I have been thinking about what I should work on next. I just finished releasing my Plaid’N Perky Quilt Pattern. I had thought about doing another quilt along in the group, but my kids are staying home and doing remote learning for the rest of this school year. I decided I don’t think I will have the time or energy to host a quilt along.
I really want to be productive this Spring and Summer. So I thought to motivate me and motivate you, we could do an early ‘Finish those UFQs’ Spring Summer edition! I usually do one of these in November. But I thought it may be fun to do it early this year.
I’m sure I’m not the only one needing to work on some older projects! So, download the FREE Project tracker and join in the fun of finishing some quilts! If you still have your project tracker from the last Finish Those UFQs, you can keep working on that. Or you can download this new one that now has a spot for ‘Backing Ready’.
List all of your unfinished quilts on the project tracker
post your weekly progress in the Facebook Group or on Instagram with the hashtag #FinishThoseUFQs2021
Each week I’ll share a blog post and jump on a LIVE video in the group to share my progress with you and chat!
I’m excited to see how much progress we can make!! Happy Quilting! Andrea
Finish Those UFQs 2021 Challenge schedule: April 27th – Week 1 – Write out your list May 4th – Week 2 May 11th – Week 3 May 18th – Week 4 May 25th – Week 5 June 1st – Week 6 June 8th – Week 7 June 15th – Week 8 June 22nd – Week 9 June 29th – Week 10
Here is my list so for now, from oldest to newest! I’m still debating which one I will work on first.
Stepping Stone Quilt – I made 4 of the baby size quilts and plan on sewing them together. This was supposed to be a family snuggle quilt for the couch. So I put Cloud fabric and Snow fabric in it. It also needs to be basted, quilted and bound
Whose up for some Plaid’N Perky Fun?!? I love making quilts that can either be scrappy or a few main colors. Because not all quilters want the same thing. Some LOVE the scrappy look and it scares others. You can make it super girly, gender neutral, or masculine depending on the fabrics you pick. Scroll down to see all of my quilters versions!
This quilt can be made using 3 main fabrics and a background fabric, 1 fat quarter per block, or you can dig through your scrap bin and make each block unique! It’s up to you!
The Plaid’N Perky Quilt is made up of 16 inch blocks, my favorite size! It comes with directions for a Baby (9 blocks), Lap (12 blocks), Throw (20 blocks), Double (30 blocks), Queen (42 blocks) and a King size (49 blocks).
Partial Seam
You may notice in the photo below that all the plaid stripes in the block are full pieces, no extra seams. To do this you need to do one partial seam when sew all the units together. Don’t worry, it seams tricky, but it really is pretty easy. Just make sure to read all the directions before starting each step. I love that it doesn’t break up any of your printed pieces in the block.
Scrappy using Fat Quarters or multiple yardage pieces
My first Plaid’N Perky Quilt was made using this gorgeous Flora fabric designed by Marisol Ortega for Figo Fabrics. I originally but just a few of these prints, just because I thought they were gorgeous. When I went looking through my fabric stash for fabrics for this new pattern, I saw them and decided to search for more prints from this line. I wanted to try the Scrappy version of this pattern using Fat Quarters.
I love using Fat Quarter bundles to give the scrappy look, but I know all the fabrics will look nice together, because they are all from the same designer or someone picked them out because they look nicely together.
I quilted this one using 2 inch apart organic straight lines from the top to the bottom of the quilt. I used a Warm and Plush batting and the not super dense quilting will let the quilt puff up some once it’s washed. Since the front of the quilt is so bright and fun, I decided to use Valentine by Kona Cotton for the backing fabric, to keep both sides bright!
3 Main Color Version
Next, I wanted to make a baby size using the 3 Main Color cutting instructions. This version really gives the woven plaid look to the quilt.
I went digging through my stash again to find some more gender neutral fabrics. I tend to make most of my quilts super girly. So I found some fabric I purchase a while back. The prints are from the Wander fabric collection by Joel Dewberry for Free Spirit Fabrics. The Background fabric is Med Gray by Kona Cotton.
This version really give your quilt the woven effect.
I’m really excited to see what version you make!! Check out all my testers versions below!!
Michelle Graham gave me the idea to have a Super Duper Scrappy Version. She wanted to use up some of her scraps from her bins. I love how it turned out!
Scrappy using Fat Quarters or multiple 1/2 yard cuts
This version is great if you have a lot of Fat Quarters laying around, or if you have larger chunks of fabric.
3 Main Color with a Background
If you want the true plaid/woven look, this version is for you!
Sheri using low volumes for her background and Color A. this gives the quilt a whole different look!
Jennie and Connie both added sashing between their blocks. It gives the quilt a whole different look than the others. The pattern does not come with directions for using sashing.
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Welcome to the last week of the Joyful Meadows Quilt Along! I can’t believe this quilt along is already finishing up. It has been so much fun quilting with you all! Thank you all for joining in the fun!
