| This charming quilt tells a simple winter-time story using embroidered
patterns. It will be loved by boys and girls alike, and makes an excellent
Christmas or New Year's gift. It features designs from the Making
a Snowman and Snowmen
Redwork Set. |
Click to enlarge
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The finished size of the quilt is about 50" x 63".
The basic block is very simple: a large plain square framed by strips
made of two-color squares. We used "Thangles" 2.0 templates to make the
two-color squares.
We used about 1 1/2" yard of white fabric for the blocks and sashing,
1 yard of pale blue fabric for the blocks and sashing, 1 yard of medium
blue fabric for the blocks and the first border and 1 1/2 yard of dark
blue fabric for the blocks and the second border.
You will also need batting, and fabric for the backing and binding. |
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Cutting:
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| All measuremesnts are based on 40" wide fabrics. |
Out of white fabric, cut
twelve 8 1/2" x 8 1/2" squares (blocks);
thirty one 1 1/2" x 12 1/2" strips (sashing).
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Out of pale blue fabric, cut
fourteen 1 1/2" x 12 1/2" strips (sashing);
twenty four 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" squares (sashing);
and forty 2 1/2" x 10 1/2" strips (blocks).
Out of medium blue fabric, cut
twenty 2 1/2" x 10 1/2" strips (blocks)
eighteen 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" squares (sashing)
six strips 2 1/2" x 40" (1st border) - stitch them together and subcut
into 2 strips 2 1/2" x 46" and two strips 2 1/2" x 54".
Out of dark blue fabric, cut
twenty 2 1/2" x 10 1/2" strips (blocks)
fourteen strips 2 1/2" x 40" (2nd border and binding). Stitch seven strips
together and subcut them into 2 strips 2 1/2" x 46" and 2 strips
2 1/2"x 63". Stitch the other seven strips together for the binding. |
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Block Assembly:
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| Seam allowances are 1/4". |
| Following the directions given in the Thangles intructions, make ten
2 1/2" x 2 1/2" squares out of the pale blue and medium blue strips and
ten squares out of the pale blue and dark blue strips. If you do not have
Thangles, these squares are not hard to make without them, as you can see
from the picture below. For the entire quilt, you will need 120 dark and
pale blue squares, and 120 medium and pale blue squares. |
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| Working with one block at a time, lay the two-color squares out around
the white square. You can make all the blocks indentical or give each one
slight variations, depending on how you position the squares. Make 12 blocks. |
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Top Assembly:
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| Arrange the blocks in rows, placing a white sashing strip between the
blocks. Sew white and pale blue strips at the ends of the row. |
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| Assemble the sashing to go between the rows. Make five sashing strips
using the white strips and pale blue and medium blue squares: |
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| Sew two more sashing strips using the pale blue strips and medium blue
and pale blue squares. |
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| Join all the rows and sashing strips: |
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| Attach the first border. First attach the left and the right medium
blue border strips, then attach the upper and lower medium blue border
strips. |
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| Attach the second border. First attach the upper and the lower dark
blue border strips, then attach the left and right dark blue border strips. |
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| Now the top is ready for embroidery. We chose redwork designs from
the Christmas
Redwork section. For embroidery on quilts, we like to use low-loft
DreamPoly batting, instead of stabilizer. After each design is embroidered,
we cut away the excess stabilizer as close to the stitches as possible.
This technique will make the embroidery puffy and you will get trapunto-like
results. |
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Finishing the Quilt:
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| Now place the backing on a flat surface (table) face down. Cover with
batting. Spread the top over it.
Pin all three layers together with 1" pins and start quilting. We quilted
along the lines of the embroidery to fix it in place, meandered around
the embroidery and free-motioned the sashing and the borders.
After the quilting is finished, press the work with heavy steam and
square the work -- all corners should be 90 degrees and opposite sides
should be of the same length.
Finish the raw edges with binding, using your favourite method. |
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Here are some close-ups:
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| Use this quilt as an exercise in free-motion quilting. Start in the
center and move towards the borders. |
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| We hope that you liked our idea and will come up with many of
your own. |
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Happy stitching!
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Back to Making
a Snowman
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Back to Snowmen
Redwork Set.
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Back to the Projects Page
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