Date Night Quilt

I was a little girl in the 1960s and 70s, when women got dressed up to go shopping. I can remember shopping with my Mom and grandmom. It was a big deal. We would take all day and have lunch in a restaurant – not a fast food joint – a real restaurant with dishes and linen napkins and metal silverware. Drinks were served in glass glasses and poured from a fountain, not from a can.

In those days, my parents belonged to a country club and went to formal dances. Men wore blazers, women wore skirts. No flip flops, t-shirts, and basketball shorts ever graced the dinning room at the country club.

I have fond memories of lying at the foot of my parents’ big bed, watching my Mom get ready for the evening. Hose,….dress,….shoes,….a touch of make up and a splash of cologne,….now jewelry.

Should she wear gems or pearls?

This time I couldn’t decide. This simple grey quilt wears both! I hope you enjoy “Date Night!” Whether it is for a little girl’s day dreaming or snuggling under after you dance all night, it is sure to please.

A 74″ x 92″ magic carpet for all destinations romantic and fun. Its size is convenient for undercover work as a coverlet for a twin sized bed.

6 Candy Charm packs (2 1/2″ squares) for gems
1 1/4 yard for pearls (I used Bella # 9900 200)
5 yards for background (I used Bella #9900 219 Platinum)

5/8 yard for binding (I used #27132 14)
5 1/2 yards for backing (I used #27130 14)

This quilt is made of 20 identically pieced, 18″ blocks. There are no borders and no sashing. The blocks are arranged in a 4 x 5 grid.

Cutting Instructions:

From background fabric:

cut 10, 4 1/2″ x width of fabric (wof) strips

sub cut wof strips into 16, 2 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ rectangles each for a total of 160 rectangles

cut 10, 2 1/2″ x wof strips

sub cut wof strips into 16, 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ squares each for a total of 160 squares

cut 4, 6 1/2″ x wof strips

sub cut 3 wof strips into 6, 6 1/2″ x 6 1/2″ squares each for a total of 18 squares
cut 2, 6 1/2″ x 6 1/2″ squares from fourth wof strip
put remainder of strip in scrap bin

cut 5, 6 1/2″ x wof strips

sub cut wof strips into 16, 2 1/2″ x 6 1/2″ rectangles each for a total of 80 rectangles

cut 15, 2 1/2″ x wof strips and set aside

From pearls fabric:

cut 15, 2 1/2″ x wof strips and set aside

From Charms:

240, 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ squares. No cutting required if you are using Candy Charm packs.

“Date Night” blocks are basically nine-patch blocks. There are four corner patches, made from charms, and four edge patches made from yardage. You can’t very well strip piece a charm (thus all of the little pieces I just asked you to cut out), but you can yardage! Reach for the 15, 2 1/2″ x wof background strips and the 15, 2 1/2″ x wof pearls strips and lets get started.

Strip piecing:

Sew 1 background 2 1/2″ x wof strip to 1 pearls 2 1/2″ x wof strip along the long edge.
Iron seam allowance toward background fabric
Cut 16, 2 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ units from pieced strips
Repeat 14 times for a total of 240 units.

Break time! Please don’t start right into sewing. It takes a lot of energy to cut all of this up. Have a cookie or two, on a plate with a glass of milk in a glass glass. (No drinking out of the carton!) Recharge yourself.

Piecing Instructions:

Corner Patches:

You need to make 4 of these patches for each block in the quilt, for a total of 80 patches.
Pieces needed:

160, 2 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ rectangles of background fabric
240, 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ charms
80, 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ squares of background fabric.

Sew 160, 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ charms to the short side of 160 2 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ rectangles
Iron seam allowance toward background fabric
Sew 80, 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ charms to 80, 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ squares of background fabric.
Iron seam allowance toward background fabric.
Sew 80, 2 1/2″x 2 1/2″ square of background fabric to charms, parallel to the seam just made.
Iron seam allowance toward background fabric.
Sew units together to make 80 patches with charms progressing diagonally across patch.

Edge Patches:

You need to make 4 of these patches for each block in the quilt, for a total of 80 patches.
Pieces needed:

80, 2 1/2″ x 6 1/2″ rectangles of background fabric
240, pieced 2 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ units.

Sew 80, pieced units to 80 pieced units along the long edge.
Pop seam and iron seam allowance in a spiral.
Sew remaining 80, pieced units to 80 pieced squares.
Iron seams flat.
Sew 80, 2 1/2″ x 6 1/2″ rectangles of background fabric to 80 pieced rectangles along long edge being careful to keep the two squares of background fabric next to the rectangle. The patch should look like “C-” not “K”
Iron seam allowance toward rectangle of background fabric.

