Artful Home - Finished Quilt!

Here is the finished quilt top.  I picked four patterns to alternate in the main blocks, used a swirly design in the border and made triangles in between the blocks and borders.  I love the way it turned out!  If you are interested in making the top, take a trip down to Valli and Kim - they have the entire line of fabric in their store. An you can find the pattern on-line here!

 

Artful Home - Corner Blocks & Borders

The instructions for the black and white corner blocks call for making half square triangles.  While I used the method called for in the instructions, I found it very difficult to get square squares once I pieced the blocks together.  After all was said and done, I called my mom and she told me there was a much better way to make half-square triangles.  Apparently there is a template you can use to make perfect half-square triangles.  While I didn't use the template on this quilt top, I am definitely going to try it for the next top I make with half-square triangles.

After piecing the blocks together, all that was left for the top was the borders, which were a cinch to do.

Here's a hint for making non-wavy square borders:

1. Determine the length of the quilt border by averaging two to three center measurements of the quilt body.

2. Cut two borders the average length and pin them to opposite sides of the quilt. Match the ends and centers then gently ease in any fullness.

3. Pin, sew, and press.

4. Repeat for the top and bottom borders measuring the width, averaging, etc.

 

Here is the finished top!  All that's left is the quilting. 

Artful Home - Piecing

The piecing instructions fror the main blocks were pretty straight forward.  Here is a recap:

1) Mark the diagonal of the half square triangles.

2) Sew the HST to the center block.

3) Cut the excess from the HST.

4&5) Attach the first round of strips.

6) Attach the second set of HSTs (cut the excess here as well).

7&8) Attach the second round of strips.

9) Finished blocks.

One thing the instructions did not discuss...if you are OCD about corners like me, you will want the HST from the second round to line up with the corner of the HST from the first round:

To do this is pretty easy:

1) After marking your HST block (for the second round), fold the HST block in half perpendicular to the marking in order to find the dead center point.

2) Here you have the center crease crossing the marked diagonal.  The intersection is the center point

3) Stick a pin in the wrong side of the HST through the center point.

4) Stick the pin in the exact corner of the first round HST.

5) Set the HST block in place.

6) Sew all the HSTs to the block.

Here are the pieced blocks so far:

Artful Home Quilt - Cutting

First order of business....cutting.  Though the instructions on what sizes to cut each fat quarter were pretty straight forward, the diagram provided was not quite to scale.  I found it much easier to do the following:

1) Square left and lower edges of the fat quarter.
2) Cut both 'A' pieces as the diagram indicates.
3) Then, cut a 9" strip straight across the remaining width of the fat quarter. 
4) Cut the 'B' and 'C' pieces from the 9" strip.
5) Now cut a piece 2 1/4" wide the 9" length.  Then cut this strip into the four 'F' pieces, since 2 1/4 * 4  = 9"!
 6) Proceed to cutting the remaining pieces from the fat quarters as shown in the instructions.  

Once I had all the fat quarters cut, the rest of the cuts were a piece of cake!

While getting ready for my first round of piecing, I laid the cut pieces out in the order they would be sewn into the quilt top and found that I liked the look of the square-on-squares.  Hum, maybe I need to pick up some more of this fabric from Valli and Kim to make another top! :)

Artful Home Quilt from Valli and Kim

I recently discovered a new addition to the quilt store scene in the Austin Area: Valli and Kim down in Dripping Springs.  If you haven't been yet, it's a must visit.  The store is stocked with the latest trends in modern quilting fabrics, from Kate Spain, Joel Dewberry, Basic Gray and much, much more.  I just picked up this gorgeous Henry Glass fabric from there and am eager to get quilting with it.  The Henry Glass website even has a free design download specifically for these fabrics.  I'll be going over the instructions on how to piece the top over the next few weeks, so feel free to join in.  Valli and Kim stocks the entire line, called the Artful Home from Henry Glass.  Download the instructions for the pattern here.