What’s WIP you ask? It stands for “work in progress”. And I suspect you’ll be seeing a lot of WIP posts from me in the future.
I know I haven’t posted much on my quilting projects, but that is because I’m kind of a new addict. So today marks my first, and hopefully not last, WIP post!
I started quilting just before Christmas 2014, so only a couple of months ago. But I’m totally hooked! I think it appeals to the graphic designer in me. And have you seen all of the beautiful fabrics they put out now? For some reason I was never drawn to quilting because it seemed like something that just my grandparents generation was into. But oh was I wrong!
There are so many beautiful fresh fabrics, amazing blogs, and fantastic tutorials out there now, that it’s really lured me in! I’m a sucker for eye candy, and I love to create things, so this just had my name written all over it.
My first quilt was a fun little rag quilt project I made for Tinker Bell, you can see it here.
That one was quite simple, and so I wanted to challenge myself to try something a little more complicated. I found this lovely and free pattern from Little Miss Shabby called Tiled Blooms and new I wanted to give it a try. I figure if I can master applique right out of the shoot I won’t be afraid of anything!
The Tiled Blooms is for Strawberry Shortcake. She picked out Horizon by Kate Spain for Moda fabrics because of all of the lovely blues, teals, greens, and purples.
I’ve started on the main blocks which might look a bit complex but really they’re not. The pattern from Little Miss Shabby is easy to follow, and if you’re in doubt about how to do any of the steps there are a TON of YouTube quilting tutorials out there. It’s how I’ve learned what I know thus far anyway.
I changed some of the sizes a bit because I wanted my quilt to be a little larger.
I started off by cutting all of the pieces so I didn’t have to stop once I got sewing.
Next I added a small 2” teal square to the bottom of a 6 3/4” white square. I stitched diagonally from point to point of the small teal block and then folded it open to reveal the small teal corner.
To make it easier, you can draw a line from corner to corner on the backside of your 2” square. I used a Frixion pen because they disappear with heat, so when you iron your block, the lines are gone! Poof!
After stitching all of my little corner pieces on, I trimmed the excess fabric at 1/4” from the stitch line, and repeated that process with the remaining 64 blocks. Next I pressed so my seam was going towards the dark side. Otherwise you’d see a bit of blue showing through on your white and that would be no bueno. And there you go, a nice little start to our quilt!
I set up my work area in the kitchen so that I had a lot of room to work. The stack to the far right is sitting on my tabletop ironing board. It’s very handy!
Next I positioned the blocks so that they came together in the center and added in a 1 1/2 ” x 6 3/4” sashing strip between them. Sew the sashing to one block first, right sides together, then sew the other block to the other side of the sashing all with 1/4” seam.
I’m doing my best to use a 1/4” seam as most quilting guides suggest, but I’m just starting out, so mine aren’t perfect yet!
After stitching together all of the blocks, I then positioned them together like below and added another piece of 1 1/2” x 14” sashing between them. Repeat the process from above to complete the block.
And voila! I have my first completed block! A little crooked, but completed none the less!
Next I used my ruler to square up my blocks. I made mine 14” square blocks, because I wanted them larger. I believe the pattern uses 12” blocks.
And that’s where I’m at so far. Next up are the petals. They are applique petals and so I need to go get some Heat-n-bond light and get at it!
I’ll keep you posted on my progress, and for now happy quilting to anyone out there who might be into it!
You might have also seen my other WIP the Playful Petals quilt top that I’m currently working on as well. It’s a copy of the cover quilt from Playful Petals by the amazing Corey Yoder. I’ll do a more detailed post on this later, but man I love it!
I’ll probably keep the quilting posts to a minimum on my blog, but if you want to keep up with more frequent updates, make sure to subscribe to my Instagram account where I’ll be posting updates!
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Quilting is so fun! I have loved it for years although I don’t get to do it much. I actually look forward to getting old so I can do it more! Haha!
Quilting is SO FUN! My 4 older kids, 8-12, all do it too. Check out the Missouri Star Quilt Company, she has GREAT tutorials that makenit simple. Good job on yours! Practice will help it all come out straight. 🙂
Hi Heather,
Yes, I’ve already watched a TON of her videos, she’s great, and funny :o) I also like the Fat Quarter Shop videos.
How fun! Quilting can be quite addictive. Before you know it’s, it’s become a business and no longer your “hobby”…and fabric begins to take over all the rooms of your home. 😉
I’ve been so inspired by all the quilting pictures you’ve posted on instagram. I’ve been sewing for about 5 years but quilting has always seemed out of my league. I fell in love with your rag quilt tutorial and plan to make one soon for the little guy that I have due next month. I’m hoping he stays in long enough for me to get it done. I can’t wait to see more of your quilting. It’s absolutely beautiful.
I love this post!! I am an AVID quilter, and credit that wonderful hobby to keeping me sane and (mostly) stress free during my 15 years of homeschooling! Welcome to the dark side! Ha ha ha! I will warn you…..fabric is as addicting as curriculum! 🙂 But there is GREAT satisfaction in doing something that STAYS DONE, and the precision of quilting appeals to the crazy obsessed organizational perfectionist in me. Good luck with your projects. They look amazing! Hope you continue to have fun!
I am super new to quilting. I took a quilting class a couple of years ago and loved it. Sadly, I haven’t done anything since. When do you find the time? After we’re done homeschooling, I start prepping dinner, clean afterwards, and then I’m just plain tired to do anything afterwards. Thank you for inspiring me to want to try again. Good luck with your new quilt!
No kidding right! I did a bunch of quilting this summer, but now that school is back in session I don’t have much time to sew except for on the weekends!
Hi Erica, today Sunday 1/8/17, sat down brows thru different Quilters and came across with yours. Let me begin by saying this is all new to me but excited because now most of all basic questions you have answered them. Like I said, it’s Sunday and believe me sat down for hours watching your videos 101’s. They are great! Starting from cleaning iron, the tools that are needed and much more. I even saw you had your daughter helping sewing the checker block. That is a great idea! I’m planning to make one for a girl. Thank you for having great audio because to me that is the most important thing because some other videos of other people are not loud enough. Also, your voice inspired me to keep watching it made it very interesting. Well, good luck! Keep teaching because I will be watching. Thank you.
Thank you, I’m glad you liked them!