Blocks:

You need to make 20 blocks.

Quilt:

These blocks are very random, well not the one I drew for you, but yours should be. Because of this there really is no need to use a design wall for this project. Go ahead and finish your top without looking at where the colored blocks fall in relation to each other as far as color goes.

Gather

20 Date Night blocks

Being careful to snuggle up the seams where you can, sew

10 sets of 2 blocks
5 sets of 4 blocks.
5 rows of 4 blocks each together along their long edges to finish top.

Iron row seams open. (If you quilt turned out like mine, some of the seams didn’t snuggle at all. In order to minimise the lumps for quilting iron these seam allowances open.)

Layer and Quilt as desired.

Be sure to drop by Tops to Treasures, my blog and visit a spell. I’d love to have you. You are also welcome to add a picture of your quilt to my Flickr group of the same name…Tops to Treasures.

Cindy Sharp
{topstotreasures.blogspot.com}

Bloomin’ Peaks Quilt

Sep11

Hi, this is Emily. I design under the name Aunt Em and my blog is Em’s Scrapbag. This is my first time getting to post on Moda Bake Shop and I must say I’m tickled pink to be here. When I first saw the line Cuzco, I thought of my daughter. Her favorite colors are orange, purple and green. A perfect fit, don’t you think? She always wants to eat outside so a picnic quilt is perfect for her. I hope that you will enjoy it also.

2- jelly rolls Cuzco

3 yards Bella Solid platinum background and binding

4 yards Bella Solid platinum backing

First open those yummy jelly rolls and mix and match the strips into 18 sets of 3. Sew these together.

Take each of your strip sets and cut them into 2 1/2″ lengths.

Mix and match these to create 85 nine patches.

Take 10 of these nine patches and line up your ruler so that the 1/4″ line runs through your center points.

Stay stitch a scant 1/4 inch along cut edge to keep from stretching.

From your background fabric cut
68- 6 1/2″ squares
5- 9 3/4″ squares cut on diagonal twice
2- 5 1/4″ squares cut on diagonal once

Using the 5 1/4″ squares cut on diagonal once for your corners and the 9 3/4″ squares cut on diagonal twice as setting triangles along edge follow the diagram below to lay out your quilt.

Sandwich your quilt and quilt as desired. I did organic zig zag lines. If I had more time I would have loved to do some big stitch quilting in the quilting in the colors of the prints in the quilt. Bind with remaining platinum.

One 70″ x 87″ quilt perfect for a picnic in a mountain meadow, or for cuddling under with cocoa after a day on the slopes.

Stop by and visit me for what to do with the the other half of your setting nine patches or just to say ‘hi’.

Emily Bailey
{Em’sScrapbag}

Jelly Roll Tu-Tu

Jun30

1 Jelly Roll Cuzco from Kate Spain (or leftover strips from another)
1/2″ wide elastic cut to 16″ for 3-6 month old girl (see below for other sizes)
Pinking shears

Hot glue if you don’t want to sew!
Leggings or diaper cover for underneath

Step 1: Measurements
This Tu-Tu is easily to make custom for your little one. Take measurement around the waist where you want the skirt to lay and add 2.5″. This accounts for the seam and the extra bulk of the ties around the waist. If you don’t have a child available you can measure around the waist of the leggings or diaper cover. The next measurement you need is from the waist to where you want the skirt to hit on the leg. Multiply that by 2 and add 2″ to account for the knot.

Here are the numbers I have for a 3-6 month size:
Waist: 16″ + 2.5″= 18.5″ cut of elastic
Length: 6″ x 2= 12″ + 2″= 14″ strip cut from the jelly roll

Step 2: Cutting
Now that we’ve got your numbers let’s begin! Begin by cutting your elastic and making it one continuous loop. You can do this by either sewing it, hand stitching or a hot glue gun. The overlap should be about 1/2″.

Next using your jelly roll strips cut with pinking sheers to the length you determined before in your measurements. For me that was 14″ so I could get 3 strips from each jelly roll. I used a total of 25 14″ strips for the whole skirt. Your numbers may differ slightly from that, just cut a good amount to start and you can easily add as you go.

Tip: The reason you need to use pinking sheers is that those edges (the zig-zag cut) do not fray. That’s why this is perfect for jelly rolls – the sides are already pinked!

Step 3: Tying and finishing!

Fold the fabric in half lengthwise. Wrap around the elastic and knot it once. Take care not to pull it too tight, you don’t want the elastic to gather. Knot one more time, make sure all the knots are to the bottom of the skirt. See the following three images for a guide.