Quilt As You Go, No Handwork: A Tutorial

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

I do most of my own quilting on a domestic machine.  Baby quilts are easy!  For larger quilts, I either quilt a simple grid, or use a quilt as you go technique.

I started these blocks in Feb. 2021, as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  The pattern comes from Bonnie Hunter's Carolina Christmas in her book Scraps and Shirttails II, and is called Poinsettia Star.  The poinsettia "petals" were in the color of the month.  In October, once the blocks were done, I had to figure out how I wanted to quilt them.

I didn't make a top first, because I was going to quilt in sections.  I laid all the blocks out in 7 rows of 6 blocks each.

I made sashing strips from squares to go between the blocks and rows, and then I laid out the sections.  The center 3 rows are divided into 3 small sections of six blocks each.  The top 2 rows, plus sashing, are a section, as are the bottom 2 rows.  (Please excuse the bad lighting!  The sun was very bright that day.)

Also, not shown in the photos, I cut backing and batting for each section.  These pieces are just pinned together to keep them straight, NOT BASTED YET.

In this technique, you work from the center out.  I layered the center section with batting and backing, spray basted it, and quilted it.  In some places, I quilted right up to the edge.

One of the reasons I wanted to use this method was because I wanted to do outline quilting, rather than a grid.  Outline quilting, that is, following the seams of the piecing, was often done on quilts long ago, and seems appropriate for a reproduction quilt.  I quilted inside and outside each of the "petals", and around the edges of the blocks. 

This is the completed first section.

Now what?  

The basic principle of this particular version of quilt as you go is this: 

If you add an unquilted piece to a quilted piece, you don't need to do any hand sewing.

Here's how this works.

I'm going to sew the unquilted section on the left to the quilted section on the right.  The unquilted section has now had the blue border attached to it.  Please note, the unquilted section does not yet have batting or backing attached.  The quilted section has been trimmed on the edge that will now be sewn.

I lay the unquilted section face down on the quilted section, and stitch a quarter inch seam.  It's helpful to have a built-in walking foot for this.

I press this seam toward the newly added section with a hot iron.  You want the seam to lay flat, with no puckers. 

Then I add the backing piece, right side down, to the backing of the center section, also with a quarter inch seam.  I press this seam also.

Here's what it looks like on the back.  As you can see, I'm using different toile prints for the backing. 

Now I add the batting between the two layers I just added.  I use basting spray to spray just the batting, and then smooth the pieces over it.  I do the back first, then the top, but it would work just as well the other way.

Now I'm ready to quilt the second section.  So I do!  I'm leaving the border to be quilted last, when all the sections are done.

Here's what it looks like on the back, after quilting.

So that's the technique:  For each section, add the top, add the backing, add the batting, quilt the new section.  And repeat.

Now for some time lapse photography (well sort of).

Section 3 added, middle 3 rows complete.

Section 4, the top 2 rows, added, then quilted.

And the last section, the bottom two rows added.

Once all the sections were together and quilted, I marked and quilted the borders.  I used a wavy stencil, and marked with a chalk pounce.  It reminds me of a waving flag.

 The binding is a red patriotic print, also sewn on completely by machine.

Because I'm quilting from the center out, the sections are easier to maneuver.  As the quilt grows, I'm always working on the outer edges.  It can get a little tight at times turning the quilt to outline the piecing, but it's still easier than doing the whole quilt at once (ask me how I know!). 

I definitely don't mind doing handwork, but it's nice not to have to worry about it.  It makes the process go faster.

I wouldn't use this method for every quilt, but it's handy to know, especially for medallion style quilts.

Is this helpful?  If you have questions, I'll be happy to answer.

Happy Quilting!

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Works in Progress

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Nothing is finished this week, but lots of quilts are "in progress".  

It's the first Saturday of Purple Month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!  I already had pieces cut for these switch plate blocks, so I got these purple ones sewn up quick.  An idea occurred to me for the setting that requires about twice as many blocks as I have now, so back to cutting later today.

Here's the fabric pull for my usual RSC blocks.  I've got big scraps, small scraps, strips, and yardage.  Don't you just LOVE purple month?

