Water's Edge Quilt

This is Water's Edge, designed by Marion Patterson in the quilting book, Simple Stitches Quilting. I did add the borders around it though. This quilt is black, white, grey, and purple. I totally changed the color scheme so that would be why this quilt doesn't really look like the "Water's Edge"! 

The front:

The back:

I only have one complaint for this pattern: if you don't use a layer cake  (40 10" squares of fabric pre-cut) it is best to lay out the pattern as you cut your fabric and the pieces that lay horizontally you'll want to cut a 1/4" shorter. 

You can purchase this quilting book which has "18 projects for the new quilter"! I just received it as a gift and have found many patterns I am anxious to make. 

Below is a picture of the book as well as a link to it on Amazon:

Quilt Block: Stack 'N Shuffle

Tracey wanted an idea for a quilt block, here's one that is never the same twice!

1. Take some freezer paper or butcher paper and cut it to the size you'd like to start out with for your block. Do remember, however, that because of seams and trimming the block will be smaller in the end.

          - My block started out as 21 1/4" x 16 3/4"

2. Create your own cut lines on the paper (number of pieces should equal number of fabrics used). Don't do more than ten cuts/fabrics, or less than three. 

         - I have five fabrics and will make five pieces to cut out.

3. Cut each piece of fabric the size of your block.

4. Stack fabrics - a trick to keeping the fabrics from shifting when cutting is to run an iron over each one before stacking. Also, make a note of which fabrics are where if you are concerned you'll lose track of what is where!

5. Secure the paper on top of all of your fabrics; yes, you'll cut the paper too when you cut your fabrics. I used pins but you can also use weights or whatever else you can think of!

6. Cut through your lines. Below is an example of my first cut:

7. Now, in piece #1, move the 1st piece of fabric to the bottom; 2nd to the bottom; repeat that pattern until the last piece where you DO NOT SHUFFLE it AT ALL! 

8. Sew all pieces together for each layer. A few things to remember: sew from the inside of the block towards the outside, & sew pieces together in descending order from your last cut. Ex: I made five pieces, so I sewed together 5 to 4, etc. 

9. Iron sewn-together blocks separately. 

10. Trim each square down to the smallest block size you have so they are all the same size.

11. Now you should have as many blocks as you did fabrics and they should all be different  with like fabrics! This is a fun block to do because you can make up your own pattern and nothing ever turns out the same. 

If you are interested in seeing more ideas on quilt blocks, I found this helpful website:

QuiltBus - Free Quilt Blocks

Good Luck! 

Quilt #1

Here is a simple quilt for you to start on! I made this quilt out of scraps but if you want to purchase new fabric for it I'd get 1/3 of a yard of each. Use 1/4" seams while sewing. I grouped the fabrics randomly so there is no rhyme or reason to where they are placed!

1. Cut your fabric for the blocks into strips that are 2 1/2 inches wide. The lengths will vary if you are using scrap fabric but it is best to just make the longest cut you can.

2. Sew together your strips in sets of three. You'll use these for the long strips down the side of the block as well as one set on each side of the middle three strips. (The middle three strips have that white square of fabric so there's no short cut to making those!)

4. Now cut 6 rectangular 3-strip sets 18.5" long.

5. Do the same type of cut in step four 12 times and this time only 6.5" long.

6. Cut individual strips of fabric into
a) 12 single strips 2.5" x 6.5"
b) 6 single strips 2.5" x 4.5"
c) 6 squares 2.5" x 2.5"

7. Sew together from step six B and C to make what we'll call D!

8. Sew together from step six A to D, then D to A again. That will make the middle three strips in the block.

9. Now sew together your strip sets from steps 5 & 8. Basically you sew one 6.5" long set to the middle strips you made in step 8, and then sew that to another 6.5" long set. (I apologize for the lack of pictures but I already made this quilt before making this blog!)

10. Sew step 9 to step 4. Repeat steps 9 & 10 until all of your blocks are finished! Remember to measure all of your blocks and make all of them equal to the size of your smallest block.

11. The inner border (brown fabric) is 5.5" wide with various lengths. Cut first 6 strips 18.5" long. Then sew those to your blocks. It will be like this: brown strip sewn to a block, then brown again with a block, etc.

12. The top, middle, and bottom strip of brown fabric measures 5.5" x 58.5" (This second measurement may vary due to the actual size of your blocks so just cut off any excess material if needed).

13. As for the binding, I usually use (as I did on this quilt) leftover fabric. Sew together end to end your leftover fabric strips that are 2.5" wide. Iron the seams, then iron the long strip folded in half with the back sides together. I plan to go over binding a quilt soon so I'll explain the process at that time!

Good luck and I promise this is much simpler to make than it is to write down all the steps! So take it one step at a time and if you have any questions write it in the comments section and I'll get back to you ASAP!