Zig Zag Path Block Tutorial

I select quilt blocks and color palettes for the charity quilts that the Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild makes as a group, and I chose this traditional Zig Zag Path block for our next group quilt. I found a tutorial online already, but it was short on details and didn't give much room for error in the HSTs, so I've created a new tutorial here. The block is 12.5 inches unfinished.

Cutting List

Background (gray in photo)

• Three 5-x-5" squares

Color A (dark in photo)

• Two 5-x-5" squares
• One 4.5" square (set this aside until the final assembly)

Color B (light in photo)

• Three 5-x-5" squares

Piecing

1. Draw a diagonal line from one corner to the other on the 3 background squares and 1 Color A square. 
2. Pair up the squares as follows:
• two gray + two Color B
• one gray + one Color A
• one Color A + one Color B
3. Sew 1/4" away from both sides of the diagonal line on each block pair.
4. Cut on the line and press toward the darker fabric. You should have 8 half-square triangles.
5. Trim each HST to 4.5-x-4.5".
6. Arrange the HSTs and the remaining Color A square according to the photo above.
7. Assemble blocks into rows, pressing the seams in opposite directions on each row so that they will nest together.
8. Sew the rows together, and press seams open.
9. The block should be 12.5-x-12.5".

Multiple blocks arranged together create a spiraling effect.

Picket Fence Block Tutorial

I select quilt blocks and color palettes for the charity quilts that the Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild makes as a group, and I recently found a tutorial for this Picket Fence block. Unfortunately, when I tested the instructions, I found some errors, so rather than just share a link, I'm creating a new tutorial here.

Cutting List

White fabric

• Two 3 1/2" x 6 1/2" strips
• Two 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" squares
• Two 6 7/8" x 6 7/8" squares

Color A

• One 6 7/8" x 6 7/8" square
• One 3 7/8" x 3 7/8" square

Color B

• One 6 7/8" x 6 7/8" square
• One 3 7/8" x 3 7/8" square

Piecing (use a scant 1/4" seam allowance throughout)

1. Draw a diagonal line on one of the colored 3 7/8" squares. Put it with the other small colored square, and sew 1/4" away from each side of the line. Cut on the line, and press to the darker side. You should have two 2-color half-square triangles. Square them up to 3 1/2".
2. Draw a diagonal line on each of the colored 6 7/8" squares. Put each one with a 6 7/8" white square, and sew 1/4" away from the each side of the line. Cut on the line, and press to the colored side. Square them up to 6 1/2". You should have four white/color half-square triangles. You will only use one of each in the final block.
3. Arrange your block components to make sure the color placement is correct. Take care that the two small HSTs are positioned the same way, with the same color in the upper right.

Block Assembly

1. Sew a small white square to a small HST, and press toward the white. Sew the white rectangle to the side of that unit, and press toward the rectangle. This is the small HST quadrant.
2. Sew the small HST quadrant to the large HST next to it. Press toward the large HST.
3. Sew the two halves of the block together. Press the seam open.
4. The block should measure 12 1/2" x 12 1/2".

QuiltCon 2023 Workshop Projects

I'm officially 2 months behind on my goal of monthly blog posts, so I've taken a moment to be a little disappointed in myself, and now I'm going to try to catch up. First up is what would have been my February post...

My mom and I attended 2 workshops at QuiltCon 2023 in Atlanta. The first was Scrap Swap Social with Wendy Chow (@the.weekendquilter). Everyone brought scraps, which were sorted by color, and then Wendy instructed us in making a mini quilt using fusible grid interfacing. I used the grid interfacing many years ago, so I understood the basics, but Wendy shared some tips that made for a more precise completed project.

When I was selecting my scraps, I started with the abstract floral and then chose others that went with the color story. The low volume sashing and overall emphasis on peach are right in my comfort zone. I finished the 15x15 inch mini quilt top in the workshop and brought it home for quilting and binding. Now it hangs in my home office so I can admire it Monday through Friday.

The second workshop we took was Scraptacular Improv with Rossie Hutchinson (@rossiecrafts). Another scrap-focused class! Improv is not my strength or preference, but Rossie shared some strip-piecing and patchwork techniques that gave the improv process a little more structure and order.

For this workshop, we were told to bring in scraps or precuts. This is what I brought and arranged in a way that I thought was pleasing and could inform my piecing:

Not surprisingly, I leaned into peach and low volume neutrals, plus my other favorite, navy. During the workshop, I made the strawberry strip unit, navy checkerboards at the top, and green checkerboards that ended up in my finished piece:

This panel is approximately 18x32 inches. I plan to finish it and hang it on a wall in home. So that was my QuiltCon 2023 experience. Well, except for one significant souvenir...

