I just made the easiest quilt ever! It all started when FedEx dropped the latest package from Jaftex on my porch. I wasn't expecting a package, but I am always excited when a bundle of fabric shows up at my doorstep!
As soon as I opened it, without even checking the selvedge, I knew exactly who had designed it. I have been a fan of Leanne of The Whole Country Caboodle for years... probably decades. Her designs were the first fusible applique designs that I offered in my store. I never missed the opportunity to stop by her booth at International Quilt Market to see what was new.
Leanne's latest fabric line, along with her daughter Kaytlyn, is called "Gnome Town Heros" for Henry Glass Fabrics. The prints feature a variety of gnomes in the rolls of nurse, police officer, teacher, engineer, even artist
(who isn't afraid to color outside the lines) and quilter! The gnomes are in multiple sizes. There is even one fabric panel that is large enough to make into stuffed dolls. Another is printed so that it can be stitched into a soft book. I chose to use the book panel as feature squares in a toddler size quilt.
With an idea, but no real plan, I started by trimming each of the fabric book pages to a square. (
Those printed squares are never really square so you have to play around to find the size that works). It turned out that 6 1/4" was the best choice. A bit of an odd size, but that wouldn't be a problem. I planned to use a few of the coordinates from the line to tilt the blocks using the Perfect Rectangle Ruler. Once that was done, I could trim them to a more standard size. After adding a half rectangle to each side, I found I could trim the blocks to 10 inches. Using the Perfect Rectangle Ruler, tilts the blocks rather than putting them on point. It looks a little more casual and adding the companion fabrics makes the featured blocks stand out.
I chose to use 9 of the 12 pages to make tilted squares, but I wanted to end up with a rectangular quilt. That's when the fun began! I decided on 3 vertical columns for this quilt. All I had to do was add rectangles of the other prints that were 10" wide and any height. As long as I added identical size rectangles in each of the three columns, everything would fit together. How easy is that! No pattern needed.
Each column would have 3 tilted blocks, alternating the direction of the tilt. (To change the direction, cut the triangles with the fabric face down.) Then I added a strip of the border stripe to each column. I cut the strip, including seam allowance on the top and bottom. The height didn't matter, as long as all three segments were trimmed to 10" long.
Next I added the tossed print with the vehicles to each row. That is a super cute print, so I added two pieces! Then I decided it needed a little more red, so I cut narrower strips of that print. All of this happened on my design wall, where I could rearrange the pieces, shifting them to keep the color moving around the quilt. The grey prints were beginning to blend together. I decided on some narrow black Jot Dot strips to break those areas up. Column 2 needed those black strips, but that meant they had to be added to columns 1 and 3 as well. A little rearranging and I the columns were ready to be stitched together. How long is each column? It doesn't matter. I simply added pieces until it "looked about right".
The three columns were each 10" wide and would finish at 9 1/2". That would make this toddler size quilt only 28 1/2" wide. Time to add some vertical sashing. I decided on 2" finished sashing between the pieces columns and 3" finished border around the outside edge.
The quilt top went together so quickly, that I decided to finish the project right away. By making sure that the width of the quilt stayed below 40", I could use one width of fabric for backing. (
That works ONLY because I do my own quilting. Most longarm quilters want a minimum of 4+" of extra backing on each side of your quilt top. Nothing wrong with that.... but it is possible to squeek by with less width. I never reccomend skimping on length.) I had random widths of fabric left, so I stitched them together to form a striped backing. I popped it on the longarm and let the ProStitcher do its thing. I love that machine.
#HandiQuilterAmara.
Two piece machine binding was sewn together, and pressed while my HandiQuilter was working hard. The quilt came off the machine and I trimmed it using my 20.5" Creative Grids square. Once again, having the right tools makes any job so much easier. First I pinned and then stitched the binding to the back of the quilt. Then I folded it around to the front and stitched the binding in place by machine on the tiny grey flange.
This was such a fun project, no rules, the right tools, fun fabrics and everything fell into place. Give it a try! Now that it is complete, I know the perfect little person to give it some love. It's all yours Jack!
