HST baby quilt tutorial

I normally sew bags, but lately I've been stuck on quilts.  So far I've made and posted about these quilts:

• Free-motion-quilted rag quilt
• Chevron rag quilt
• QAYG king-sized quilt (in progress)
• HST chevron quilt

Plus, I've also posted about these quilting projects:

• Retro Challenge Pillow
• Solid's Only Challenge Tote
• Mr. & Mrs. Pillows
• Quilted tote bags
• One step beyond HSTs
• Mullet Mats

I didn't use a pattern for this quilt.  I picked out some coordinating fabrics from my stash, made some HSTs, fooled around with different configurations, and then sewed it all together.  But my facebook friend, Miss Janice said she was hoping for a free pattern for this quilt, so I'm going to try it out.

As you can see from the photo below, the quilt is made up of half-square-triangles or HSTs.  I've outlined the HST blocks with a black dotted line in the photo:

Here's how I make HST blocks:

1)Cut 2 ten inch squares of fabric.    Stack them right sides together.    Stitch all the way around all the edges.    Use 1/4 inch seam allowances. 2)Cut diagonally from corner to corner. 3)Press the seams open. 4)Now you have 4 identical 6.5 inch half     square triangle blocks or HSTs.

Here's how I experimented with block configurations:

I used my Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo 2x program to make the center square in this diagram.
Then I used the fill option to add color to individual blocks.
As you can see I played around with lots of different patterns.
I ended up choosing the pattern just left of the center square.
I haven't tried it, but I image you can do this with any simple 
"paint" program that allows you to draw straight lines and has a "fill" option.

I fabrics I chose were a pink with tiny white stars, a solid grey linen, a floral print, and a white sheet.  I cut out the following 10 inch squares:

• 15 white 
• 7 pink 
• 4 floral
• 4 grey 

I paired up the white squares with each of the colors and made HST blocks like I had previously mentioned. I ended up with:

• 28 pink/white 6.5 inch HST blocks
• 16 floral/white 6.5 inch HST blocks (I only used 13 for this quilt)
• 16 grey/white 6.5 inch HST blocks (I only used 15 for this quilt)

The tricky part was making this portion of the quilt:

You can see these 4 blocks are just a bit different than all the other ones.
I took 4 of the grey/white blocks and added a bit of the floral print to each
of the corners.  This made a nice focal point on the quilt top.

Here's how I modified the 4 grey/white blocks:

1. I measured 2 inches from each corner and marked a line between those 2 points.
2. I cut across the line, effectively lopping off the corner.
3. I lined up a strip of the floral print to the edge of the cut, right sides together, and stitched across.
4. I pressed open the seam and trimmed the excess fabric to make a perfect square.

Here's how I assembled the quilt:

1. I laid out all the blocks in the correct order.  My quilt is 7 blocks by 8 blocks.  Then I sewed together one row at a time.  After that I sewed all the rows together to complete the quilt top.  The resulting top was roughly 40"x45".
2. I cut a piece of thin cotton batting roughly 44"x49" so it was slightly bigger than the top.
3. I went bought 4 feet of 45" pink flannel for the backing.
4. I taped the flannel to my hardwood floor, centered the batting on top, and centered the quilt top over all that.
5. I used curved safety pins and pinned through all the layers.  I used one pin in each triangle.
6. I machine quilted for a long stinking time....I like everything about making quilts, but the actual "quilting" part gets very tedious for me. (I show the machine quilting further down the page.)
7. I squared up the quilt, trimming all the sides nice and even and straight.
8. I made some binding out of a grey velvety polyester from my stash.  The binding was 2" wide strips sewn together and pressed in half.  One side was pressed under 1/2" from the edge and the other was 3/8" from the edge.  
9. I sewed on the binding, washed and dried the quilt, and then I was done!  

Here's how I did the machine quilting:

First I stitched in the ditch on all the black lines in this photo.
Then I took out all my safety pins.
Then a made 2 lines of quilting onto all the white and 1 line on the non-white fabrics.
So basically there are 4 lines of quilting follow all the black lines in this photo.
The distance between the lines?  I just had my needle centered the whole time
 and used the edge of my presser foot along the seam or stitching as a guide.

