Table of contents for June - July 2018 in Quick+Easy Quilts

Though memories and milestones happen all year round, the transition from spring into summer seems especially popular for big celebrations. It’s the time when students graduate, weddings are scheduled and many people plan big summer vacations or family reunions. I think that making a quilt is the perfect way to mark each and every one of these momentous occasions! Besides making quilts to commemorate special moments, as quilters we also know it’s just fun to try different ways of doing things! It’s so satisfying to get creative and try new techniques, and in this issue we’ve focused on different ways of sewing triangles. We’ve got Triangle-Squares, Flying Geese, hourglass blocks, templates and a cool strip-piecing shortcut for making triangle units in Skipping Stones (page 8). We’ve worked hard to put…

Quilt Designed Abigail Dolinger and Trinity Sanders Made by Abigail Dolinger Finished Quilt Size 59" x 71" Number of Blocks & Finished Size 12 Block P 4" x 4" 20 Block Q 4" x 4" 10 Block R 4" x 4" 19 Block S 4" x 4" 9 Block T 4" x 4" 13 Block U 4" x 4" 8 Block V 4" x 4" 20 Block W 4" x 4" 15 Block X 4" x 4" 9 Block Y 4" x 4" 12 Block Z 4" x 4" Plan Abigail designed this pretty throw quilt with her daughter, using cleverly strip-pieced small blocks in multiple colorways to make a diagonal cascade of color. All the blocks have the same construction but contain large triangles of different colors arranged in…

Quilt Designed & Sewn by Wendy Sheppard Machine Quilted by Darlene Szabo of Sew Graceful Quilting Finished Quilt Size 85 ½" x 85 ½" Number of Blocks & Finished Size 16 Blocks 15" x 15" Plan Wendy made her quilt using one block and a scrappy collection of traditional prints. Our instructions have you cut matching sets of patches to make the basket units. Use as many or as few prints as you like. Use an accurate ¼" seam allowance throughout to ensure all elements of the quilt fit together well. Shop • Cream print 5½ yds. for blocks, sashing and 1st border • Assorted prints 2 yds. total for blocks • Tan print 1¼ yds. for sashing • Blue print 1⅛ yds. for 2nd border • Green print ⅞…

Quilt Designed & Made by Pam Boswell Finished Quilt Size 63" x 70 ½" Number of Blocks & Finished Size 42 Blocks 7 ½" x 7 ½" Plan Pam made this quilt with one block that is rotated throughout the quilt to create the strong diagonal lines. Her choice of colors makes this a quick quilt that is elegant, strong visually and would make the perfect gift for a man in your life. Use an accurate ¼" seam allowance throughout to ensure all elements of the quilt fit together well. Shop • Cream print ¾ yd. for blocks • Red print 2¼ yds. for blocks, 1st border, 3rd border and binding • Cream dot 1⅛ yds. for blocks and cornerstones • Black print 2⅜ yds. for blocks and 2nd border…

Maria put pockets of all sizes and shapes in her quilt, and if you’d like to do the same, follow her tips for improvisational piecing using a pocket of almost any size. Cut a pocket from old jeans leaving at least ½" of fabric around the actual pocket. Cut 4 or 5 red strips 2½" wide and at least 10½" long. Stitch the red strips to the pocket, using 2 strips angled at the bottom if you’d like to emphasize the angled pocket as Maria did on a few blocks. Trim to a square of at least 10½" x 10½". Cut 4 black strips 2½" wide and at least 12½" long. Join these to each side of the block, and trim the block to 12½" x 12½".…

Quilters are always in search of the perfect scant ¼” seam allowance, a quest that can feel as elusive as searching for a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. You may have wondered if that perfect seam allowance even exists in real life. It does, although you may have to make some adjustments to find it depending on the fabric and thread you’re using and even the pattern you’re sewing. There’s more to sewing with a consistent ¼” seam allowance than just using a ¼” (patchwork) foot on your sewing machine, or sewing ¼” from the raw edges of your patches. Even if you have a ¼” foot, your seam allowances may vary. Also, when patches are opened and pressed, a tiny bit of fabric is lost…

Made by Ramona Sorensen Finished Quilt Size 76" x 84" Number of Blocks & Finished Size 40 Block X 8" x 8" 30 Block Y 8" x 8" 20 Block Z 8" x 8" Plan Ramona created a gradated look in her quilt by using 20 different prints in analagous colorways on a solid white background. To achieve the same look, use 10 assorted aqua prints to make 40 block X’s and 20 block Z’s. Use 10 assorted blue prints to make 30 block Y’s and use 1 of the blue prints for the binding as well. Study the Assembly Diagram closely and notice that the quilt consists of 3 matching vertical rows of blue block Y’s that are arranged from darkest to lightest, starting at the top of the…

Quilt Designed & Made by Abigail Dolinger Finished Quilt Size 64" x 40" Plan Showcase your patriotism with Abigail’s beautiful flag quilt. Constructed with one simple unit, this quilt can be a quick and easy project for your July home decorating plans or made as a gift for a friend or a veteran. Be sure to pay close attention to which direction you press the seams when you join the units together in order to make sewing the rows easier. Abigail used an assortment of prints and batiks. Use an accurate ¼" seam allowance throughout to ensure all elements of the quilt fit together well. Shop • Assorted white-on-white prints 1¾ yds. total for units • Assorted blue prints ⅝ yd. total for units • Assorted red prints 1¼ yds.…

