Across the Sea Quiltalong Finish!!

Today is the big Ta-Dah day for our Across the Sea quiltalong. It seems like a long time since myself and my lovely friend Jennifer announced our Quiltalong back in August. I'll never forget the morning we posted it, waking up so nervous wondering if anyone would join us!  We quickly had some great peeps on board and it has just grown and grown since then, with over 100 people in the Flickr group - 100 people!!!!! It has been inspiring and amazing watching you all interpret the design, give it different looks with your fabric and layout choices and make it truly your own.

Today, I am really proud to be showing you my own finished version. Apologies for the quality of the pictures - they were taken in a misty drizzle this morning which is the best weather I have had in the 8 days since I finished it up. (I'm so jealous of peeps across the small pond in the UK who have had a glorious week of weather. Yes, I mean you Hadley and you Susan and you Nicky - I am completely jealous of your beautiful pics!!!) Despite the moaning I'm still going to bore you with lots of photos, just because I love it so much :-)

This quilt is for my beautiful new niece R who is just a few weeks old. I used a FQ bundle of Momo's Just Wing It for Moda, and mixed a few other fabrics in there for a little colour balance including the owl print from Its a Hoot, and a yellow print from Dream a Little Dream with Me by Keri Beyer for In The Beginning. I really love how the colours worked. It is girlie without being too pink and the aqua and green and touches of brown give it a nice depth of colour. I love Jennifer's cross block design and think she was inspired to include the scrappy border, it really ties it all together for me! I went superscrappy on my border because I just love that look, but I do wonder if it would have been even nicer with the longer border strips.

The back was my design and I really appreciate all the people who kept faith and made it - I know how strong the temptation is to not bother with a pieced back when you have the quilt front done, so thank you! I hope you feel it was worth the extra trouble - personally, I am very happy with it. I really love the bordered cross block, and I love how the other crosses just float there - particularly that cute little baby cross. Here's my finished back:

I used a white fabric with a baby pink polka dot for my backing - its hard to see here (thank you, crappy light conditions) but it really does add to the quilt and looks very nice.

When it came to the quilting, I went with an all over meandering stipple, a little larger than I normally stipple. I will definitely be using this sort of scale in the future, it was much quicker and looks just as nice - I was definitely over-quilting before!

You saw my binding last week - I'm still in love with it. I used to have some of this fabric in a blue/green colourway and I'm heading back into my local fabric shop this week to see if I can find it, its absolutely perfect for binding.

So there you go, I can't believe its all over! I'll be so sad that our little quiltalong crew is disbanding, but I know that I've made lots of new friends and discovered lots of great blogs in the course of this process.

I want to say a huge thank you to Jennifer, my partner in crime! She's just the best and we had lots of fun doing this, despite the challenges of being in two completely different time zones.
So, a really big reminder that you need to have your finished quilts posted in the Flickr group by tonight to be eligible for the giveaway this week. Winners will be announced on Wednesday. Also, instead of doing a linky of finished quilts which might be hard to manage between two blogs, I have set up a thread in the Flickr group for linking up your quilt finish posts - I hope you all go round and visit the blog links and spread the quilt love. That thread is here.

So, last but not least, here are my quilt stats in summary:


Quilt Stats:

Name: Across the Sea quilt
Made For: My niece R
Fabric: Just Wing It by Momo for Moda + some additional fabrics
Batting: Warm and White
Size: 46" x 58"
Quilting: Meandering stipple by me
Pattern: Mine and Jennifers quiltalong pattern.

Ok, and after all that I'll be doing a bit of linking myself! Linking up to Sew Modern Monday, Manic Monday and Fabric Tuesday with this one :-)

         

Assembling your Quilt Back : Across the Sea QAL

Yay! So we're finishing up our quilt backs today! I know there has been a little extra work in doing this pieced back but I hope that you feel it is worth it!

So, this part is very straightforward. First we are going to piece the blocks into the horizontal rows, and then piece the rows together. One thing to note - I am most definitely not a pinner when it comes to piecing where I can get away with it, but you DO need to pin today - pin your blocks and strips when piecing your rows, and pin your rows when you are piecing them together. In particular you need to pin the bordered cross blocks quite frequently when you are piecing them into rows to stop your fabric stretching.

Lets get started! First job is to piece the cross blocks into the rows, so you need your strips of fabric which were cut 12.5" high by various widths. (You do not need the long strips cut to 9.5" high at this point, they are for the top and bottom of the backing so leave aside. So in the next part when I refer to 9.5" strips I mean the strips cut 9.5" x 12.5".) For people making the lap size backing, please read through the baby size directions so you understand how I am doing the layout instructions as I don't have pictures for you unfortunately.

