QM Scrap Squad: Jill’s Country Morning

The QM Scrap Squad is a select group of seven QM readers. They take one pattern from each regular issue of Quiltmaker and make their own scrappy versions to inspire you.

The Scrap Squad quilt from the Sept/Oct Quiltmaker is Country Morning. We made the original quilt in Robert Kaufman fabrics. The line is Lazy Daisy Baskets by Darlene Zimmerman.

 

Country Morning shown in Lazy Daisy Baskets
fabrics by Darlene Zimmerman for Robert Kaufman.

It was the Classic/Update quilt, where we take a classic pattern from an early issue and update it. The quilt features printed Robert Kaufman fabric that suggests redwork embroidery in the cream-colored blocks. We asked the Scrap Squad to replace that fabric with something completely different. They came up with some great ideas.

Jill Montgomery from Fairfield, Ohio

Today’s featured quilt is by Jill Montgomery from Fairfield, Ohio. You’ll hear from Jill in her own words below.

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Shortly after we got this pattern, I was at a guild meeting and someone showed a Stack and Whack quilt. It convinced me that I needed to use these gorgeous florals from my stash for this quilt. I had been saving the fabrics to make a One Block Wonder quilt.

To start, I cut each fabric along the fold and starched with Best Press on the wrong side. This helps to stabilize the fabric for the odd cuts. Then I cut along the same point in the repeat for each half of the fabric.

Since I bought this fabric for a One Block Wonder, I had six repeats. I had to use six from one half and two repeats from the other half to get the eight layers I needed for this block. Since the repeats from one side didn’t match the other, there was a bit of playing around to get everything matched up for identical squares.

To line the fabric up, I used a pin and a spot in the fabric and stuck the pin in that exact spot on each of the layers. Once I went through all eight layers, I stuck a second pin into the fabric at a diagonal so that the first pin would still be holding all the layers in the same spot.

Here is the section all pinned with 5 pins in different locations. At this point, I used a square ruler and cut out the 3 7/8″ squares.

For each square, I cut once on the diagonal.

I decided on a mottled gray fabric to finish the focus blocks. From the gray, each focus block takes two 3 7/8″ squares cut on the diagonal, and four gray strips cut 1 3/4″ by 5″.

Four of the floral triangles are sewn to a gray triangle. The other four floral triangles are sewn to a gray strip. Then the sections are joined as shown to make the block.

Here are all of my focus blocks assembled and on my design wall. Now on to the paper piecing.

I printed an extra copy of the foundation and from that I cut the sections out roughly. I used the paper sections as a rough template and rotary cut all the fabric pieces I needed.

In order to make sure the points match up between sections, I line the pieces up with the sides to be sewn together. I see that I have three points to match for this seam.

I take a pin and insert it into the first section directly into the corner of the pattern.

Using the same pin, I stick the point into the fabric and through the paper of the second piece. I move the pin as needed until I am at the exact point in the corner of the pattern. I repeat this process for the remaining two intersections for the seam.

When I have all three intersections pinned, I take a fourth pin and insert it  at an angle into the two sections near one of the first three pins. Even with the fourth pin inserted, the three original pins should still be straight through the three sections. If they are no longer straight, the fourth pin needs to be adjusted. Insert two more pins at an angle to the remaining pins that are through the intersections.

As long as the pins were inserted at an angle without moving the pieces around, the two sections will still line up on the intersections and you are ready to sew your seam.

I removed the paper from my seam allowances after I stitched my seam. With the paper out of the way, I was able to get a nice crisp seam when I pressed my new section.

Once I assembled the quilt, I realized it demanded some custom quilting that I could not handle on my home frame and machine. I sent the quilt to Ruth Wasmuth (who by the way was on last year’s Scrap Squad) and she did a fantastic job on the blocks and the sashing. See more of Ruth’s work here: http://www.ruthiesquilting.com/

This is definitely a quilt that I am keeping for myself!

Jill’s idea to kaleidoscope her floral fabric into blocks is an absolute hit! Nice work!

This is the final Country Morning quilt from the Scrap Squad. Next week we’ll move on to quilts from the Nov/Dec issue of Quiltmaker.