Hello, meet the Nicely Knotted Quilt pattern! I wanted to make a modern quilt to match the Royal blue couches in my living room to go on the beautiful quilt ladder my husband made me. I had drawn out this design a while back and thought it would be perfect!
I love a quilt that uses squares and rectangles because once you make your first cuts, it’s time to sew!
The fabrics I used for my quilt are: A: Dear Stella – Moonscape in Marlin, B: Art Gallery Fabrics – Tomales Bay – Meandering Ocean, C: Dear Stella – Moonscape in Denim, D: Dear Stella – Moonscape in Spruce, E: Dear Stella – Dash Flow in Aruba, F: Dear Stella – Moonscape in Lagoon, G: Riley Blake Designs – Kisses in Silver, and the Binding – Dear Stella – Crimp in Peacock.
I found a super cute sheet set on sale at Target online that I think would go perfectly with this quilt.
I’m still in the process of finishing this quilt. I’ll post it in this blog when it’s all done.
QUILT PATTERN TESTERS
You can see the gorgeous quilts all of my amazing quilt pattern testers made here:
Wow! That quilt along was a fast one, I can’t believe it’s already the last week. Now that we are done making our blocks, it’s time to finish our quilt! If you are still making your blocks, that’s ok. This was a super quick quilt along because my family is going back to school/work in 2 weeks. I’d love for you to keep posting your progress photos over in the Facebook Quilt Along group.
JOIN ME for a LIVE video on Wednesday, August 21, 2024 at 7 am PDT in the Facebook Quilt along group. If you can’t watch it LIVE it will be saved to the group and uploaded to my YouTube channel.
SHARE YOUR PROGRESS PHOTOS: Join my Facebook group and post your weekly progress photos OR post your photos on Instagram with the hashtag #OrchardInBloomQAL or Tag me in your photo!
Finishing our Quilts!
Things you will need: Backing Fabric (at least 6 inches wider and longer than your quilt top.) Quilt Batting (at least 6 inches wider and longer than your quilt top*) * If you plan on having a longarmer quilt your quilt, check with them to see how much overhang they need. Basting Spray or Basting Pins Binding Fabric These are helpful but not necessary: Hera Marker to mark out your quilting lines Walking Foot (Helps pull your quilt from both the top and the bottom) OR a Free Motion foot, if you’d like to try Free Motion quilting.
Quilt Sandwich: First you will need to make your Quilt Sandwich. You will need to cut and sew your backing fabric to make it fit under your quilt correctly. Make sure it is at least 3 inches wider than your quilt top on all sides (quilt top size + 6 inches). Trim your selvage edge off after joining your pieces.
Make your quilt sandwich by first laying down your quilt backing, wrong side facing up. Tape down to a hard surface, making fabric taut. Next lay your batting on top. Smooth out with your hands, do not stretch. Then lay your quilt top right side up, smooth out with your hands.
There are so many different types of batting. I really love the Warm Company products! I really like the Warm and Plush a lot lately because it is a little thicker than the Warm and Natural and the Warm and White cotton battings. The Warm and White is nice when you have a lot of light colors or white in your quilt and you don’t want the batting to alter the colors at all.
Basting Your Quilt:
Spray baste: My favorite way to baste my quilt is by using Spray Baste! It makes basting so much easier. If you have allergies, this is probably not a good option for you. I’ve tried several different types of spray baste. Some are better than others. 505 Temporary adhesive spray has come highly recommended by several quilters to me. I have been using this brand for the last few quilts I have made. It has great stickiness without being overly sticky. I love that it does not get all over the place like some other sprays I have used. Find a place where you can lay out your quilt. Make sure to tape the backing fabric taut to the floor (or large table).
Pin basting: You can use large curved safety pin about 3 to 4 inches apart (about the width of your hand). I like to use the large curved basting pins. This takes a little longer than the spray basting but is a great option.
Quilting your Quilt: I love that Quilting your quilt can give it another design element. You can choose to send your quilt to a longarmer or quilt it yourself.
Make sure to check your batting to see how far apart your quilting lines need to be.
For my original quilt, I quilted it diagonally to make a crosshatch. I think I will probably do the same with this quilt too. I really love how it turned out.
I like to choose the lightest color in the quilt to use for my thread. This quilt I used white on the front and back.
Hand Tie your Quilt: Some prefer to tie there quilt. Suzy Quilts has an cool way of tying quilts. Check out her Tutorial!
Hand Quilt: Here’s a wonderful video tutorial by Suzy Quilts all about How to Hand Quilt.
Machine Quilt using your Walking Foot: Emily Dennis from Quilty Love has a great tutorial on how to Zig zag quilt your quilt with a Walking foot. Click here I love this method of quilting, it give your quilt great texture.
Free Motion Quilting: Free motion quilting can give you great texture and if you aren’t great at quilting straight lines, this would be great for you. Suzy Williams from Suzy Quilts has a great Free Motion Quilting Tutorial. Click here.
