quilt as you go |quilt-along| part four

Alrighty everyone!  Here it is, the final installment of the QAYG quilt-along!

*edited to add a photo of the quilt on our bed as requested :)

I've made a modification to my original plans, so you might want to read this carefully.  The directions given in the book for one of the last steps of the quilt is to hand tie the center of the blocks and at the points where the blocks come together.  I decided against the tying and used a decorative stitch on my machine instead.  For those of you who I've told I was going to tie my quilt, well, that was before.  When we get there, whether you hand tie or use a variation of what I've done, it's going to be fabulous!

Here we go!

In part three, we ended with you making your backing. 

The next step is to make your quilt sandwich by spreading your backing out (right side towards the floor) and then placing your quilted top (right side towards the ceiling) on it and pinning them together. 

Once you have the quilt sandwich made, using a walking foot, stitch in the ditch (stitch in the seam line between each block) where you sewed your blocks together.

Once you've stitched around each block (hint- I did my stitch in the ditch in rows, then the columns) trim up your backing so the edges are even with the quilt top.

This is the part where I modified what I had originally intended doing.  At this point, you can either hand tie with wool yarn in the center of each block and at the points where the blocks come together, or you can do something similar to what I've done.  My machine has several decorative stitches, so I chose a decorative stitch and sewed it in the center of each block, and at the points where they come together.

Seriously, this pattern is uber cute either way.  I decided on this method instead of hand tying mainly because my cat loves this quilt and has been laying on it wherever it is while I work on it.  I was concerned he would absolutely destroy it if a bunch of yarn pieces were hanging off it (because you know, he would have thought they were exclusively for his enjoyment).

The last step after this is to bind your quilt.  Instead of giving specific instructions for binding, here is the tutorial I reference when I bind a quilt.  Two things I will say about it are:  I use straight binding (not bias) and cut my strips 2.75 inches wide.

I chose some cake/rock/beach honeycomb for my binding because I wanted it to really stand out. 

*edited to add a pic of the not so perfect or imaginative back of the quilt

Thank-you to everyone who has participated and to those who will participate in the QAYG quilt-along!  It has been great fun and I'm excited to do more experimenting  with this type of quilting in the future!

Have a great weekend everyone!

~Penny

Comments

[Jenny]

Do we get to see the quilt on your bed Penny? Im dying to see the whole thing. it looks great...I was thinking of some alternative to yarn ties...I like what you came up with. What fabric did you use for backing? Thanks so much for your work on this Penny, Im having loads of fun with these blocks!

[wishes, true and kind]

Absolutely fabulous!

[Lucy Locket-Pocket]

Can I ask a stupid question? When you quilt in the ditch does that mean actually stitching on the seam line between each block? Or does it mean either side of the seam line? I've never known! Lucy x

[molly]

i second the call for a pic of the whole thing! looks gorgeous.

[erica]

This is gorgeous! I am way behind on making my blocks but this gives me the push I need to get on it! great work Penny!

[P.]

That's amazing! Now I have to go back and read parts 1-3!

[Lauren]

How funny Penny! I just posted about how I recently found the Heather Bailey binding directions, I love it, it's so easy (plus I hate cutting on the bias). Maybe you are the one who recommended it to me, I can't remember. Great finish!

[MichelleB]

It looks great! Do you have a picture of the back? I'd love to see it.

[meg baier]

hi penny,
thank you so much for your visit and for the post!=))
i have your button finally on my blog!
also thank you for all th instructions! your quilt looks great! i only made my first one, but i promisse i'll make some more!i've been pretty busy with my baby jane, which is driving me insane!hehehe... have a nice weekend!!!
XOXOX

[Michelle]

I LOVE scrappy quilts and this one is absolutely gorgeous. I didn't get in on the start of the QAYG, but I'm going to keep my eye out for the next one.

[Leslie]

this is amazing!!! so beaautiful

[Audrie]

It looks so lovely on the bed!!! I too was thinking of stitching in the ditch when I eventually get round to making this! I don't fancy the typing at the corners thing for some reason.

[Karen]

Wow... almost makes me want to start a quilt... I wonder where I could get some fabric... mmm I just wonder... o' wait some lovely lady just gave me a bag o' cool fabric! If we get close to my mom's stash maybe I can swipe some from her too :) The quilt looks O' so BEAUTIFUL and you've done a very nice job!

[urban craft]

thank you for this. I am tackling some other projects and my first quilt is near. I need as much help as I can get. This is wonderful.

[holly]

I can't wait to try one of these! Your quilt is really lovely. What is the reasoning behind tying or doing a decorative stitch at each corner and block center? Could you just skip that step altogether?

[Rachel]

Wow, it looks GORGEOUS! What an amazing and motivating job. I'm bummed that it's over but I love the finished product. I'll be linking.

[Frogdancer]

I'm going to make one of these, but I was waiting to see all of the directions. Like you, I was dubious about tying the blocks (I have cats as well... also boys. They wouldn't be able to stop fiddling with them either!)
Lovely job!

[Jocelyn]

oh my goodness, it looks fabulous!

[ktquilts4fun]

Great finish, I love that scrappy happy quilt look!! Posted a finished Lucille bag with a link to your tute! Hope you don't mind me "tuting" your horn!! I love the bags by the way. Thanks so much.
Blessings,

KT

[carla]

What a great idea. The quilt came out amazing! Thanks for sharing :o)

[Carmen]

Beautiful quilt! I need something nice and big so that my husband can't steal the covers in the middle of the night. Thanks for the great instructions!

