A Laptop Quilt

I am still a beginner when it comes to quilting. Perhaps it’s because I don’t quilt every day. I usually do one project every 3-6 months and then spring/summer roll around and I’m back to the stress of yard work.

The lap top quilt I recently made is called Candy Squares and is quite pretty.  I bought the kit on Craftsy which came with all of the fabric material except for the batting and the backing.

Unfortunately, the first kit I received from them which had both off white Kona yardage and 100 5″ colored fabric squares had the wrong size colored squares so I emailed them and they sent me another kit and allowed me to keep the first one.  That actually made sense since I hadn’t measured the fabric material when I received it and had already cut the off white material by following the instructions.

Lesson learned.  I’ll make sure to measure the fabric before I start a project.

The instructions said I should press the fabric first so that’s what I did.  It does not recommend washing as the fabric pieces are quite small.

I started the project by cutting 70 of the 5″ squares into 2.5 x 2.5 inch squares.  This is time consuming because I needed to make sure the cuts were precise.   The remaining 5″ squares (all 30 of them) are cut into two pieces each ~ 2½” x 5” rectangles for the binding.

I’m considering getting a Cricut which, although a little expensive, is supposed to cut a lot more accurately than I can.  I thought perhaps I was the only one having problems cutting precisely but many experienced quilters say they have had the same problem.

I love the vivid

 

 

Fossil Fern Charms
Fossil Fern Charms

Next I cut the 3 yards of Kona White fabric into 13 2½” strips and then sub cut it into 200 2½” squares.  Then I cut 9 6½” strips and sub cut those into 49 6½” squares.

That’s a lot of cutting for sure!

The quilt has a pattern as such:

Row 1 = color – white – color

Row 2 = white – color – white

Row 3 = color – white – color

Fossil Fern Charms
Fossil Fern Charms

The colored fabric is chosen randomly and is sewn to the white color as stated above.

You need to make sure you have lots of pins for this project and a pincushion comes in handy.

Pin Cushion
Pin Cushion

I pinned each set of two squares and sewed them together.

Sew Squares Together
Sew Squares Together

I continued feeding the sewing machine the sets of squares with a little space between them and later snipped that thread off.  Then I added the third square.

Sew Pieces Continuously
Sew Pieces Continously
Separate the sewn rows
Separate the sewn rows

Next I put 3 rows of squares together to make a 9 piece square.

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If you’ll notice, I made two different sets ~ the first had white on each end with a colored fabric in the middle and the second had colored pieces on the ends and a white piece in the middle.  I then put those in separate piles.

I simply love the vibrant colors in this quilt.

IMG_2374

Eventually you’ll be using 3 of these to make a larger square.

It is VERY important that the fabric is cut precisely or you’ll have problems later on trying to match pieces. But, don’t worry too much over it. I’m still trying to be a perfectionist at quilting but more and more I read of how it’s okay to let some of these things go.

Below is a picture of one large square that is not lined up very well.  Blah.

Here is one that is much much better.

Sewing The Squares Together
Sewing The Squares Together

I made 50 of these blocks and I starched each one. Whew!

 

Since this is a lap quilt, I used a king size bed to put the sewn squares on.  This allowed me to see how the colors were lining up.  As you can see, one large white square is sewn in between the color combination ones.

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After all the rows were completed, I was able to step back and look to make sure I didn’t have colors that were next to each other to give it a more random look.

For this quilt I used a very light batting since I wasn’t sure who it might be given to (any ideas?) and I know folks all over the U.S.  I also decided not to pin the top, batting and backing together but used a basting spray instead which worked quite well.

To reiterate, this is what the kit came with and what is needed:

  • 1 Charm Pack of Fossil Fern fabrics – 100 5″ Squares (included in the kit)
  • 3 Yards Kona Cotton in snow/white
  • Backing: 3 5/8 yard (need to purchase)
  • Batting: 62″ x 74″ (need to purchase)

The finished size is 54″ x 66″.

For the backing, I asked a couple of friends what color they thought would work and I used a burgundy color but any color would have worked.

After I checked to make sure everything was pieced together correctly (it wasn’t ~ I had a few pieces I had to hand sew as they had separated for some reason), I washed the quilt on delicate and in cold water. Then I checked again to make sure all the pieces were still together. I noticed that a few had come undone.  Blah again!  So, I hand sewed those and it was finally finished.

Here’s the final product which is quite pretty.

The Candy Squares Lap Quilt
The Candy Squares Lap Quilt

 

 

 

 

 

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2 thoughts on “A Laptop Quilt”

  1. Fabulous! Thank you very much for documenting the steps you took in this quilt. I have the kit and am about to start it. Your instructions are very clear, and it’s great to have the photos.

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