On My Design Wall Today ~ Easy Patchwork Lattice

Easy Patchwork Lattice

I started my quilting experience with the old wisdom that

"If you can sew a straight line, you can made a quilt."

Today I am taking a step forward and saying to myself,

"If I can sew a straight line,

I can cut a straight line!"

On any quilt.

To make easy patchwork lattice.

To create a plaid effect.

To make easy interwoven quilts.

To make easy knot quilts.

The possibilities are endless!

My mind is whirling and full of quilts I want to make!

My quilty muse is sew happy!

Here is my method:

I sewed this Scrappy Charm Quilt



I tested my method by making this

Easy Plaid Patchwork Block

Then I was ready to go on my quilt top!

I cut strips WOF for the cross lattice and pieced them into long strips for the upright lattice.

I started pinning them to my quilt on my design wall to see how many strips I wanted to add to my charm top to create the lattice effect. 

I sewed the first strip onto my charm top ... 

I pressed my strip.

I CUT my QUILT TOP 

1/4" to the outside of my seam line,

aligning the 1/4" line on my ruler with my seam line

and using my rotary cutter to cut away the right side of my quilt in progress. 

This first cut was the hardest part.

It was a step in faith that I was going to cut my already perfectly pretty pink charm quilt to create something even more special.

I carefully moved my too short ruler up my seam line and continued to cut.

I took the two halves of my quilt back to the sewing machine.

Aligned my cross seams as I sewed.

I did not use pins.

I am vision impaired and I use touch to align many of my seams.

I pressed my lattice strip.

Looking good! 

I sewed the next lattice strip onto the top and then cut away.

By the time I was second cut all the butterflies in my stomach about ruining my quilt top weer long gone and I was confidant and happily playing with the fabric.

This is fun!

I sewed the cross lattice seam to piece my top back together.

I pressed.

I am impressed!

This "sew and cut" method works 

and it is easy 

and it is sew much fun!

Weekends are busy family times for me.

Monday I do my house cleaning and then I sew.

My top is waiting and I cannot wait to sew!

Linking UP today with all the lovely work in progress at

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times

EDIT:

Here is my completed top.

For more details, click HERE

Thanks for stopping by my scrapatch today.

May you have a happy, quilty day, too!

:)

Friendship x and + Swap

x and + Blocks

One day a week ago a post caught my eye at
Jane's Fabrics and Quilts.
Jane was telling about this lovely block swap she had found.

I followed the links to ...





This wonderful swap is being hosted by

Carla @ Lollyquiltz

and

Susan @ Patchwork Play

Click on either of the blogs above for all the details.

The tutorial for how to make these blocks may be found in this link:
Amy @ BadSkirt

These blocks are fun and easy to make!

As Jane says ... "just one click" ...

and may you be on your way to making a friendship quilt with your
"invisible friend" !

Susan and Carla have offered to help you make a new friend for this swap.

When I read about this swap and thought of all the lovely quilty "invisible friends" that I have made online over the last few years, one name stands out.

So I sent an email to

Dorian @ Ridge Top Quilts 

and said "Will you be my friend?

Happily she agreed!

Dorian and I have decided to make throw size quilts,
8 blocks x 9 blocks.
As the blocks measure 7.5" when finished,
our quilts will be 60" by 67.5" without added borders

We are going to make six blocks per month and send three for one year starting at the end of this month and next year for Christmas we will have pretty new quilts to snuggle under with a good book and a cuppa.

Rather than choose a special design seed palette, we have decided to make scrappy quilts using whatever scrap fabrics we have in our stash. 

After comparing scrap stashes, we have chosen to make our blocks using one gray fabric as a neutral somewhere in each block to give the eye a little rest and tie the blocks together. The other colors we have chosen as guidelines are

green, yellow, pink, blue, orange and purple

with the gray.

Here are the fabrics I pulled from my stash when I was looking for what to use to make my first month's blocks.  There are more than a few Kate Spain fabrics here as she is my favorite fabric designer. The rest are very random selections.  Most of them are less than a fat quarter pieces and some are only strips and will only appear once or twice in my blocks.

For more pictures and info on this swap visit the Flickr Group that Carla and Susan have set up for this swap.

Hope to see you finding a friend and joining in this swap!

~ <3 ~