Design Wall Tuesday – Easy Pieced Quilt Backing
Welcome to Design Wall Tuesday!
Hello, welcome back to Design Wall Tuesday. We’re so glad you stopped by to see what the editors of McCall’s Quilting and Quiltmaker worked on over the weekend. We’re also sharing tips, techniques and any challenges from our weekend sewing as well. We hope you find some inspiration and advice!
From Content Director, Carolyn Beam:
I didn’t get as much sewing done this weekend as I had hoped, but I did end up doing a little organizing in my sewing room. Working in a cleaner space seems to give me more creative inspiration!
I had charm rectangles left over from my Halloween Stacked Bricks quilt top, so I sewed a bunch together and used them in the quilt backing that I made. A pieced backing is a great way to use up leftover scraps from a quilt top. For the panels on the sides of my sewn rectangles, I sewed fat quarters together and trimmed the bottoms off the panels to make them the right length. If you missed the Charmed, I’m Sure blog post and Halloween Stacked Bricks free pattern at Quiltmaker.com, you can find it here.
From Associate Editor, Erin Russek:
I’m planning a new applique project and I wanted to come up with some more flowers. Here is my take on a wild rose. I’m using Cherrywood fabric and they work perfectly with starch and press applique!
From Acquisitions Editor, Lori Baker:
I spent a good amount of time this weekend making this fun wall hanging from the pattern, We’re on a Bigger Roll by Java House Quilts. It’s part of a bathroom redo at my house. You can read the whole story on my blog here (note! Lori’s post will be published on Thursday, 9/21). The cute pig was inspired by one in Toilet Roll Covers by Pat Ashforth & Steve Plummer (Guild of Master Craftsman Publications LTD, 2007.)
I do have a tip to share. When I finished the wall hanging, I decided the contrast between the background and the toilet paper fabric in this block wasn’t enough. The appliqued toilet paper roll didn’t stand out. I’d echo quilted with 12-weight cream-colored cotton thread. I went back and with the same thread stitched a decorative stitch that consists of two rows of X’s in between each row of the echo quilting. That extra quilting muted the colors of the background fabric and now the toilet paper roll just pops. It was a good save.
From Associate Editor, Mary Kate Karr-Petras:
Now that I’ve gotten some big quilt top piecing projects finished, I’m “fixin’ to get ready” to do a lot of free-motion quilting for the next few weeks. My goal since the beginning of the year has been to quilt an Ohio Star throw quilt I pieced last fall, and I spent a good amount of time in the spring troubleshooting the settings on my machine (read my free-motion quilting troubleshooting tips here). I’m pleased to say that I’m not having any more problems with the machine, which means now my only obstacle is myself.
I’m bored of practicing on test sandwiches but I’m still not quite ready to tackle the quilting of a 60″ x 60″ throw that I want to give as a gift, so I’m taking a piece of my own advice and prepping a “not-precious” project for FMQ first. This is a 29″ x 29″ color option I made for the Wild Ducklings pattern by Nancy Mahoney that’s in the McCall’s Quilting Sept/Oct 2017 issue. It will give me the opportunity to practice on something with seams, but since it’s just for me the stakes aren’t quite as high. Wish me luck!
From Associate Editor, Anissa Arnold:
I spent time this weekend hand appliquéing for a 2016 BOM by Sarah Fielke. I’m a little bit behind schedule!
Thanks for stopping by. Please visit us next week to see what we’re working on. We’ll also share tips, techniques and other helpful information.
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