Quilt of Squares

I'm wrapping up a special quilt this mroning in my sewing room. Literally, wrapping it up to send it to Germany. It took me a while to decide on this quilt design. I have an uncle who lives in Munich that has been in the hospital for quite a while now. It took me a while to decide what would be an appropriate "I'm thinking of you" gift that isn't girly. I landed on something practical, comfortable, hopefully comforting, and not-so-girly. I hope I got it right! 

Lucky for you, I documented the process and wanna share! 

Here are some necessary tools to have before we begin! 

1. Cutting board

2. Cutting guide 

3. Rotary cutter

4. Some good scissors 

5. Obvious but I'll list it anyway: a sewing machine 

And your materials:

1. Enough fabric of various coordinating patterns to cut 192 2.5"x2.5" squares, if you are making yours the same size quilt as mine. {Or, you could just let the number of squares you have dictate your size once they are laid out.}

2. 1.5 yards of white or natural cotton fabric

3. 1.5 yards of coordinating patterned cotton fabric

4. 1.5 yards of cotton batting (or a "crib size" precut pack)

5. Cheater binding

6. Thread

Here we go!

Cut out all those squares I mentioned. This is tedious, but pretty easy. Put something good on tv and go for it! I use a guide that is 2.5" wide. That helps. 

Aren't they cute? I mean, cool... And manly... ?

Next up, make your quilt sandwich! Lay the patterned cotton fabric on your floor if you have a big, open space. Better yet, tape the corners down with painters tape or masking tape to keep it from moving. Now lay your batting on top and make sure it's lined up neatly. Next up is the white cotton piece. Same thing, line it up pretty! Speaking of lining up... Here's the fun part. Line up alllll those squares in rows in random order! 

Or, how about a not-so-random arrangement... That could be fun. Stripes? Chevron? Checkers?

I space out my squares with 1" in between on all sides. 

Now you're at the tricky part. You need to secure the squares to the layers beneath. So you can pick this thing up without everything falling off. There are 2 ways to do the: pinning or a running stitch. I pinned mine and it was really a pain. I thought it was the easy way, but next time I'll try stitching. You would just run a loose stitch (by hand) through all 3 layers, up each row. You only need to do this in one direction. The point is to hold then down and you'll pull this thread out later. So no perfection needed, here! 

Actually, the whole look of the quilt is really made by its imperfections. So don't stress much about any of it.

Time to take it to the sewing machine! Just use the regular foot and settings. {As opposed to the quilting foot and settings.} With a 1/4" seam allowance, sew down a row near the center of the quilt. Now work your way towards the outside, sewing every row on your way there. Then go do the same for the other side. You'll have something like this: 

Now, turn your quilt 90* and repeat. When you are done, you will have attached your squares to the "quilt top" and quilted all 3 layers together, all in one step! This is such a huge time saver... 

Speaking of time savers. I love a good hand-stitched binding. But, sometimes I need something done fast. You can buy double-fold binding tape and use that instead. Square up the edges of your quilt that may have been a little off. Make sure you cut back to where all 3 layers come to the edge all the way around. 

Place the edge of the quilt inside the binding. You should begin about a quarter of the way down one side, rather than on a corner. This will help make a prettier corner. 

Sew with a 1/4" seam allowance - but check to be sure you are catching the binding on the underside as well. Sometimes it's hard to get them even. I say, it won't be perfect, so don't stress too much! It's the character that makes this quilt special.

When you hit a corner, fold to resemble this: 

I usually play with it until it looks right...

When your end is about 8" from where the you started, trim your end piece to a length that allows 1/2" overlap with the beginning piece. If you're like me, you'll have to pull some stitches out of the beginning because you didn't plan ahead this far... Turn the binding strips inside out and sew the edges together with a 1/4" seam allowance. Your binding should now be the perfect length! Just finish attaching it to your quilt and voila!

You just made a quilt of squares!

Machine wash/dry it and allow those exposed edges to get all raggedy! After it's washed it gets wonderfully crinkly and soft. 

After the first wash, some threads will need to be pulled off, like so:

Easy enough? I hope so!

Well, Here's an Update

Last week or two ago, I shared my little logo with you... In case you forgot, here it is again!

I love it so much! Thanks to sweet Megan over at Bishop Place Handmade, I have a whole bunch of adorable graphics! I am so. excited. :)

Wanna see the rest? Take a peek over at my new shop. Also take note - it's located at www.honakerdesigns.com. Got myself a fancy pants website name. I'll be announcing it to the rest of the world in the morning, so consider yourself special! Because you are! 

PS - I am also working up a few tutorials to post in the near future!

