9 patch quiltie- quilting part

If anyone wants the original instructions from the Artgirlz article in the CPS online newsletter, then email me and I can forward it to you. I still have it.

I started out with 2 10x10" pieces - back and front. I also cut out a 12x12 piece of batting. I read somewhere that the batting will end up being shorter and you might come up short if you cut exactly what you need. I had excess. I might cut an inch extra next time instead of 2". I also cut the binding strip. That ended up being way too wide in the end. I ended up with about 1/2 of what the article said to use - width wise.

I took the front piece and began to randomly sew squares and rectangles onto it. I did a lot of overlapping. I did not use too many brights so they would not compete with each other in the background. I did not want the background to compete with the stamped images either. Top pict shows how I did the squares/rectangles. Make sure your edges are down. I went pretty much to the edge of the quiltie front.

I matched up the front piece, batting, and back piece. I used pins to secure. I then placed the felt squares on top, then the checkerboard on top. I sewed the edges of the squares first. I went from one end to another. I did not sew around all the edges of the entire quiltie first because the middle would bunch up. I have learned that since starting to do more fabric pieces. Go from one end to another - lining up as you go along. I mean go left to right or top to bottom instead of sewing the edges of all 3 layers of the quiltie together. This will prevent the middle from bunching up. Once I had the square edges down, I sewed up and down the entire length of the quiltie in little waves. I did not sew straight up and down. I did a little curving back and forth. I also added in some collaged flowers for some interest. Was curious how they would look. Will give you the source and info for the flowers at the end of this post. I did not worry about the edges of the quiltie as much since I would be sewing a binding on. Cut the excess batting off from the edges. I also made sure my quiltie was still square at this point.

Picts 2 and 3 show how the quiltie looks after sewing. You need to fold the binding strip in half (hot dog style) and iron the edge from top to bottom. Believe me. You need to do this ironing part. I was happy that I only had to tear out one edge that did not stay on the quiltie. I was lucky. I am not sure if I mitered the corners correctly but the way I did it looks good to me. I did not know how to do it at first so I googled it and found some site where it had pictures to show me.

http://www.quilterscache.com/StartQuiltingPages/startquiltingfive.html

http://www.carriagehousequiltshop.com/category.php?category_id=250

I told you this was my first time doing a real quiltie with batting and binding.

I did not do the basting thing. If you have not done this before, you need to sandwich the quiltie edge in the middle of the binding strip. Raw edges facing in. The folded part of the binding strip is what makes your outside border. The links above explains it better than I do. I just sewed pretty much 1/4" from the edge. Once I was happy with that, I took a small zigzag stitch and ran it along the edge of the binding to make sure it was really attached to the quiltie.

Trimmed all my loose threads and then glued on the squares.

Done. I am really happy with the results even though the checkerboard squares are kinda crooked. I learn as I go along. I will get better at it. I really liked doing this. It helped to keep my mind off my sister for a little while. I did all this last night in one sitting. BTW, quiltie did not fit on my scanner so I took a couple different scans of it.

Comments welcome. Email me if you want the instructions. You can still play, join the MM Art Friends group and sign-up. Link in right column - top.

Collage flowers were on Tim Holtz's blog. I am usually not a flower person but these flowers are not glittery or pastel colored. Not the ones I chose. I like the words and little backgrounds on them. I bought them from cutabovescrappin.com. The flowers are by Prima.

Time for some tea and a snackie now.