Dandelion--Quilting Tutorial

Last week I shared with you my tutorial on piecing together the Dandelion Mini Quilt.  This week I thought it would be fun to spend some time talking about how I chose to quilt my wall hanging.  One of the biggest hurdles I found myself jumping along my quilting journey, was figuring out how to quilt my projects.  There are thousands of ways to quilt something, so how do you chose what is the best way?  I absolutely dreaded the words "quilt as desired" at the end of quilting patterns because I had no idea what I desired.  It wasn't until I started studying pictures of other quilters's work that I was finally able to start generating some ideas.

One of the first decisions to make is what threads to use.  I personally like to use 50w cotton thread most of the time and more often than not reach for my trusty Aurifil thread stash.  For this project I chose to quilt my top using thread colors that would match the different sections.  Using a matching thread color can hide almost all of your quilting blunders.  I chose Aurifil 2135 yellow for the flower, 4026 green for the leaves, 2692 black for the ground and boarder and 2309 cream for my background.  I also stitched in the ditches of my seams before I started free motion quilting using Sulky Invisible.

Let's talk about the flower and the leaves first.  I wanted my quilting to be somewhat simple so I chose to do continuous curves in all of the squares.  Continuous curves can be a bit tricky at first, but once you get a rhythm of how to move around the squares, it's really quite simple.  Below is a numbered diagram showing the order in which I quilted my curves.  From start to finish it took 140 curves to quilt the flower.  When I quilted mine I did not mark them but eyed it.  Even in my diagram below the curves are not perfect, but you can tell it does not take away from the overall design.  Fear not and quilt forth.

The leaves can be quilted with 111 curves.

When working with continuous curves, if you have a way to draw them out or even running your finger over your possible quilting trail can really pay off.  I like to lay Plexiglas over my project and use a dry erase markers to audition designs (just make sure you do not mark on your quilt).

For the ground area, I chose to do pebbling.  The easiest movement for tackling this design is to make your pebbles in a figure 8 movement.

I started at the arrow and made a circle counter clockwise, then swung up to make the rest of my figure 8.  It's ok if your circles are not completely round or not even the same size.  And it's 100% ok to travel around your circle twice to get to where you need to go.  I almost always use a thread color that matches my fabric so that my flaws are hidden and whats left for the eye to focus on is great texture.

For the borders and the background quilting I added some straight lines.  In the background I marked diagonal lines.  I started by marking a line that went from the upper left corner to the bottom right and then spaced my lines every 2."  I chose to quilt these lines using my walking foot.  I marked straight lines every 2" apart in the border.  When I stitched the border piano keys, I used my free motion foot.  This allowed me to stitch a line up and then travel in the ditch to stitch the next line down.  Since the lines were marked and not very long in length, I felt I could keep them pretty straight without the use of the walking foot.

 And this is my wall hanging all finished

If you decide to make this little wall hanging I hope that you will email me at tishnwonderland@gmail.com.  I would love to see your version and how you decide to quilt it.  Thanks for stopping by!

And a big thanks to Freemotion by the River for featuring my last weeks piecing tutorial on her linky party!

Come join the party!!  Today I'm linking up with

Late Night Quilter

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Quilt Shop Gal

Richard and Tanya Quilts

My Quilt Infatuation

Sew Fresh Quilts

Freemotion by the River

Blossom Heart Quilts

Funky Polkadot Giraffe

Dandelion Mini--PiecingTutorial

As you may remember, earlier in the summer, I constructed a quilt for our local theater group to use in their production of the musical Quilters.

I thought it might be fun to write a tutorial for the small wall hanging for anyone that would be interested.  So here we go... 

Fabric requirements:

Sky Fabric                          3/4 yard

Ground Fabric                    1/4 yard

Assorted Greens                 total of 1/2 yard

Assorted Yellows               total of 3/4 yard

Border Fabric                   1/2 yard

Binding                              3/8 yard

Cutting Instructions:

