Using "Tula's True Colors" in Fabric Café's® Pattern "Attraction"

Last week I showed you a quilt using all the fabric’s in Tula Pink’s new line “Tula’s True Colors” by Free Spirit. For this quilt pattern, “Attraction” from Fabric Café, I chose 1 yard of 3 different fabrics in Tula’s line. (All of Fabric Cafe’s quilt patterns use just 3 one yard cuts).

I picked a blue, an aqua and a yellow green. These are analogous colors on the color wheel—they are positioned right next to each other. It’s a guarantee that the colors will all play well together!

This is a great pattern and it sews up super fast. I found I had a free hour one morning and that was all I needed to cut out the fabric. Then it just took an afternoon to put it together.

I like how the small squares seem to dance across the design.

i think it would look just as great using the hot colors in “Tula’s True Colors”. And I’d love to see this quilt with 2 analogous colors on the color wheel, and one complimentary color from the opposite side of the color wheel. I think that would make a spectacular quilt!

Four Patch Quilt: "Four Patch for the Fourth"

The quilt which I started cutting out in my post last week is done in time for the Fourth of July! This is my design, a simple four patch block quilt that I call “Four Patch for the Fourth.” It’s a small quilt…just big enough for two little children to sit on together.

It’s a easy quilt and sews up quickly.

I love blocks that have 4 sections such as this four patch block or pinwheel blocks. In order to have the seams on the back of the block lie as flat as possible, the seams and be “spun”. The top seam can be gently opened up so that one side of the seam can be pressed upward and the other side pressed downward. The result is a tiny four patch on the back of the block. I think of these tiny central blocks as a hidden quilt in a quilt!

The back of a 4 patch block with the seams “spun”. Note how each of the four seams is pressed toward a different patch, so the seams look like the vanes in a windmill.

All the quilting in this quilt was done with a walking foot. Each of the square blocks as been quilted and there is diagonal quilting across the large blocks to anchor them.

It’s easy to keep a long diagonal course of quilting straight by marking it using painter’s tape. Lay down the tape, quilt the line just beside the tape, not ON the tape. Then remove the tape. Do not leave the tape on the quilt for a long time. I find I can tape 2 diagonal lines at a time. But if I tape more than 2 diagonals, the tape tends to lift off the quilt as I’m stitching. Once the long diagonal line is quilted, additional lines of quilting can be added following the initial diagonal line with the edge of the walking foot. Remove the tape before addition parallel lines of stitching. The tape could be left in place but it’s easier to quilt additional lines without the tape on the quilt.

Don’t use masking tape which may leave glue residue on the fabric.

This quilt looks great on the back of a rocking chair too. I like summer quilts that are on the small size. It’s just too hot in the summer to have a big lap quilt.

Here’s my Fourth of July quilt with Douglas, a classic Waldorf type doll which I made.

Ready for Staying at Home on July 4th, 2020.

Have a safe, happy, and healthy weekend!

Quilt Panel, my new Spoonflower design

Here's one of the new designs in my Spoonflower.com shop.  This is a quilt panel with my Storybook Houses design and a 3 inch wide border. It's not a cheater quilt because there aren't any printed stitch lines, but it is an easy quilt that could be completed in an afternoon if you suddenly need a baby present!

I quilted the quilt above with all straight line stitches and the wavy Bernina stitch #4. You don't looks need any fancy quilting skills to make this quilt look great!  However, if you have free motion quilting skills, it would also be lots of fun to stitch shingles, stones and siding designs on the houses!

There is coordinating fabric with an all-over house design with slight smaller houses that makes a great backing. I finished the quilt with a scrappy binding using pieces and pieces left over from binding other quilts. I love the look and I love using up the leftovers!

Because the quilt panel is just 35 inches wide and the fabric is 43 inches wide, there are 5 1/2 inches of extra yellow border color printed 1 yard of panel fabric.  This extra yellow fabric is just long enough so it could be cut at 2 1/2 x 35 inches for use as horizontal sashing between the rows of houses. That would make a quilt that is slightly rectangular rather than square a bit larger.

I made this quilt using the Ultra Kona® Cotton option available at Spoonflower.com. The Ultra Kona® is a fairly recent upgrade and it takes the dyes much better than the Kona® previously available.

This design was fun to draw and it was lots of fun to quilt. Hope you like it!!