics were one strip set, the triple-green in the first photo was another, and the third strip set was the cream fabric with the green on either side.

One of my absolutely favorite tools is a cutting ruler called the Shape Cut Ruler by June Tailor. There are lots of other things you can do with these rulers, but if the only thing it ever did was make strip piecing so easy, it would still be worth it. Basically, it's a ruler that is a mat with slots at 1/2" or 1/4" intervals. When you lay it over your fabric, you slide your rotary cutter into each slot, cutting your fabric into strips.

What this really means is this: you have a long piece of fabric, and you need to cut it into six 3 1/2" pieces. You can lay the Shape Cut ruler over your fabric and cut all five of the pieces at once. (It's only an 18 inch ruler, so the sixth is done on its own.) You start with your rotary blade at "0" - then cut at the 3 1/2" mark, the 7" mark, 10 1/2" and 14" and 17 1/2" - and you have five of the six pieces you need. (Tip: until you get used to doing the math quickly, it's very helpful to write down the points where you'll need to cut.) In a very, very short amount of time, you've got all of your pieces - and you haven't had to move your fabric, so your edges should still be squared.

Here's what it did for cutting my border strips:




Just like that - five of the six border strips I needed from this fabric!

January's Project - The Christmas Quilt

This was the last project I worked on before we moved from New York, and I stopped quilting. It's also notable as one of the projects that I worked on solo - not as part of a quilting class.

It started with the fabric. I fell in love with this collection of fabric, and purchased some of just about the whole line in 2003 and 2004. It's called "Holidays in Paris" by Dena & Friends for In the Beginning Fabrics. I had traveled to Paris in 2002, and was still sporting my in-love-with-Paris glow. I had been searching for some Christmas fabrics, because I wanted to make a specifically Christmas quilt to replace the one that normally hung in my dining room, just for the holidays. (I'm one of those people who takes down the year-round wall decorations to hang up Christmas decorations.) The plan was to make the quilt - and perhaps a table runner and other accessories, and this would be the Christmas theme for my dining room. Seven years later - I no longer have the quilt in my dining room, it's in my foyer - so this will eventually be the "theme" for my foyer.

The fabrics themselves are just beautiful. I love the shade of green and red - they are decidedly, un-apologetically Christmas Red and Christmas Green. Running throughout each different design is a somewhat muted metallic gold. And - just to make my heart happy - there is an Eiffel Tower themed fabric, too. Here is the complete selection of what I have:

My first task was finding a pattern that would work well. I started with Thimbleberries - and that's exactly where I found it - in a book called Collection of Classic Quilts by Lynette Jensen.
The "Harvest Patch" quilt's description says "For stunning results, small touches of repeated color provide greater impact for a a collection of multi-colored prints that combine simple shapes into one unified block." It was exactly what I was trying to accomplish: highlight the fabric collection, while keeping a unified look.

I started by editing out some of the fabrics, creating a "story board" and matching up my fabrics to the fabrics listed in the pattern (I usually number them, then write the number in the pattern next to the fabric I'm replacing with my own.)

My story board:

As of January 2010, here is the status of this project:
Five of Twelve complete blocks.
Seven of Twelve incomplete blocks.
The center of each block is an Eiffel Tower fabric piece. I fussy cut (cut them deliberately to show the piece of fabric I wanted to showcase.) to have six that say "Joyeaux Noel" and the other six are a combination of "Paris," "Bienvenue," "Eiffel Tower," and "Mon Ami."
I chose a lattice fabric that needed an extremely precise cut - it was a plaid that wasn't perfectly straight. This is where it stopped me last time. Several times over the years, I had pulled it out - set it up to cut - rotary cutter in hand - and stopped for fear I would waste the whole amount of fabric.
Border fabrics are chosen, but not cut.

So, basically, a couple of blocks and a big stack of fabric next to it:

My goal for this month is to finish the quilt top. I know, I know - that's not a finished project. Well, I'm splitting this one into two parts.

I have good reasons! The piecing is my favorite part. The rest of it - the quilting, binding, etc. - ehh, not so much. I need to get my feet wet again, remember the part I love and do a little refresher for myself. The way this quilt is constructed (strip sets, which I'll talk more about later) is easy and straightforward, with great results.

And the other good reason is that the project I originally chose as my first has already given me a blister, so I'm going to need to work on it a little slower.