Hello Luscious Layer Cake "Framed" Quilt Finish

This is my little Dolly cat trying out the finished Layer Cake "Framed" Quilt which I blogged in a tutorial here. Doesn't it look Luscious? Just like the name of the Layer Cake I used, Hello Luscious by Basic Grey. Their latest collection is Little Black Dress, and I've kept a Jelly Roll in that to make something with…. I think this quilt would look so stylish in the black, cream, grey and taupe of a Little Black Dress Layer Cake.

 These quilts go together so easily! I used a funky Hunky Dory pink swirly backing on the quilt and bound it using a machine binding technique. For this, you cut your binding strips 2 3/4 inches wide. make the binding in the usual way, then attach it to the back of the quilt. Later, you bring it over to the top and machine sew it close to the edge. It makes a very neat finish to the quilt and is done in a fraction of the time it takes to hand sew. The binding fabric was a pink Grunge Basic from The Hello Luscious Range.

 I machine quilted with my Janome, using the square blocks as a guide, alternating vertical and horizontal lines. This was done with the darning foot attachment so I could freely move up and down and side to side. I was happy with the effect - plenty of quilting, a nice crinkly texture and cream thread all blended the quilt together well.

Any Layer Cake will work with this pattern, and the quilt itself is a manageable size to machine quilt at home on your regular sewing machine - always rewarding! You could also use your own fabrics of choice, cut into 10 inch squares to start with.

Moda Layer Cakes 

 Here's Dolly again, right in the middle of the quilt of course. This is one of the photos I used to update my blog and Facebook page. I'm also planning a website update soon too! Don't forget, if you make one  of these quilts, I'd love to see it - either shared on Facebook, Pinterest or you could even send me a photo to share for you.
Happy stitching,
Ann.

This quilt is FOR SALE @$165.00 

SOLD

Southern Jewels Quilt - for the last time EVER!

This is going to be the absolute last Southern Jewels Quilt that I'm ever going to make….I hope. I've mentioned and posted lots of photos of different versions of it already.
My daughter is going to Canada with her dad ( my former husband) over the September school holidays to visit her family over there, so of course I saw this as an opportunity to send over a quilt each for her grandmother and aunt.
I made a Southern Jewels one for Grandma, and the other one just looked right for her aunt. It's one of those ones you make, then store in a cupboard - you know the ones I mean. I originally made it as a sample for some patterns and Penelope/Lake House fabrics when I first opened my shop.
Anyway, I hope they like them!

Hello Luscious Layer Cake Quilt

I'm also finishing up the Layer Cake quilt I showed in a tutorial, finally. I half finished the quilting this morning, and hope to get the rest done tonight. Maybe it will be quilted and bound for the Maleny Quilt Show coming up. if you're up on the Sunshine Coast in the last week of September, why don't you drop by, say hello on our stint and see some gorgeous quilt?
Till next time,
Ann.

Hello Luscious Layer Cake Quilt Tutorial

On the design wall: blocks are placed in pairs as they are sewn, to be moved around later for the final layout.

Hello Luscious is the beautiful new collection by BasicGrey for moda Fabrics. There is something about their designs that just really appeals to me. I love their lush floral, slightly off key colour and pattern combinations and their delicious Grunge Basics. I used one of the Grunge blacks as the backing for  the Miscellany Quilt and I try to add a little to nearly everything.

hello luscious Layer Cake: 42 x 10 inch squares across the whole range of fabric!

One of my favourite things to do with a Layer Cake, is make a sort of stack and slash "Blocks in a Box" block quilt. There are lots of ways to do this, but this one is a straight-forward even cut one as opposed to wonky, or uneven ones.

Wonky Boxes

First you open your Layer Cake and look at the wonderful fabric selection contained within :)

Then you pair up squares to get 21 pairs. Mix and match patterns, colours and values. Don't be too predictable.

Next, take one pair of squares and place one exactly on top of the other. Cut a strip 2 1/4 inches wide on two sides. Separate them from the middle wide strip, like in the picture. (I find a rotating cutting mat extremely useful for this.)

Now, position the block pieces so the two cut strips are on top and bottom. Cut 2 more 2 1/4 inch strips on either side. You will now have two 2 1/4" x 10" strips, two 2 1/4" x 5 1/5" strips, with one 5 1/2 inch square in the centre.

 Swap the top and bottom fabrics around in the centre square. These are the fabrics which will compose the first block. You will discover that two 10 inch squares will make 2 blocks in your quilt and that a Layer Cake will make a nice sized throw quilt with 42 blocks.

 Start sewing! Use a 1/4 inch seam allowance and sew the two small rectangles to the sides of the centre square. Press. (I pressed the seams open for these blocks.)

Now, sew the two longer rectangles to the top and bottom of the pieced centre.

 Look at the picture below. You can see how I sewed the top and bottom pieces on, lining them up even on one side of the block. This makes it easier to trim the blocks at the end.

 Finally,  place the blocks exactly on top of each other again and trim the two excess ends from them. Your blocks should measure 9 inches square.

 You can now separate the blocks and see how nice they are, a positive and negative image in fabric, of each other 

I like to put them up on my design wall, in pairs, as I go to see how they look and build up a feeling of how the quilt might look, and where to move things later. You can see it growing in the top photo, as the pairs of blocks are added to the wall.

N.B. See how the blocks are placed so that the long and short seams are next to each other? This makes the quilt very easy to sew together as you're not having to match hundreds of seams. This is also one of the reasons I pressed the seams open.

 When the blocks are completed, move them around to create a pleasing arrangement, spreading lights, darks, colours and patterns across the surface. It's that easy to make a pretty quilt!

I challenge you to have a go at making a Boxes quilt... are you up for it?

Have fun with fabric,

Ann ♥