Quilts I Want to Make This Year


I have been eyeing up this quilt pattern throughout 2009. The simple squares really appeal to me.

This quilt was designed by Lynn Lister and appeared in the December/January 2009 issue of Cozy Quilts. The pic came from their web site.

This would be a pretty easy stash buster quilt to make. I have seen it done in bright solids, which gave a very contemporary air and was really quite stunning. Has anyone made it?

Another quilt I really love is the Pick-Up Sticks quilt.
This one is for sale here . It sells for $4,000 for a king size.

Last night I made my own patterns, using 1/4" sticks.
Unless I am missing something, this should be a snap to make. Right now my thought is to make a small one that I will hand quilt (because I am the worst machine quilter there ever was) with some fancy designs and then frame for wall art. I think I will try it this week. Yes, yes, I am still working on the other two, but I like to have a number of projects going at the same time.

Comments

Heather said…
I like both those quilts. for the pick up sticks, I would be tempted to make it 'quilt as you go' and make each square separately of a large white square and lay coloured strips with the edges folded under and stitch them on with the quilting. then put it together with white and coloured strips using the technique from Sharon Pedersen
Michele said…
Anyone else spew her coffee her over that $4,000 price tag? I mean, really, for THAT quilt?!?!?. Chutzpah!
Even if I were to sent it out to the best long arm quilter I know to do a simple stipple or meander over the whole thing, and she charged me $500, it's still insane.

I made a baby quilt similar to this. No need to bother with paper-piecing or any other gadgets.
I think the whole point of this quilt was that there needn't be any "exact" measurements. Which is why that price tag is so insulting.

Just start with a much larger background square than you want to end up with....if you want 8" squares start with 10" or 11", because each slice will cause a 1/2" loss in the width or height of the block. Yes, there's a bit of fabric loss, but it's worth not having to deal with the precision.

Then just go to it. Slice the block wherever you want, once or twice in the same orientation (don't make any of the slices right near the edges) and sew the strip of fabric to one side. As long as the strip reaches from end to end, you're fine. You can trim it after.

Say you want your sticks to be 1/4" wide. Rather than dealing with a really thin 3/4" strip, cut one a bit wider, and after you've sewn one side on, measure from the seam line out 1/2" and trim. It's sort of like paper piecing but without the paper. Then attach the other side of the background. It doesn't have to be perfect because you can trim the square the sides if you want. Then go on making cuts the other way. Or you can alternate the direction of the cuts.
And when you're done, just trim them down to the 8" size you wanted.

Try one block with scraps. You'll see how easy it is.

And I think I'M the worst machine quilter in the world. My repetoire consists of the Bernina #4 stitch in a wavy, freeform pattern. Which would be fine for this quilt. Handquilting is great, too. I think even using "big" stitches like sashiko in colorful threads would look very cool.

To Heather I'm a huge fan of QAYG
(both the Pederson and Judy Martin methods). But I think those connecting sashes would take a bit away from the randomness of the pattern, because you'd end with a grid pattern. Unless you only did the "sashes-on-the-back" method.

That was way longer than I expected when all I really wanted to say was what a fun quilt it is. Hope the above made some bit of sense.

Enjoy!
Myra said…
Good for you! I think your patterns will turn out great! You think like me... "I can figure that pattern out!" when I see something fairly doable... 8-)
free indeed said…
We are making similar blocks on our blocklotto site. Liberated blocks is the overall theme this year. These are easy to do in a stack and whack sort of way...instructions are on their homepage and we'd love to have you join us this month making lotto blocks....you just may win a bunch of them! www.blocklotto.blogspot.com
Betsy said…
Zoey , they look great!
Dianne said…
I like the one in the photo a lot and it looks like it's not too complicated. I think the pick up stick one would have to grown on me as there isn't a lot of color going on except the stashes of 'sticks'.