This photo shows the next round of quilting.
I stitched in the ditch for the most part,
but you can see from the black lines in the photo that
 I did not overlap my previous lines of quilting. 
It's kind of hard to put into words so I hope the picture tells the story.

Here's a couple pics of the quilting pattern.  You can click on the photos to enlarge:

And so here's another look at the finished quilt:

I made this quilt to be auctioned off at a benefit for my cousin's baby who was born 3.5 months early.  I posted about it HERE and would love for you to leave a comment on that post as I will be sharing it with my cousin and her family.  The other quilt I made for the benefit is HERE.

So, I've never made a quilt tutorial before.  What did I forget?  If you need extra help with things like machine quilting and binding, I recommend Oh, Fransson's tutorials.

I'll leave you with a recent picture of the Tuffest boy I know:

On Sept. 4 he was a whopping 3lbs.10oz.
and 16 inches long!  He's come a long way
from his 1lb.15oz. birthweight and 2 separate
surgeries to repair holes in his intestines.
That's why we call him Tuff!

Happy crafting and big hugs from Montana,

Quilt in a day

I have been scrambling to finish a bunch of items to auction off at a fundraiser.  I posted earlier about how my cousin's baby was born very premature and is being hospitalized in another state.  The baby boy, Tuff we nicknamed him, is now (as of August 31) 3 lbs. 5 oz.!  He is coming along, but still has many more weeks left in the hospital.  Insurance only pays for so much, and with neither parent working, along with all the plane tickets and living expenses, you can only imagine the financial strain on this young couple.  My family and friends have rallied together to put on a fundraiser in September.  There will be food, door prizes, raffles, auctions, music, etc.  It will be a tremendous amount of fun for a worthy cause.  (I blogger previously about little Tuff HERE.  Please read that post and leave a comment.)

Tuff. 

One of the projects I decided to sew was a baby quilt.  Using only the fabric from my stash, I came up with four solids and a print for the front and a coordinating flannel for the back.  I cut out 10 inch squares and made HSTs using this method:

So I ended up with a bunch of HSTs that looked like this:

I played around with various pinwheel ideas for the longest time:

Until I finally settled on this fun chevron pattern:

I've made a chevron rag quilt using rectangles, but I like the HST version even better.  The hardest part was probably the machine quilting.  I had planned on adding a lot more quilting, but it was taking forever.  I finally announced "good enough" and went on to the binding.  I finished the edges with green polka dotted bias tape:

Amazingly enough, the quilt turned out pretty darn good.  I only had to fix one little pucker on the back side.   I also only had to trim a tiny bit to square up the edges. The corners of the binding turned out super neat and tidy.  All in all, it was a very successful project.  Here's the front:

For the back, I had enough train print flannel to cover the back, but I have needed to add another panel to make it wide enough.  Instead I used my leftover HSTs and and inserted them into a row in the middle.  Turns out the row of HSTs still didn't make it wide enough, so I had to add a few inches of  border to the edge.  It's not ideal, but it looks OK and it's all done.  That's what is important, right?  Here's a pic of the back:

I finished this quilt in 12 hours.  I did it in 3 four hour blocks of time so my kids didn't go hungry or start the house on fire.  My next project is to make a baby girl quilt.  Will I do it in 12 hours?  Well maybe, but I doubt I'll try to finish it in one day again.  That was a little crazy, even for me.

What projects have you finished lately?  What are you currently working on?  Do you have some suggestions for things I could craft or sew for this auction?

Happy crafting and big hugs from Montana,

2-in-1 Challenge Winners!

Hi!  The 2-in-1 Sewing challenge is officially over.  Five talented participants have met my sewing challenge with panache and creativity.  Voting was open throughout August, and it's now time to announce the winners!  Let me say the final votes were VERY close.  While one particular entry was always the clear winner throughout the challenge, I had no idea who'd win second or third until I looked at the results this morning.  That's how close it was!  Scroll on down, check out all the entries, and find out who won the coveted gold, silver, and bronze buttons:

Gia from Greece

OnePerfectDay

Gia blogged about her reversible bucket bag HERE.

