Size Matters blocks - January

This year I decided to join the Moda U (I think that's what it's called. Update: apparently if is officially called Moda Friendship) group at the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe down in Ozark.  We will be doing the Size Matters blocks from the Moda blog-hop back in the fall.  Each month we will be getting the directions for two or three of the blocks and making them in whatever size we like.

There are 27 blocks in the series and I only wanted to use each block once, which creates something of a challenge.  I also liked the idea of using more than one size of block, since we would be getting directions for multiple sizes.  After much consideration, and much sketching, I came up with a layout and a size that I liked and figured up how much fabric to buy.

I went down to the quilt shop and wandered through the various fabric collections.  I had originally considered something bright and spring-like, but couldn't settle on anything that I liked well enough for the design I had chosen.  I finally decided to ditch the bright/spring idea and went with a layer cake of "Sweet Pea" fabric from Kansas Troubles.  They have great lights and darks in the collection.  However, I ended up getting my background fabric from the "Icicle Kisses" line, also by Kansas Trouble.  I really think that anything from Kansas Troubles would work well in the quilt, and I plan to pick up a few fat quarters from some of the other KT lines the next time I'm in the shop.

Here is a picture of the blocks I made from the January instructions.

Two are six inch blocks and one is a 12 inch block.  As the diagram above indicates, I will be making 15 blocks in the larger size and 12 blocks in the smaller size.  After making these blocks, I'm thinking that one layer cake may not be enough fabric for the blocks anyway, so I'm really likely to need those extra fat quarters before all is said and done.  And, of course, making blocks that I'm not happy with and starting over doesn't help matters any either.

I liked the idea of using a dark and a medium fabric on this block instead of a dark and a light.  I thought that having the lighter colored background in the fabric would give enough contrast, but I just wasn't happy with it.  It is much more striking in the dark and light fabrics.

January block - Guild Quilt

Our block for January was a Christmas Tree block.  I used four different green fabrics for the tree, graduating in value from darkest at bottom to brightest at the top.  I haven't decided yet if I'm going to put any embellishments on it.  If I do, it won't be until after it is quilted, most likely.  If I decide to have it quilted, I would have to take the embellishments off first anyway.

Sunshine & Flowers

Last night, I finally finished the first of the stacked coins baby quilts that I made from the Riley Blake jelly roll.  I decided to name it "Sunshine & Flowers" because the fabric line is called "my sunshine" and the main fabric of the quilt has flowers on it.

I machine quilted it in the ditch around all of the "coins".  As it turns out, that makes for a lot of thread ends to bury.  I may try to come up with a different plan before I quilt the other stacked coins baby quilt.  I really pleased with how the quilting turned out, though.  No puckers at all.  The combination of a new sewing machine, with a good walking foot, and spray basting adhesive really worked out well.

I also machine bound it.  I used green thread to match the border and binding fabric and used a feather stitch to sew it down.  It is not as neat as if it were hand turned, but it looks okay and it should be very sturdy for regular use.

The final measurements on the quilt were 38 x 38 inches square.

A race to the finish

This is the final baby quilt top from that Riley Blake - My Sunshine jelly roll that I ordered from Missouri Star Quilt Co.  Instead of doing stacked coins, I made this one into a race quilt, which had actually been the intention for all three quilts in the beginning.  This one measures 40 inches square.  I think that this one would also make a nice little quilt for a baby girl.  So many tops, so few finished quilts. . .

Stacked Coins in Pink

This little quilt top is made from the same jelly roll as the last quilt top.  (There is a third one yet to come.)  It measures approximately 38 inches x 38 inches and uses 13 jelly roll strips, just like the last one.  I'm not sure yet which baby girl will be getting this quilt once it is finished.  I have two cousins expecting baby girls and there is a new baby girl at our church.  I guess only time will tell.