36 Charm Street Baby Quilt

April 21, 2016February 23, 20175 Comments

I just love the Canyon Fabric Collection by Kate Spain! The colors! The prints! They speak to me! I bought a charm pack and sewed 36 of them together.

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What to do next? I had to think about this because I wanted to showcase these beautiful fabrics.

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My goal was to make a unique border to frame the charm squares but I wanted the border to be neutral. So…I made Border #1 a solid white fabric.

Border #2 became interesting! I decided to add a series of white and gray rectangles. The rectangle sizes were a serious math problem I had to solve! I finally figured it out and love the result!

Finally, I used a solid white fabric for Border #3 so the bright colors in the Canyon Collection stand out.

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When I dropped off this top to my quilter, Ms. KB, she showed me a bead and wave pattern she had on hand. Once I saw the pattern, I knew it was perfect! Here is a close up of the front: DSCN5730

And the back…

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The gray binding is the same color as the gray rectangles. A solid color makes a nice frame for the quilt and allows the Canyon Collection to be the quilt focus.

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Beautiful AND easy! It goes together quickly and is the perfect project for beginning quilters.

Like this pattern? Download it here: 36-charm-street-feb-2017

Candy Under Wraps Quilt

March 24, 2016March 24, 2016Leave a comment

Today we are going to finish our Candy Under Wraps Quilt. You should have 9 blocks made with 4 candies in each block. Each of your 9 blocks should measure 11 inches square and should resemble the photo below.

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Now we need to cut the remaining fabrics. You will need approximately 24 inches or 2/3 yard of white fabric. From this white fabric cut the following pieces:

2 squares that measure 16 7/8 inches x 16 7/8 inches (for side setting triangles)
2 squares that measure 9 1/2 inches x 9 1/2 inches (for corner triangles)
4 squares that measure 11 inches x 11 inches (for quilt center)

Cut Side Setting Triangles

Grab your two 16 7/8 inch squares and make two cuts from corner to corner as shown below.

17 inch fabric cuts

After cutting your two 16 7/8 inch squares, you should have eight side setting triangles.

Cut Corner Triangles

Grab your two 9 1/2 inch square and cut each square from corner to corner as shown below.

9 inch fabric cuts

After cutting your two 9 1/2 inch squares, you should have four corner triangles.

Quilt Layout

Using the layout diagram below, lay out your quilt blocks and side setting triangles as shown. I’ve labeled the rows to help you keep things straight. Note the orientation of the side setting triangles. We won’t use the corner triangles just yet so set them aside for later.

Candy Under Wraps Block Layout

Begin sewing the blocks in each row together.

***Note*** When you sew a side setting triangle to a square block, you will have a “triangle tail” that goes beyond the square block (note top right hand side of photo below). DO NOT CUT THIS OFF! You will need this extra fabric when you begin sewing rows 1 – 5 together.

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Below is another close up view of a triangle tail.

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Once you have the blocks in each row sewn together, sew your rows together and press your seams. Your quilt should look like the photo below.

Candy Under Wraps Block Layout Sewn together

Lots of fun sewing these rows together! Oops! Ran out of bobbin thread, need to make a quick change!

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After your rows are sewn together, your side setting triangles and blocks should intersect as shown in the photo below. Don’t worry about the crooked looking finish. I know, I know…it bothers me too, but we will take care of this crooked problem in just a few more steps!

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Sew Corner Triangles

Now that all our rows are sewn together, the last pieces we sew are the corner triangles. Your corners should look like the photo below with triangle tails on each side.

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With right sides together, pin your corner triangles to each corner of the quilt top. Your corners should look like the photo below. Press seams toward the white corner triangle.

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Trim Quilt Top

Before we sew on the outer border, we have to trim and square up the quilt top. We will start by measuring and marking 1/4 inch from the intersection of the aqua block and the side setting triangles. Measure and mark all the way around your quilt top and then trim away the extra fabric.

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I used a mechanical pencil to mark my cutting line and then I used my scissors to carefully cut along this pencil line. I was afraid I might slip with my rotary cutter! Whew! Disaster averted!

