String diamonds! (thanks to Max, who unearthed a pile of rectangular pieces of paper while pulling all the fabric off my shelves!)

I hope no one’s been waiting too long for this! Thanks to Morgan, I (finally!) created a downloadable PDF for you which shows the chart I used to create my Ruby Strings quilt (or ‘Ruby’s All Strung Out’, as I’ve been referring to it lately…memorable, but maybe not the best blog title!)

Download: Ruby Strings Chart

For this quilt, I used 11″ square blocks – 6 blocks by 7 blocks, which results in a quilt that measures about 63.5″ x 74″– a generous throw. I used Bonnie and Camille’s lovely Ruby fabrics, and by my estimates, you’ll need about 40 fat eighths (I had a 40 FQ bundle, and have about half left over). I’d guess that you’d also need around 4 yards of solid white (or your solid of choice).

These blocks use the same technique as described in my String Block tutorial, so I’m not going to recreate that here for you. Just check over here for the instructions for creating string blocks.

Each block starts with a 1″ strip of white (or your solid of choice) running diagonally through the block. Then you can refer to the PDF chart for the width of the print and solid for each block. (Please note that you will always start with a printed fabric on either side of the diagonal 1″ white strip). Continue adding prints and solids of the called for width until you’ve covered one side of the block.

Unlike the scrappy version of the string quilt, the goal with this quilt design is to get the strips to line up. This can be kind of a challenge, especially with those really narrow strips! Tips? Make sure your 1″ white strip is centered diagonally through the block, be sure to maintain the same seam allowance throughout, and be sure to iron (or finger press) each strip well (and consistently!). That being said, I wouldn’t worry too much if things are a bit off – there are many strings in my quilt which aren’t perfectly aligned, but I don’t think anyone would notice!

I hope you’ll find this chart helpful! I found it useful to cross off each block on the chart as I made them, so I’d know which blocks I still needed to make. If you make a similar quilt, be sure to add it to my Flickr group – I’d love to see it! And as always, feel free to ask any questions here. I’ll answer in the comments!

This little baby quilt is made up out of fun prints from the most recent line from Monaluna, Taali. This is another color combo I might not have considered, but I love it! I think it’s bright and cheery, and wonderfully appropriate for either a boy or girl (and who can resist those cute sheep?!)

I went smaller in size on this one, in the hopes that the smaller size will mean I’ll actually get a chance to quilt it! (I have quite the stack going of quilts that need quilting… so many in fact that I finally decided to send one out to be quilted. It’ll be the first time I’ve sent one to be quilted, so I’m kind of excited!) Anyway, yesterday I managed to finish the backing, so now I’ll just be waiting for a long nap from Max to get a start on the quilting!

Just a quick and easy strip quilt! I’ve been hanging onto this great fat quarter stack of the newish line by Monaluna for Birch Fabrics, Circa 52, for a while, and I’m happy to have come up with a fun way to use them.

These prints are so cute (and organic, which makes me love them even more!). I love the trees, and especially that cute forest print with the fox and bunting.

I wasn’t quite sure what other fabrics to pair with these prints, but after pulling out and auditioning many options, I was surprisingly pleased with these calming colors paired with a little bit of hot pink.

With Max crawling around and into almost everything, I needed something quick and easy, and this was just the ticket. I went with stripes, limiting myself to just 2″, 3″ and 4″ wide strips. I staggered the lengths, and alternated the widths of the strips as I went along. As a happy accident, a few of my strips ended up not quite long enough, so at the end I added a few vertical pieces to add to the length.

This quilt makes me very happy – I love the simple look, and I’m loving these colors, along with the variety of fun prints!

Oh boy, I love this pattern! So much so that I bought the pattern several months ago as soon as I started seeing quilts made from this pattern. (Of course, then I failed to actually make any of the blocks…)

And that’s why I was so happy when Katy started the Swoon along. Apparently it was just the push I needed! After I found my pattern (someone needs to clean their sewing space!), I debated about fabric choices, but ultimately decided to go with my old standby (a favorite for years now!), Flea Market Fancy.

These blocks are large!, finishing just under 25″, so each takes a bit of time to complete, but somehow I find it to be so satisfying. I’m really excited about the 4 I’ve completed so far!

Want to join the Swoon-along? Be sure to check out the Swoon-along Flickr group for helpful info and of course, lots of photos of gorgeous blocks!

I had to do it… simple patchwork squares using one of my favorite fabric lines, Echo by Lotta Jansdotter. These are 6″ squares, sewn together for a nice large throw for the couch. I used all my favorite Echo prints along with a selection of solids – Kona Coal, Ash, Aqua, Lupine, along with Essex Linen in Gray, Aqua and Natural and a bit of Art Gallery Pure Elements in Linen White.

And I even already made a backing, so hopefully I’ll find a little time for quilting this weekend!