Baby size:

Take 1 x 33.5" strip and 1 x 9.5" strip and your bordered cross block. Right sides together, create your first row by sewing the 3 pieces together so that the 33.5" piece is to the left of the cross block and the 9.5" piece is to the right. Remember to pin for accurate piecing here!


For the purposes of showing the layout for the rest of the rows in a simple format, the layout summary that I am going to use is as follows. Sew pieces left to right as written:


Row 1: 33.5 strip | bordered cross block | 9.5 strip

I hope this layout format makes sense in light of the pic above. Proceed now to piece the other 3 rows as follows:

Row 2:    9.5 strip | Block 3 | 33.5 strip
Row 3:  33.5 strip | Block 2 | 9.5 strip
Row 4:  21.5 strip | Block 1 | 21.5 strip

Easy peasy, right? Now all that's left is to piece your rows together. You have 6 rows - the 4 rows above plus the two 9.5" x 54.5" strips of background fabric you put aside earlier. I like to piece the top 3, then the bottom 3, then piece the two halves together in the middle but do it however works for you. You will need a flat, clean space to pin - luckily, my kitchen table is just long enough for the baby size. Piece together the 4 rows as indicated above, with a 9.5 x 54.5 strip at the very top (over Row 1, see the top pic for a visual idea), and the other 9.5 x 54.5 at the very bottom under Row 4. Remember to pin these long pieces together!

Lap Size:

As above, set aside your two 9.5" x 66.5" strips until you have finished piecing the rest of the rows.

Piece your cross blocks into the rows as follows:

Row 1:    9.5 strip | bordered cross block | 45.5 strip
Row 2:  33.5 strip | Block 1 | 21.5 strip
Row 3:  45.5 strip | Block 2 | 9.5 strip
Row 4:  21.5 strip | Block 3 | 33.5 strip
Row 5:    9.5 strip | Block 2 | 24.5 strip | bordered cross block | 9.5 strip

Again - as per the baby size, piece your rows together as you wish. You have 7 rows - the 5 rows as per the above instructions plus the two 9.5" x 66.5" strips of background fabric you put aside earlier. I would piece the top 3, then the bottom 4, then piece the two halves together in the middle but do it however works for you. You will need a flat, clean space to pin. Piece together the 5 rows as indicated above, with a 9.5 x 66.5 strip at the very top (over Row 1, see the top pic for a visual idea), and the other 9.5 x 66.5 at the very bottom under Row 5. Remember to pin these long pieces together!


Ok everyone, everyone still breathing? You're done! Yay! Now go make a nice cup of tea and relax :-) Oh, and don't forget to go enter my Kona Solids giveaway if you haven't already - its open until 9pm tonight! As always, let me know any questions.

See you back here on Thursday when we will talk about basting and quilting!

Piecing your Back Cross Blocks : Across the Sea QAL

Hi everyone, we are moving on today to piece the small number of cross blocks for the quilt back. If you're looking for the Kona solids giveaway it's here. The cross blocks for the back are very straightforward so lets get working!

First grab your fabric for each block:

Take your Block 1 fabric and make up as per the cross blocks for the front of the quilt, and trim back to 12.5" square.

The fabric for Blocks 2 & 3 each contain 4 longer strips from the background fabric. For each block, set aside the longer strips and make up crosses as per the method for the first cross block, again using scant quarter inch seams. Block 2 will make up to 6.5" square, and Block 3 to 9.5" square. Once you have each of the inner blocks completed, add on your background sashing strips to bring the squares up to 13". Add the shorter strips to each side first and press your seams, before adding the final strips. (For people making the lap size quilt, you will need to make an extra Block 2)

 Each block should then be trimmed back to 12.5" square.

 
Last we need to make the bordered cross block. This block makes up to 12.5" square, not 13" so it is important to piece this accurately. Please make sure you use a scant quarter inch seam - this is really important, it comes out exactly right if you do. Also, on this block, your seams should all be pressed open.

Firstly, divide out your fabric pieces so you can see clearly what you have.

Start by sewing your cross arm pieces together. First sew your 4.5" x 1.5" background and border fabric pieces together along the long edge, then sew your cross arm piece to these:

Do this for all 4 cross arms. Next, piece two of your "arm blocks" to the central piece to give your central row.

So far, so good, right? Next are the corner blocks.

Start by chain piecing all the pieces as follows.

