Tutorial Reboot Guest Blogger | Missouri Star Blog

February 16, 2018February 20, 2018

Cathedral Window Tutorial Reboot with Guest Quilter Liz Hawkins

Revisited Quilting Tutorials from Missouri Star Quilt Co

This edition of our Tutorial Reboot series comes from Liz Hawkins, who you may know as Mama Hawk from Mama Hawk’s Kitchen in Hamilton!

Well hello! I’m excited to share my “reboot” pattern experience with you all. But first, let me explain a bit about who I am. If you’ve ever visited Missouri Star Quilt Co in Hamilton, Mo, then you most likely know me as Mama Hawk…the baker, panini, pizza, salad and soup maker at Mama Hawk’s Kitchen located near the main shop. However, before I opened the bakery/cafe here, I’d been known as one of the Lizzie B girls for Lizzie B Cre8ive. A quilt/fabric design company started by my sister-in-law and I. I haven’t had much time, since opening the bakery, to dedicate to quilting, sadly. Which, I know, is crazy to think about as I am living in a town quite literally surrounded by fabric and everything a quilter could dream of! In fact, one night I was frantically trying to finish a gift for someone and happened to break my last needle, oh around midnight. Isn’t that always when your last needle breaks? Anyway, I tore apart my entire sewing room searching for a needle in a fabric stash proverbial haystack, looking disheveled and distraught as I knew my alarm would go off in a few short hours when I’d need to start rolling out cinnamon roll dough. My husband rolled his eyes at me and said, “You must be joking. You work ten steps from a shop that sells quilt needles and you actually ran out?” I’m sure you don’t need me to tell the rest of the story. You’ve all been there, right? Ok, maybe not in the exact circumstances. But at least you know exactly where my husband spent that night sleeping. Ha! Needless to say, I’ve stocked up on needles. And they got me through my reboot project without breakages!

The pattern I chose to do is the Cathedral Window pattern. I’ve always looooved Cathedral windows, real AND quilted ones! I’ve always wanted to make a cathedral window quilt, but have never taken the time. So I thought, alright, here’s my chance!

I watched Jenny’s nice little tutorial, and thought, no problem. This should be a breeze! She’s simplified it all nicely so there’s not all that hand stitching involved like in a traditional cathedral quilt. Plus, the block size was 7” finished, none of those teeny tiny blocks to deal with. Although, in Jenny’s tutorial she makes a table runner, and I thought, if I’m going to devote some time to this, I might as well make it into a whole quilt. Right? Wouldn’t you think the same thing? Sure you would!

Plus, my youngest child was graduating early from High School and would soon be off to college in January. So I also thought, perfect, this will be her college quilt! With that in mind, I went about choosing my fabric. I fell in love with a line by Melody Miller for Cotton + Steel called Jubilee. Not only did the colors appeal to me, but the prints were filled with little dresses, tubes of lipstick, mascara and nail polish. All the things my 18-year-old daughter adores! The designs have a wonderful retro 60’s element to them as well. Which I also love. Maybe because I wear funky cat-eye glasses, and have a retro vibe to myself? Or maybe it’s because I had just binge-watched The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon with my family over the holidays. A show set in New York City in the 60’s. Featuring an amazing set, gorgeous dresses and a fabulous pink Pyrex dish I’ve been obsessing over ever since.

Whatever the reason, the fabric was picked, and I started my project. Now I’m a pretty quick quilt maker. Comes from years and years of deadlines to make for quilt market, sometimes only getting our fabric a couple weeks before. I’ve spent many flights to Houston hand binding quilts so they’re ready to hang in a booth. So I wasn’t really worried about not having enough time. And that is where I wildly miscalculated the amount of time this particular quilt would take. Not only that, but the amount of fabric as well!

After I finished the size Jenny shows in her tutorial, it dawned on me the reason for the size. As a table runner, it’s a nice quick little project. Especially if you follow the instructions to quilt-as-you-go! But (add a dramatic pause here), as a quilt? Let’s just say you’re going to need a TAD more time. And more fabric! I started out with a nice pack of 10” squares which I cut into fourths to give me a good stack of 5” squares. I also started with 2 yards of an off-white Cotton + Steel basic with dots. I chose this basic instead of a solid print because, well, I just love a fabric that reads as a solid but has a little texture. Also, it just seemed to add to that wonderful 60’s vibe.

