Twist and Turn quilt

Only 25 days until my birthday and the end of this Double Nickel Quilt Challenge and what a challenge it has been!  Even though I have used fabric from my stash for every quilt, I still have more fabric that needs to be used.  But now, I have lots of ideas about how to use it.  By December 9, 2011, my 55th birthday, I will have shown readers of this blog 55 ways to use 5" fabric squares in their quilting.

Here is idea #48 made entirely from half square triangle blocks, my Twist and Turn quilt-

  

Twist and Turn is a two color quilt made from scraps of red fabric with the cream fabric in the center of the quilt being the same for all the blocks.  A different cream fabric is used in the blocks of the outer border. I could have used scraps of cream fabric but I didn't have any left! Yay!  They have all been used in other projects shown on this blog.  So maybe I am making at least a small dent in my fabric stash.

Two variations of the same block are used-

The fabric placement is what makes them look so different.  In the first one, the background is white and the swirly design is red.  In the second block, the background is red and the swirly design is white.  Doesn't even look like the same block, at first glance anyway. I really like the way the two blocks work together in this quilt and create several secondary patterns. The outside border of half square triangles set askew adds to the "twisting and turning".

This quilt has not been quilted yet.  It's getting too close to the holidays to have many more quilts quilted.

Twister templates

I have been wanting to use the Lil' Twister tool for quite some time because it is made especially for nickel (5") squares of fabric.  I decided to follow the pattern that came with the tool and make a doll quilt for my granddaughters.  I chose some nickel squares in shades of pink that I did not care much about just in case I messed it up.  It was actually quite easy!  These photos show the steps-

Sew nickel squares together and add border. Position the Lil' Twister on fabric as instructed and cut out new squares.  Second photo shows fabric after new squares have been cut.

                          Sew new squares back together and get pinwheels, border and all!

And if you want to be really thrifty,  you can make a miniature with the left over fabric. 

Just cut 2 1/2" squares from the uncut areas like shown in this photo-

Then follow the same process of sewing the squares together and adding a border.  To cut your new squares, there is an Itty Bitty Twister tool creates 1 1/2" pinwheels as shown in the miniature above.



                            Here's what the tools look like- 





 




The original Twister tool is made for a 10" square of fabric.  Check out Linda's Twister quilt here.  I love it!

To and Fro quilt

This is my first time joining the Bloggers’ Quilt Festival hosted by Amy’s Creative Side.

To and Fro is another quilt made using fabric entirely from my stash.  Each block starts with a nickel (5") square of fabric.  The square gets cut on the diagonal and a strip of fabric is inserted.  It's really a quick, fun way to use a lot of fabric scraps up.  Here's what a block looks like-

Just alternate the blocks in rows to get the zigzag effect and add some strips between the rows.

No pieced back for this one. It is a kid size quilt, just a width of fabric wide. I think this bright swirly fabric of orange, red, yellow and green is the perfect choice for the backing and binding.

Linda used a Spiral Path pantograph and variegated thread to machine quilt this quilt. Check out her post to see a better photo of the quilting.

Flower Hexies

Recently my friend Linda and I participated in a 2 day Bus Hop.  We traveled to 8 quilt shops that had been featured in Better Homes and Gardens Quilt Sampler magazine.  All of the shops were in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin.  We boarded the bus at The Woolen Needle in Williamsburg, Iowa which is about 30 miles west of home.  They were featured in the Fall 2010 magazine.

We knew we would be on the bus for 2 hours at a time, several times and decided that this would be a great time to do some English paper piecing.  I took along my 2" hexagons to work on and Linda worked on some 1" hexagons.  We accomplished alot though it is not easy to thread a needle while the bus is moving!

A nickel (5") square works well for a 2" hexagon.  Each side of the hexagon is 2" long.  The picture below shows how the paper piece fits on a nickel square.  The second picture is of one of my hexagon flowers.  The flowers measure around 10 " across.  I hope to make a lap size quilt from them.

My Picnic Quilt

My Picnic Quilt is a nickel nine patch quilt, a quilt made up of nine patch blocks that are made from nickel (5") squares of fabric.  A nickel nine patch block finishes at 13 1/2" which means you don't need to make many of these blocks to make a large quilt very quickly. The Picnic Quilt has only 20 blocks in the center.  The two borders add another 13 1/2" to it's size making it big enough to have a picnic on, thus the name.  I used a three color block but any nine patch block color scheme would work. I used bright scraps from my stash to try to make a cheery quilt though I could see this pattern made from plaids or florals too.   

The back is pieced from more bright fabric from my stash.  Woohoo, another quilt entirely from my stash! I believe quilts should be used and I can't wait to throw it on the ground and have a picnic!

            
Linda used bright green thread and a Nouveau Feather Meander quilting design to finish this quilt for me.