June21
Now this isn’t exactly my first quilt, however last time I made what I consider to be some critical mistakes…
- I used corduroy instead of high quality cotton
- I didn’t actually “quilt the layers” because I couldn’t work out how to prevent puckering
- I didn’t know how to do an edge binding.
So all in all my first quilt wasn’t exactly a quilt, though it turned out well enough considering I was still starting to feel my way around a sewing machine.
I decided recently that I wanted to have a proper attempt at quilting to spice up my guest room and attempt a new skill, so I started out by watching some youtube videos. I found the best ones were by Jeanette White who shows everything from basic piecing to binding and other skills and techniques.
Then I looking at examples of other peoples works and finally settled on a style I wanted to attempt. The idea for the pattern is based on Kathleen Bissett’s pattern, however being unable to find a source to purchase it, I have been making it up as I go along.
My tile sizes are currently around 16″ however I believe that I will end up with a quilt that is very wide for the single bed, but only just the right length. I am thinking I might trim the size into rectangles that are approximately 16×14″, however I decided to leave that until after I have pieced all the blocks and I might lay it out on the bed to visualise it better.
The basic premise of this pattern seems to be to start with 9 fabrics for 9 blocks or 12 fabrics for 12 blocks. Queen sizes or larger from this technique use 2×12 fabrics cut into squares. After choosing fabrics and cutting my squares I decided to have a practice run with a scrap piece of material. Good thing I did because as I cut my shapes I made mistakes and had to start again twice! Valuable lessons were learned, however I finally had a block turn out.
Next I layered all my squares on top of each other and marked my cut lined with a fabric pen incase for some reason I needed the guide lines. They were handy, and carefully I cut through all 12 layers with my rotary cutter. I also cut 1m of black cotton into 1″ strips. I believe that you could cut any 4 lines that you like, as long as you end up with 9 pieces that you are happy with.

The next task was putting together a giant fabric puzzle on the floor. Each piece should in theory not have any of the same colour, however it still took me a good 2 hours of playing with the design until I was happy with each of my 12 blocks. I took a photo, but ended up changing my mind after it and rearranging some more to try and break up the greens and pinks.

Finally I started to sew. It has taken approximately an hour per block and I am very glad of what I learnt from my practice piece. Here are the blocks I have completed so far.
