Over the Rainbow Tutorial

Pennie Pins over a flicker requested a tutorial for my Over the Rainbow Quilts :)  Here you go, Pennie!  Happy quilting!!  Please ask any questions you may have down in the comments.  I will answer them there :)

This is the first one I designed for my daughter Kate.  It is a twin size quilt.  Blogged HERE

My sisters Aly's quilt (king size), requested to be just like Kate's.  Blogged HERE

For both of these quilts I started with a jelly roll of Piece O' Cake's Treasures and Tidbits by Robert Kaufman.  For Kate's quilt I used one jelly roll and for Aly's I used 3 jelly rolls, but ended up making three matching euro shams too ;)

The first thing you need to do is decide how big you want your blocks.

My blocks ended up being 10" square.  Any square size will work with this layout.

To make 10" squares using a jelly roll, you will need to arrange your 2.5" strips into groups of four that coordinate.  (For the "Over the Rainbow" quilts, you can see I put like colors with like colors, with the darkest color furthest away from the white).

(for demo sake, I have used these cheery-not-so-matching jelly roll strips)

In order to get a "zigzag" design and and make my block square, I added a 2.5" by wof (width of fabric) white strip to each block.

Next you will sew your strip sets together, one white with four colored strips.  You will end up with a 42" by 10.5" strip set.  Press well.

Back side, all pressed and happy :)  (Pay no mind to my gingham ironing board cover :\)

Right side pressed & pretty.

Now for the trimming :)  You will need to trim the strip set down to four,10" squares.

*** Take note, if you have sewn perfect 1/4" seams, you will have an extra 1/2" (note size of strip set 42"x 10.5")  You could have cut your white to only 2" wide by wof if you are perfect and confident that your seams are precise.  I prefer to use a 2.5" wide white strip so I will have a little wiggle room, so my blocks can be trimmed perfectly to 10" square.

ALSO!!!  Be sure to cut your strip set apart into ten inch sections first.  As pictured below.

Line up your bottom edge on your cutting mat.  Trim off the selvage edges.

Slide your ruler over to cut at the 10" mark and trim.

(The angle of the picture makes the block look curvy, but it's not ;)

Next, trim the white strip side of the block to make the block 10" square.  You want all of your printed/colored strips to remain the same size as each other.  Your white strip is where all of the trimming should take place :) ...as pictured below...

Ta-da, a 10" block :)

Now for the layout.  This will take some time if you are using a jelly roll and want your colors to end up in a design.

Clear off your living room floor and start playing with the layout.  If you want a "zigzag', you just need to rotate the direction of your white (or solid) strip.  I have a picture of what I am going for next to me as I lay out the blocks, to help with the layout.

Once they are perfect... or pretty good ;), sew up your rows, and then sew up your rows :)  Press well.

I decided for Kate's that the quilt needed to be larger, so I added a wide white border to make it twin size.  For Aly's I added white borders to make the quilt fit her extra tall king size mattress.

Then quilt and bind as desired :)

Happy sewing :)

Aly's Over the Rainbow Pillow Shams

Saturday I was determined to get these shams finished.... but, I didn't feel very well :(

I muscled through the discomfort and got them done :)

These are made to fit a 24" euro pillow form.

I quilted each color in a different fmq pattern.

The green is daisy :)

The red is in a pebble pattern.

The orange is in a swirl.

I actually finished the orange one last week... or the week before ;D

For the backs, I made my first concealed zipper closure :)  I made up the instillation process and it worked out pretty well :)

I wanted to get this posted last night, but as it turned out I was REALLY sick by the time I finished these :(  Stomach flu :p  I am on a self quarantine for a few days.  I feel much better today but according to the Mayo Clinic, I could be contagious for up to two weeks :(  I figure I won't do any food prep for the family for a while and that should stop the spread.

Wish me luck :)

I plan to mail these off to my sister tomorrow.  Won't they look AWESOME on her bed?

Linking up with Amanda Jean over at Crazy Mom Quilts :)

Aly's Shams

Aly commissioned Euro shams to match her AWESOME new quilt :)

I had a few blocks left over from making the quilt.  (This was actually part of the plan so I could make shams.)  Aly decided that she wanted each sham to be a different color.

