Cluck Cluck Sew

Hi friends!  A lot has changed since my last blog post 11 days ago…sheesh. 

We’ve been hunkered down trying to stay healthy and finding a new “normal” for our family.  The kids are home now that schools are closed, my husband is working from home, but we have everything we need (and enough chocolate to get me through it).  We have so much to be grateful for…but it’s also a huge adjustment that will take some time.  

By Thursday I needed some “Mom quiet time”…so I spent a few hours finishing up this Zookeeper quilt  (with noise cancelling headphones on of course!).  

This quilt was made with the Zookeeper Prism ABC panel by Hoffman Fabrics.  I purchased mine from here, but you can also Google it and easily find one. 

I gave directions for how I cut the panel and made the blocks in this blog post when I made the top.   The letters/animals aren’t all the same size, so you need to carefully cut them, add borders, then trim all of the blocks down to the same size…the info is in the blog post.  

The panel would also be adorable left intact…just add a fun border or two, quilt it and done!  Super cute baby quilt.  

I had some questions last time about the color fastness of the panel, since it is digitally printed.  I haven’t washed my panel, but from what I can tell from others experiences and my own using digitally printed fabric, it should wash well…and the color fade should be comparable to other cotton fabrics from a mill.  I plan on gifting this to my kids’ school to be hung, so it probably won’t be washed a whole lot, but I wouldn’t be worried if it were.  If you’ve washed your panel, please let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

I quilted this top with free motioned loopty loops  all over the quilt.  It’s not perfect, but if you need a really great stress reliever during this time, I recommend learning how to free motion!  

Also, a public service announcement:  I saw that Paula Jean is retiring and will no longer be making or selling the Kwik Klip.  Guys…if you pin baste your quilts you NEED a Kwik Klip.  It saves your fingers and nails by  helping to close or open the pins quick and easy.   I bought an extra so I’ll never be without it.   I bought mine on amazon, but you can probably get one from your favorite quilt shop, or here.  It’s been my favorite notion for years.  

I put a green plaid on the back from my Hazel line of fabric (an old line), and I bound it with a gray Moda grunge basic.  

My machine binding tutorial can be found here, I haven’t posted that one in awhile and if you are new here it’s how I bind all of my quilts. 

I hope you all stay healthy and safe, and maybe even find some comfort in sewing and quilting during all the upheaval.   

Hugs to you all!!  -Allison

The second birthday cake of the week is in the oven so I have 17 minutes left to write this quick post! 

March is crazy busy around here with 3 kids having birthdays, but it also means there is leftover frosting in the fridge that I hide and dip pretzels into when no one is looking. 

Mom win!

When I started writing the Jelly Weave pattern I realized the pattern would truly shine through in a two color quilt. 

The quilt on the cover is made with a jelly roll of Backyard Blooms (in stores in July!) with all the colors, but I wanted to show how great this quilt is if you only use two colors as well.     

If you want to make a two color version, you just divide the number of strips you need into 2 colors.  For example I made the Crib size, which requires 24 pre-cut 2 1/2″ strips…so I used 12 black strips and 12 gray strips.   The gray fabrics were almost all from this jelly roll,  the black fabrics were leftover from my Chicken quilts. 

When you construct the block, use the opposite color for the center strips and outside strips in each block. 

When you lay out the blocks it makes the woven look of the pattern more pronounced with just the two colors.  

I quilted it with simple straight lines, and of course I had to add in a pop of color with the backing and binding.   Both are from my older fabric lines, Hello Jane and Hazel. 

It’s a crib size at 41″ x 57″, and went together fast!  Trimming the edges straight is the scariest part because of the diagonal/on-point blocks…the rest is easy.   

A couple of tips I use for trimming the edges of an on-point point quilt top straight…lay the cutting mat and quilt on the floor flat so there is no pulling or stretching, and start trimming the edges in the middle of a side (not in a corner).  It’s easier to trim when you have a top and bottom row seam as a guide.  I trim the sides, and then I go back with a square ruler and make sure my corners are all square (ish). 

 I should have thought to take photos of me trimming this quilt, but as usual…it was late at night and my brain had clocked out for the evening! 

I hear an oven timer beeping at me so it’s time to go decorate a cake and celebrate a cute 10 year old tonight!  

Jelly Weave can be found here as a PDF, or here as a paper pattern.