Patchwork Puzzle Part 1 (The Inspiration)

I decided if I was going to write about how I made my Complications Quilt it deserved a better name so Patchwork Puzzle is it.  I really debated if & how I wanted to share about this since I based my quilt off of someone else's design but since so many of you have asked for it and asked for instructions in English I decided I would share how I went about making my quilt.

I was originally inspired by this beauty over on flickr.  I was taken by how the blocks just seemed to flow together and then when you really started looking you saw the detail of each of the blocks.  After doing some digging through different photos in her stream and reading the comments I found that Christiane had based her quilt on a Block of the Month.  Please follow the link to the original as it is incredible.  There you will find all of the post if you want to make the quilt as it was intended.

There were a lot of things I found really difficult about following along.  First the instructions were all in German and even with Google Translate I had a hard time.  I would also consider myself to be a intermediate level quilter so I wanted to avoid y-seams and other complicated techniques that I didn't think I could complete successfully.  I also had a hard time calculating some of the measurements since they included eighth of an inch and so forth.  In the end I decided to just base all of my measurements on a unfinished 2 1/2 inch square (and there are a ton of them in this quilt).  The other thing that threw me a little was the amount of open space in the quilt once all of the blocks were done.  I filled most of mine with an combination of 2 1/2 and 4 1/2 inch squares.  But I also made duplicates of several blocks.

How I put together slabs of the quilt

 As I mentioned before I also wanted to avoid partial seams and y-seams so for a lot of my blocks I cut all of the pieces but I didn't always sew them all together until I started making the top.  This allowed me to build the quilt top in sectors and avoid any complicated seams.

Notice not all of the seems are sewn together

So what do you need?  I used parts of two fat quarter bundles to make my quilt and had a relatively large amount of scraps left over.  Since the scrappy factor is what makes this quilt extra cool this would be a great project to dig into your scrap bags for.  The first several blocks can be cut from jelly roll strips so really this is a grab bag of fun.  My quilt finished at 63 by 72 inches.

Ready to get started making your own patchwork puzzle?  I'll be posting my tips for the first block soon so please check back.

Complications (Finish It Up Friday)

I am so excited to have another finish to share with you this week.  I guess that is the only good part about getting two quilts back at the same time.  It makes for a few quick finishes.

This is Complications!  It is made all from Bonnie & Camille fabrics and uses fabrics from Ruby, Marmalade, and Vintage Modern.  I had a lot of fun making this quilt despite the many times I was frustrated about it.  You can read more about the journey here, here,here, and here.  Overall I LOVE the way this one turned out.

My only complaint would be that it is too small.  When I first finished the quilt top it was 63 by 72 and I thought that was big enough for a good throw.  Since this one also doesn't have my typical warm and white batting and the quilting is pretty dense it shrunk a lot more than I expected it would.  When I laid it out to take the pictures it almost seems like a baby quilt to me.  Of course it isn't that small but I like BIG quilts.  I want to cover my toes and shoulders at the same time.

I used a single print for the back and the binding.  I found it on sale and had intended to use it for the back of my Marmalade Squares & Stripes quilt but I miscalculated and it was a smidge too small for that one.  So instead I used it here.  I was planning on putting a bright pink print on the back of this one but I think the grey grounds the edges well and it all worked out this way.

This one was also quilted by a local long arm in a pumpkin seed pattern.  I talked about doing a possible series of post on this quilt with some tutorials and instructions on how mine was made along with the inspiration behind it.  I'm still thinking all of that through but look for an update soon.  Head on over to Amanda Jean's and see what everyone else is finishing up this Friday.

WIP Wednesday

I haven't had a chance to do much sewing this week.  I have spent most of my available time hand sewing binding on my Complications Quilt.  I CAN NOT wait to have this one done.  It is one of my favorite quilts I have ever made.  I'm a little disappointed that this one has the "other" batting in it but I am still a huge fan.  I did a few things a little differently with this one.  I tried trimming up 1/4 inch away from the edge of my quilt.  It does make the binding more full though in a few places it has been a little hard to navigate.  I'm guessing that is probably because those areas weren't a perfect 1/4 inch.

This quilt has gotten a lot of love over on Instagram.  It is based mostly on a block of the month pattern that was in German.  But I left some of the blogs out and duplicated others.  I am considering writing a series of post here on the blog about how mine was made with some measurements and thoughts.  I just haven't figured out the best way to do that because I don't want to step on any toes or imply that it is an original design.  Do any of you more experienced bloggers have any suggestions on how I can share what I did without offending anyone?

Next up I ordered this fabric for the back and binding of my APQ Quilt Along Quilt.  I really need to come up with a good name for that quilt because APQ Quilt Along Quilt isn't really working for me.  Most of my quilt names end up based off a combination of the pattern and fabric used in it.

Finally I did settle on my next project.  I have some fat quarters of Nordika and the Snow Blossoms pattern. I chose art gallery's tender green which was one of the suggested coordinates for the line.  I'm thinking this will be very different from anything I have made recently.  I believe we are going to do a little impromptu #snowblossomsalong over on Instagram if you have this pattern and would like to sew along.

Be sure to head over to Lee's to see what everyone else is up to this week.