It didn’t take long to realize that in order to make an entire quilt, every single 5” square of fabric would require TWO 5” squares of off-white ironed in half on the diagonal. Which means each full block is made up of FOUR 5” printed fabrics, layered with TWO folded 5” squares of off-white per square, plus ONE more 5” printed square in the middle of the block. Yep, go ahead and do that math…that’s THIRTEEN 5” squares per FINISHED block. Needless to say, I had to go back and get one more package of 10” squares and more basic fabric to finish this quilt. And YES, it’s got some good weight to it, this quilt. It’ll keep my baby warm, that’s for sure! I worked one row at a time, choosing the more geometric prints for my background squares, and the prints with bolder motifs for the center of each window. I won’t lie. Each row took me a couple of hours with all that fabric to manipulate! But each row was so PREEEETY, I just had to keep going. Before starting each row, I would cut my basic off-white into 5” squares and iron them on the diagonal by stacking a bunch of them folded, and ironing at once. This quilt required a lot of pins, which aren’t my favorite, but quite necessary!

I decided to back this quilt with a nice soft cuddle fabric. When making quilts for my kids, they always request the cuddle. Last year, my husband even went so far as to let me know that all previous non-cuddle backed quilts are useless in keeping a person warm. So, thank you very much Shannon Cuddle Fabrics, for rendering most of the quilts I’ve ever made completely useless. Haha! I’m kidding. (But my husband totally is not.)

I also decided that this quilt didn’t need that much quilting because the pattern itself has so much going on. So I quilted it on my own machine at home, choosing just a straight stitch along the diagonal. I didn’t even need to use my walking foot, though some might prefer to, depending on your machine. I did lengthen my stitch to around 4. I love how the simplicity of the quilting made the “windows” in the pattern pop a bit more. Also, with cuddle on the back, a more intricate quilt pattern is lost, in my experience!

All that was left to do was bind this baby up. I chose another C+S basic, the pink with gold dots. It seemed to perfectly frame this sweet quilt for my daughter, who also happens to be obsessed with rose gold. I’m a hand stitch binding kinda gal, but since I’m also a baker, I’ll admit, some of that hand stitching took place in my kitchen at the bakery! You’ll notice some of the pictures I’ve added here. A few places you don’t normally see a quilt, or quilting tools. Also, the number of sugary treats, and non-sugared caffeinated soda required for me to get a quilt done with a deadline. It’s a delicate balance, for sure!

I love how the quilt turned out, and can’t wait to send it to my sweet daughter. Follow Mama Hawk’s Kitchen on Instagram and Facebook to see her reaction when she gets her package in the mail! Until then, happy quilting. And buy some more needles. You’ll thank me at midnight.

If you want to make a Cathedral Window quilt like Liz’s, which is about 54″x63″, here’s what you will need:

2 packages of Cotton + Steel Jubilee 10-inch Stackers (cut into 5-inch squares)

6.5 yards of Cotton + Steel–Dottie Kerchief

1/2 yard of Cotton + Steel Cotton Candy for binding

3.5 yards of Shannon Cuddle Hide Rose Water 60″ Minky for backing

Be sure to share all of your creations with us on Facebook and Instagram using #msqcshowandtell!

May 11, 2017

Broken Dishes Tutorial Reboot with Guest Quilter April Rosenthal

Hello sweet friends! My name is April Rosenthal, mama to three lovies, wife to my high school sweetheart, designer for Moda, and the chickadee behind Prairie Grass Patterns, my quilt pattern company. I started quilting in earnest nearly 15 years ago as a way to cope with infertility–and over the years quilting has become a beautiful part of my story. I look back on the quilts I’ve stitched and patterns I’ve written and fabrics I’ve designed and realize that if I hadn’t had the harrowing trials that led me to quilting, I would have missed some pretty amazing people and experiences.

I’m so excited to be a guest blogger today to show you my version of Jenny’s “Broken Dishes” tutorial!

