I've never made a quilt before, but thought I would give it a try. I will get right to the point. It gets on my nerves when I go to read a blog post for a recipe or crochet pattern and there is so much babbling before getting to the point. I never read through it on other blogs, so I won't do it here! :)
My son loves to play the video game, Minecraft. This is what a Creeper looks like in the game.
My supplies. You'll see how I like bargains.
Rotary cutter, acrylic guide/ruler, cutting mat (borrowed from my mom)
Quilt batting, 50% off at Joann's
Twin size black flat sheet, $4.97 at Walmart
1 1/3 yard black fabric, used a 50% off coupon at Joann's
Two 5-pack fabric quarter bundles and 3 single fabric quarters (total of 13), all 50% off at Joann's.
3 spools thread (I actually only used one of the green spools)
I also used a 15% off total fabric purchase coupon
(And bought several other skeins of yarn on sale at Joann's, but that's another blog post, lol!)
Ok, so I'm happy with how much money I have in the project, in case I mess it up! ;)
First, I ironed all fabric pieces to remove wrinkles.
The fabric quarters come 18"x21" and I cut each one into (4) 9" squares (with a strip left over of course). I needed 50 green squares so I had 2 extras for "just in case". I took 10 of those green squares and cut them in half down the middle. You'll see why in a minute.
I cut the 1 1/3 yard of black fabric into (20) 9" squares.
Using the rotary cutter made the cutting SO much easier than trying to cut straight lines with scissors! I made sure every side was straight, and also cut off the selvage edges.
I designed my pattern using a spreadsheet on the computer. I had 7 different shades of green fabric and after writing down how many squares I had of each color, I numbered the squares on the design so that no two squares of the same shade were touching side by side. Because of the width of the twin sheet for the back of the quilt, I couldn't get a full 9" square on each side of the Creeper face, so that's why I cut 10 of the squares in half. It gave me (20) 4 1/2" x 9" rectangles for the sides.
I numbered my stacks according to where they will go on the design and pulled them from the stacks as I needed them.
I started with the top row and stitched them together side by side using 1/4" seam allowance.
Once I had two rows done, I stitched those to each other.
I continued from top to bottom until done with the quilt top. Everything lined up pretty good!
Thank goodness for the ping pong table, lol! (Otherwise I would use a table or the floor.)
First I laid out the twin flat sheet, then the quilt batting.
Just a tip: If I had it to do over, I would tape down the sheet in a few places to help avoid wrinkles. I do have a few little puckers here and there after stitching.
I tried to center everything on the sheet to allow at least 1 1/2" all around the sheet for binding.
Lay the top over the quilt batting.
Another tip: I would get better quilt batting next time. I have since read online that all-cotton batting is better recommended. The stuff I used has to be stitched or tied every 5 inches and sometimes doesn't hold up well in the laundry. We'll see.
I put a safety pin in every square to hold the layers together.
Close up view of safety pin placement. I alternated which side of the square they were on.
I machine stitched around the edge of each black square. This is called sewing "in the ditch". You pull the squares tight and can see the "ditch" in between the squares. If you stay in the ditch, this row of stitching will be nearly invisible on top.
Then I also sewed an X across each black square. I didn't mark it out ahead of time. I simply "eye-balled" it. Yeah, I'm a rebel like that. ;)
It was not easy making sure the weight of the quilt was always evenly distributed as I was sewing, especially while sewing in the center of the quilt and trying to bunch it up to get through the space in my machine!
Tip: I turned at the corners and sewed continuously as much as possible. Each time you're about to begin a lot of sewing, make sure there is plenty of thread on the spool AND the bobbin!
Ok, the black squares are done.
Another view of the black squares. I see in this pic, I hadn't yet sewed in the ditch horizontally across the center of the big black square. Can you tell?
From this point on, I didn't take any pictures. I switched to green thread on top, and black thread in the bobbin. I then sewed "in the ditch" around every green square. After that, it was ok to remove all of the safety pins.
Next, using black cotton yarn and a yarn needle, I tied the center of each green square. Be sure to poke down through all 3 layers and back up very close to where you went down. I left both yarn ends about 3" long and tied them in double knots.
Using scissors, I trimmed the quilt batting around the edge to be even with the quilt top.
Using the rotary cutter, ruler guide, and cutting mat, I trimmed the black sheet to 1 1/2" bigger than the quilt top on all sides. I may go back and trim them a little shorter.
To create the binding: Using my iron, I folded the black sides over to meet the edge of the quilt top, then folded over again coming up over the quilt top. Then I stitched around the edge through all layers.
It was a lot of work! I certainly won't be entering any quilt shows with it as there are a lot of little puckers here and there, but my son is very proud of it! (And so am I.)
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