Last week, I showed you Lickety-Split Two, and today it's about her twin sister, Lickety-Split One.
This one is just as pretty, with the same floral prints as Lickety-Split Two but with deep red charms from yardage instead of cream.
Notice that this one doesn't have any sashing. I was really loving the overall deep red theme going, and didn't feel that sashing was necessary.
But just like her sister, she has a border that's 3 1/4" wide, matching the squares in the blocks.
Overall, she measures 38" x 38", a bit smaller than Lickety-Split Two. No issues here with a large enough backing fabric - it's all one piece.
Doesn't that quilting just look lovely?? That's another favorite pantograph, Bluster, with Glide Purple Rose thread too.
So, let's see the sisters side by side.
Lickety-Split One
Lickety-Split Two
I'd say these two are fraternal twins, wouldn't you? Turned out to be a pretty good experiment, splitting the floral charms and combining one with cream and one with deep red. Love seeing the effect of different values, making for two similar but different quilts. And that wraps up the Lickety-Split quilts from the Charm School book (affiliate link). Not sure what I'll work on next - I'll let you know Wednesday. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Quilting!
The quilting is done, binding is on, and now to show Lickety-Split Two.
Remember this pretty assortment of charm squares?
Half of them went into the above quilt, and the other half into another. I decided to divide the floral charms, and use half with the cream charms on the right, and the other half with the dark red yardage on the bottom. The result is two similar, yet different quilts - figured it might be more fun that way! The other quilt I'll show next week, but for now, it's all about Lickety-Split Two. Measuring in at 42" x 42", she kinda follows the Lickety-Split pattern in the Charm School book (affiliate link).
Sure, she has the disappearing 4-patch blocks (which, by the way, I wasn't too fond of making with 5" squares). She also has sashing, though it's not the same width or with the setting squares that the pattern has. Instead, I opted to make the sashing the same width as the center block parts, which is 1 1/2". Personally, I think the smaller width just works better for the smaller quilt.
Notice that I also used the backside of the cream charm squares again, just like in Sea Glass. Another brilliant move! Oh! And look - I put a border on! A lot of my quilts don't have borders (don't ask me why), and it does add a nice touch here.
It's width also matches the squares in the block, at 3 1/4". With all of that in mind, here's your quilt design tip for the day: Use the elements of repetition and uniformity. By repeating or using multipliers of block units, a quilt will have a cohesive feel and not be a jumbled mess. This little nugget has helped me countless times in quilt design! So let's move on to the quilting: I could have done some semi-custom work, with different fills in the blocks, sashing, and border. But after assembling the blocks, I have to admit, I was kinda done. Easy Peasy to the rescue!!
One of my all-time favorite pantographs, this little quilt looks great, especially in Glide's Purple Rose thread.
And let's not forget the back! Since I needed a bit more backing fabric, I used the remaining floral charm squares in the back, where they look just as pretty as the front!
Overall, an adorable quilt! Thanks for visiting today, and come back next week to see Lickety-Split One. Happy Quilting!
my scrap version of Railroad Crossing, a pattern from , Charm School (affiliate link). When I was putting the blocks together with these older prints,
I didn't find them very exciting, as older fabrics tend to have a grey or dull look to them. But.... Once all together in a quilt, they sparkle!
Though the pattern is Railroad Crossing, the quilt's real name is 'Sea Glass', because really, it does sparkle like the sea! (Note that I had no problem naming this quilt - wish it was always that easy!) Ready for some closeups? Quilting used Glide's light turquoise thread with a more open pantograph, Happy Times, on my non-computerized Innova 22LS.
Notice the faint hint of prints in the cream background squares in the two pictures below.
Using the backs of the cream charms was a brilliant move - the hint of prints, and the small value changes really add to the background of this quilt. For fun, I have a picture of the backside of the top, revealing the cream prints.