This Juki machine replaces a secondhand BabyLock that I've had for a few years but never really loved or been that impressed with. We used these machines in Rossie's workshop, and the sale price on machines only used at QuiltCon was just too good to pass up. I look forward to logging many hours and cranking out projects (especially garments) on this new member of my Juki family (this makes 3!).

Neitherlands Quilt

 

In 2019, my mom and I attended QuiltCon in Nashville and took the Mystery Quilt Workshop with Jen Carlton Bailly (aka @bettycrockerass). We got copies of two of Jen's new patterns at the time, Find Your Fade and Neitherlands, a big set of curvy templates in various sizes, and the choice of patterns to work on in the workshop. We both decided to make a Neitherlands block, and I finished one during our time with Jen. I made one more block when I returned home, but then I packed the project away and put it on a shelf ... until last fall. I pulled the project box out again, grabbed some fabric, miscut that fabric as I knew I would (the templates and pattern are a little tricky to sort out when you haven't worked on it in a while) and then found my groove.

I had a lot of fun raiding my fabric stash to find prints that would work together and still provide the contrast necessary to get the full visual effect of the curved piecing. The dark centers are Peppered Cottons, which are yarn-dyed shot cottons, so they're not quite gray and not quite black.

The three blocks that make up this pattern all have different curves, so I got a lot of practice. I love cutting curved templates, but sewing them up can be tedious, so I had to tackle these in batches. I loved the results, though, so that helped motivate me to get each block assembled.

At almost 60x60 inches, this quilt was too big for me to want to quilt on my own, so I took it to my favorite local longarmer. I don't plan to keep this quilt for myself, so I was willing to try a pantograph that's a little wilder and more unusual than what I'm usually drawn to. This is Time Warp by Urban Elementz, and I love how the quilting curves play with the pieced curves, and the lines give the quilt amazing texture.

The backing, one of Anna Maria Horner's Echinacea prints, was destashed by a guild friend of mine, and I thought it was just perfect for this quilt that's already a riot of color and print. I did some print matching along the back seam, and it turned out really well. I couldn't decide what to use for binding until I found this pink print in my stash. The lines running across it have made it difficult for me to use in other projects, so I guess it was meant to be binding!

My Patchwork Chore Coat

 

One of my sewing/quilting goals for the year was to make 3 garments, and finishing this quilt coat this fall allowed me to check that item off my list. It was definitely the most complicated garment I've ever made -- and the first time I've made buttonholes, too (not sure what I was so worried about with those). So how did I get to this finished coat?

Earlier this year, a member of my local quilt guild came to a meeting wearing a quilt coat she had recently finished. Everyone was appropriately impressed, and there was some interest in turning quilt coats into a guild program. After some discussion, we scheduled a day retreat in September where members who wanted to make themselves a quilt coat could bring their pattern and textile and sew in community -- no formal instruction, just support and encouragement to actual make the thing instead of just think about it forever.

For my coat, I chose the Patchwork & Poodles Patchwork Chore Coat pattern. Designer Eliane has created a comfortable, boxy coat pattern that I thought would be a nice casual addition to my wardrobe and a good weight for fall in East Tennessee. You can see all of her iterations here. I didn't want anything too wild for my first coat (because I might hesitate to wear something really bold, and after all the work of making it, I didn't want it to hang in the closet forever), so I decided to combine a solid body with a pieced back. Pretty quickly, I landed on Essex yarn-dyed linen in black for the body because it would be a little heavier weight than quilting cotton, neutral and easy to pair with piecing. For the back, I chose the foundation paper-pieced pattern Twinkle by Amy Friend from the book Scraps, Inc. The blocks finish at 6 inches, and I thought that scale would be a good fit for the back of my coat.

With the body fabric and piecing design in place, I pulled a few different combinations of fabrics for the back. I ended up choosing the orchid purple/pink colorway because it would complement the piecing design and be colorful without being too wild (for me).

I turned out that I had a lot more fabric in this color than I would have guessed. After I pulled it all out (more than is pictured above), I only added one more to the mix, which I ordered along with my lining fabric. I love foundation paper piecing because it's methodical and produces precise results, and I love Amy's block pattern because she does all the work of telling you what size fabric to cut for each piece in the pattern. It saves so much time and error when all the pieces are already cut to fit.

I chose dark and light gray prints for the stars/points where the blocks meet up. I pieced 25 blocks for a 5 x 5 layout, producing a panel big enough to cut out the coat back pattern piece. Even though my panel was not centered, there was enough room to center the pattern piece on it, which was a welcome surprise.

I outsourced the quilting to a local longarmer to make things quick and stress-free. I gave her essentially a mini quilt (the pieced back with floral lining) and a whole-cloth quilt (the yarn-dyed linen with floral lining). She used medium gray thread and a pantograph called Rosemary that I had seen on Instagram and loved. The delicate design looks random but has good coverage without being too dense or too loose. After I got the quilted pieces back, I washed and dried them to allow for shrinkage and then laid out the pattern pieces to make a plan before cutting. I had some seams that I wanted to avoid, so I had to be strategic.

At the retreat, I began piecing and binding my coat. I sewed the binding on by machine but then finished it by hand, so that took more time than actually assembling the coat. It definitely wasn't fun sewing some of that binding over thick seams in awkward places, but it's worth it in the end to have clean, finished seams throughout.

After the sleeves were on and bound and the front edge was bound as well, all that was left to do was add closures. I considered toggles but found some buttons that I liked, but I've never made buttonholes, and the thought of doing so on this coat -- after all the work that had gone into it --  made me nervous. So I wore it around for about a month, holding it closed, before I decided to just do the buttons already. I figured out how to make the buttonholes on my machine and did a few tests ... and then did a few more to make sure I was happy with thread and placement. I had to unpick one side of one pocket to accommodate the buttonhole (and then sew it back down afterward), but that was the only hiccup in the process. I took a deep breath before cutting the buttonholes open, too, because there's no going back!

My sister, a nonquilter who was skeptical of how a quilt coat would end up looking and how I could possibly make it cool, took these photos for me and has admitted that, yeah, it turned out pretty cool. Will I make another? Maybe. Will it be wild(er)? Possibly.

Good Morning Sunshine Pillow

Earlier this year I converted my guest room into a full-time home office, replacing a bed that took up most of the room with an olive green velvet sleeper sofa from Edloe Finch. (The back lays down like a futon, but it looks much more like a regular sofa than the typical futon. It's firm but comfortable.) After months of it looking pretty bare, I decided to start making toss pillows for the sofa. For the first one, I used a template from the Good Morning Sunshine free quilt pattern from Heather Ross and Windham Fabrics:

I resized one sunburst template to fit a rectangle down pillow insert that I already had on hand. The toughest part was figuring out the rays -- what colors to use and in what order. I decided on a neutral background with the cutest tiny rainbows on it (from this bundle that I picked up at local Mountain Creek Quilt Shop) and a collection of solid raspberry, pink and coral scrap strips. The mustard yellow sun is also a scrap.

For the back, I pulled out a fat quarter of Tula Pink lady bugs that couldn't be a more perfect color match. I'm not sure how I got so lucky, but it pays to have a fabric stash! I also decided to put a zipper in the bottom seam in case I ever want to remove and change or wash the cover. I used this tutorial from Wren Collective and it worked like a dream.

I'm really happy with how this pillow turned out, and it looks so nice on the sofa every time I enter my home office. Now I'm brainstorming other pillows to add and considering a knitted or crocheted one to add some texture. I'm sure there will be more quilted pillows, too!

Inside-Outside Pouch

This month's finish is another bag -- actually the third I've made from this pattern and the one I'm keeping for myself.

The pattern is the Inside-Outside Pouch from bag/pouch/organizer designer extraordinaire Aneela Hoey. This pouch was on my list of sewing/quilting goals for 2021, so I pulled it out to make for my quilt guild's holiday gift swap. After finishing the first one, I decided to make one for my mom and one for myself, so I cut and sewed both at the same time, knowing that I wouldn't want to go back to the beginning and start all over again with each one.

There's a boxed bottom with a large center compartment, plus two narrower zipper compartments on either side with clear plastic so you can easily see what's inside. Construction was pretty easy to follow, but the very last step of hand binding around the side panels was the least pleasant. It was tricky to get into the corners, and the only curved needle I was able to find was too large to do the job. And that's why I just finished my last pouch this week after putting that binding step off for, oh, two months. :) Here it is out in the wild while I was waiting to pick up my mom at the airport:

Here are the other two -- the peach one for my mom and the hot pink/black/white one for my guild swap:

Laptop Bag

I've needed a bag for my laptop since I bought it a few years ago. Every time I would take my computer somewhere, I'd think, "Ugh I really need a bag for this." But then I'd forget until the next time. I considered buying one, but the well-padded ones aren't cheap, and I knew I could make one -- I even had a pattern that I'd used to make a bag for my mom 9 years ago! After traveling with my computer for the holidays this year and being frustrated with myself yet again, I decided it was finally time to get sewing.

