Ideas for Surprise!

In my last post about the Handi Quilter quilt-along I shared our fabric choices and a few tips for cutting and piecing. The month of September for the Surprise! quilt-along is for assembling the quilt top and backing.

Pam, Ginny, and I all managed to get our blocks finished in time. We need you to post some encouragement for Connie and Patt in the comments. I’m sure that will inspire them to get sewing! 🙂

Ideas

When we were together sewing we talked about ideas for the layout. We all agreed that the larger white spaces at the top and bottom of the quilt were a little … unbalanced-looking.

Pro-Tip : Use a design wall (or floor or bed) where you can see all your blocks laid out in the order you want to sew. It can draw your attention to the balance of color and scale as the eye travels around the quilt.

When Pam’s blocks were going up on the design wall we noticed those large empty-looking spaces at the top and bottom.

Pam came up with the great idea of filling those spaces with a 1/2 gift-box. She made a prototype and placed it up with her other blocks. It looked great. She tweaked the idea (with a little help from friends) and here’s what you need to do if you want to use this great idea:

• Make 5 extra half blocks including the full horizontal ribbon.
  • Pro-tip: wait till all your other blocks are finished and you have arranged them on your design wall so that you can decide which color will work in the placement.

• trim 1/2 inch from the bottom of the half blocks (side opposite the horizontal ribbon)
• add 1/4 inch to the sashing strip adjacent to the half blocks Cut them 2.5 inches x 9.5 inches.

These adjustments will let more of the bow show once the binding is added to the quilt, for a more pleasing look.

Finishes

Pam’s quilt top looks great all sewn together.

I followed Pam’s lead with the 1/2 blocks and I used Connie’s idea for replacing the white with the “wrapping paper” fabric.

 Another great idea

Ginny chose to add a border to her quilt to make it a little larger. Instead of 5 extra half blocks she made 5 extra FULL blocks. Then she sized her border so it looks like the gift boxes float into the border. I love how it turned out!

We want to hear about your wonderful ideas too. Please add in the comments.

Quilt Every Day!

by Mary Beth Krapil