Friday, July 22, 2011

Dr. Seuss quilt top!!!

So when we became pregnant the first time we decided we would have one nursery for the kids. When our second was born we just moved K to a big boy room instead of a new nursery. I have known since I first thought of having children that the nursery would be a Dr. Seuss nursery. I will share those photos in another post and how to achieve easy, inexpensive wall murals like I did.

Well Now that E is almost 9 months old I started thinking about his room. Soon he will be too big for a nursery and will need a big boy room. *boo hoo* Now E won't be moved into a big boy bed for quite some time but I thought I would get a little ahead. He will stay in the Dr. Seuss room. It will just me big boy modified. Here is the chevron quilt top that will be for his big boy bed. I also have a trick I learned in the  process. Now I am no pro quilter...so if you are and see areas where I am doing something wrong please let me know. I am all for constructive criticism. Just go easy I am learning. ;)

Here you can see where I need to improve on my corner skills. E won't care that it isn't perfect.


For this quilt you place two squares right sides together and sew on either side of the middle diagonal line. Instead of taking each square, measuring, and marking I did this. I folded the square in half from corner to corner.


Then I ironed one of the squares to give me my middle mark. It was so much faster and seemed to work quite well.

So this is what you are left with.One folded square and on flat square. 

 Ok so I forgot to get a pic of this but you unfold the pressed square, line it up right sides facing with the flat square, pin, and sew on either side of your crease.  Like this...



After you are finished sewing all the squares you cut the square right down the middle. You can find an awesome tutorial for this quilt here...
Awesome blog by the way. You should check her out!

Here are my squares mid quilt. It is coming along. Now I bought this fabric before it became popular with the pottery barn collection so it was hard to find. Not to mention super expensive because it was out of print. I worked with what little Seuss fabric I had and just added to it with solids to get the size I needed.


Hope you all like it. Now off to see if I have all the photos for the nursery post. When I finish K's room I will have a post for a big boy dino/paleontologist themed room!

6 comments:

  1. That is adorable! I sometimes use the iron trick instead of drawing the line, but I've found that when I iron it, since it's on the bias, I sometimes end up stretching the fabric. Pressing vs. ironing is very important. Adorable quilt!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good to know! Thanks Lisa. I did not know that. I have alot to learn in the quilting world. So thankful for advice from such a talented quilter. Oh and thank you for the quilt love. This is my first "on my own quilt" No kit or quilt along guiding. I can't wait to finish it!

    Question for you...
    So when ironing my seams should I also apply that....Pressing not ironing?

    ReplyDelete
  3. You should ALWAYS apply the rule of pressing vs. ironing when it comes to quilting. You never realize how much "ironing" is stretching things until you end up with a complete mess (ask me how I know!).
    That said, with triangle squares, I like to finger press my seams open, then spray Mary Ellen's Best Press on them, and then press them open with the iron. I get much better accuracy that way, and nice, flat seams! =]

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you Lisa!! Now that you say that I have noticed squares looking a little wonky after ironing. I have been doing it wrong all this time. Thanks for helping me advance in my quilting! ;))

    ReplyDelete
  5. More inspiration to take a quilt class this Fall!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Karen I should also probably take a class. I am sure it would improve my quilt making skills. Now to just a find a quilt shop in my area or someone who does classes.

    ReplyDelete

Your words mean so much to me. Thank you for making my day! ;)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...