Winston approves of my work! And for the back, I found a large piece of an aqua print in the stash, which has bits of green and purple, though there's no purple in the top.
Also had enough of this print for the binding, and still have a bit leftover for a smaller quilt back. Sometimes yardage is never-ending. My work continues on the disappearing 4-patches for Lickety-Split, though I must say, I enjoyed making Railroad Crossing a lot more. If I find enough coordinating charm squares in my bin, I may make another. Will keep you posted! Happy Quilting!
Took a break from the charm squares to put together block 10 for the Growing Up QAL.
Alida of Alida Tweloq Designs designed this paper pieced block, which is an easy block to learn the technique on. The block is designed using four fabrics, but once again, I modified that to fit with my red/white/blue theme. I don't do a ton of paper piecing, though when I do, I like to use the freezer paper piecing technique, though I didn't use it here. I just love how freezer paper holds the pieces in place, and not only is there no paper to tear out of seams, but the freezer paper is reusable for a couple blocks. It's all about time savings and less work! Anyway, there's another trick I've picked up about matching seams when sewing paper pieced part A to part B. Not only do I use this when paper piecing, but for any other tricky seam matchup, such as those pesky angled seams in diamonds. It has saved me a ton of frustration! So what's the trick? Match up the seams, secure with a pin if necessary, and here's the secret - use a long stitch length to take just a few stitches at the seam.
The above picture is where the red meets white in QAL block. The below picture is where white meets blue.
Just needs a few stitches to check the seam matchup accuracy. Let's open it up an have a look. Here's the red to white. Maybe a bit off, but still forms a nice point.
And where the white meets blue looks pretty good.
I'm pretty pleased with those matchups, and will now sew the entire seam. If I wasn't pleased, those few stitches would get ripped out, and I'd try again until the seams matched perfectly. After the entire seam is sewn at a normal stitch length, the seam looks great!
And that's the beauty of taking these few, large stitches. No need to rip out the entire seam length, nor little, tiny stitches. I've managed to avoid a ton of frustration matching these seams. So the next time you need to match up any tricky seam, think about those few, longer stitches to test the match - they'll make you're sewing time more enjoyable. Happy Quilting - really!
Last week, I shared a couple of stacks of block units for Railroad Crossing,
one of the quilt patterns from the book Charm School (affiliate link).
And now I can share the growth of a quilt! All of those block parts got thrown on the floor, in a somewhat even distribution so that no two fabrics occur too close to one another.
Then the process of filling in the blanks begins! See the pile of white squares in the lower left picture above? Those are the backs of a stack of cream prints,
that are buried somewhere in the bin. Why the backs? Because I wanted a more solid background for this quilt, and didn't want to cut yardage. So, by using the backside of those cream prints, I achieve the look I want and use up those charm squares - yeah! Growing this quilt was quite fun - throwing down cream charms in a purely random manner. Some are light, some are dark, and some lean toward taupe.
Definitely got a lot of exercise with all the bending over!
All total: 150 cream charm squares. Unfortunately, that's only about an inch or so in height - these things just don't go away, as there's hardly a dent in the bin. So, I'm on a mission again to use up these squares. Quilt 1 is in the works - I'm off to sew!
Ah, the Christmas Carol Row Along is all over :( I hope everyone enjoyed it this year, as an overwhelming amount of patterns were downloaded - this was a popular theme! And have you started in on making the rows for your very own quilt? Maybe you're undecided which to use, or see other opportunities for the rows, like I did. Let It Snow is one such row that looks great as a wall hanging!
Mr Snowman and all that snow is now simply framed to make a wall hanging for the winter! Notice in the corners of this added border that the two strips intersect without additional seams.
The newly updated Let It Snow pattern has detailed instructions on constructing this feature. The adorable Mr Snowman face remains unchanged,
though his body template has been improved for a better printing experience.
Along with the detailed border instructions, the new Let It Snow pattern also includes more detailed quilting ideas, a feature that is always helpful.
