Quick+Easy Quilts October/November 2020

Do you have a favorite quilting technique, pattern, or color that makes your projects truly “YOU”? For me, I love bright colors (particularly rainbow), fun novelty prints, English paper piecing, and classic quilt blocks. For this issue, I wanted our designers to submit designs that say “I did it my way.” They sent foundation paper piecing, hand embroidery, quilts that use up every last scrap, and even a gardening project! It was so much fun to see what makes them sing. My favorite holiday is Halloween, so I often find myself making last minute projects just for fun. We have several quilt patterns in our pages that you can make quickly. Haunted Geese on the cover is by Jen Daly. She loved the fabric collection so much, she made two quilts.…

Karen Bialik fabricaddict.net Karen started quilting when she was 4 years old. She would wait for her brothers to finish the cereal so she could use the box for quilt templates. She lives in Alberta, Canada. Natalie Crabtree Instagram @njcrabtree Natalie lived in Kyoto, Japan near the Nishijin Textile district for a year with her husband and considers it the most fulfilling time in her life. She lives in Mason, Ohio. Stephanie Cunnyngham sissybellesews.com Stephanie lives in an old farmhouse on 2 acres with her husband and two sons. When not playing with her boys or working as a nurse, she is redecorating or sewing. She lives in Thorntown, Indiana. Jen Daly jendalyquilts.com Jen is a designer, quilt book author, and Etsy shop owner. A soon-to-be empty-nester, she plans to lean heavily on her Goldendoodle Casey to make the transition. She…

10 Tips for paper Piecing Ready to give paper piecing a try? Paper (foundation) piecing has been around for hundreds of years. Sometimes you can still find antique quilts with the papers left inside. Even quilters back then knew that using a foundation adds stability and precision to your piecing. Here are some tips for success! 1 Make paper copies of the foundation, or transfer the design onto scrap fabric or muslin by tracing. Newsprint or photocopy paper work just fine. 2 Make all photocopies at the same time, if possible. Photocopiers can distort the image to some degree, and that’s okay, but to minimize this distortion, always photocopy from the same original. 3 Small stitches are important. Set your stitch length to 2.0mm and use a 90/14 needle. The combination of larger needle…

finished size: 78" × 90" finished blocks: 42 (12") BLOCKS About 20 years ago, my mother asked me to finish piecing a quilt top for her. It was a simple 3-strip Rail Fence. She had all the strips sewn together, all I had to do was cut the blocks and make the top. It didn’t take long, three or four days. She was very happy with it. My problem was the stack of strip set ends. I just couldn’t throw them out. They had to be good for something. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I could stitch a narrow strip to the sides of the blocks to make them square. I alternated the direction of the strip set centers and I had my new favorite quilt block. As I have become…

1. To make a band, pair two strips with right sides facing and raw edges aligned. Stitch with ¼" seam. Press flat to set stitches. 2. Fold top strip back and gently press seam open to one side. Band should be straight, without any distortion along outside edges. 3. Add third strip to complete band and press as described in previous steps. 4. Measure height of band to ensure it matches the required measurements.Aligning horizontal lines on ruler with long edge and seam lines of strip set,trim uneven end of strip set. 5. Keeping horizontal lines on ruler aligned with band, cut required width segments. 6. If making bands with more than three strips, join strips in pairs and then sew pairs together. Products used: Havel’s Self-Healing Cutting Mat, Havel’s 45mm Rotary Cutter, and Havel’s 6"…

finished size: 25" × 25" I enjoy designing projects within the parameters of pre-cuts. For this wall hanging, I challenged myself to use 2½" squares. What could be easier than sewing the squares together to make one large, patchwork square? Once the squares were sewn together, the next design question was how to dress up the simple design. I deduced that a wide border of light background fabric would provide space for decorative machine quilting and surmised that the quilting could be enhanced by appliqué overlays. I studied the theme print used in the outer border and sketched comparable leaf shapes which I drew on the light border fabric with water soluble marker. After quilting the leafy vine with dark thread, I machine appliquéd simple leaf shapes, placing them slightly off to…