Take your set of 2.5" x 1.5" pieces (12 border fabric pieces, 12 background pieces) and piece 4 sets together, short ends together as on the left of the picture below. Then sew the other 8 sets together long sides together as on the right of the picture.

Then take the 1.5" square border pieces and piece each to one of the 3.5" x 1.5" background pieces, as in the picture below. (I swear, that seam is straight its just the way the fabric is lying underneath!!)

Press all your seams open, they layout your pieces to assemble your corner blocks as follows:

First, sew together the two central pieces as shown below:

Then, sew the top strip to the central piece, right sides together. It's important that your seams are matched here. I like to match the seams, then pin very close on either side. I leave the pins in when I'm sewing so it doesn't shift at all. 3 years of sewing over pins and I've only broken a needle once!

Now, sew the bottom strip on to the other side of the central piece and hey presto, you have a nice little corner block!! Repeat this for the other 3 corner blocks.

Iron all your seams open. You are now ready to assemble your block!

Sew together the corner blocks to the middle "cross arm" blocks on each of the top and bottom rows. Match your seams carefully when doing this. I normally don't pin much when I am piecing, but you do need to pin these seams carefully to make sure the fabric doesn't shift around.

Finally, sew all three rows together. Again make sure to match your seams and pin carefully before sewing. Take your time and make sure your seams are lying flat as you sew. Ta dah! Your bordered cross block is done. Isn't it cute? If you're making the lap size one, go make a second one now :-)

Have fun and I'll see you Monday when we'll assemble our rows to finish our quilt backing. Woohoo!!

If anything is not clear, please let me know in the comments or email me to fairyfacedesigns@gmail.com

Cutting your Backing Fabric : Across the Sea QAL

OK!!! We're moving on to the back of the quilt today! Exciting times. I hope by now you are totally in love with your quilt top and just can't wait to get started on the back.

This back is based on the concept of crosses arranged randomly to give a floating effect. It might look a little bit tricky for a beginner but I promise you its not! I've done all the Maths on it (for those of you who know me and are laughing at that statement, you will no doubt have already guessed that it took a whole weekend and my brain coming close to imploding, lol!) and will walk you through it. There is piecing, but it is in big, wide strips and should come together quite quickly. The only fiddly bit is the bordered cross block which is straightforward really, it just needs a little bit of extra care when piecing because the pieces are small. And its only 1 block (or two for the lap size) so its definitely worth the extra bit of work for that nice effect.

So, lets get started, will we?  Please read this post fully before starting to cut!!

Cutting Instructions:

For the large backing fabric strips cut as follows. All the strips are cut Width of Fabric (WOF), as the amount of fabric required for continuous strips would be very high. Also, I don't mind seams in my strips as they disappear once they are quilted. However, if you wish to have continuous strips, and have sufficient fabric, please follow Jennifer's directions for how to cut long continous strips. My instructions assume that your fabric is 43" wide (excluding selvedges). If it is less than this you will need to cut more strips.

Prepare your fabric for cutting. I strongly recommend reading this tutorial before starting. You might even want to cut a small test strip first to make sure your lines are straight. I used an extra wide fabric, so I needed to fold it twice. However, for standard width fabric, you only need fold it once. Line up your selvedges and your raw & folded edges against your lines on your cutting board.

Cut for a straight edge, then cut:

Baby size:
4 x 12.5" strips
3 x 9.5" strips

Lap size:
7 x 12.5" strips
3 x 9.5" strips

As my ruler is 6.5" wide, I use the cutting board measuring lines for my measurements. To get an accurate half inch cut, I line up the half inch line on my ruler with the relevant line on my cutting board. This gives me an accurate cut of the last half inch.

I know you all are aware of this but I feel I need to make sure you can hear your mother/grandmother/home economics teacher's advice ringing in your ears: Measure TWICE, cut once! These strips are so wide, its easy to make a mistake!!!!

Next we will cross cut the WOF strips to give our backing pieces.

Baby Size

Take 3 of your 12.5" WOF strips and carefully cut the selvedges off. Then measure and cross cut the first strip at 9.5". This should leave you with a 9.5" piece, and a 33.5" strip. (If your fabric is wider than 43", trim the longer piece to 33.5".) Repeat this twice more, which will leave you with 3 x 33.5" strips and 3 x 9.5" strips.

Take the last 12.5" WOF strip and lay flat. Cut off your selvedges. Measure 21.5" from your cut edge and cut giving you 2 x 21.5" strips.

Set aside these pieces. Next, take your 9.5" WOF strips and cut the selvedges off. Take one of the strips and cross cut 2 pieces 12" each. These two pieces will be sewn to each of your WOF strips to give you 2 long strips measuring 54.5".