Check out the little purple block in the center!  These are my 8 patch blocks, an idea I "stole" from Cathy at Sane Crazy Crumby Quilting.  The blocks are made with 2.5 in. x 3.5 in. rectangles, which I happen to have a ton of, and the 8 patches measure 6 in. x 8 in. finished.

Now that I've got 30 blocks, I'm going to put them together this weekend into a baby quilt.  (Are you surprised?  I can't go very long without making a baby quilt!)

We went to another flea market last weekend, where I bought someone else's work in progress.  The lady who sold them used to make pillows to sell, and had all these 2.5 in. squares cut.  She had them laid out by color and print, in two layers in a big box.  I proposed dumping them into a bag, and the poor woman was horrified after all her work of sorting.  So I took them in the box, and when I was out of her sight I put them in this bag so I could carry them more easily. (That bag was heavy!)

I see what she meant about the sorting!  It took me a while, but it was just the sort of mindless job to do when watching TV.  I divided them into blues, greens, pinks, and lights, and put the greens and pinks in the same box.  These are mostly prints from the 1990s, but good quality cotton, and they will make nice charity quilts.  People who aren't quilters won't worry that the fabrics are out of fashion.  It will be easy to use these squares as leader and ender projects.

Hey, who's that running through my laundry and giggling?  Could it be Bigfoot?

We did a little Bigfoot hunting this week, sponsored by our local library.  Signs like this were posted all over town, with letters on them.  Players were to collect the letters and unscramble the message.  We didn't get very far, but this sign was in our neighborhood park so my goofy guys posed with it.  Little Brother is trying to get away!

This is the back of a quilt in progress that I hope to finish this weekend.  For backing, I'm using several different pieces of Toile de Jouy reproduction fabric with patriotic and/or historical themes.  This one says "Constitution and Laws".  It seems appropriate to work on this July 4th weekend, and sums up how I feel about my country.

The United States of America is not just a place.  It exists through and because of our ideals of liberty and justice and faithfulness to our laws and our founding documents.  I am very concerned when people, especially those in power, believe they can set aside laws and use violence to attain their ends if elections don't go their way.  No person, no faction, no political party is more important than our democracy.

Our country is and always has been a work in progress, and so is our Constitution.  As times change, we amend it and adjust our laws to modern expectations of equality and fairness.  We expect our courts to take these changes into consideration as they interpret laws, and to make all decisions based in law and reason rather than ideology.  When this doesn't happen, our country is in grave danger.

Stepping off the soapbox now, I wish all Americans a very happy and safe Independence Day, and everyone a weekend doing what you love to do.

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy 

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

 

Positivity 2022 Progress #1

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

 Today we're showing our progress on the Positivity 2022 Quilt Along.  The goal was to have 40 blocks made by today.

Good news!  I made it!  Miracles do happen.  With everything going on this summer with the grandkids, I wasn't sure I'd get these done, but the blocks are so easy and fun to sew (thanks, Preeti!) and that made this much progress possible.

I'm making mine with scraps and strips scoured from bins and boxes all over the house.

Here are a few hints that have helped me, for what it's worth.

1.  You can get all the pieces you need from a 5 in. strip if it has at least 19 in. of usable fabric.  Cut one 5 in. square, 2 rectangles 2.5 x 5, and one large rectangle 5 x 9.  Slice the large rectangle LENGTHWISE to get the last 2 rectangles, which will measure 2.5 x 9 each.

2.  When making the first part (the "Happy Blocks"), press all the seams out from the center.  Everybody else probably knows this, for some reason I was trying to press towards the dark.  (Sound of hand hitting forehead).

3.  I was having trouble sewing the longer rectangles on, and having everything lined up.  Throwing a pin in at the end really helped.  This is probably just another "me" problem, but it really made a difference.

Again, thanks so much to Preeti for designing and leading this Quilt Along, and to Bernie for hosting the Link ups.

We need all the positivity we can get!

Linking up with Bernie at Needle and Foot

Centennial Prints, and Last Week for Dark Blue

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Red, white and blue are on my mind this week, partly because July 4th is coming up soon, and also because dark blue is our color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

As usual, I am sharing an antique quilt or two with you for the last Saturday of the month.  