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Cut and Add Outer Borders

From your outer border fabric, cut four 5 1/2 inch strips from the lengthwise direction of your fabric. If you cut from the lengthwise direction of fabric, you will avoid having to piece (and match!) seams from larger prints like the one I used.

Sew a border strip to the left side and the right side of the quilt top. Then sew a border strip to the top and the bottom of the quilt top. Your quilt should look like the photo below.

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Quilt and Bind

Quilt and bind your quilt using your favorite techniques.

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Thanks for sewing along with our “Candy Under Wraps” quilt! Our design can be used for any themed fabric of your choosing, the possibilities are endless! This is a great quilt to use as a stash buster or a scrap buster. Stay tuned for more sew alongs!

Candy Under Wraps Quilt

March 17, 2016March 31, 2016Leave a comment

After I made all my candies, I had to admire my color scheme! Today we will cut the fabric to make our larger candy blocks and sew these candy blocks together. This is the fun part because our quilt is taking shape!

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Grab your 3/4 yard of aqua fabric and cut 36 five inch squares. Below is a suggested cutting diagram:

Square cuts for large candy blocks

Next, cut 9 two inch squares from your white fabric. Let’s take an inventory! You should now have:

36 candies

36 aqua 5×5 inch squares

9 white 2×2 inch squares

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Now we are going to sew! Hooray!

Unit 1

Locate two of your favorite candies. With right sides together, pin one candy to the right side of a white 2×2 square.

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Sew a 1/4 inch seam.

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Press the seam toward the white square.

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Sew a candy to the left side of the white square. Your candy unit should look like the photo below. Make 9 of Unit 1.

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Unit 2

With right sides together, pin one candy to the right side of one aqua 5×5 inch square. Sew a 1/4 inch seam.

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Sew another 5×5 inch square to the left side of the candy. Press seams toward the aqua fabric. Your candy unit should look like the photo below. Make 18 of Unit 2.

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With right sides together, pin one Unit 1 to one Unit 2. Sew a 1/4 inch seam.

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Press the seam toward the aqua fabric.

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Sew another Unit 2 to the opposite side of Unit 1. The front of your block should look like the photo below. Make 9 of these blocks.

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The back of your block should look like the photo below.

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When you have completed this tutorial, you should have 9 blocks with 4 candies in each block.

Next week, I will show you how to complete the entire quilt top.

Candy Under Wraps Quilt

March 10, 2016March 10, 2016Leave a comment

Now that we all have our fabrics, let’s cut and sew our candies! I think these KONA cotton solids in pastel colors are a perfect match for my Desert Sand fabric.

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You will need 36 charm squares to make 36 candies. Cut each charm square as noted below. Charm Cut

Check out my pile of scraps! Sandy will love some of these tiny pieces! She will get a tiny piece care package in the mail sometime soon!

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Now that all my candies are cut out, I have larger left over pieces from my charm squares that I am going to save for another project. I decided to put them in a plastic sandwich bag with the label to help me stay organized!

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Grab your white fabric because the next step in our candy making process is to cut out 144 white squares that measure 1.5 inches x 1.5 inches. Here is the cutting diagram for you to use:

Square cuts for candies

Yay! Cutting is done for now! Let’s start sewing! Here is what you should have for each candy:

Candy Center: 1 rectangle that measures 3.5 inches long x 2 inches high

Candy Ends: 2 rectangles that measure 2 inches long x 1.5 inches high and 4 white squares that measure 1.5 inches x 1.5 inches.

We sew the candy ends first. With a pencil draw a diagonal line from corner to corner on the white square and pin it to the right side of one of the candy end rectangles that measures 2 inches long x 1.5 inches high.

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Next, sew on the diagonal pencil line and trim the seam to 1/4 inch.

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Press the seam toward the white fabric.

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Next, grab another white square, draw a diagonal from corner to corner and sew it to the left side of the rectangle.

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Trim the seam to 1/4 inch

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Press the seam toward the white. Your candy end should look like the photo below – it’s called a “Flying Geese” unit. Make two of these flying geese units for each candy.

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