Binding Your Quilt:
Binding is the fabric strip that goes on the edge of your quilt. It covers all of the unfinished edges and rounds out your quilt.
You will want to make sure to square up your quilt before you attach the binding. Cut off the extra batting around the edges and make sure your sides are straight and corners are squared.
Most quilters will cut 2 1/2 inch by width of fabric strips and then sew them together at the ends at a diagonal. Then press the strip in half, so that you are wrapping 2 layers of fabric around all of your edges.
You can machine sew the binding to the front of your quilt and wrap it around to the back and hand stitch it down. Or some prefer sewing the binding to the back of the quilt, wrapping it around to the front and machine stitching it down.
Machine binding tutorial by Emily Dennis of Quilty Love CLICK HERE. This is a great beginner friendly tutorial.
Here is a great binding tutorial by Suzy Williams of Suzy Quilts CLICK HERE.
I’m so excited to see everyone finished quilts! Make sure to post them in the Quilt Along Group on Instagram with the Hashtag #OrchardInBloomQAL
It’s week 3 of the Orchard in Bloom Quilt Along! This week we will be making all of the corner units for our blocks.
Since I’m making the scrappy using Fat Quarter version, I’ve decided which 2 main colors I’d like to go to get for the corner units. After I make these, I’ll decide what other fabric’s I want to mix in or, I may just keep my block 2 main colors with the background fabric.
Here are my fabrics cut and ready to start piecing!
If you can’t watch it LIVE it will be saved to the group and uploaded to my YouTube channel.
SHARE YOUR PROGRESS PHOTOS: Join my Facebook group and post your weekly progress photos OR post your photos on Instagram with the hashtag #OrchardInBloomQAL or Tag me in your photo!
Last September we bought a house that has an orchard! We have 65 fruit/nut trees altogether. The previous owners planted so many different varieties of flowers around the yard too. I love being surprised with new flowers blooming. The many colors of spring flower in our yard ‘The Orchard’ inspired me to make this scrappy, colorful flower quilt!
This pattern is a 16-inch block quilt. So, if you want a larger quilt, you just make more blocks.
The pattern comes with directions for a Baby, Lap, Throw, Full, Queen and King size quilt.
Construction options: 4 main colors with a background fabric Fat quarters/1/4 yard cuts (the pattern has cutting suggestion diagrams) Or Super duper scrappy, you can make every block with different fabrics.
I pulled fabrics from my bins, I only had to buy the background fabric for my pattern cover quilt, which is Riley Blake Designs – Le Creme Swiss Dot in Aqua from Stash Fabrics. When I buy Kona cottons I like to buy a little extra each time. So, I found all of these in my fabric bins. A-D: All Kona Cottons – Prussian, Cadet, Pool, Robin’s Egg, Sangria, Sassy Pink, Med Pink, Mulberry, and Grapemist. I also had the backing fabric, which is this beautiful Moda by Gingiber – Dwell in Possibility – Full Bloom
JOIN me for a quick quilt along! Summer Break is speeding by, I only have 7 weeks left until I go back to work. I really want to make a lap size quilt using a bunch of floral fabrics I purchased a few years ago. So, I thought if you’d like to join me, we can encourage each other to sew this beauty up!
QUILT ALONG SCHEDULE: NOW – Grab the pattern and pick out your fabrics July 23rd – Week 2 – Cut your pieces July 30th – Week 3 – Make Corner Units August 6th – Week 4 – Make Diamond in Rectangle Units August 13th – Week 5 – Sew the blocks August 20th – Week 6 – Finish our quilts!
HOW TO PARTICIPATE: Join my Facebook group and post your weekly progress photos OR post your photos on Instagram with the hashtag #OrchardInBloomQAL or Tag me in your photo!
Grab the pattern and choose what size you’d like to make. The pattern includes instructions for: Baby (48 x 48 in), Lap (48 x 64 in), Throw (64 x 80 in), Full (80 x 96 in), Queen (96 x 112 in) and King (112 x 112 in).
Each week I will film a LIVE video in the Facebook Quilt Along group. If you can’t watch it LIVE it will be saved to the group and uploaded to my YouTube channel.
You can check out all my awesome tester’s versions down below!
I am so excited to see your version of this quilt! Andrea
Check out the beautiful quilts made by my awesome testers!!
My February Finish it list has rolled over into March. I haven’t had much time to sew this month, but I was able to finish up my baby size Prismatic Party Quilt!
I quilted this one be lining my walking foot up with seems of the design, so my quilting lines echo the design. I bound it with some navy and white striped fabric by Riley Blake Design. I love how it looks with the beautiful backing fabric, which is Riley Blake – Liberty Fabrics – Bloomsbury Blossom.
It feels good to get a unfinished quilt out of my pile of needs to finish! Hopefully I can finish up some more soon!