Kadie from Texas

Seven Alive

Kadie blogged about her double-sided pillow HERE.
Yay for Kadie!
Her entry received 2nd place!
Check out her fancy new button:

<div align="center"><a href="http://ricochetandaway.blogspot.com/2012/06/2-in-1-sewing-challenge-homepage.html" title="Second Place Winner!"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg69YcsHMpBsaV6V_8KiMTScOvcqyD9fRyPL-iC6H7tBm0wlqdowaGOhLH9bvh3ZherHTpWwtFSVMy7HCZG_QidOtd3eFnqkpkDVxNnPSOpEvnCoWCfwrzv8Hlzt3vT_GhlaZGvzuU7_bo/s1600/2-in-1+silver+winner+button.jpg" alt="Second Place Winner!" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Pam from Australia

Threading My Way

Pam blogged about her pillow with a pocket HERE.
Congratulations to Pam!
Her entry received the most votes!
Check out her snazzy 1st place button:

<div align="center"><a href="http://ricochetandaway.blogspot.com/2012/06/2-in-1-sewing-challenge-homepage.html" title="First Place Winner!"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzyzTDJG_XzbfgbkhJkldTZhJzxqSRbOLQRCIZZ7gBd5AeN8ah1538p6AMqpmOVXAIIn-iTOfk0QK0YVxBsKo2QWCJmYUjMSEvI53R08tCC0v8VaD7OmQ9hUREC6EW_vk0PeEYBvYWJtU/s1600/2-in-1+gold+winner+button.jpg" alt="First Place Winner!" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Diya from India

The Hobby Harbor

Diya blogged about her mug rugs to pot holders HERE.

Kat from Oregon

Sew Chibi

Kat blogged about her reversible baby dress HERE.
Cheers for Kat!
Her entry won 3rd place!
Check out her super-duper button:

<div align="center"><a href="http://ricochetandaway.blogspot.com/2012/06/2-in-1-sewing-challenge-homepage.html" title="Third Place Winner!"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimVBY0s8yhKVvjL8GLhJ2UNwrYAJOXWnRdlCPP47Lv27AhN9z3_GTPbxvFlgAdD6woGbUGPK7Gy2ontE3wjABZKj3UPOmckyra85fgjkl6mRsdnIJPFJmWnBIaK9zVj22W7pBwtaK_xoY/s1600/2-in-1+bronze+winner+button.jpg" alt="Third Place Winner!" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

I didn't enter myself in the voting portion of  the challenge,
but I wouldn't challenge anyone to do something I wouldn't attempt on my own, 

so here's my 2-in-1 challenge entry:

Rikka from Montana
Challenge Hostess
I blogged about my reversible placemats HERE.

Congrats to all the participants!  This was not an easy challenge but you met it with style and flare.  As with every every challenge I host, I was inspired, I learned something new, I made new friends, and I finished a project that I would have normally procrastinated on.  Thank you all so much!  Come back for the next challenge.  It's a tough one, I think!

Happy crafting and big hugs from Montana,

200,000+ pageviews milestone!

It took me 9 months to reach my first 100,000 pageviews.

5 months later I'm at 200,000!

Wow!

Thanks to everyone who visits Ricochet and Away!

Thanks to

everyone who participates in my challenges,

everyone who recommends my blog,

everyone who pinned my crafts,

everyone who linked to my posts,

and

a special thanks to my husband:

Mr. Ricochet, you let me vent my craftiness online with nary a complaint.  You entertain the kids while I'm taking photos of tote bags in the back yard.  You are OK having lots of crockpot dinners so I can spend lots of time sewing.  You understand my need to shop at thrift stores and hardly raise an eyebrow when I come home with a dozen leather skirts I will never wear but instead cut into pieces.  I love you!

Happy crafting and big hugs from Montana,  

Easy Shoulder Bag with Gusset

Yellowstone National Park was our family vacation destination this summer.  We camped and hiked and toured and drove the entire park.  Everywhere we went I brought my my big green bag.  It carried water bottles, sunscreen, bug spray, binoculars, my purse, and many other odds and ends for the family.  I could have just carried our big black backpack, but I'm just not a backpack type of  girl.  Plus, I've had this bag in mind for many months, but of course I didn't actually sew it until the day before we left!  I should have been packing, but instead I was sewing this bag.  Ahhh, the story of my life...