* If you have extra wide fabric, or sufficient quantity to cut continuous lengths, you use the technique in Jennifer's post to cut your fabric in a different way, once you end up with the required pieces above.


Lap Size

Take 2 of your 12.5" WOF strips and carefully cut the selvedges off. Then measure and cross cut the strips at 9.5". This should leave you with a 9.5" piece, and a 33.5" strip from each WOF strip. (If your fabric is wider than 43", trim the longer piece to 33.5".)

Take the next 12.5" WOF strip and lay flat. Cut off your selvedges. Measure 21.5" from your cut edge and cut giving you 2 x 21.5" strips.

For your next 12.5" WOF strip, cross cut a 24.5" strip and a 9.5" strip from it. Then make two further cross cuts to give you two 3" strips. Each 3" piece will be joined to a WOF strip to give you 2 x 45.5" strips (the join will not appear in your quilt back but is needed in order for the strips to line up properly).

Lastly, from the 5th 12.5" WOF strip cross cut a 9.5" piece. Set aside the rest of this strip to use in a moment.

The final two 12.5" WOF strips just need the selvedges cut off leaving 2 x 43" strips.

Next, take your three 9.5" WOF strips and cut the selvedges off. Take one of the strips and cross cut a piece 24" long.  Then take the leftover part of the 5th 12.5" wide strip above, and trim it to a width of 9.5" to match the 3 pieces you have cut. Then cross cut your new 9.5" wide strip to 24". This will leave you with 2 strips measuring 9.5" x 24" .These two pieces will be sewn to each of your WOF strips to give you 2 long strips measuring 66.5".


* If you have extra wide fabric, or sufficient quantity to cut continuous lengths, you use the technique in Jennifer's post to cut your fabric in a different way, once you end up with the required pieces above.


Set aside your backing strips and move on to cut your fabric for your cross blocks.

For these crosses, I used some of the same fabric I had used on the front crosses, with a some new fabric mixed in. Whether you want to repeat, or go for new fabrics is totally up to you! By now you'll be familiar with how to cut these, so I am going to give the measurements only. If you need help with cutting, just drop me an email.


We are making 4 different cross blocks.
If you are making the baby size, cut 1 of each size.
If you are making the lap size, you will need to cut one of each size, plus an extra Block 2 and an extra Block 4, giving 6 cross blocks in total.

For these blocks, because there are so many pieces in similar sizes, particularly for the background fabric, I recommend separating each block out clearly while you are cutting. I put all my pieces for each block into small ziploc bags as I cut so I can't mix them up.

Block 1: Same as cross block for quilt front.
Cross fabric - 1 piece (4.5" x 4.5"), 4 pieces of (4.5" x 2.5")
Background fabric - 4 pieces of (4.75" x 4.75"), 4 pieces of (4.5" x 2.75")

Block 2:

Cross Fabric - 1 piece (2.5" x 2.5"), 4 pieces (2.5" x 1.5")

Background Fabric - 4 pieces (2.5" x 2.5"), 4 pieces (2.5" x 1.5"), 2 pieces (6.5" x 3.75") and 2 pieces (13" x 3.75")

Block 3:

Cross Fabric - 1 piece (3.5" x 3.5"), 4 pieces (2" x 3.5")

Background Fabric - 4 pieces (2" x 3.5"), 4 pieces (3.5" x 3.5"), 2 pieces (13" x 2.25"), 2 pieces (9.5" x 2.25")

Block 4: (Bordered Cross Block)

Cross Fabric - 1 piece (4.5" x 4.5"), 4 pieces (4.5" x 2.5")

Border Fabric - 4 pieces (1.5" x 4.5"), 12 pieces (2.5" x 1.5"), 4 pieces (1.5" x 1.5")

Background Fabric - 4 pieces, (1.5" x 4.5"), 12 pieces (2.5" x 1.5"), 4 pieces (3.5" x 1.5")

Note re: Bordered Cross Block:

When you are cutting the fabric for your cross "border", its up to you if you want to go scrappy, or keep it all the same fabric, and whether to contrast or compliment the cross fabric. I went with contrasting. The only thing that is important is not to use a directional fabric print for the cross borders as it will make it really difficult to figure out the placement of the fabric.

Ok, have you got all that? I hope it makes sense, if not, leave me a comment. We'll be piecing the cross blocks on Thursday, and then assmbling it all next Monday!

And, remember to check back Wednesday when I have a great Kona giveaway coming up!