Tag Archives: Urban Chiks

XYZ

Earlier this year I started Moda’s “Spell It With Fabric” quilt. You can download the free patterns for each letter {here}. Instead of beginning at the beginning with ABC, I started at the end with XYZ. I figured this was a good way to force myself to actually finish it, It worked! Well, almost. I still have to make the borders.

I’m using Sweet by Urban Chiks, which is a darling 1930s-inspired line. The colors are soft and so feminine and candy-like. It’s an older line (2009ish) so very hard to find now (one of the benefits of hoarding fabric.)

I finished the letters and filler blocks this weekend at a retreat. My plan is to continue the scrappy look with the borders, though I am a bit nervous how they will look since they are uneven borders meant to square up the quilt. We shall see…

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The filler blocks are a combination of Lori Holt’s crops and sunflower block patterns. These patterns are both in her {Farm Girl Vintage} book. I adore adore adore that entire book. Filled with cuteness.

WIP Wednesday: Jelly Roll Race

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So for yesterday’s WIP Wednesday project, I tackled a quilt I’d named “Urban Cowgirl Around the World” and it turned into a completely different project. I had a trip around the world quilt in mind, combining an Urban Cowgirl jelly roll with a Bella Solids {warm} jelly roll. The color palettes aren’t an exact match, but they’re close enough to look good together. I’m not into matching anyway…I prefer coordinating palettes.

Instead, I decided to try the Jelly Roll Race (also called Jelly Roll 1600) method.

It’s a fast and easy method to whip up a lap-sized quilt in about two hours. Some tutorials say one hour, but two hours is more realistic. Still, how many other quilts can be made in two hours?

I can imagine all sorts of variations with this pattern. Given my considerable stash of jelly rolls, it’s very likely that I will be making one (or several) of these again.

As for this quilt top, I have half of each jelly roll remaining and I will probably use a similar method to create some borders (and save a few strips for a scrappy binding). And I’m going to have to rename the quilt. Jelly Roll Cowgirl? Urban Barrel Race? Urban Jelly Roll sounds like a city dweller’s muffin top, which makes me kinda like it best of all. 😉

Popsicle Posies

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I made this quilt using a pattern called Popsicle Posies by Sandy Klop (of American Jane). It’s a pretty easy pattern, but the final results look complicated and intricate which makes all the time it takes to assemble it well worth the effort. You will need some undisturbed space to lay out your pieces while you sew the top together (I did not have that luxury). But as a bonus, you will have some nice orphans – I used mine in this baby quilt.

The back is made of leftovers from the front and a bit of extra yardage. I didn’t plan to hand quilt this when I made the back, but I would have made a plain solid backing if I’d thought ahead.

Dimensions: 56″ x 56″

Fabrics: Sweet by Urban Chiks for Moda, coordinating Bella Solids by Moda, Ta Dots in Minnie from Michael Miller

Started: January 2010

Completed: January 2011

I used Perle cotton in size 8 to outline quilt each pinwheel (in colors that coordinated with the fabric in each block). That took me ages to do, and for a while I thought I’d never finish. After I was finally done, I thought very briefly about fan quilting inside each pinwheel. Instead I opted to stipple inside each one so that the final quilt would have lots of texture. My friend Michelle is working on this quilt using Nicey Jane fabrics and she is hand quilting the whole thing. It’s going to be gorgeous. You can see hers here.