These quilt tops both contain special fabrics printed to celebrate the 100th birthday of the United States of America. 

First is a simple nine patch, on point with alternate blocks.  I bought it in an antique store many years ago, more or less as a fabric study.

There are some nice madder reds here (madder being a plant dye that can make a variety of colors like brownish red, warm browns, orange, and even purple), and in the center of this block is an example of a Prussian blue print.  This color was popular in the 1840s and 1850s, and often appears as an ombre print.  These are some of the things that drew me to this top.

Above is a closeup of the alternate fabric between the blocks.  Several years ago, when I was considering becoming a quilt appraiser, I took this quilt top with me to an appraisal class at Paducah.  The teacher recognized this fabric as being a centennial print, meaning it was printed and sold to celebrate our country's birthday in 1876.  I had absolutely no idea.  I had focused only on the blocks and ignored the setting fabric.

The fabrics in the blocks, however, are much older, dating to the 1830s and 1840s.  Quite probably the old blocks were put together into a top with the Centennial fabric sometime after 1876.  (Maybe by a daughter or granddaughter?)  All the sewing is by hand.  As usual, I wonder why it was never quilted.  I won't be quilting it myself, of course, since it is so old and somewhat fragile.

Having this quilt top made me look into centennial prints.  I was surprised to find out how many there were, in lots of different patterns.  Click HERE for a short article by Barbara Brackman on the subject. 

When I found this next top wadded up in a box in an antique mall, I already loved it for all the wonderful brown fabrics cut in tiny squares.

But then I saw this!  I could hardly breathe!  (Sorry, old fabric does this to me, I can't help it.)

This particular Centennial fabric has a banner with the word Centennial, a star, and a red liberty cap.  The liberty cap was a tradition during the American Revolution that has since died out and frankly seems kind of odd to us now, but it found its place on many of these fabrics.

I've looked and looked, but only ever found about 10 pieces of this fabric in the quilt.  But the rest of the fabrics are great, too--lots of madder reds, great light prints, even a small amount of yellow and green.  So much fun for a fabric nut like me.

The pattern is a little unusual.  The pieced sections appear to be elongated hexagons made up of squares, with triangles on the long sides.  They are set together with squares on point.  If the squares in the elongated hexagons were half square triangles, I'd call this an Ocean Wave.

This was the closest pattern to it that I could find in Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns.  My quilt is obviously a more complicated variation.  Or a different pattern altogether.  If you know of a better fit, please tell me.

I haven't done the math (well, of course not!  I run screaming from math!) but there must be hundreds and hundreds of these tiny squares, shown here with a bobbin for comparison.  All stitches in the quilt top are by hand, no machine stitching even to attach the border.  

At some point, the top was a tied comforter.  After I bought it, I kept finding small pieces of black wool yarn that had been used to tie the top to a batting and backing.  This also explains the wear on it, as the comforter must have been used.

Because of the Centennial print and all the other browns, etc., I am sure this top was pieced prior to 1900.

I was inspired by the old tops to get out my reproduction Centennial prints. 

Many of them are very faithful to the originals.

I kept noticing the word "Peace" on these prints.

Then I remembered the time period.  Our Civil War ended only 11 years before the Centennial.  All adults living then would definitely remember the war, and all the suffering it brought.

It probably helped to think back to the country's founding and shared heritage, including George Washington.

In other news,my prizes for Hands 2 Help participation arrived!

My buddy and I liked the colorful chicken charm squares best.  Thanks, Mari and sponsors!

I finished my dark blue crayon.  Lots of crazy novelty prints as usual, like kites and apples and dog bones and sail boats.  Oh, and dinosaurs.  Always dinosaurs.

This is nearly all the sewing I got done this week, except for some Positivity 2022 blocks, which I will show tomorrow.  Summer is such a busy time of year.

What if you could play in soapy water outside, with lots of bathtub toys, but not in the bathtub?  The little guys had fun with this on a hot day.

Let's all have fun this week, whatever the weather!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy