selvage spools made easier

The Crystal Lake Modern Quilt Guild is hosting three block lotteries this year, and the first one takes place in April. We chose the Selvage Spools block from this Riley Blake 2013 Block of the Month program.  You can download and print the Riley Blake block directions here, but you'll probably want to keep reading to discover an easier way to make this block.

The block is composed of four 6" spools to finish at 12" square (12.5" unfinished).

The original pattern uses a template and partial seams - no thank you.  When Lorrie and I met earlier this week to sew the sample blocks for our Sunday guild meeting I made some quick pattern modifications to make it easier.  Easier = Better, am I right?!  Here is my pattern tester block - spot on at 6.5" unfinished :)

I created this tutorial a little differently by adding text to each photo of the steps.  I hope you'll find this easier to follow :)

The materials you'll need for one block:

Using a pencil lightly mark a diagonal line on the wrong side of each 2" square.

Choose selvages with fun words and lots of color dots!

The sewing instructions begin here:

You'll want to center the wording/color dots on the background square.

I sewed this piece about 1/8" from the bottom of the background square so the words wouldn't be cut off later in a seam allowance.

You can choose to cover the printed fabric area of the first selvage or not.

We used 6-7 selvages per spool.

Press these seams toward the background fabric.

Make sure you carefully place the marked diagonal lines as shown.

Press away from the center.

Your spool block should measure 6.5" square now. 

These final seams are all pressed toward the spool end - not the background fabric.

And there you have it - a 12" square finished selvage spool block!

Thanks to Riley Blake for the original pattern and inspiration for this fun quilt block!

one last finish from 2011

Presenting "It's the Hap-happiest Season of All" - designed and named by Thing 2, machine pieced by yours truly, and machine quilted by a wonderful lady named Carol Linder. Finished on December 30!

Thing 2 and I followed the pattern "Sweet Pea" by Heather Mulder Peterson; it was very simple to cut, piece, and also fat-quarter friendly! I think we used 15 fat quarters and 1.5 yards of dots on white from the 2010 Riley Blake Christmas collection (the name escapes me, but it was definitely 2010).

The pattern calls for appliques of large, daisy-like flowers, but obviously snowflakes are more appropriate here. We found some clip art of snowflakes online and enlarged two different ones for the appliques on this quilt.

I tried (again) to use Steam-a-Seam Lite for this project, but I just seem to have the worst luck with that stuff. It didn't adhere to the fabric very well, so when I tried to pull the final backing off, most of the adhesive on the snowflake edges came right off with it. Grrrrr. But I just edge-stitched all around each snowflake to secure them, so it's all good now :)

Another shot of the fun fabrics. Thing 2 fell really hard for these prints!

The red and white stripe was cut on the bias to make the binding, which was attached front and back by machine. So easy and quick! And check out that cozy flannel backing :)

Next time I make a bias binding I'm going to show you the wonderful ruler I use to cut it. Maybe you all already know about it, but I think it's the greatest little ruler ever. And while I'm at that, I'll also show you how I attach the binding by machine. It's nothing revolutionary, but I think it makes for a very nice finish when you don't want to take the time to hand-sew or you need more durability for machine washing.

Just a couple more shots of the amazing snowflake pantograph quilting.

I chose a light teal/turquoise thread, and I'm so happy with it. That little bit of color adds so much more depth than white thread.

This quilt finished off my sewing year. I went back through my goal list for 2011, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that I accomplished quite a lot of my goals. Here's a list of finishes. Gosh that word "finish" sounds so good to me (extreme procrastinator and easily-distracted-by-new-projects-quilter that I am!)

7 Pillows
7 Wall or Lap Quilts
4 Baby quilts
4 placemats sets/table runners
2 Bags
1 Tuffet
1 Memo Board
1 Tree Skirt

27 finishes!! I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't made that goal list. Kinda puts the pressure on for this year though, huh?

I know it's quite belated, but Happy New Year 2012 to all of you friends out there!

MT mini-swap sent and received!

Am I a lucky girl or what? Cornelia in Germany sent me this lovely mini-quilt as part of the Modify Tradition swap. It is made from all Kaffe fabrics with a white background, and I just LOVE it! She named her design "Flying Birds", and it does look like four birds flying into the center of the block.


She hand quilted it (very impressive! I have yet to hand quilt anything) and put this embroidered label on the back. It is hanging on the wall in my sewing room, where I can see it and smile every time I walk into the room. THANK YOU CORNELIA - you do beautiful work, and I am very appreciative of your efforts to make it especially for me!

I also sent my mini-quilt out to my secret partner today. Here it is in all it's summery, Riley Blake goodness...

And here's a sneak peek at the back with the label cropped so you can't see her name ;)

I hope she loves it!

conquering the procrastination bug

My name is Shelley, and I am a procrastinator. Been one ALL my life. Sometimes I think I should just embrace it as part of the wonderful-ness of me, but most of the time I am trying to fix it. And I am only marginally successful at that.

But since joining an online mini-quilt swap, an online bee, and signing on for a row quilt exchange in my real-life sewing group, I am really going to have to buckle down and beat this bug!

Good news is that week one of Procrastinators Anonymous has gone quite well for me. Today I finished the top for my Modify Tradition Mini-Quilt Swap! Here's a sneak peek:

Hope my secret swap sister likes it!