Isn't chain piecing fun... even on a LARGE scale?

These bad boys are about 32" square right now.  They will end up being 30" square when they are all finished and put together.

Aly has requested a zipper back.  It will be my first attempt and I am REALLY excited about it :)

They are HUGE!

Now I need to quilt the tops of the shams.  What motif shall I do?  I was going to copy the quilt, but I think I may do each sham differently.  Who knows ;D

Monday I was able to get the shams all ready for quilting.  Here they are all basted and looking cute in a pile :)

Monday night, I was able to get two of the shams quilted :)

Pebbles. 

Daises.

What ever shall I do for the orange one's fmq???

 I can't wait to get these finished.  They are going to be pretty cool.  I am seriously jealous of my sisters snazzy new bedroom dressings :)

Ps- Tuesday morning I went and ACTUALLY measured the quilted sham tops and they are a generous 34".  Apparently, my estimations were a bit conservative!

PPS-  HAPPY ELECTION DAY!!  Get out and vote! :)  We are so blessed to be able to participate in such an important event that not only will shape our nation, but quite literally the world as well :)

Aly's Quilts Arrived :)

Isn't it pretty on her bed.  Now I just need to get the shams finished :)
The finished quilt is blogged HERE.

Aly's Bedroom Quilt is FINISHED!!!

I have to say that there is much relief over finishing this quilt.  We affectionately call it "The Quilt That ATE the World!!!"  It measures 120" by 97".  It is HUGE!!

My hubby and his brother (both 6'1") are holding this up and can't get it off of the grass.

Aly wanted the quilt to be just like the one I made for my daughter. 

I designed it by request from my daughter and inspired by many quilts I saw on line.

Even with the tall quilt models, the quilt still hung ~18" on the ground. 

Label #2 :)

I tried my hand at a radiating star fmq.

I quilted this bad boy on my little Pfaff sewing machine :)  It wasn't nearly as hard as I was thinking it would be.  I did have to take it over to our church to make the quilt sandwich, though.  I taped the back to the basketball court floor ;D  Thank heavens I had a place big enough!

Weekend Update

(YES, we are HUGE SNL Weekend Update fans!)

Update time:
Konda's quilt is finished :)  Emily's quilt is all bound :)  Aly's living room quilt is all quilted and waiting for binding.  Aly's bedroom quilt is about a quarter of the way quilted.

YES, the Quilt That Ate the World fits on my little machine for some fmq action.  The quilt is 119"x 97"  :)

...AND I STARTED ON THE Amy Butler WEEKENDER BAG with Annette!  ARGH!!  This is a bag to be reckoned with.

Now you may ask yourself, who is this Annette person?  Well, she is a lady I have known for a while through church, but recently we have become very good friends.  She is an accomplished musician.  She plays the organ and piano... and that is all I am aware of at the moment...but there are probably more instruments she can play!  I found out yesterday, while at her home, that she is an exquisite tole painter.  Her yard is OVER THE TOP out of this world BEAUTIFUL!  She knits, tats, weaves, embroiders and anything else you can imagine.  Her quilting is spectacular and I pretty much want to be her when I grow up!  She is also tremendously BRAVE!  She built a barn.  No really, she built a red barn in her backyard.  She rocks!

On Monday, Annette and I decided that we needed to have a sew day to get to work on our Amy Butler Weekender bags.  I had seen it HERE and HERE and just had to make one for myself.  (Next week, April, Konda and I are going to my moms to have another Weekender Bag sew day).

So here is what I got finished..

Large panel, pieced and quilted.

Other large panel.

Large Pocket

Other large pocket

Cool zig zag quilting on the large pocket.

Diagonal quilting.

Pocket on top of large panel.

Other pocket on top of other large panel.

Close up.

Other close up :)

Side pocket.

Other side pocket.

Annette and I both thought it was funny that there is a definition of the word "Simple" on this NOT simple project :)  Oh the sweet irony!

This bag will take two more sew days to finish.  Tomorrow my mom is coming over for a sew day.  I am going to be teaching her how to make a pinwheel quilt.  I was going to make one too, but I think I will just finish the quilting on Alyson's bedroom quilt.  I have got to get those two quilts off of my list! :)

Have a GREAT Friday!!!