Quilts by Julie Ramsey
Archive for May, 2009
Garden-window shutters
May 3rd
Back in December, I finished a “stack and whack” pinwheel quilt as a college-graduation gift for my mother. She’s been using it almost like a security blanket, and since she’s making her first trip overseas this coming week, she’s been frantic trying to find a way to fit the whole darn thing into a suitcase.
Luckily, I had about a yard of the original fabric left over, and I spent two days putting this piece together. I was very lucky that the yardage left over was parallel to the selvage, so I was able to get a good set of pattern repeats!
The blocks don’t look QUITE as busy in person, but there’s still definitely a lot going on. (I’ve been having a very hard time finding the “right” print for a stack-and-whack, and this pattern didn’t quite do it.) Overall, though, I think it’s darn good for about two days’ work, and the design turned out very different from the original quilt!
Catching up
May 2nd
Long time, no post! Here’s a summary of the quilts I’ve finished since I blogged last:
“Pineapple Punch,” done with part of a fat quarter pack (Moda’s “Nest” line) and following instructions from Quiltville.com.
A graduation quilt done for my little sister, using the other half of the aforementioned FQ pack. The pattern is called “Country Gal.”
“Don’t Stop Believin’,” the result of a charm pack and a set of panels. (Another Moda collection, I can’t recall the name off the top of my head.) Kind of obnoxious, but I think it’s pretty fun!
WoW quilt, part 1
May 2nd
So I’ve decided to try my hand at a World of Warcraft quilt, using all of the little icons for skills/items/etc. as the quilt blocks. Since I haven’t done appliqué before, I decided to start with something easy and only a few colors.
Block number 1: Mutilate! Original icon: 
My block (cut out, yet unsewn):
Not too shabby, if I say so myself! I think that in the end, I’ll try to do one icon per class and maybe a few random items (potions, food, etc.) in there, too. I imagine I’ll be working on it for a while, one piece at a time, but I think the end result will be very cool!
Quick stripe quilt
May 2nd
An LJ friend is learning to quilt and was interested in a pattern sort of like this:
So I’ve taken the basic idea and made it into a beginner-friendly pattern that will end up something like this (black lines indicate seams):
Colors are just for instructional purposes, feel free to change them!
SHOPPING AND CUTTING LIST:
MIDDLE
1/3 yard of blue
cut 4 strips 2.5″ wide
1/4 yard of green
cut 3 strips 2.5″ wide
1/4 yard purple
cut 1 strip 6.5″
1/4 yard orange
cut 1 strip 4.5″ wide
INNER BORDER
1/4 yard red
cut 2 strips 2.5″ wide
OUTER BORDER
3/4 yard white
cut 4 strips 6.5″ wide
BACKING
2 yards any color
Do not cut!
== MIDDLE ==
Cut each strip in half and then trim so that each are 20.5″ long.
To make the “half-green” strips, trim…
two green pieces to 12.5″
two blue pieces to 8.5″
Stitch end-to-end.
Stitch the rows in order (like in the trip around the world) as follows:
blue
green
purple
blue
half-green (blue on left side)
blue
orange
half-green (blue on right side)
blue
purple
blue
Press that piece flat so that all seams point in the same direction.
== INNER BORDER ==
From the red, cut two strips (44″ long) that are 2.5″ wide.
Stitch one piece to each of the long sides of the center– there will be a lot of extra, trim it off.
Now stitch the remaining pieces of red to the short sides of the piece, making a full border around the middle.
== OUTER BORDER ==
From the white, cut four strips (44″ long) that are 6.5″ wide.
You’ll be making outer border in the same way as the red one, but “backwards.”
Start by sewing a strip to each of the short sides from edge to edge. Trim off the extra.
Take the two “extra” pieces and attach one to the end of each remaining strip.
Now stitch each of these strips to the long sides of the piece.
Voila! You’re done!
