22 May 2015

Purple(ish) Quilt

Calista informed me a little while back that her blanket (crib-sized) was too small for her. Since she is in a twin bed, I figured I'd humor her and so the idea of a new blanket for her was born.
Actually, a few days before this conversation, I saw this raw-edge rag quilt on facebook. I thought it looked fun but had no real reason to make a quilt... until Calista's told me she was too big for her britches, so to speak. So, project time!
A sneak peak at the finished quilt!
First up, I did some figuring, and decided on 165 squares - 11x15. The squares end up being 6x6", but are initially cut to 7x7" to allow for trimming and seam allowance. The makes the the total size of the quilt 66x90".

So, next up, cutting up all the squares. Because there is no "backing," the front and back is all cut into squares like this.
A lot of them.
330 of them, to be precise.
Plus, not pictured, 165 squares of batting. The batting was cut 6.5x6.5", although it probably should've been just 6x6". Oh well!


After they were all cut, it was time to assemble and quilt each square, individually.
I just randomly grabbed two of my cut squares, put some batting between them, and sewed away.
So, for Calista's purple(ish) quilt, there is no rhyme or reason. For this square, this is the front,
and this is the back. A nice big X through the center.
And repeat...
165 times.
No big deal.

Around this point, I started to doubt the blogger who posted my inspiration. She said she did it all, except the cutting, in a single (long) night. I don't think I could've done that...

Now that all the squares are quilted, it's time to make them pretty and perfect. Trimming!
 I splurged a little a bought a 6.5" square to use as my guide, and I'm happy I did.
I trimmed away, having Veronica Mars playing in the background and... making a mistake or two. I am not perfect, and neither is this quilt. But that is okay.
Just a small sample of the ends that got trimmed off.

Once all the squares were trimmed, it was finally time to start sewing them together!

I sewed the squares in the rows first, using 1/4" seams. Because this quilt is supposed to show the raw edges, I had to sew each square with the back sides together. It was a little counter-intuitive to what I've been used to, but I got the hang of it.
Sewing (with the "right" side up)
The top after the seam was done, with the raw edge visible
If you're "lucky," like me, you might have some assistance with your sewing. 
She had the foot pedal, and would depress it with her hand when I told her to and stop when I told her to... most of the time.

This part of the project went pretty fast, and in no time, I had all of my squares turned into strips.
The mess of strips!

I did the 11-square strips, and then after all (15) of those were sewed together, I started sewing the strips together, one by one.

Finally, I "finished" the edge of the quilt by straight sewing 1/4" in from the edge, so that the outside edge has the raw finish, too.

And so, after all that, it was done and ready to surprise Calista.
Do you think she liked it?
Enough to want to jump on it!
And that is high praise indeed.

So, finished stats: one HUGE 66x90" blanket - maybe a little too big, haha, 165 squares of goodness.
Materials used: Lots of scrap fabric, a decent handful of fat quarters and a few small cuttings (0.4m/little less than 0.5 yards), TWO whole spools of thread, lots o' batting, a decent chunk of time, a little bit of blood, but no real tears!
And it's a quilt that should be able to grow up with her for many years to come.

1 comment:

Wodin said...

I love it! I think you are lovely and talented, and I love you.

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