“A memory quilt can use all kinds of fabric from people’s lives.” When Trish Bowman makes a memory quilt, the focus is on a time, a place, a person or an activity. It may memorialize a loved one, mark a milestone in life, or capture images of a favorite hobby. “T-shirt quilts are the best-known memory quilts, but a memory quilt can use all kinds of fabric from people’s lives,” Trish said. They can also include photos, printed or embroidered sayings, anything that stirs memories. They can be bed coverings, couch throws or wall hangings. The first step in creating a memory quilt is gathering the materials for it. “I tell people to go through their closets and pull out everything and anything that carries a memory,” Trish said. “When…

Quilt Designed & Made by Elaine Theriault Finished Quilt Size 58" x 66" Number of Blocks & Finished Size 42 Blocks 8" x 8" Plan “I love how the woven effect is achieved and makes me feel like I’m looking through a garden lattice into a secret garden beyond,” Elaine said about her easy one-block quilt design. “This is the kind of design that makes me want to try multiple colorways or imagine fussy cut images in the center of each block.” The B patches that border the block center are cut with the long side parallel to the lengthwise grain to best show off the stripe print. If you prefer to cut your B patches on the crosswise grain, you will need 1⅛ yards of each stripe fabric. The…

• Sometimes strips of fabric don’t behave and want to slip one way or the other as the feed dogs pull them through the machine, so be on the lookout and keep the raw edges aligned as you stitch. • Pressing along the stitched line before pressing patches open helps set the seam and makes pressing that much more accurate. Press patches open on the right side before pressing on the wrong side, to avoid pressing in any folds or wrinkles that might decrease the size of your pieced unit. • If you are using a ¼” foot or you don’t want to move the seam guide on your sewing machine bed, you can adjust your needle position instead. If your test unit is wider than 4½”, adjust the needle…

Quilt Designed & Made by Susan Geddes Finished Quilt Size 43 ⅞" x 76 ⅜" NOTE: See end of pattern for piecing templates. Planning, Marking & Cutting Susan used a single blue print for the background, and lots of different prints, plaids and solid fabrics from her stash for the remaining patches and binding. If you look at this quilt one way, it looks like a forest of happy trees, but turn it upside down and it becomes rows of pretty bunting flags! Which way will you choose to make it? All the patches in this quilt are cut from templates. To prepare templates, trace patches on template plastic, including seam lines, grain lines, and match points. Cut out directly on outer lines. Make small holes at match points using…

Quilt Designed & Sewn by Janice Joyner Machine Quilted by Annette Watson Finished Quilt Size 18" x 42" Number of Blocks & Finished Size 12 Blocks 6" x 6" Plan Janice made this colorful table runner by using one simple block and 14 different fabrics. A white solid was used for the blocks and 1st border. A green batik was used for the 2nd border and binding and 12 different batiks were used in the blocks. You can buy 12 fat eighths or use some of your own scraps. Use an accurate ¼" seam allowance throughout to ensure all elements of the quilt fit together well. Shop • White solid ¾ yd. for blocks and 1st border • 12 Assorted batiks 1 fat eighth* each • Green batik** ¾ yd.…

Quilt Designed & Sewn by Maria Umhey Finished Quilt Size 48" x 60" Number of Blocks & Finished Size 8 Block X 12" x 12" 10 Block Y 12" x 12" 2 Block Z 12" x 12" Plan Maria’s upcycled throw quilt re-purposes the back pockets of denim jeans to make quilt block centers. These pockets can then be used to hold little notes, snacks, cell phones or even the television remote when you use this as a throw quilt for the sofa. Observant readers will notice that not all the pockets in the Block Y’s are the same size, though for clarity’s sake our instructions keep all Block Y dimensions consistent, based on the average pocket size used by Maria. Read the sidebar Pocket Guide for Improvisation on page…

Turn this design into a quilt full of cherished memories and well wishes by substituting the print in the center square for a solid fabric that can be signed with heartfelt messages. It would be a nice interactive touch to birthday or graduation parties, or for a wedding reception, to include the thoughts of people who might not get together as often as they’d like. The Celebrate Good Times collection from Hoffman California Fabrics adds a fun and festive touch to the signed squares.…

Getting Started About our Patterns We recommend that you read all of the instructions before starting a project and that you cut and sew one block before cutting all of your fabric. Using a rotary cutter, mat and an acrylic ruler, cut the shape to the size indicated in the cutting list. Our patterns list finished block sizes, which are typically ½" smaller than unfinished block sizes because they do not include seam allowances. Basic Quilting Supplies • Rotary cutter and mat • Acrylic ruler: Many shapes and sizes are available; a good one to start with is 6" x 24" with ¼" and ⅛" markings • Scissors: A separate pair for paper and fabric • Sewing machine • ¼" foot • Walking foot • Darning foot • Pins •…