[Kim]

what a great quilt. I'm so glad you posted a picture of the back. Now if I ever try it, I won't be so hard on myself when my back looks all crazy :)

[Sally]

Oh, it's beautiful! Thanks for showing it on your bed! I look finishing one for my bed. Love that you can use all kinds of fabrics for the patchwork. Such fun! Thanks for sharing the back too! I get too stressed out sometimes with the back...everyone's usually looks so perfect! Maybe I'll even go with a plain muslin and save my pretty fabric for the front!:) Thank you for the tutorial!

[Stacey]

Oh, it is so lovely. I can't wait until mine is finished. Which is going to be a long time since I've only been able to complete 5 squares. I especially love your binding. I need to put some serious thought into the backing fabric and binding but it seems I have some time.
Thanks so much for organizing this quilt along. I'm loving this quilt as you go and know I'll be using it again in the future.

[Lisa]

Looks amazing! what a great scrap busting project.

[Heather]

Just beautiful! Nothing looks cozier than a scrappy quilt on your bed. Great job! :o)

[mari]

That is some good work,done. Lovely fabric and colors. I am stuck offshore on my platform, but will get going when I get home.

[marcia]

It looks wonderful! What a great quilt to snuggle under!

[Rene']

It looks great Penny!!! I haven't participated in the quilt along, but I've been following all the posts for future reference. You make it seem so simple. Thanks for sharing!

[nanette]

Oh Penny what a fabulous post. You are so amazing. I LOVE THIS QUILT! Love it. Love the quilting and the style. I think someday I need to make this quilt.

[jessica]

You blew me away with that quilt!! It's so lovely!!

[Stephanie]

Fantastic! You've done a wonderful job yet again. This gets me thinking... I'm in the middle of piecing a standard double size quilt. I have large pieces (2' x 3') right now and wondering if these are too large to do the QAYG method? Any advice you have would be so helpful! Thank you!

[Marit]

Your quilt is gorgeous!!! I am in the process of quilting mine, and will post pictures of the finished quilt, soon. Loved to come quilting along with you... it has been good fun!
; )

[San]

Penny, this might be time prohibitive, but could I get this tut in a pdf format? I can cut and past into a word doc, but i would love to have it in it's entirety...would this be a difficult request? Let me know, love the quilt, it is so beautiful and perfect for someone with minimal space to quilt an assembled quilt. Thanks for doing this!!XXXXXOOOOOO

[jacoline]

I'm in LOVE with your quilt !!!
It is fantastic.

[amy smart]

A. Maze. Ing. I am in love. What a gorgeous quilt!

[Penny@sewtakeahike]

Hi Sandy,

Hmm, it would definitely take some time to do. :)  would you mind terribly just cutting and pasting into word?  Im just not sure that I would have the time to do a pdf anytime soon!

Penny

[Mary]

This is fantastic! I find it strange that I have NO quilts that I have made for my house. Weird. I'm always making them for someone else! Time to change that, I want this for my bed!

[Lynne]

I guess you're going to get a rush of new commenters like me who are new to this technique and have come over from Rita! This is so fabulous. I don't have the money for a long arm quilt service or a machine that can cope with a big suilt so this would really work for me. Thank you

[Briana]

Wow. Your quilt is just gorgeous, and I love your technique. I am printing out your posts right now to keep in my "binder of awesome blog tutorials." I joined your flickr group, too! Looking forward to trying my hand at one of these quilts soon!

[Rachel]

Excellent series of tutorials and great job. And, woohooo on posting that picture of it's back ;0)

I have a queen quilt in the vague planning stage, so this is good food for thought.

[badlands quilts]

This is a great quilt but I'd always been told at classes to not stitch in the ditch if the seams were pressed open, your quilting is just adding wear to your original seam? (hexes/grandmothers flower garden was the example in class)

[mariarrosa]

What a wonderful tutorial!!! I've just tried your technique and I love it. Thank you very much.

[Khris]

This is great..I have put a link to you on my freebies blog if that's okay...thanks for sharing your tutorial...hugs Khris

[Monica]

This is EXACTLY the kind of quilt I want to do! I just got that book and was thinking about starting my first quilt. I really like your alternative to tying with yarn. And I love your choice of fabrics too. I'm gonna start this soon!

[John]

How did I COMPLETELY and UTTERLY miss this quilt-along? I really want to make one of these now. OK, putting it on the list ... :)

[Tee]

Thanks for posting this! I still don't understand how to sew in the ditch using a regular sewing machine once you have all the blocks sewn together and the backing in place. I think it would be too large to fit under the machine. Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Kimberly]

I looked for an answer in the comment section of each part as to whether we should prewash the fabric or not. I am ready to start, but worry I should be prewashing everything first. If someone could let me know, I would greatly appreciate it.

[Penny]

Kimberly,
I used a combo of prewashed and unwashed and my quilt turned out just wonderful! You could do it either way though, completely prewashed, or completely unwashed, it's up to you!

[Angie Stevens]

Lovely quilt. I'm planning one just like it! Do you like the back, or does it feel odd having a quilted top and a not-so-quilted back?

Also, is there a reason you choose to cut your binding straight instead of on the bias?