Quilty Things and a Little News

Here's a throwback to my first quilted project. I made it in fall of 2010 (look! not even an engagement ring yet!). This tube of cuteness is still hanging out on my laundry room doorknob, dispensing plastic grocery bags every time I need to change out the bathroom trash. Such a lovely project for such a practical purpose... I know, I'm crazy like that. Or as my mom might say, "life's too short to get grocery bags out of an ugly dispenser." 

Here's mine and my mom's in progress. Hers is whichever looks more perfect.

I was so proud that all of my squares lined up! Then I went straight to town and bought a car that afternoon. Memories.

Here we have the quilt I wrapped up this week! I guess I still like pink and green. ;) This is another quilt made from my wedding table runners. I finally dove in and did some hand-stitched binding. Really, I don't know why I've been so afraid of it. It was easier and far quicker than I ever would have guessed! I mentally prepared to be stitching this every evening on the couch for a couple of weeks. It took a total of 3 hours stretched over 2 nights. Maybe with practice it would go even faster. 

Pretty little corner.

I'm obsessed with bunting!!

Pieced together the back. You can see the outline of the bunting, as this was the only place I quilted together all 3 layers. So far I don't think it's an issue at all having the rest unquilted. The batting has enough friction with the cotton fabric to keep the layers from separating.

I'm in love! With my quilt, my wedding, and my sewing room!

Is the suspense getting to you yet? WHERE IS THE NEWS. I've decided to create an online shop for some of my quilts and sewing projects. My mom is also planning to contribute quilt projects and crochet creations. I will add a link as soon as the shop is ready and will be probably sharing my blog to link people to my site. I guess I'm ready to open up to more than a couple of people (literally). So, what do ya think??

Furlough Monday, 5th Edition

I've built myself an action-packed to-do list for today. And so far this is where we're at. Sitting at the computer with a cat in my lap. Don't be surprised; she is never far from my reach. Or, should I say, she is never far from sitting on top of / in front of whatever she thinks has my attention at the moment.

But, we did have a busy weekend. I tried a new, healthy recipe:

Recipe: Roasted {Summer} Vegetable Pasta - 100 Days of Real Food

Kelley picked all of his veggies out and ate them on the side, citing that he prefers his "spaghetti" to be separate as his reason. Although there were spaghetti noodles and a jar of tomato sauce, not much else resembled spaghetti. I added a chicken breast to his serving and there were veggies. That qualifies this as a dish other than spaghetti. But, hey... the boy loves spaghetti and he ate all of this meal. Success!

I've been working on a couple of projects this week as well. However, I haven't used my sewing room yet. Maybe I'll remedy that this afternoon!

Quilt that I plan to send to my Uncle Rick who has been in the ICU lately following a liver transplant. I hope it's not too girly, but there's not much else I can do. Can't go visit in the hospital since he lives halfway around the world (Munich).

Bunting quilt made from table runners my mom made for my wedding. This is my first quilt that I get to keep! 

I also have a giant Ziploc bag full of t-shirts to begin cutting and quilting for a future tutorial, so stay tuned for that one.

While I was working away on that bunting quilt Saturday (so proud - I accomplished every bit of it except the binding in ONE afternoon!), Kelley helped my dad work on the pergola in my parents' backyard. Sunday after church, Kelley had told a sweet lady he works with that she could come over and give us Mary Kay facials. Did you catch that? "Us." haha Apparently she needed a couple more facials to meet a goal this month and he wanted to help her out. I thought it was sweet. And I had fun, so win-win! Of course she also tells him all about the 30 people under her and how she makes up for her husband's lost income after a disability. All by selling make up. And he's sitting there all like, "hey, Brittany can sell MK and we can both quit our day jobs..." LOL He supported me in my Willow House endeavor, even when the company announced that they were shutting down the home decor division one week after I joined to sell home decor. He thought I was super at it and really admired that I was wiling to put in the extra work. So, I think he'd be thrilled if I picked something up again at some point. But, I am thinking I have too many other commitments. I've also been on a natural/organic kick lately. And I haven't found a ton of info about MK products (still looking). I may not have switched everything I use yet in the household, but we make new substitutions all of the time and are definitely headed in a healthier direction every time I head to the store!

I will say that, if nothing else, we got a CLEAN house out of having company Sunday afternoon. Which is why I'm not cleaning this morning!! :) So what else is on my list today? Hit up Isom's Farmer's Market and Fresh Market for a couple of things (because 2 is how many things I can afford at Fresh Market), quilt, work out, shower at some point before Kelley gets home, try this recipe in my latest clearance find, attempt a new bread recipe in the bread maker, and start disassembling my next upholstery project:

Looks like I had better get to work!!!