Well, I have finally finished my Blockheads quilt. It took a little longer than I expected, because Quilt Market in Houston and all the associated preparation took up my time. But now it is done, and I am pretty happy with it.
So here is the finished quilt front.
I made all of the blocks in both the 9" and 4 ½" size. You can see the front is made up entirely of 36 - 9" blocks. Where did I place the smaller blocks, I hear you ask?
They are on the back of the quilt! This also includes a 9" block that didn't fit on the front and there was one 9" block that didn't make the quilt. This was because the foundation printed out too small and the block was the wrong size. I will save it for a pillow - I might make another from the free pillow pattern I had back in week 2, when my blockheads block was released.
I didn't make the Bonus blocks in the small size, so this is all the blocks I had.
I was showing the quilt to a class today, and they couldn't decide which side they preferred, so this is truly 2 quilts in 1!
To make the front the same as me you will need:
30" (75cm) of black cross weave
30" (75cm) of white tone on tone
60" (1.5m) of 60" wide toweling
22" (50cm) of binding
For the front, I bordered all the blocks in 1 ½" wide stripes.
18 were bordered in black cross weave and 18 in white tone on tone print.
From White Cut: 18 - 1 ½" wide strips x WOF. One strip per block.
From Black cut: 18 - 1 ½" wide strips x WOF.
Cut each strip into 9 ½" lengths (x2) and 11 ½" lengths (x2).
Sew the 9 ½" lengths to opposite sides of each block. Press seams out. Sew the 11 ½" lengths to the remaining two sides of the block.
Arrange the blocks in 6 rows of 6 , alternating the coloured borders.
Sew the blocks together in rows, then sew the rows together to make the quilt top.
The borders were made from 60" wide toweling from my Lakeside range.
Cut 8 strips 6 ½" wide x WOF.
Join the strips in pairs so the stripe pattern is continuous. To do this, lay two pieces on top of one another so the stripes match. Sew down the centre of one stripe pattern. When you open the seam you won't see the join. Trim the seam to ½" wide and press open.
Mark the centre of each side of the quilt and mark the centre of each border strip, so they are all marked in the same place in the same section of the stripe. This way the stripes will match at the mitred corners.
Pin the centres of the borders to the centres of the sides and stitch to the quilt starting and stopping ¼" from each corner with a backstitch.
Mitre the corners, following my instructions for mitring corners here.
To make the backing the same as me you will need:
90" of 60" wide toweling (cream)
90" of 18" wide toweling (silver/black/white)
To create the back of the quilt I joined the 4 ½" squares together in pairs. Then joined the pairs together to make :- 2 rows of 10 and
2 rows of 5.
Join the remaining 9" square between them to make one long 9" strip.
Add a 9" x 6" wide piece of fabric to each end of the row, to make it long enough for quilting. If you have more small blocks you may not need to do this. It needs to be 88" long, at least.
Cut a length of 18" wide toweling 90" long. Cut the toweling in half all the way along the length. Cut the hems of the toweling.
Join both lengths of toweling to each long side of the pieced squares to create the grey/black and white striped border.
Cut a 90" length of cream 60" wide toweling. Cut it into 2 pieces - one is 90" x 20" and the other is 90" x 40".
Sew these pieces to both long sides of the pieced section. The backing will be approximately 90" wide x 85" long.
The finished quilt top is 78" square so your backing is now big enough for quilting.
I quilted this on my long arm myself using an off-white thread. I am very happy with the result. I think the pattern was called Modern Basket Weave - but if you really want to know I will double check that.
Cut 8 - 2 ½" strips of binding to complete the quilt.
Because the quilt contains a lot of toweling it is heavier than usual but it drapes beautifully and the weight adds extra warmth.
I am really enjoying seeing the different ways people are putting their blockheads quilts together and I hope this gives you some inspiration if you haven't already finished.
I also hope you have learnt a little about toweling, stripes and directional fabric along the way and I look forward to seeing more completed quilts and some people sewing with toweling.
For more on toweling and other Quilty adventures make sure you follow me on Instagram @piecestotreasure and my Facebook Page: Pieces to Treasure.
Happy sewing
Jenelle
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