Block Quilt with Sashing

 

I started making quilts for the first time in January 2016 and I love it.  I have been sewing for years and years, but never attempted a quilt. (Baby quilts not included).  

My first full-size quilt was a Patchwork Quilt for a Camper Remodel I was working on.  

And after making 5 or 6 quilts either for myself or family, my granddaughter Kelsey asked me to make a quilt for her as a high school graduation gift. She wanted purple and “hulk” green fabrics and NO floral prints.

 

I used a lot of Batiks fabrics in her quilt, which is really trendy right now, and black as the sashing to make the blocks stand out.  

The pattern I used to make the quilt is large blocks with sashing between each block.

Quilt about half-finished.  I have since created a design wall

I cut 8 ½ inch square blocks, 2 ½ x 8 1/2 inch sashing strips, and 2 ½ inch square intersection blocks.

This is a pretty easy quilt to make and you can make the blocks and sashing any size you want, bigger or smaller.

For instance:  If you want blocks that are 9 1/2  inch square, the sashing would be 2 1/2 by  9 1/2 inches, and intersection blocks would be 2 1/2  by 2 1/2 inches.  
If you want the sashing to be wider, make sure to cut the intersection block to the same width. 

I used many different fabrics in shades of purple and greens

To make the quilt turn out straight and even, make sure all pattern pieces are cut to exact measurements and you are always using a ¼ inch seam allowance. (And press the seams flat)

Here is the layout of how the first block is sewn together, then the second block is added, then the pattern repeats until you reach the desired width.

Sew two rows, then sew them together and repeat until you reach the desired length.

Adding the second block to the first block

Once I had a few rows sewn together, I used my window curtain rod as my design wall. I just cut out a few pieces of fabric strips, wrapped the strips around the curtain rod and pinned them to the quilt top.

Using the window curtain rod in my sewing room for my design wall

Sewing rows

For the quilt backing, I chose a lighter lavender color fabric and used some of the fabrics leftover from the quilt front to make a design on the back.

Quilt back using a light lavender fabric and some of the fabric from the front

I have found that I really like my quilt binding fabric to “pop” plus this quilt is for a teenager so I used a black and white skull-themed material.

Skull quilt binding

I have someone stitch the quilt together for me and she does a wonderful job.  For this quilt, I chose a circle stitch because there were so many circles in the fabrics.

Quilt stitching

I made the decision to label all my quilts. The quilt label, which has the date, why the quilt was made, who the quilt was for, and the quilter's information, can be made a number of different ways.  I decided to cross-stitch mine and then stitch it to the back of the quilt.  

I named my granddaughter's quilt "The Mean Green Hulk Quilt"

The Label Reads:

Made with Love for

Kelsey Wolgamot

For Graduation 2016

From "Nana"

Elizabeth M. Lynch

June 2016,  London, Ohio

Mean Green Hulk Quilt

Quilt label 

I loved how the quilt turned out,  but more importantly, my granddaughter Kelsey loves it.

The finished Quilt,

 

And my granddaughter Kelsey

 

I am hard at work making my daughter Alexis's Hexagon quilt , which is the most difficult one so far. The Ohio Star Quilt I'm also working on for myself, between everyone else's quilts, is very time-consuming and lots of sewing, but isn't nearly as bad as sewing the full hexi's together!

Happy Sewing,

Elizabeth

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The Ohio Star Quilt

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