Dolly's "Garden Party Quilt" as you go

This little scrappy Garden Party quilt is an ideal project for a quick finish gift for that new arrival.As it is made from 10" squares and 2 1/2" fabric strips with some additional scraps for the applique.It is an ideal way to clean out some your stash.

You will need;

4 x 10" squares of fabric for back of the blocks

20 x 2 1/2" x 10" strips assorted colours

4 x 7 1/2" squares for corner blocks for border corner backs

4 x 20 1/2" x 7 1/2" rectangles for border back

56 x 2 1/2" x 6 1/2" Strips for border assorted colours

16" ( 42cm) Red with white spot cut into 2" strips

25"( 64cm)30cm wide fusible web

4 x 9" iron on pellon a fine one is best( 90cm wide)

4x 6 1/2' Squares " "

4 x 6 1/2"x 19 1/2"rectangles " "

tools list:

Fiskars rotary cutter,Fiskars 12 1/2" square ruler, Cutting mat,Fiskars soft touch scissors,Sewing machine,Walking foot if available, 1" Bias maker.A Fiskars Fabric strip cutter would be just ideal to cut all your scraps into usable pieces.

Step 1: Centre the vilene squares on the wrong side of the four centre squares leaving a 1/2" margin all round.Press in place . You might like to use a pressing cloth over the vilene it will melt and stick if the iron is too hot.

Step 2:Fold the square in half and mark the centre line . Centre a fabric stripright side up over this line and pin firmly in place.
Lay the next strip with the right side down and the edges together.Pin. Stitch using a 1/4" seam .
Flip the strip out to lie flat and finger press in place.Repeat with the remaining strips till you reach the edge.Turn the block around and work your way out to the other edge. Make 4.

Step 3/ Using the same method make up the border strips and the corner blocks.Warning be careful not to stretch the strips as you sew. It will distort the finished product .

For the applique blocks Dolly chose some of her favourite things, A flower, a blue bird,a lady bug and a nice" licky" ice cream.All the shapes use are from Fiskars templates.

1/Blue Birdy is a 3"circle, two small hearts for the wings,twox 1/2" circles for the eyes and a small freehand drawn triangle for his beak.His little legs and feet are stitched on using the sewing machine and black thread.

2/ Lady bug is 2 x 4" circles one cut from black fabric and one cut from red spotty fabric.The spotty red one is cut in half to make the wings.1 x 1 1/2" circle for her head.Feelers are machine stitched on.

3/ the flower is 5 blue check leaf shapes and 1 spotty yellow circle.

4/ The yellow ice cream cone is an elongated triangle that I drew myself.The pink icecream is a wobbly oval shape . I think it was meant to be part of a tree.It has a 1/2" circle cherry on top and a leaf shaped drippy bit at one side.

Applique your block:

The applique technique is the same for all the blocks . Trace the desiredshape onto the wrong side of the fusible web( thats the paper side).Cut out the shapes loosely leaving a margin all round.Using a hot dry iron fuse the shapes to the wrong side of the fabrics.Cut carefully around the drawn lines using sharp scissors.Peel away the paper backing ( if its a bit hard to remove re warm the fusible web with the iron , do not let the iron come in contact with the glue)Lat the applique piecec glue side down on the block to make the desired design and iron in place.I have machine stitched around the edges using matching thread and a blanket stitch. If you machine doesn't have it use a smallish close together zigzag . You may choose to do it by hand .

Make the Spotted joining strips:

If you have a 1" bias maker now is the time to use it.If you dont (like me) you can still make the strips quite simply. Using the iron press the fabric strips in half lengthways .
Open out flat and press each edge in one at a time to meet the centre crease. Press in place.
You should now have a 1" wide strip with the raw edges meeting in the middle.

Cut the fusible web into 1" wide strips across the width of the web.Fuse the web strips to the wrong side of the spotty strips.Repeat along the length of the strip.Don't make up all the strips at once as you will use some of them to make the binding for the quilt.

Joining the quilt together:

1/ Arrange the four centre blocks in your chosen layout . Take two and with wrong sides together join with a 1/2" seam.The seam should sit up on the right side . Press the seam open and flat.Repeat for the othervtwo blocks.

2/ Measure the length of the seams and cut two red spotty joining stripsto this length. peelaway the backing paper and centre the joining strip over the opened out seam and fuse the strip over the opened out seams. It should cover the seams completely.repeat for the next set. Using matching colour thread stitch close to the edge of each strip.
This will be easier if you have a walking foot for you machine. If you dont, just stitch more slowly and use a slightly longer stitch length.Join the block sets together in the same way . Measure the seam length and cut a strip to this length and apply as before.All seams are finished in the same way.

3/ Join a border block to top and bottom sides of the centre panel. Finish seams.

4/ Join a corner block to either end of the remaining border strips . Finish seams and then stitch the border strips in place,finishing seams as before.

Binding your quilt:

Join 3 x 2" strips together to make one long strip and press as for joining strips. DO NOT add fusible web. Press under a 1/2" hem at one end of the strip.

1/ This binding is stitched to the back of the quilt. with the right side of the strip facing the back of the quilt.Starting at the folded end of the strip, halfway along the side of the quiltstitch carefully along the crease line of the binding strip(1/2" seam) stop 1/2" from the end of the seam and take the work out from under the machine. Clip the seam allowance of the strip , so that the fabric stretches neatly around the corner of the quilt.
Stitch down the next side of the quilt .Over lap the end of the binding when yoy get back to your starting place and cut off the excess fabric.

2/ Now pull the binding strip all the way around to the front of the quilt. You will have a 1" wide red stip at the front of the quilt and none left at the back.Pin in place, folding the fabric at the corner to make a neat mitre.Stitch along the edge to finish . You might like to stitch the folded corner mitres and the overlap at the beginning.If you would like to make a larger quilt you can simply make as many blocks as you like , joining them in the same way.

As you can see the dollies took no part in making this quilt D1 was still in hiding and d2 refused to help. Of course they both turned up whem it was finished to enjoy a litle party.Don't they look pleased.