I made this bag out of a green tablecloth I picked up at a thrift store for $2.  The color called to me and I couldn't pass it up.  The lining is a wild orange and blue peacock print that I've used in several other bags, including this one:

I reviewed this pattern HERE.

This bag features a wide gusset, a padded cross body length strap, lots of interior pockets, and a tiny bit of decorative stitching.  It went together so quickly and turned out to be very useful.  So I wanted to share with you how I made it.

The supplies I started with:

green heavy weight cotton tablecloth

peacock print quilt weight cotton

fusible fleece

heavy top-stitching thread

regular thread

magnetic clasp

brass grommet

freezer paper

iron, scissors, sewing machine

Step one: creating a pattern

I folded my paper in half to make sure it came out symmetrical.
I cut out 2 outer pieces from the tablecloth and 2 of the lining.

Step two: making the outside front and back

To add some structure to the outer fabric pieces, I added some usible fleece to the wrong sides.
The fleece was trimmed to fit inside the seam allowances to reduce bulk. I added some decorative machine stitching with some heavy duty top-stitching thread.  (The stitch I used is called honeycomb and it's normally used for smocking.)  The stitching helped to secure the fleece to the sides of the bag. For the front side I followed the existing pattern on the tablecloth.  The back side just has some random lines of stitching.  Even though I fused the fleece to the sides, the stitching will help the bag hold up to repeated washings. 

Step three: making the inside front and back

 For the pockets, I cut some panels from the edges of the tablecloth.  The top edges were finished already which made everything easier for me.  The pink line in the photos above show how I stitched the around the panels making 3 different sized pockets on one side and a single large pocket on the other.  This was so much faster than making patch pockets.

Step four: making and attaching the gusset

The next thing I did was make gussets for the inside and outside of the bag.  These were simple 4 inch wide strips of fabic.  I added fusible fleece (trimmed to fit within the seams allowance) to the outer fabric gusset and added a line of honeycomb stitching.  Then I stitched the gusset to the front and back pieces.  Because the seams are curved, I cut notches in the seam allowances to ease the curves.  Depending on whether the curves will be convex or concave, you're supposed to cut v-shaped notches or straight slits accordingly.  I always just cut notches.  To me, it still works and I don't have to think.  

Step five: making the tab

This is the tab I made to keep the top edges of the bag together.  It ended up being a  finished rectangle of  tablecloth with the male half of the magnetic snap on one end and a brass grommet on the other end.  The grommet is perfect for hooking up my car keys and keeping them handy.  The female side of the clasp was attached to the front side of the bag.

Step six: making the shoulder strap

The strap is made up of 4 inch wide strips just like the gusset.  I added fleece to the outer fabric and secured it with the decorative stitch.  I added more fleece to the lining for extra padding for my shoulder.  I stitched them right sides together, turned it out, and top-stitched the edges.  Super easy and soft and cushy on my shoulder.

Step seven: putting it all together  

1. I placed the outer bag inside the lining, right sides together.  I pinned and stitched the top edge, leaving the gussets un-sewn.  I used one of the openings left by the gussets to pull the outer bag through.  I pressed the top edge, turned under the edges of the gussets and pressed them as well.
2. I inserted the ends of the strap into the openings left by the gussets.  I pinned and top-stitch all the way around the top edge of the bag.  I added some extra stitching to secure the ends of the straps to the gussets.  I stitched a square with and "x" in the middle.  You can see it in the finished photos.
3. I stitched the tab onto the back of the bag, securing it with the box and "x" stitching. 

And here it is in all it's mean green wonder:

I was pretty vague about exact measurements because I really didn't measure anything but the width of the strap and gusset.  The length of the gusset and strap were eyeballed and the excess trimmed away.  Everything else was made off of the single freezer paper pattern piece.  I probably could have come up with a more creative shape for the tab.  Something curvier or perhaps a messenger bag flap would have been better.  Overall I am very happy.  This bag fills all my mommy-must-carry-lots-of-kids-stuff-wherever-we-go needs.  Plus, it's green, my fave....

What do you carry on family vacations?  What have you been making lately?  How comfortable are you with making something without a pattern?

Happy crafting and big hugs from Montana,