Sky Fabric

2    2 3/4" x 30 1/2" rectangles

4    2 3/4" x 12" rectangles          

6    2 3/4" x 7 3/8" rectangles

2    2 3/4" x 9 3/4" rectangles

4    2 3/4" x 5 1/8" rectangles

6    2 3/4" squares

10  3 1/4" squares

Ground Fabric

2    2 3/4" x 12" rectangles

2    2 3/4" x 5 1/8" rectangles

3    3 1/4" squares

Binding Fabric

5   2 1/2" strips WOF

Border Fabric

2    3 1/2" x 30 1/2" strips

2    3 1/2" x 36 1/2" strips

Yellow Fabric
4    3 1/4" squares
29   2 3/4" squares

Green Fabric
9   3 1/4" squares
15  2 3/4" squares

**A note about the 2 3/4" green and yellow squares--These squares are used to make the flower and the leaves and stems.  You can use a mixture of 2 3/4" squares and 2 3/4" half square triangles as you wish.  You will just need a total of 29--2 3/4" squares for the flower and 15--2 3/4" squares for the leaves and stem.**


Piecing Instructions:

Construct the HST as follows:
     4 Yellow and 4 Sky Fabric 3 1/4" squares to yield 8 2 3/4" HST
     6 Green and 6 Sky Fabric  3 1/4" squares to yield 12  2 3/4" HST (you will have one extra)    
     3 Green and 3 Ground Fabric  3 1/4" squares to yield 6 2 3/4" HST

Below is the method I use to construct half square triangles.

First, place two 3 1/4" squares together, right sides together, and draw a diagonal line on one of the squares.

Next sew 1/4" on either side of the diagonal line; shown as the dotted lines.

Then, cut along the diagonal line to create two units.

Press the units open and trim to 2 3/4."  Each pair of squares will yeild two 2 3/4" HST.

               
After you have completed all of the half square triangles for the project, we can begin assembling the quilt as follows.  All of the HST and unmarked squares in the diagram measure 2 3/4."

                      
After constructing your rows and sewing them together (it's always a good idea to pin seams together that should match up to prevent uneven rows), you can add the borders.  Then all that is left to do is baste the dandelion block and quilt it.

That concludes the piecing tutorial for the Dandelion miniature quilt.  If you decide to make this wall hanging I hope you will take some time to email me (email button found on the top right of my blog), I would love to see your creation.  I would like to say a big thank you to Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs and Sandra at Musings of a Menopausal Melon for taking time to look over this post.  Next week, I would like to take some time to discuss how I quilted it.  I hope you will join me to talk about quilting this little quilt.

For a printer friendly version of this tutorial can be found here.

Come join the party!!!  Parties are more fun with friends.

Today I'm linking up with

Quilt Shop  Gal

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Sew Fresh Quilts

Freshly Pieced

Freemotion by the River

Blossom Heart Quilts

Funky Polkadot Giraffe

Dandelion--Finished

A few weeks ago our local community theater group contacted our quilt guild hoping that we would have volunteers to help create the blocks needed for their up coming production of Quilters.  A musical about quilters?  Yes please!  With out any hesitation I signed up to help with the project.  I was given the task to making the Dandelion block for the play.  I wrote about constructing this block earlier in a post called Keeping It Simple--Dandelion Block.

Now I would like to say a few words about the quilting.  I started off by "stitching in the ditch--every stinking seam."  This quote actually comes from Cindy Needam.  I have never had the pleasure of actually physically setting in on one of her classes, but through the power of the internet have taken both of her Craftsy classes.  If I ever have the opportunity to physically take one of her classes you better bet your life I will.  Her work is AMAZING and she is such an entertaining instructor.

Back to stitching in the ditch--every sticking seam.  This is a method she swears by.  You cannot debate her out of it, it is what it is, and you should do it.  She gives examples in her class of blocks that have had the seams "ditched" and then was quilted and blocks that were not "ditched" just quilted.  The difference is unbelievable.  The "ditched" blocks lay flatter which makes the quilting look better.

Do I do this with every I quilt...no.  Should I...probably.  The great thing is there are no rules.  For this particular project, I chose to stitch in the ditch ESS.  Since it will be viewed from on stage, I hoped that it would help with shadows or possible wrinkles.  So that is where the process started.  I used Aurifil #2692 in my bobbin and Sulky invisible thread on the top.

The next step was to figure out exactly how to bring the flower to life.  My usual quilting style is lots of dense quilting, but I felt this project needed to be more toned down.  Continuous curves in the flower and leaves, pebbling in the ground area and possibly straight lines in the background.

When I work with continuous curves, I try to draw them out on the project. I like to have a mental map of how to travel around the quilt with out doubling back on my lines.  This always pays off.