I decided to use my good friend Amy Smart’s new fabric collection, Gingham Girls–it is SUCH a fun collection full of nostalgic prints and patriotic colors! As soon as I saw it, I knew this fabric needed to be a new soccer quilt for our family–our old one is getting pretty ragged. Once I knew I was making a soccer quilt, I wanted to make something quick and easy to put together–because soccer quilts get USED–but I wanted to do more than just sew squares together.

I used Jenny’s tutorial exactly as she describes in the video, except with one change: Instead of using charm squares, I upsized to layer cake squares. This one little change means that you can grab 32 layer cake squares and whip out a whole quilt speedy fast! I had a great time stitching around each layer cake pair, as Jenny demonstrates. I was even able to let my 9 year old daughter stitch up a few, it was that easy!

To make a quilt like mine, simply make 4 sets of layer cake pairs, one dark and one light, all using the same dark color. I used various low volume fabrics for my light choices, because low volume hides grass stains better! These 4 sets will be stitched around, cut apart and reassembled just like the tutorial shows to make 4 identical blocks.

Assemble the blocks to make a jumbo block.

Make 4 jumbo blocks.

Stitch 2 blocks together in rows, and then stitch the rows together.

I backed this quilt with a perfect slub denim chambray and machine quilted it with a baptist fan pattern with a swirl. I used this super fun yellow plaid to machine bind with a zigzag stitch, a technique I like to use for quilts that will likely be drug around by tired sweaty children. 😉

This quilt goes together lightening fast, and I’m super tempted to repeat the process and make a much larger quilt with 9 jumbo blocks just because it would be so easy! Mama’s bed needs a new quilt!

I would love to see your versions of Jenny’s Broken Dishes tutorial, and get to know you better! You can find me on Instagram @amrosenthal, Facebook at Prairie Grass Patterns, and my website www.aprilrosenthal.com

xoxo

April

April 4, 2017April 4, 2017

Alter Ego Tutorial Reboot Featuring Simple Simon and Co.

Hello we are Elizabeth Evans and Elizabeth Evans… two girls who married brothers and ended up with the exact same name! We also are the same age, have the same number of children and, are both former school teachers. Together we blog over at Simple Simon and Company where we love to write about sewing, quilting, and the art of homemaking.

Today it’s me (liZ…short name, short hair) that gets the chance to share some thoughts about quilting with you. And the quilt I’m talking about is one that is a current work in progress that I started after being inspired by Jenny’s Alter Ego Quilt Tutorial.

There are two things that I really love about this quilt top tutorial:

#1. How the finished product looks complicated and time consuming when in actuality it is simple enough to be completed by even a novice quilter! (Over at Simple Simon and Company we love simple, beautiful projects….so this tutorial was right up my alley!)
And…

#2. How versatile this tutorial really is. Just by changing up fabric styles and combinations you could make this top countless times and have an entirely different looking quilt each and every time. (And because most of us who quilt are making quilts for others rather than ourselves I can see this fast becoming a go-to quilt top to make for gifts.)

So let’s get down to brass tacks…the making of this quilt top.

For this quilt I used 16 fat quarters from RJR’s “Everything But The Kitchen Sink” fat quarter bundle along with 2 yards of plain white fabric and a ½ yard of Riley Blake Design’s basic black and white Swiss Dot.

(I love this fabric. It has such a happy, vintage vibe and working with it is a pure delight. Yes, a pure delight…some fabric just is that fabulous.)
But before I made my first cut into this fantastic fabric I came up with a plan. Even when I am following a pattern or a tutorial I jot down notes or sketch out my plan in a notebook.

It’s not fancy but it helps me collect my thoughts and gives me a direction for what fabrics I would like to place where. And for this quilt I wanted to try something a little different.

The Alter Ego quilt top is made using alternating 4 Patch and Hourglass quilt blocks. Each of these blocks have 4 different areas or zones. And my idea was to start in the center of the quilt with solid patterns…no white…and slowly add white into the mix until the rows on each end were solid white.

So you can see in my plan where the middle two rows were constructed of solid patterns.

Then the next row on either side of the middle would have ¼ of each block be constructed out of white.

The rows after that would be constructed from blocks where ½ of the area would be made from white.

And finally the two rows on each end would be solid white.

