Hands2Help - Introducing Our First Guest Blogger, Joanne!

Hi, all!  

Well, Hands2Help is really in full swing now!  We've shared tips, tutorials and tasty things; we've met our sponsors (although we've had more folks step up, so in the weeks to come I'll add to our list!) and today, we start off our guest blogger series!  I'm very happy to introduce you to Joanne from Everyone Deserves a Quilt.  Her blog is full of wonderful quilts and tips - well worth your time to check out!  This is her first time as a guest blogger here, and she's done a fabulous job. You're going to love her tutorial!!  

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 Hi! I'm Joanne from Everyone Deserves A Quilt  and I really do believe that everyone deserves a quilt! 

Many thanks to Sarah, 

our wonderful Hands2Help organizer. She has graciously allowed me to share this tutorial with you. 

I enjoy making charity/donation quilts, and although I usually have some on hand ready to be given away, there are times when I just don't have what I need. In those situations, All Boxed In comes to the rescue. It's one of my favorite "go to" quilts, and I can usually have the top pieced in one afternoon or evening. It's easy to construct and only requires two fabrics, which makes it great for beginning quilters!   

Here's what you'll need to make a 46" x 64" quilt...

Fabric Requirements                                              

1 3/4 yards               Fabrics 1 - (blue)     

1 3/4 yards               Fabrics 2 - (star)
3 yards                     Backing (based on 40” wide fabric)

1/2 yards                  Binding                                                                                

Let's get started!

Cutting

Fabric 1 (blue) - 

1. Cut 15 strips 3 ½” x WOF (width of fabric). (Set 6 of these aside to be used in the strip sets.)

           

2. Clean up the ends and cut off the selvage of the remaining 9 strips.

3. Sub-cut strips into 9 ½” x 3 ½” rectangles. (You should yield 4 rectangles per strip.) 

Cut 36 - 9 ½” x 3 ½” rectangles

Fabric 2 (stars)

1. Cut 15 strips 3 ½” x WOF.   (Set 6 of these aside to be used to make strip sets.)

2. Clean up the ends and cut off the selvage of the remaining 9 strips.

3. Sub-cut strips into 9 ½” x 3 ½” rectangles. (You should yield 4 rectangles per strip.) 

Cut 34 – 9 ½” x 3 ½” rectangles

Making the Strip Sets

1. With rights sides together (RST), align the raw edges of the long side of one Fabric 1 (blue) strip and one Fabric 2 (stars) strip. Using a ¼” seam allowance, sew along one long edge. Pin if necessary. Make 4 of these strip sets. Press to the blue.

 

2. Using two of the units from step 1 and with right sides together, align a Fabric 1 (blue) strip to the Fabric 2 (stars) strip. Using a ¼” seam allowance, sew along the long edge. Pin if necessary. Make 2 of these strip sets. 

Press to the blue. 

3. Sub-cut these strip sets into 3 ½” segments. Cut 18 segments. (One strip should yield 11 of these units.) These units should measure 3 ½” x 9 ½”. 

These are Unit A - Cut 18

4. Using two of the units from step 1 and with right sides together, align a Fabric 2 (stars) strip to the Fabric 1 (blue) strip. Using a ¼” seam allowance, sew along the long edge. Pin if necessary. Make 2 of these strip sets. 

 

Press to the blue.

5. Sub-cut these strip sets into 3 ½” units. Cut 17 segments. (One strip should yield 11 of these units.) These units should measure 3 ½” x 9 ½”. 

These are Unit B -Make 17

Piecing the Blocks

1. Sew the 3 ½” x 9 ½” Fabric 1 (blue) rectangles  to both sides of Unit A. Make 18 of these blocks. These are Block A and should measure 9 ½” x 9 ½”.  

     

  

Block A - Make 18

2. Sew the 3 ½” x 9 ½” Fabric 2 (stars) rectangles to the sides of Unit B. Make 17 of these blocks. These are Block B, and they should measure 9 ½” x 9 ½”.    

                                          

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Block B - Make 17

                                                                                                                                                                        

Quilt Layout

Following the picture below, lay out your blocks. For easier piecing of the quilt top, alternate the long seams of the blocks. The long seams of Block A  will be vertical, while the long seams of Block B  will be horizontal. Press all seams towards Block A . The quilt should measure approximately 45 ½” x 63 ½”.     

 

Pay careful attention to lining up the blocks properly so the corners match up easily. Sew blocks together into rows and then sew the rows together.

Especially while sewing rows together, I pin both horizontally and vertically. 

By pinning the bottom edge of the quilt (vertically), I am stabilizing the pieces so they don't shift as I sew down the long edge.

Once all the rows are sewn together, layer and quilt as desired. Bind using one of the two fabrics in the quilt, or add a third fabric to frame the quilt.

Ta-Da!

I like this! It reminds me that we are always surrounded by stars, even in the daytime. :-) I quilted this with stars and swirls and used a brown to match the stars for the binding. 

Here's another sample, but I used brown (the same brown as the binding in the first quilt) instead of blue for Block A. The alternating block, Block B (stars) is the same for both quilts. For the binding in the quilt below, I used the same blue that I used in the first quilt. Wouldn't it be fun to make this for a set of twins? 

And then I made a larger quilt (layout is 7 x 9 and measures 64" x 82"). I used a beautiful floral fabric (it's difficult to see in this picture - try clicking on the picture to enlarge it) and coordinated it with purple. The binding is a green that coordinates with the green in the floral fabric. This is really pretty and the picture does not do it justice! 

FYI - for the larger quilt above, you'll need 32 Block A (purple) and 31 Block B (floral). You'll need a total of 2 3/4 yards of each of the two fabrics and 2/3 yards for binding. For a pieced backing, you'll need 5 yards.

Speaking of backing, you can really see the quilting on the back of this quilt. Isn't that beautiful? It is Spring Vine, by Hermione Agee of Lorien Quilting

Changing the size of this quilt is simple! Simply add or subtract the number of blocks you make to reach your desired size like I did for my purple and floral quilt. But, in order to keep the layout symmetrical, I always use an odd number layout (5 x 7, 7 x 9, etc.). By doing that, each row begins and ends with the same block (block A - blue), and I just think it looks better.

It's also easy to change the overall quilt size by changing the size of strips with which you work. Do you already have a bunch of 2 1/2" strips cut? Simply use that size instead of 3" and your blocks will finish 6" (6 1/2" unfinished). 

Of course you could also increase the size of this quilt by adding borders. When I'm in a hurry for a quilt though, borders tend to slow me down. hehehehe

And, you don't have to limit yourself to two fabrics! You could make this semi- scrappy and use lots of colors. (I'm working on one of these, so check back soon to see how it looks!)

Or add some pop to the above quilt by adding a different center to half of the blocks. Oh wait, what about fussing cutting some of the center blocks? You'd have to piece the center strip of the block separately, but it may just well be worth it.

Ok, my mind is swirling with ideas, but I'll stop now. :-)  Seriously though, I'm thinking that the possibilities are endless and that is great for those of us that don't like to make the same quilt twice. Even though they are technically the same quilt, they can look so very different.

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial and I'd love to see your version of this quilt.

Thanks for all YOU do;

and remember,

Everyone Deserves a Quilt!

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Thanks again, Joanne!  I can see that this quilt may become a "frequent flyer" in my charity quilt arsenal!  

Be sure to come back next Sunday when we meet our next guest blogger!  There will also be a linky party so you can share your progress - we'd love to see what you've been working on!!  It's a great time to cheer each other on.  

See you next Sunday!

Hugs!

Sarah