The pattern I used is the Gadget Guard from Dog Under My Desk. I love the simplicity of the design, the snug fit and the fact that there's a picture for almost every step. For someone who only makes bags and pouches occasionally, this is very reassuring and helpful. Also, with more recent projects and especially bags, I've found that I get much less intimidated and frustrated if I spread the work out over a span of time. So this bag took me about a week of doing a few steps at a time and walking away when I made a mistake (sometimes repeatedly!) or got frustrated.

I chose two old-school Cotton + Steel (now Ruby Star Society) fabrics from my stash, paired with black zippers and a cool Alison Glass zipper pull that I found at my local quilt shop. I love how the bag turned out, and I feel good about finally tackling a project that I've been putting off for years. Not a bad way to start off the year!

Boxcar Tote

I can't remember when I started making this Boxcar Tote, but I do know that it was at a guild retreat and I didn't get very far before I ran out of batting to quilt the main body panels. Instead of using fusible interfacing on the main and interior pieces, I had decided to quilt the outside, giving it some texture and visual interest as well as softening up the structure a bit.

One of my goals this year (I've been referring to those a lot -- I'm really trying to get things done!) was to finally finish this tote. And I did! It took a while, but I worked on it in little bite-sized pieces over the course of a week or so. Also I'm really glad that I didn't use fusible interfacing on the whole thing because I had issues with my interfacing not fusing completely.

The fabrics are pretty bold. I bought them together with the intention of using them in this bag. My favorite print is the white with birds on the side panels. I hadn't planned to use that for the binding too, but when I got to that step, I couldn't decide what looked best. I like how the white continues from the side panels across the edge of the pockets and top of the bag. I used a light-colored fabric as the interior/lining so that I could easily find things and they didn't get lost in the deep, dark recesses.

One alteration I made was to extend the length of the straps a little bit (maybe 2 inches? I can't remember...) On the pattern and in photos I've seen of the bag made as instructed, the handles seem a little short to me -- good for holding but hard to get my hand through if I wanted to hang the bag from my wrist or forearm. I also divided the front pockets at the center seams, making 4 more-usable pockets instead of 2 large ones.

Big Finish: Penny's Stars Quilt

My niece Penny's room got a makeover from a woodland-themed nursery (with a coordinating quilt) to a more bright and cheerful toddler room. And a new room calls for a new quilt, of course. The design of her new twin-sized bed quilt was inspired by this mini quilt I made for her last year. It has these wonky stars on one side and a pixelated heart on the other side.

My sister/Penny's mom requested a larger version of the wonky stars with similar colors. I enlarged the pattern to 5" squares and started gathering print fabrics in colors and patterns similar to the mini quilt. I decided to swap the white background for Kona Pearl Pink for added interest (and a change of pace). The walls in the bedroom are pale pink, so a pink background fabric made sense. The basic pattern is Sparkle Punch by Oh Fransson/Elizabeth Hartman. A tutorial is available here.

Here's where I started, making wonky stars and getting them up on the design wall.

It got too wide for my design wall, so I had to add an extension of batting. Not the most elegant solution.

I had a drawing to reference, but with this sort of design and layout, I find it's easier just to put the pieces up and then move them around as needed to spread out the colors and prints.

The goal was a twin-sized quilt, and even though this came in a little short because I ran out of background fabric, I still had to lay the last row on the floor -- and keep the cat from pouncing on the blocks before I could get them sewn together.

I chose an Art Gallery Fabrics print for the backing and bought all the print yardage available at my local quilt shop, but it turned out to be a little short, so I added some pink to finish it off. If I had to do it again, I would use something with less contrast to finish the back. I was able to use scraps of the print for binding, though.

Due to its size (and my motivation), I sent this one to Pat, a fellow member of the Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild, for longarm quilting. We decided on an edge-to-edge design called Party Streamers - I think it turned out so well and is a good fit for the bright colors and fun pattern.

I gave the quilt to Penny and then tried to get some photos... With a 3-year-old, you get what you get (and what I got was a lot of underwear flashing!). She loves her Penny pillow, though, and was excited about the quilt to go with it. She even recognized some of the fabrics from other things I've made for her. So sweet.