LIVE VIDEO
Join me tomorrow, Feb. 24th at 9 am PST (West Coast USA) for a LIVE video in my Facebook Group to go over Week 7 – Putting our quilt top together, Basting, Quilting and Binding our quilts!
You can watch this in my Facebook Group! If you can’t make it LIVE, that’s ok! I will save it to the Facebook group and upload it to my YouTube channel!
GRAB THE PATTERN! This quilt pattern will be 10% OFF thru the end of the quilt along (March 2nd)
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) 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)
Finishing our Quilts!
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 have been using 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.
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. I love the Sulky temporary spray, it is low odor and doesn’t give you much overspray at all. But you need to make sure you will be quilting it in the next few days because the spray disappears in 2-5 days. 505 Temporary adhesive spray has come highly recommended by several quilters to me. I ran out and didn’t have any for this project. 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. I will definitely be using this spray again. Find a place where you can lay out your quilt. Make sure to tape the backing fabric taut to the floor (or large table). Here’s great spray baste tutorial by Emily Dennis of Quilty Love. Spray Baste Tutorial Morgan Kelly has a great table top spray basting tutorial on her Instagram. Table Top Spray Baste Tutorial
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: This step is totally up to you!
For my original quilt I used my foot and outlined the design lining my walking foot up with the seams of the design. Since I made the baby size and my batting says I need to be at least 6 inches apart, I didn’t need to mark any lines out. I just used the seams, which made it really quick and easy.
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 /12 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.
One of my favorite binding tutorials is by Suzy Williams of Suzy Quilts. Go check it out!
I’m so excited to see everyone finished quilts! Make sure to post them in the Quilt Along Group on on Instagram with the Hashtag #JoyfulMeadowsQAL
Wow! I can’t believe we are making our last block this week! This quilt along sure when fast. I have been loving seeing everyone quilt blocks. I also love seeing everyone kind comments on everyone’s photos in the quilt along group. What a wonderful bunch of quilters.
This week we only need to make 1 of Block 3! This will give people time to catch up if they haven’t finished last weeks blocks yet.
I had originally designed this quilt will all the same sized blocks, but that had cut off the points on this flower/star and placed them into the side blocks. So in an effort to have less seams and a complete center block, I decided to make this center block larger than the rest. I’m so happy I did. I think this block repeated in a quilt would look super awesome and I may have to try it!
LIVE VIDEO: JOIN ME tomorrow Feb. 17th at 9 am PST for a LIVE video in my Facebook Quilt Along Group to go over making this block! And I will answer any questions you have.
Welcome to Week 5 of the Joyful Meadows Quilt Along! We are moving along to our 2nd Block! The week we will be making 4 of Block 2. This block is a little more involved and may take a little longer than last weeks block. But that’s ok, because we only have to make 1 block next week. So you can finish your block 2’s up next week if needed.
I am loving seeing everyone blocks over in the Facebook Quilt Along group! Make sure to post your photos to share in the fun!
LIVE VIDEO: JOIN ME tomorrow Feb. 10th at 9 am PST for a LIVE video in my Facebook Quilt Along Group to go over making this block! And I will answer any questions you have.
Welcome to Week 4 of the Joyful Meadows Quilt Along! It’s Block making time! Yay! This week we will make 4 of Block 1.
When I make a quilt I like to make all the harder units in the beginning to get them out of the way. Since all of our flying geese are already done, these blocks will go together quickly!
Having a correct 1/4 inch seam will be very helpful this week. If your seam allowance is too big or too small your pieces won’t match up correctly, and then your blocks won’t end up the correct sizes.
You can test your seam allowance by: Sewing (3) 2 1/2 x 4 inch strips together. Press the seams, to the side or open (what you usually do). The center strip should measure 2 inches wide exactly. If it doesn’t, you can move your needle accordingly.
LIVE VIDEO: JOIN ME tomorrow Feb. 3rd at 9 am PST for a LIVE video in my Facebook Quilt Along Group to go over making this block! And I will answer any questions you have.
Good Morning! It’s Week 3 of the Joyful Meadows Quilt Along! Last week we started our flying geese. If you didn’t finish them, that’s OK! This week we will only be making Half Square Triangles, and we are only making 4 combos. So you will have plenty of time left over to finish up those flying geese from last week!
I love the half square triangle unit! I love that you can make so many different designs using just this one unit. It’s a really easy unit for beginners to try too.
When I make my half square triangles, I like making them slightly larger than needed and then trimmed to size. So when making them this week, make sure to see what size you need to trim them too. Making sure you keep the diagonal seam centered in each corner.
You will be setting these half square triangles aside for Week 6 Block 3 of this quilt along.
Welcome to the second week of the Joyful Meadows Quilt Along! This week we will make our flying geese. This pattern has a lot of flying geese, so if you don’t get them all done this week, that’s ok! Next week we will be making a tiny bit of half square triangles, so you will have time to finish up those flying geese.
