Stage #1 of my Sewing Room Remodel/Organization is nearly done – or as done as it can be until more storage is created in future stages. But this is on hold this past weekend as two more 3-yard Bundles arrived from Fabric Cafe. So I worked on creating two tops using the Town Square & Suite Times Patterns. Both patterns can be found in Easy, Peasy 3 Yard Quilts Book.

So, I figured I would chronicle the lives of these tops while in my hands. Prepare for lots of pictures. I usually make one quilt top followed by the other, but this time both had a lot of strip piecing, so I worked on them both at the same time.

Welcome two 3 Yard Bundles. Each pattern is made from three 1-yard cuts of fabric for the top & binding. Backing requires an additional 3 yards.

Follow the cutting instructions. I didn’t get a picture, but here’s a picture from the last one I made. I print out the cutting instructions for each fabric to help keep myself organized.

Next comes the stripping. Strip piecing that is. Following the instructions, I piece one WOF to another piece of WOF. I follow that with another pair, and another, until I have them all stitched.

Next comes a lot of ironing, more cutting, followed by more strip piecing & ironing.

Finally, the Blocks are finished.

Out comes the gloves. Strip piecing the Blocks into Rows I find having a sewing glove on my left hand helps me maintain contact with the fabric.

Finally all the Rows are complete, and the body of the two quilt tops are ready to have borders added.

Next comes piecing the Border Strips and measuring the length before adding borders. Beginning with the sides of the top, I like to fold it in half lengthwise, and using the actual Border Strip, I measure 2 strips for the right & left sides along the fold (middle) & cut. I repeat the process for the top & bottom borders and then for all additional borders. Lots more ironing happens as each Border Strip is added.

Stitching the Borders on, I set up a folding table to prevent the weight of the top snagging on the edge of my sewing table.

Final steps – stitch, fold & iron Binding Strip.

Finally, two tops are finished.

Well, this is how I spent my weekend. Two quilt tops are now in the mail to Fabric Cafe for backing and a trip to the long arm quilter. When finished they will show up on display in the Fabric Cafe booth at a quilt show.

How did you spend your weekend?

Happy Stitching!

Quilt Mouse