Quilt-Along, Step 1

I've been thinking about posting the directions for making a Square in a Square quilt... this one:

We'll start with fabric requirements. The yardage listed here is for a baby quilt, approximately 38x50 inches. I may or may not eventually do the math and post fabric amounts for larger quilts. We'll see how things go. In the coming few weeks I'll post instructions for the two blocks used in this quilt and describe how to add the sashing (the strips in between the blocks) and put it all together. For now, here are the fabrics you need:

*5 fat quarters of coordinating fabrics for blocks. These cannot be regular quarter-yard cuts of fabric, they need to be fat quarters (18X22 pieces of fabric available at quilt shops or chain fabric stores)

*1 yard of a fabric for the sashing and to be used a little bit in the blocks (the stripes, in my quilt)

*3/8 yard of binding fabric

*1.5 yard of backing fabric

So... get your fabric ready (I recommend prewashing, machine drying is optional) and check back in a few days for the next step!

couple of finished projects!

I finished these up last night while we watched Bee Movie. They are made from Berocco Jasper yarn, and the pattern is Dashing, from Knitty.com. It's not the right weather really to wear these anymore (halleluia!) but they will be ready for next winter.

And, my skirt.

This is made from the Redondo girls' skirt pattern, adapted to fit me and also be a longer length. The picture is weird; my assistant photographer was holding the camera at a funny angle. The skirt is really a few inches shorter than ankle length but longer than mid-calf. It is a handkerchief weight linen blend and it feels really cool when I walk. I might need to make myself another one. I might even make one with two different (but not hugely contrasting) fabrics.

It feels good to finish up some projects!

Back from vacation

We got back today from an unexpected trip to Utah last week due to a death in the family. I'm tired but feel refreshed overall and glad to be home. I'm a little afraid that I might have forgotten a load of laundry in my washer while I was gone. I'm going downstairs to make sure in just a few minutes.

In sewing news, I need to get started on my sister's baby quilt. I know I mentioned that. She's due around the end of June. I also told Grandma that I'd make her a quilt from some of Grandpa's shirts. She gave me a bag full of shirts and I need to do some calculations and drawing to see if I'll have enough fabric. I also need to work on keeping up my end of the deal I made with Jan back in January--I'm going to finish my ages-old watercolor quilt top. By the end of the month. Guess that means I'll be getting it out tomorrow. Fun!

things to check out

I ran across the Big List of Sewing Blogs a few weeks ago and submitted my blog to the list. And now finally I'm updating my links. Go check it out, there are some cool blogs on there!

Another site I wanted to mention (have I mentioned it here before?) is Pattern Review. It's a great site for researching sewing machines (something I should do some time so I can start saving up and quit complaining about the machines I have now). You can also look up pretty much any pattern, from any company, that you're interested in making, and see how it went together for other sewing folks.

I need to get busy!

So I didn't finish any sewing projects in February. Oh well. Here are the cute skirts. I saw zebra and leopard fabrics at the fabric store, I might have to go back and get 1/4 yard of those for the Noah's Ark quilt I'm going to make.

skirts finished

I don't have a picture yet, but I finished two really cute pink and brown Redondo skirts today. Amidst screaming and slappy children. I was going to type slapping but slappy came out of my fingers and... I kind of like it. I have logo tags to sew on them, too! I'll also show a pic of those tomorrow. I really need to get going on some sewing for myself. Fabric shopping...sigh.

I'm off to watch Dr. Who with my husband.