Yay! I’ve finished my baby size Infinite Night Helix Quilt. This is my first quilt finish of 2024! I think I will wash this one and add it to my Etsy shop! This pattern comes in several different sizes, so I wanted to make the baby size since it’s a slightly different design that the other sizes.
Next up, is my baby size Prismatic Party quilt. I have this whole week off work, so I’m hoping to get this finished this week. I need to sew the backing fabric, baste, quilt and bind it! At least the binding is already made.
I started this during a Quilt Along I hosted in February of 2022. Here are the fabric’s I used in this quilt: A – Kona – Grellow (yellow) B – Kona – Nightfall (navy) C – Kona – White D – Kona – Woodrose (pink) E – Riley Blake – Liberty Fabrics – Bloomsbury Blossom Binding – Navy and White striped fabric by Riley Blake Designs
This month I’ve decided to join in on Village Bound Quilt’s #FinishItQAL (I’m also a sponsor!). Last weekend I basted and started quilting my baby size Infinite Night Helix Quilt. I didn’t find anytime to sew during the work week, but I’m back at it this weekend. Yesterday, I finished quilting it! I did a basic straight line quilting around the design. Then I echoed it out into the dead space. I used my hera marker and ruler to mark out where I wanted to quilt it.
I was digging through my fabric bins, hoping to find more of the dark Flora fabric that is inside the quilt to use as the binding. But I remembered I used it up when I just recently made potholders.
So, I found this navy and white stripe fabric made by Riley Blake Designs. I have plenty to use for this baby quilt and the baby Prismatic Party Quilt, that I will be working on next.
So, It’s time for me to go make some binding!
I hope you are getting some sewing/quilting/knitting or whatever you love to do in this month! Andrea
I was really wanting to finish up some of my unfinished quilts, and then I saw that Tiffany from Village Bound Quilts is hosting a #FinishItQAL on Instagram this month! So, I thought I’d join in, and I offered to be a sponsor! (You can win 3 of my PDF patterns, your choice. Also, a bunch of other great prizes from other sponsors.)
I only have 5 unfinished quilts right now, because I did a couple FinishThoseUFQs a while ago. I’ve updated my Quilt Progress Tracker to include a couple more steps.
I’ve organized my list in the order that I started them. 1. Throw size – Butterflies and Blooms I started this quilt in July of 2021. The top is completed, I need to buy some backing fabric for this one.
2. Baby size – Prismatic Party Quilt – I started this during a Quilt Along I hosted in February of 2022. I have the backing and binding fabric all picked out for this one.
3. Baby size – Infinite Night Helix Quilt I started this one in August of 2022 before I hosted the quilt along. This quilt top is done and the backing fabric is all ready!
4. King size – Infinite Night Helix Quilt I started this one in September of 2022 when I hosted a Quilt Along with this pattern. This King size is for our bed. I have the 3 rows sewn. I need to sew the sashing between the rows. I may send this one to a longarmmer once the top is done.
5. Large Throw – Seismic Impact Quilt I started making this one in July of 2023. I had this fabric in my stash. I decided to make a scrappy version. I still need to purchase backing fabric.
I’m not sure which I’ll start first…maybe the Baby Infinite Night Helix, since its the closest to being done.
I hope you join in and can get some quilts done too! Happy Quilting! Andrea
It’s WEEK 5 of the SnowBell Prize Quilt Along! This week we will be finishing our quilts. If you aren’t quite ready, that’s ok! I had to make this a super quick quilt along so I could finish mine by tomorrow! My daughter’s teacher is having a staff baby shower tomorrow! Yay! I finished on time!
I backed my quilt in this super cute fabric by Ruby Star Socitey, it’s called: Winderglow Fauna in Blue I bound the quilt in the Swiss Dot in Denim fabric by Riley Blake Designs. I found both at StashFabrics.com. (not sponsored, just like this shop)
I usually bind my quilts in a darker fabric, but this time I thought it would look cute to have the white dot fabric surround the quilt. I quilted this by going diagonal through the blocks twice, horizontal twice and vertical twice. I was kind of going for a Snowflake quilting vibe.
Join me today for a LIVE video check in! If you can’t view it live, no worries. It will be saved to the Facebook Quilt along group and YouTube for later viewing.
It’s WEEK 4 of the SnowBell Prize Quilt Along! This week we will be making all of our Block 2’s. This block will go together super quick since all you need to make is some Diamond in Rectangle units. If you have ever made a stitch and flip block, it will be a breeze!
Since I am making the baby size, I only have 4 blocks this week. Feel free to make the size quilt you would like!
I have 1 week left to finish my quilt, so I need to work a little faster than the quilt along!
I will be jumping on a LIVE Video this morning to go over Block 2! If you miss the LIVE video, it will be saved to my FB group and be uploaded to YouTube.