How about a few more typewriters? I finished up another quilt top featuring this wonderfully fun Melody Miller print – this time using the red typewriters on the aqua background.

I drew up this little quilt design as soon as I saw Melody Miller’s typewriter fabric. I don’t often draw out quilts ahead of time, since my drawing skills leave much to be desired, but on occasion I do plan out my quilts, and sometimes even name them ahead of time!

I actually had these solids piled together and just waiting for a quilt – I love the way they look together and was quite pleased to see how well they went with this particular print. I used Kona Raisin, Coral, Snow, Dusty Blue, and a Quilters Linen in gray, plus Moda Bella Turquoise.

It’s funny how close I managed to come to my original sketch! I might have to consider drawing out a few other quilts ahead of time – I think having the sketch to refer to helped it all come together a bit faster.

Add this one to the pile of quilts that need backings!

Sparkle Punch quilt along
Swoon Along
Made in Cherry quilt along

Anyway… the winner, as selected by good old random.org is #83, Sarah, who plans to make a quilt for her mom inspired by the sunrise on her drive to work. Congrats Sarah!

I couldn’t get this combo out of my head, and just knew I wanted to see it as patchwork. These are 6″ squares, and came together so quickly!

I wanted the typewriter print to be the focus, so I added in lots of solids, as well as several other basics, including those gorgeous (and super soft, I might add!) circles from Laurie Wisbrun’s new Modern Whimsy line. I’m quite happy with this one, and especially love that Melody’s great print inspired this fun color combo!

At night I’ve still been doing a bit of knitting. It seems I’ve graduated from the straight scarves of my past to cowls. As with scarves, I just keep making more. At some point I hope to try a sweater, but until then, there may just be a couple more cowls in my future. It’s Vermont, after all! This is the Dovetail cowl, and you can find details over here on Ravelry.

And of course I had to get Max to model it again. He wasn’t so psyched about this one – I only got him to sit still by bribing him with puffs, which he then couldn’t get to his mouth what with this big cowl in the way! Luckily he’s a pretty good sport!

Thanks for all your lovely comments on my last post! I had fun looking back at the things I made in 2011, but now I’ve already started looking ahead and working on some new projects for 2012. For my first quilt of 2012, I decided to go with January flowers – specifically these awesome retro vintagey florals which are part of Melody Miller’s latest line, Ruby Star Shining.

I started by pairing them with a few other solids and prints from my stash – some Art Gallery solids, a bit of Essex linen, and even a little voile. Sometimes I start out knowing what type of pattern I want to use, and other times I start by just pulling out fabrics and then deciding on a pattern. I went with the latter this time, so after deciding on my fabrics, I browsed though my quilting Pinterest board.

Once I saw this quilt by Denyse Schmidt on my pinboard, I knew these fabrics would be perfect. I usually like to switch up a design a bit, but I love this one just as it is, so I went with it. I’m not sure how Denyse put her quilt together, but I decided to go with foundation piecing for mine – it’s certainly not necessary, but I just find it easier to know what area I need to cover when I can use the paper as a guide. I used the floral Melody Miller print for the center of each block, then a couple of the lighter prints, ending with the darker purples.

Unfortunately, as much as I loved the quilt top when it was finished, I’m not totally happy with how the quilting came out – I went with wavy, intersecting horizontal lines, which I like. I just had some trouble finding a thread color that would work on both the very dark purples as well as the lighter cream colors. [This has always been a dilemma for me - I'm not much for light thread on dark fabrics, or for dark thread on light fabrics - so what to do when you're using both light and dark?!] Anyway, I did have to rip out quite a bit of stitching, then settled (though not totally happily) on this variegated thread for the purple sections, with cream thread for the lighter floral sections. It’s ok, but still not my favorite!

But maybe I can overlook that when there’s a cute baby hiding underneath!

to this in such a short amount of time!

Despite spending lots of time snuggling with Max, I managed to find some time for quilting and other sewing. Perhaps there were more starts than finishes, but I guess that just means there will be more finishes in 2012! Here’s a look at some favorites from 2011…

1. lotta charm quilt, 2. green flea market fancy strip quilt, 3. nautical quilt, 4. ruby star spring quilt, 5. kites in the clouds quilt, 6. strawberry seas baby strip quilt, 7. aidan’s quilt, 8. flea market fancy strip quilt in red and pink, 9. a smattering of Greenfield Hill, 10. red+purple quilt, 11. manly baby quilt, 12. echino baby playmat, 13. colorblock plusses – a baby quilt, 14. Innocent Crush Rectangle Squared quilt, 15. drunk love bee quilt, 16. shades of blue – flea market fancy strip quilt

I’m afraid I don’t get to say it often enough, but thank you all for reading, and a extra big thank you for those who take the time to comment. I certainly do love hearing from you, and I know that it takes extra time to leave a comment and for that I’m very appreciative!

I very much look forward to seeing what 2012 will bring!