The next step was to add my background lines.  As a last minute change, I decided to do diagonal lines instead of straight lines.  I posted my picture to Pat Sloan's quilting group on Facebook and on Instagram asking for help.  At first I wanted to do cross hatching, but I wanted to get opinions on leaving the lines the way they were.  Would cross hatching be too much or where my diagonal lines not enough?  I just didn't know.  Overwhelmingly, everyone liked the diagonal lines.  A few people even suggested it reminded them of rain in the background.  So if it's not broke don't fix it.  I left it alone.

 I finished it off with the pebbling and piano keys in the boarder.  After attaching a hanging sleeve and binding I could officially call this one complete.

The only thing left to do, is turn my block in and wait for August 6th to arrive so that I can watch the production of Quilters.  I have to say I'm super excited about it.  If you find yourself in the north central area of West Virginia August 6th-8th and would like more information about the show and tickets please feel free to email me using the email button on the top right of this page.

Now I must get back to quilting.  I have the July Aurifil Mystery BOM mini quilt to quilt and a whole cloth quilt along to catch up on.  Sleep might be nice too.

Today I will be linking up with

Too Cute Tuesday @ Funky Polkadot Giraffe

Linky Tuesday @ Freemotion by the River

Sew Cute Tuesdays @ Blossom Heart Quilts

The Pet Project Show @ Pink Doxies

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict

 Creative Goodness @ Quilt Shop Gal

 Link-A-Finish Friday @ Richard and Tanya Quilts

Week 3 Blog Hop and A New Quilt Along

I think I have been more productive the past few weeks than I have been for a while.  With it being summer and everyone pulled in so many directions (and yards to be mowed) I think that is a huge accomplishment.  Time is closing in on completing the block for the Quilters musical being preformed by our local theater group.  I was able to get all of the seams stitched in the ditch this weekend.  I will take it to the guild meeting tonight to share my quilting plan with the other members and get their options.  So I'm looking forward to another finish hopefully by this weekend.

Dandelion after it was pieced

The clouds parted and we had two days of sunshine.  TWO DAYS!  This has been the rainiest summer that I can remember in a long time.  Sadly, between my yard and my mother's we have two square patches of land that had to be mowed around because it was too wet to mow.  I'm talking small lakes in the middle of the field.  From across the valley it probably looks like we missed those spots which would lead the neighbors to ask themselves if I may have been drinking wine and mowing. (I do not drink and drive or mow for that matter)  But I digress, the two days of sun did allow me time to get pictures of some of my completed quilts from over the years.  Hopefully, I can get a page of the quilts I finished in 2014 up soon.

Then Friday evening while playing around on Facebook, I innocently liked some pictures a lady had posted of whole cloth blocks she had quilted.  Simply put, they were beautiful.  Later she posted in the group that if anyone was interested she would try her hand at hosting a quilt along on Facebook to show us how to create her blocks.  Of course I had to join in on this.

Her name is Ren and the Facebook group is called Free Motion Quilt Along with Ren and is open to anyone who wants to join.  Every Sunday she will be posting instructions for the week.  Saturday she posted a supply list which I quickly rounded up.

Then on Sunday she posted the marking instructions in a PDF file and gave us the go ahead to stitch all of our straight lines.

Today is also week three of the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop.  I know that I am looking forward to meeting a new batch of my hive members and everyone in the other hives.  Our hive, The Sewcial Swarm introduces five of it's members today.  

Elenor @ Cat Approved Quilting

Lisa @ Sunlight In Winter Quilts

Vicki @ Orchid Owl Quilts

Corinne @ Must Love Quilts

Karen @ Sugar Free Quilts

Also don't forget to check out our fearless leaders in the quest for learning and growing.  They are hosting some pretty neat giveaways and you can meet the members of their hives as well.

Terri Ann @ Childlike Fasination (my hive leader)

Yvonne @ Quilting Jet Girl

Stephanie @ Late Night Quilter

Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs

That's enough rambling from me for now.  I hope everyone has a productive day and that you will join me again on my adventures in wonderland.

Today I am linking up with...

Sew Cute Tuesday@ Blossom Heart Quilts

Linky Tuesday@ Free Motion by the River

Monday Makers @ Hug-a-Bit Quilts