That was my plan but when I got to here I stopped:

I’m not sure I feel like only ½ of the blocks done in white gives the quilt enough white space to transition into an all white row.
Which is where you come in…what do you think?
Here is the original plan:

Solid, ¼ white, ½ white, all white.

But here is what I am thinking I should do instead:

Solid, ¼ white, ½ white, ¾ white, all white.

So that would mean adding two more rows (one on each end of the quilt before the all white row.)

I think this would make the flow better…and I have exactly enough little squares already cut to make it happen.

But here is what it would do to my quilt size:

If I stick with my original plan the quilt will finish at roughly 72” x 72” (which I like…because I LOVE square quilts). However, if I add the two extra rows it will become about 72” wide and 90” long…kind of a strange size.

Which leads me to my question (and the reason my quilt top construction has come to a halt): Do I go with the better design and weird size or better size and a design that is not as strong?

I am leaning toward the stronger design….what do you think?

Here’s where I am at…and can go either way:

While you are thinking you can check out Jenny’s terrific tutorial for The Alter Ego quilt and then you can pop on over to Simple Simon and Company and read about a quilt making tip that saved my marriage when making this quilt top!

-liZ

(And when I decide which way to go I will be sure and share photos the finished quilt with you!)

Visit Simple Simon and Company: https://www.simplesimonandco.com/

Read more about this quilt from Simple Simon and Company: https://www.simplesimonandco.com/2017/04/alter-ego-quilt-tutorial-reboot-and-quilting-advice-that-could-save-your-marriage.html/

March 6, 2017March 6, 2017

Jelly Roll Race Tutorial Reboot with Guest Quilter Becky Vandenberg

Hi there. I am Becky Vandenberg from Be So Crafty, a blog devoted to all things sewing. Be So Crafty began last year when I wanted to use my fabric stash for a good cause, so I decided to sew 100 skirts in 100 days and donate them to a local charity that helps refugees in Utah. Sewing skirts everyday for 100 days was a fabulous experience that I plan to write about soon. Although I have been sewing for years, I only began making quilts abouts 3 years ago and LOVE it. So I was absolutely thrilled to be apart of this Tutorial Reboot series for Missouri Star. The quilt tutorial I have decided to reboot is Jenny’s Jelly Roll Race because it’s quick and simple and perfectly color coordinated, thanks to the use of precut jelly rolls.

I chose a KONA jelly roll with solid colors called Overcast by Robert Kauffman. It’s a beautiful palette of blues and greys, perfect for the baby boy quilt I had in mind. I chose a tone-on-tone red dot for the binding and some adorable Cuddle Cloth from Shannon Fabrics for the backing. This airplane design is called “Take Off” licensed from Robert Kaufman.

First I unrolled that perfectly beautiful Jelly Roll and snipped off the selvage.

I followed Jenny’s advice in the video tutorial and kept the fabric strips in order; that means some of the same colors were touching and that is okay.

IMPORTANT NOTE: With solid fabric strips you have to be super mindful of the front of the strip and the back of the strip when you make the jelly roll quilt. “Right sides together” takes on a whole new meaning when there is no printed side. One important thing to remember: after you sew the diagonal line, turn the top strip over and then add the next strip.

With the beginning and end of the 1600” strip, place them right sides together and sew one LONG ¼” stitch making your 1600 inch strip into an 800 inch double side strip; basically fold the long strip in half (end to end) and sew down one side. Cut the fold to create a new “end” of the 800 inch strips and once again, fold the strips in half (end to end) and sew down one side. Cut along the fold and fold the quilt top end to end and sew down one side. Repeat this step a couple more times until you have the finished quilt top.

Follow the Jelly Roll Race video tutorial exactly and you cannot go wrong. That’s all I did.

In order to incorporate the fun airplane backing into the front of the quilt, I grabbed some big scraps from my stash and cut out an airplane applique.

Then I sent the backing and the Jelly Roll Race quilt top to the quilter because I wanted it done all fancy. However, this quilt can easily be quilted with some straight lines or all over stippling with your sewing machine.

