Heartstrings New Quilt Pattern

I have a new pattern in the latest McCall's Quick Quilts magazine called Heartstrings.  It is very easy to make in just a few hours and is free with the purchase of the magazine.  McCall's does such a great job of taking my pattern instructions and making them so easy to follow.  McCall's Quick Quilts Heartstrings


How to calculate the number of strips to bind a quilt.

It is frustrating to sew your binding strips together only to find that you are short and need another strip.  Here is the formula that I use.  Measure the width and length of your quilt.  Since fabrics come in slightly different widths, measure the width of your fabric with the selvage removed i.e. 40".  I subtract 2" from the fabric width to account for the mitered corners.
Use the following formula.

((quilt width + quilt length) * 2 )/ (fabric width - 2) round to the nearest highest number.

Example
(50 + 60)  = 110 * 2 = 220 / (40 - 2)  = 5.79 round to 6
You will need 6 strips to bind this quilt.

Design It, Quilt It Tote Bag Sample #1

I just finished taking the Craftsy Design it Quilt class by Cindy Needham.  I loved this class and especially like that I can watch it on my ipad.  I learned so much about quilting.  I decided to practice on a tote bag.  I had 2 blocks already made to work on. 

On the first block, I used some old polyester serger thread that match the blue squares. The thread was awful to work with.  It kept breaking.  

I decided to try the straight line quilting in each of the squares.  I am not pleased with the result.  First, I think that the squares were too large (4” finished) for this technique.  Second, the quilting does not show in the blue squares.  I should have used a darker color or perhaps white.  If quilting doesn’t show, then for me I don’t know why I am doing it. 

I also did not have a backing fabric.  Since the tote bag will be lined, I don’t need a backing fabric.  Perhaps,  I do need a backing fabric so that the quilting shows better.  Next time I will try it with a backing fabric.

I added some pearls to the white squares to add a little interest.  I, for sure, need more practice doing the pearls since some of them are very baroque that is they are not circles.

Here is the first side of the bag with the quilting finished.

 

For the second block, I decided break the spaces into smaller blocks by sewing straight lines on the diagonal.  I liked this look much better.  I used a superior polyester thread which worked so much better than the serger thread.  I still didn't have a backing so the quilting still doesn't show as much as I would like.  I also think I should have used a darker thread or white thread in the blue squares.

 

 For the white squares, I did scribbling.  I am not sure that I like the way I moved from one side of the square to the other with a straight line.  I need to work on that technique.  My scribbling may need to be denser.

 

For the border, I did two curved lines with my walking foot.  Then I when back in an added the pearls.  I really like this effect. 

 

Here is my finished second block.



 

Here is the finished tote bags showing the side that I like.

 

 Note that my blog title is sample #1. So now I plan to quilt lots of tote bags to practise my quilting techniques.  Practise makes perfect or at least makes it look better.