Slopes: a Tutorial

One of the Modern Quilt Guild Quilt Con challenges this year was to use a Darlene Zimmerman triangle template to make an original quilt design. I signed up for the challenge and got the 45 degree (2.5") template in the mail, and this is what I came up with.

I named it "Slopes", because it reminds me of a ski hill. Please ignore the sub-par quilting; I'm still a novice free-motion-quilter. But hey! At least I'm trying, am I right?! 

My goal was to make a simple quilt that would make a fun design for kids. I thought these small bits of printed fabric strewn across a solid quilt would be fun for a kid to explore. Although my choice of white might not be ideal for kids, this quilt design could be made up in any color. I just had a lot of white kicking around, and I thought it would look great with some blue scraps. Personally, I'm OK with my son getting stains all over it as long as he enjoys it.

The finished Slopes quilt measures about 42" x 60", and here's how you do it:

1. Cut 30 (2.5" x width of fabric) strips from your solid. 

2. Use your triangle template to cut 30 triangles from print scraps.

3. Lay out your strips and use your template to cut out one triangle from each strip in random spots. Replace each solid triangle you just removed with a print triangle, and piece it (sew) in place.

4. Sew your strips together lengthwise: 1 strip = 1 row. 30 rows total with one triangle randomly placed in each. 

5. Voilà! You're done with the top! Now just quilt and bind as desired.  

This quilt is so easy and fast, and it would make a great baby gift. 

I think it would also make a fun Jelly Roll quilt. You could reverse the pattern to use prints for the strips and solid triangles. 

You can get an acrylic triangle template like mine here. Or you can make your own with some cardboard by drawing a 2.5" tall triangle with two 45 degree corners on the bottom (use the 45 degree line on your quilting ruler). 

If you decide to make your own Slopes quilt, I'd love to see it! Tag me on Instagram or send me a pic!  

Two Baby Quilts

Hello Friends!

It's been a while, but this blog has not been permanently abandoned. I'm back to show you a couple of recently finished baby quilts.

I was the lucky winner of the Modern Baby: Easy, Fresh and Fun Quilt Designs book at Sewing Summit in 2013. I was extra excited to win this book, because my friend, Dana, from Old Red Barn Co. has a quilt on the cover that I had been wanting to make. It took a while for me to actually make the quilt, however, because there weren't any new babies around. This year there are two pretty important ones.

My cousin had her first baby in January. I shipped this quilt to her in Maine and had it hand-delivered the night before her son was born.

Mr. Sexy Pants and I are expecting our first baby in May - also a boy (Hooray!). Sexy Pants is an avid fisherman, and when he saw my cousin's quilt, he asked (rather jealously) if I would be making one for our son as well. Of course I already had one in the works. I've never made two of the same quilt before, but I just couldn't help myself. I love this pattern. The one I made for us has a different background color, and I used different scraps for the bubbles, so the quilts are not identical.

I used one of my favorite IKEA fabrics for the backing on both quilts. It's a fun print, especially for kids. I will admit to using it on at least one of my own quilts as well. I also used the same binding for both quilts, because I liked it so much.

The fish and bubbles are done with raw-edge appliqué, so when the quilts are washed the edges of those pieces will fray. Hopefully the babies will enjoy playing with those.

I quilted both quilts on my Grace Frame and Juki combo with the same motif: wavy lines that circle around and outline the appliquéd pieces.

The quilts finished at about 33" x 43".

There are a lot of other great patterns in the Modern Baby Book, including a beautiful paper-pieced pattern by Carolyn Friedlander that I hope to make at some point for a wall quilt, and also a fun and very modern pattern that I love by Lindsay Rhodes.

Happy quilting :)