Posts from — September 2009

I needed a quick idea for dressing up the kitchen table for autumn. I quilted two yards of fabric, and then added a binding to it for a quick tablecloth.

Then, I used a pattern from One Song Needle Arts to do these placemats. The pattern has cross-hatching built right into the sides of it. It’s easy to decide how large to make your placemats by using the following method:

Open the pattern on your screen in Creative Studio, and use a grid to see the size of the central area. You can use a grid of 1-inch to make the pattern size easy to measure. Decide if you want to adjust the pattern up or down a little bit after studying it on your grid. I cut three strips of fabric 1 1/2 inches wide, and pieced them together for each side. The inner square was cut 14 1/2 inches wide. After piecing the placemat, I basted it to my batting and backing on the machine. Using the head of the machine, I placed a p2p line on the exact edge of my center section of the pieced placemat. I then marked this line as sewn — this is very important to do so your line doesn’t stitch. You can then tweak the design on the screen to line up perfectly with your edges of the center section by sizing with the handles of the design. Click on start, and your design will stitch exactly where you need it to be. Add your binding while you still have the placemat on the machine, and then all you have to do is hand-sew it to the back. Very quick and easy!

What size should I make my next quilt?

Here’s the scenario….. there’s a bed in the quest room that needs a pretty quilt on it before Christmas. But how do you decide what size the quilt needs to be?

You will need to make two decisions before you even pick up your tape measure. First, take a look at the side or bottom of the bed, and decide where you would like the quilt to end in length. How far off of the floor will look nice? Do you have a dust ruffle on this bed?

Quilts can be anywhere from 10 to 20 inches long on the sides, and as you can see, that will make a big difference in the finished measurements of your quilt. If you have a metal tape measure or yard stick handy, stand it up on the floor next to the side of the bed, to get a feel for the overall height. Now, still looking at your tape measure, decide if you would like the sides of the quilt that drape down to measure 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, or 20 inches.

Once that decision is made, we will move on to the decision of whether you would like to tuck the quilt in underneath the pillows, or just have the pillows piled on top of the flat quilt. Having a pillow tuck allowance will add another 10 inches to your overall length measurement.

Here is a handy chart to use in figuring out approximate quilt sizes. You may find a pattern that is just a little larger or smaller than these sizes, and you can decide if you would like to adjust the width of your borders to compensate for the difference, or maybe add or subtract blocks in your design. The chart is shown in three segments here, due to width restrictions. Feel free to print out the chart sections, tape them together on an index card, and keep it in your purse. Or, write to Robin@CandyAppleQuilts.com for a PDF that you can print.  There are two examples below the chart to show you how to use it.

As our first example, let’s choose a child’s twin sized bed. I have decided that I want the twenty-inch drop so that the quilt almost skims the floor. I also decided I would like the extra length required to tuck the quilt under the pillows. From the chart that shows the Twin Mattress, I can go down the left side until I find the 20″ drop and right underneath that line is the 10″ pillow tuck. By running my finger across to the twin size mattress column, it’s easy to see that my quilt should measure 79 x 105 inches. I will be cutting my backing and batting 87 x 113 so the quilt can be finished on a longarm quilting machine.

Let’s try another example. This time, we’ll use a California King sized bed. I want to keep the quilt high up off of the floor, and will not be tucking it under the pillows. A twelve-inch drop should be fine, with no pillow tuck allowance. Run your finger down the left side of the California King chart until you get to the 12″ drop, and then follow straight across to the California King column. You’ll see that the finished quilt should be 96 x 92, and your backing and batting will need to be cut 104 x 100 inches.

You’ll notice that the measurements for the drop on the sides and bottom are only calculated for three sides. That’s because the quilt does not hang down over the top of the bed.

You have a bit of leeway in these measurements, but this will get you started. Don’t worry if things don’t match up perfectly, BUT …. one thing to keep in mind before you get started is shrinkage. If you are using 100% cotton fabrics, and not pre-washing, you may lose a few inches in each direction when the quilt is first laundered. That may be a good thing, or a bad thing, depending on your intentions.

Enjoy the process, and as always, enjoy the fabric shopping!

Here’s another favorite quilt from Kim Montagnese of Colorz My World called Not Really Knots. Kim uses a new applique process that she created to make two different blocks that repeat throughout the quilt — giving the feel of Celtic Knots without the complicated methods of creating them. The process is sheer genius!

You can reach Kim for patterns and classes at: Montagnese@oh.rr.com

I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed working on this quilt!

….. use paper plates!”

That’s the name of the most recent quilt from a fantastic artist Kim Montagnese. This quilt is a new twist on the old favorite Broken Dishes.  Kim added lots of fun to this quilt pattern with a new method of applique, rubber stamping, and even silverware! My favorite part is the expression stamped on the quilt top that says “You can lead me to the kitchen, but you can’t make me cook”.  That’s fits me perfectly!

Kim wanted “fun” quilting on this one! Here are some pictures:

There’s a cute story about what happened when Kim was working on this quilt over at her blog Colorz My World. She had a little “boo boo” that needed a band-aid — literally!

Kim sells her patterns, and teaches fun classes on making them. You can reach her by sending an email to Kim Montagnese at Montagnese@oh.rr.com.