To create the binding, I cut eight 2 ½ inch strips from the binding fabric and sewed them together exactly like I sewed the Jelly Roll Race fabric. This made a 240” strip (always make more than you think) which I folded in half and pressed with a hot iron. (Binding tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vCWpxBRs20)

Now I get to hand sew the binding. I grabbed some clips, red thread, a sharp needle, and a Diet Coke, and found myself a nice spot on the couch to watch a documentary while binding the quilt.

I am so happy with how this amazing baby quilt turned out! I love the solid color strips and how they turned out beautifully to look like the sky.

I will definitely be making more Jelly Roll Race quilts; this was such a fun project. Thanks for having me, Missouri Star!

Come see me at BeSoCrafty.com and follow me on instagram and facebook for more sewing tutorials.

February 6, 2017

Summer in the Park Tutorial Reboot Featuring Lee Ann Perry!

Hi! My name is Lee Ann. I’m a wife and mother of four. When I was expecting my third child, I saw some rag quilts on Etsy and thought they were adorable—but expensive. I mean, $65 for a little baby blanket?

So I bought my first sewing machine and a set of fat quarters by Kaffe Fassett. I learned how to make my first rag quilt by watching a tutorial by Vanessa Vargas Wilson on YouTube. I was pretty happy with the result but my husband teased me a bit. ”Why spend $65 on a blanket when you can make it yourself for $300?”

But, I fell in love with sewing! Putting colors together. Feeling the fabric run through my fingers. And the finished project was an item that was both USEFUL and beautiful. I made several rag quilts before getting bored and wanting to learn more. That’s when I found the free video tutorials online by MSQC.

One of the first “real” quilts I made was from a pattern called Summer in the Park using a jelly roll, a line by Tula Pink, the Birds and the Bees.

Watching the videos made it easy for me to follow along—or watch a half dozen times if necessary, and sometimes it was! The finished quilt was so worth it.

But, like many quilters, I don’t ever make the same thing twice! You’ve got to change it up a bit.

Recently I came back to this pattern and changed only two things.

In the tutorial, Natalie uses a brightly colored jelly roll and combines it with a jelly roll of white strips. When sewing them together, she sews two strip sets, 1) white, print, white, and 2) print, white, print.

So to change it up, I chose a jelly roll of Carolyn Friedlander’s Carkai. Instead of white, I used a darker CHAMBRAY fabric. I also changed how I sewed my strips together. ALL of my 3 strip sets were sewed as: print, chambray, print.

The 3-strip-sets are then sewed to each other, right sides facing, into a “tube.”

Now comes the really fun part—cutting the tubes into squares. You lay your tube down and cut triangles—when you open it up, they will be perfect squares!

The best ruler for this is the Triangle Square Up Ruler, 9 1/2” by Quilt in a Day. I don’t happen to have that ruler (mine only goes up to 6 1/2”), so I had to make do with my big square up ruler for squares. I put the point of my ruler right up to the seam but did not cross it. Then, I made sure both of the 8” marks touched the bottom seam before making a cut.

Continue cutting the tube, swiveling the ruler around the opposite way to maximize the number of cuts you can make. I was able to get five finished 8” squares from each “tube.”

When sewing the squares together, I made sure to nest the seams to make perfect points.

I sent this quilt off to MSQC for machine quilting. My local lady is great but she will not back anything with fleece. MSQC does — Cuddle/minky too! This is my first quilt backed with fleece and it’s pretty much the best thing EVER.

After it came back, I had to choose binding fabric. I always “audition” a few colors first.

After letting this quilt and the different options sit on my table for a few days, I ended up going with the same chambray I used in the quilt blocks.

My favorite binding tutorial is The Ultimate Quilt Binding Tutorial by MSQC. No binding tool required! I used to have one but I don’t use it anymore. This method is the easiest! But, I must confess, I had to watch this video EVERY SINGLE TIME a quilt needed finishing for at least the first ten quilts I made.

Here’s the finished result of my “reboot”.

And now that I’ve spent a few years piecing quilts…I’ve decided a $65 rag quilt is more than fair! A bargain, really! But, I wouldn’t trade learning a new hobby for ANYTHING. Quilting has become my quiet place and saving grace in my busy life.

Thank you, MSQC for asking me to write this blog post and for teaching me how to quilt in the first place!

You can follow my quilty adventures on Instagram at leeannjperry.