Some months ago I was asked by Eric Woolf of
Fons & Porter to review their short ebook by
McCall's Quilting magazine "McCalls Quilting & McCalls Quick Quilts - Modern Quilt Patterns". He described the ebook as "more of a traditional quilt topic with a modern twist".
I have Eric's permission to share a link to this free ebook with you:
I have taken the following descriptions from the ebook:
"The ebook includes 3 free 'for personal use' patterns:
⁃ The "Baubles and Beads" free modern quilt pattern filled with bright colors and easy quilt blocks complete with lots of white space.
⁃ The "Rainbow Rhythm" modern quilt that takes advantage of half-square triangle quilt units and gives them an asymmetrical setting.
⁃ The "Lemon Squeezy" quilt featuring free-form quilt piecing as part of a quilt-as-you-go modern design."
I think "Baubles and Beads" is a good looking pattern that could be used in many different colourways to give it a completely different feel - I imagine that it would fit the 'beginner' category that it is designated as.
"Rainbow Rhythm" is for 'confident beginners' and I wouldn't attempt this unless you're a big fan of creating HSTs (half square triangles) - 156 HST squares in total! If you do love HSTs though then this is the quilt for you, a graphic design that could take on so many different looks depending on fabric design and colour choices.
As soon as I looked at the ebook though I knew that I wanted to make "Lemon Squeezy", it really appealed to me. I've seen this QAYG method done before and I love that it's not the usual grid based and strip joined - regular readers will know that although I've used that method,
my own version of which I blogged about here, I'm not keen to repeat it regularly across my quilts. So I decided that I wouldn't just review the book, I'd make one of the quilts from it so last weekend I set aside a day to do just that and here it is:
Quilt Back: Amy Butler 'Alchemy - Sketchbook Roses'
Quilt Top: Dear Stella 'Petal Pusher', Alexander Henry 'Rivoli Curl', Moda Aneela Hoey 'Carnation French Knot' Sew Stitchy, P&B Textiles Bear Essentials, 'Spot On' Makower Basics
The pattern says to use 3 yards of fabric for the quilt back and to cut two pieces of fabric 50" x 50" and sew them together. I couldn't understand the need for this - the batting is being laid directly on the backing and the batting size is 45" x 60". This seemed like a terrible waste of backing fabric so instead I just used a 60" length of backing fabric and kept the full width (45") and trimmed away the selvedges once the quilt was finished. This means the finished quilt is slightly smaller than the 60" x 45" quoted on the pattern but I think 59" x 43" is very acceptable and far better than purchasing all that extra fabric and having to cut and piece it.
When I read the pattern instructions it does explain that you will not be making an exact copy of the Lemon Squeezy quilt as designed by Sherri Driver that is shown in all the ebook photos. Sherri's quilt is made using a variety of strip widths and the quilt instructions have been simplified so all the strips are 3.5" wide. This wasn't at all what I wanted, I wanted the look of a varied strip width, so instead I cut the strips to 1.75"/2"/2.5"/3"/3.5" widths as you can see in the photo above. I feel that it is misleading to show only photos of a quilt that is made from different width strips when that is not what you will be making if you follow the pattern instructions fully, I appreciate that this makes the pattern easier for a beginner but the photos should reflect this pattern change and it's disappointing that the ebook doesn't include a photo of how the quilt will look if it is made with all the same strip widths.
The ebook does show you lots of pictures of how to create the QAYG quilt top and the instructions are clear and simple to follow. I was thrilled with the method and the quilt grew very quickly. As I said I love that although it's QAYG it isn't grid based and is created as a whole quilt so there's no strip joints to create at the end. Above is a photo of my finished quilt top - there's no sewing visible on this side of the quilt - it's just nice, clean seams.
I was also disappointed to note that the ebook doesn't include photos of how the quilt back will look so here's a close up of my quilt back - my straight line quilting is using a 3.2 length stitch and Aurifil 2225 - Salmon Wt 40 thread. I love it and I think it looks really great against this Amy Butler fabric.
So to complete my review on the ebook - it's free and it's worth following the link above and downloading a copy just to get the instructions for this type of QAYG quilt alone, never mind that there's instructions for 2 other quilts there too that might take your fancy. The instructions are very clear and easy to follow - just be aware that what you are looking at in the pattern photos for the Lemon Squeezy quilt isn't exactly what you're going to get in your own made quilt - though to be fair they do say that on the pattern, it just seems strange to not to have the pattern instructions and quilt photos reflecting each other. Obviously my quilt isn't a reflection of the pattern instructions either as I varied the strip widths too. I didn't see notes in the instructions for the other two quilts to indicate any changes in those patterns and I think, at a glance, that those patterns will give you a quilt that accurately reflects the ebook photos.
Maybe you'd like to see how the final quilt turned out?
Roses For A Drama Queen Quilt
I made the quilt with a special person in mind and I'm hoping that they'll be as delighted with it as I am, I'll keep you posted on that!
Update at 25 January 2014:
Oh, just spotted that I never got around updating this post to share with you who the quilt was for (
though I did post about it separately here!) - well it was a present for Katie, my middle son's partner and I gave her the quilt when she visited us back in July.
And now I can reveal that the quilt is called 'Roses For A Drama Queen' as Katie had just graduated from
Royal Central School of Speech and Drama - she's got the most incredible singing voice, just perfect for musical theatre.
Here she is with the quilt and my son, Joe, isn't she gorgeous and she loves the quilt too!!!
Disclaimer:
This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.
