A Cowboy Quilt

So, in my new obsession with quilting I want to do EVERYTHING! I am SOOO excited about it! I have found so many different quilts and objects I want to sew. I absolutely want to do a rag quilt for our bed and have already started on the planning, but then thought I'd better start with something a bit smaller than a king-sized quilt, and I came across some super-cute cowboy fabric at the Spotlight sale...perfect for a 4-year-old boy's single bed!

Let me share my working out, so that it might save somebody else all the calculations I made. We use the metric system in NZ, however, since many of the quilting tutorials I've been reading are written using the imperial system, I have had to work out everything in both centimetres and inches. (Oh and just for fun, choose the odd one out: Liberia, Somalia, USA, Burma (aka Myanmar). See answer below.


So I wanted to make a simple square patchwork single quilt (that's approximately a "twin" for those in the US). Our single beds measure 92cm x 188cm (36" x 74") and I chose to make a quilt 60.5" x 75" - long enough to drape at end of bed once in position below the pillow- that works out to be 11 x 14  5.5" squares. Once the 1/4 inch seam allowance is added, you need 6 inch squares -154 of them! 

 Brown polka dot squares still to be cut.

Half finished quilt top. 

I am thinking I want to bind it in the brown polka dot fabric and since I have never bound anything before, I have been watching loads of videos on cutting continuous bias binding and binding quilts. I'm still a bit nervous about it. I still also need to make a pillowcase, but don't have a lot of fabric left, so it will need to be pieced together.

But anyway, it's progressing and I'm quite excited about it.

More later!


Oh, and the odd one out of Liberia, Somalia, USA, Burma is:
Somalia - the other 3 are the only 3 countries in the world to still officially use the imperial system!

Quilting: A Change of Heart

I had NEVER been interested in quilting. For me, the word conjured up images like this:








Fussy, green, maroon and brown geometric nana-quilts.



However, recently I stumbled across the photos below and immediately fell in love with rag quilts.

http://southerncharmquilts.com

After trawling through quilts on Pinterest, I discovered that quilts can be amazingly beautiful!

Some of my favourites are:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/114724021/modern-patchwork-quilt

I'm loving the square look and I really like the yellow squares in the middle of each block to pull it all together. Great fabric from Lotta Jansdotter.

ididntsaybanana.blogspot.com

Pinwheels in super cute colours as a baby quilt. Preeeetttty.

http://www.magpiequilts.com/2012/02/chevron-quilts.html

Mmmmm...Chevrons!

I have made a few baby quilts/lap quilts, but never a full-sized one, nor one with anything other than patchwork squares. See two of my little quilts here and here.

But now, some days it seems all I do is think about quilts and quilting. Strange how this obsession snuck on me. I even have a Quilt board on Pinterest!

After first seeing the above rag quilts I decided I want to make a king-size one for our bed and spent hours calculating sizes of block and how many fabrics I'd use and how much I'd need. I ordered some spring-loaded snips, a walking foot for my machine, spent ages scrolling through pages and pages of fabrics trying to decide what to use. (I think I have found the colour story I want to use, but more about that later.)

After such a burst of enthusiasm I then stopped to think and decided, prudently, I believe, that I should start with a smaller project. I have now started a single quilt for Max's bed. More about that soon.

And now, back to my sewing machine!