This pattern has directions to make the flying geese two different ways: 1. 4 at 1 time method – made slightly larger and trimmed to size 2. 1 at 1 time method
I love using the 4 at 1 time no waste method to make my flying geese. With some of my previous patterns and quilt alongs, some people LOVE this method and others Hate it! So I had some suggestions to make the flying geese slightly larger than needed, so they could be trimmed to size. I love this option because it gives you more wiggle room with sewing these together. In the end you can get a more precise flying geese.
I added the 1 at 1 time method to the pattern because this is a tried and true method for accurate flying geese. These do take a little longer and waste a little be more fabric than the 4 at 1 time flying geese method. But You can get great results using this method.
JOIN ME – tomorrow, Wednesday at 9 am PST (west coast USA) in the Facebook Quilt Along Group for a LIVE video. I will be going over how to make these two methods of flying geese. And I will be answering any questions you have.
Are you making this quilt in 2 colors? I am using my floral for A-G and white for H so, I am using the 4 at 1 time method and I will need: 8 – A-G/H combos (Floral will be the big square with 4 small white squares) making a total of 32 flying geese 14 – H/A-G combos (White will be the big square with 4 small floral squares) making a total of 56 flying geese
QUILT ALONGSCHEDULE Quilt Along Overview (with tester photos) Jan 12, 2021 – WEEK 1 – Cut all the pieces Jan 19, 2021 – WEEK 2 – Make ALL the Flying Geese and trim Jan 26, 2021 – WEEK 3 – Make the Half Square Triangles, finish Flying Geese from last week Feb 2, 2021 – WEEK 4 – Make 4 of Block 1 Feb 8, 2021 – WEEK 5 – Make 4 of Block 2 Feb 15, 2021 – WEEK 6 – Make 1 of Block 3 Feb 22, 2021 – WEEK 7 – Finish our quilt – Finish Quilt top, Baste, Quilt and Bind!
Good Morning! It’s the first week of the Joyful Meadows Quilt Along! Yay! This week we will be cutting all of our fabric. So make sure to check and decide if you want to make your flying geese using the 1 at 1 time method or the 4 at 1 time method (made slightly larger than needed and then trimmed to size). If you are unsure of how you want to make the flying geese, I would suggest getting some scrap fabric and trying both methods out!
Since this quilt has a lot of separation from the background fabric, it can be made in 2 to 8 colors. With my version I will be making a 2 colored one this time. So I will cut all of my A-G pieces from my floral fabric and then all my H pieces from my white fabric.
I’m so excited to see what fabrics you have picked! Make sure to share your photos this week in the Facebook Group or over on Instagram with the hashtag #JoyfulMeadowsQAL or tag me.
QUILT ALONGSCHEDULE Quilt Along Overview (with tester photos) Jan 12, 2021 – WEEK 1 – Cut all the pieces Jan 19, 2021 – WEEK 2 – Make ALL the Flying Geese and trim Jan 26, 2021 – WEEK 3 – Make the Half Square Triangles, finish trimming Flying Geese from last week Feb 2, 2021 – WEEK 4 – Make 4 of Block 1 Feb 8, 2021 – WEEK 5 – Make 4 of Block 2 Feb 15, 2021 – WEEK 6 – Make 1 of Block 3 Feb 22, 2021 – WEEK 7 – Finish our quilt – Finish Quilt top, Baste, Quilt and Bind!
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Join my Facebook group and post your weekly progress photos OR post your photos on Instagram with the hashtag #JoyfulMeadowsQAL
JOIN ME tomorrow (1/13/2021) at 9 am PST (west coast USA) for a LIVE video in the Quilt Along Facebook group. I will be going over week 1 and answering any questions you have.
Good Morning! It’s week 9 of the Finish Those UFQs 2020 Challenge! It’s the last week of the year. I can’t believe this year went so fast. I’m hoping 2021 will be a better year for everyone!
I hope you were able to make some progress on your unfinished quilts! Just because this challenge is over, doesn’t mean you can’t keep working on your lists! I didn’t get as much check off the list this year as I had hope. With the doing school from home, this year has been way different than any year before. I’m hoping to finish my list before the end of 2021!
You can download the FREE quilt project tracker here:
LAST WEEK: I did it! I finished my Rainier Echoes Quilt! It feels good to check a quilt off the list. I’m happy I decided to quilt it by outlining the design. I love the texture and extra design element it gives it.
THIS WEEKS GOALS: As I look at my list, the next step for all of my quilts is basting. Basting is my least favorite part of quilting. So that is one reason I have a pile of quilt tops. So I just need to decide with one to go for. I’m out of spray baste, so I need to either order a curbside pick up order or go with pin basting…. decisions decisions! You know, I hate making decisions. I have 5 quilts left on the list, 4 are throw size and 1 is a baby size. If my Joyful Meadows quilt backing is in my mail box, I will do that one. If not, I think I will work on my throw size KaBam Quilt.
