Vintage Vacation

 

"Vintage Vacation"
at The Festival of Quilts
Heritage Park, Calgary, Canada
2016

Beautiful Vintage Fabrics
given to me by a special friend! 

 

Fabric Requirements:

For each Vintage Vacation block you will need 1 - 4 1/2" square and 2 - 2 1/2" WOF (width of fabric) strips in a variety of colors.  

This quilt will be made with 25 - 4 1/2" squares and 50 - 2 1/2" strips.  

Jelly Rolls and Charm Packs (trimmed to 4 1/2" square) would work perfectly for this project.  

The Palette - following a warm color scheme.

Warm & Cool Color Demo for Quilters

25 Squares cut to 4 1/2"

7 - 11" Squares

6 are cut once on the diagonal. 

1 is cut twice on the diagonal. 

50 - 2 1/2" Strips in a variety of beautiful vintage fabrics.  

Backing Fabric

                                                                                                   

 Step 1:

Right sides together, using a 1/4" seam allowance, 

sew the 4 1/2" Squares along the full length of the 2 1/2" Strips, randomly placing the colors. 

 A nice variety at this step will ensure a lot of variety in the completed blocks. 

This is called "Strip Piecing". 
Complete this process, using all  25 squares. 

The view from the back of the machine, 

randomly selecting square colors and strip colors. 

 Press the squares away from the strips.

Start a couple extra blocks,
for the block that starts inside-out, like this white print :)

Cut the blocks apart keeping the edges square.  

The Step 1 Blocks. 

Step 2:  

Keeping the 4 1/2" Square at the top, 

Strip Piece the completed pieces from Step 1 to new 2 1/2" strips. 

 Press away from the 2 1/2" strips.

Cut apart, keeping the edges square.   

Here are the completed Step 2 blocks. 

 Step 3:

Placing your blocks from Step 2 as illustrated, 

sew them to new 2 1/2" Strips. 

 Completed Blocks from Step 3.

 

 Step 4:

Placing Blocks from Step 3 as illustrated , 

sew them to new 2 1/2" strips.

Step 4 Blocks.

Step 5:

 Sewing Illustration.

Step 5 Blocks.

Step 6:

 Sewing Illustration.

Step 6 Blocks.

 Trim your completed blocks to 10" square.

Using your cut triangles, lay out your quilt as desired. 

You will notice that the setting triangles are generous in size. 
This allows ample seam room when you put your borders on
to achieve nice points on the corners of your blocks. 

Sew the quilt blocks together in strips.  

Then sew the strips together to complete your quilt.  Trim the edges. 

"Vintage Vacation" measures approx. 56" square. 

 This reminds me of the mountains and meadows 

of the Alberta Rockies on a sunny day!

 Add the borders that you desire to complete your quilt top.  

Here is a tutorial on the method that will keep your quilt top nice and square.  

Quilt Border Tutorial

Keep your remaining 2 1/2" strips

to sew together for a multi-colored binding.  

Here is the complete Vintage Vacation. 

 

Sew Happy :)

Plaid Quilt Block Tutorial  

Here is another 2 1/2" Strip Pattern for you!
Wildflower Block 

Improvise Heart Block Tutorial 

Organizing With Warm & Cool Colors

 

This is a system purchased from IKEA

that makes an excellent storage solution for fabric and yarn.  

The shelving system is very easy to assemble (I did it myself)

and the bins to insert come in many colors.  

It is very handy to be able to pull the bins out completely 

to take to your cutting table. 

Organizing by Warm & Cool Colors is a convenient way 

to have like color tones of fabric available for your projects.  

Please see my WARM & COOL COLOR DEMO FOR QUILTERS  

for an explanation of this Color Theory. 

In each bin is:

The Cool Colors:

Blues

Greens

Purples

The Warm Colors:

Reds

Oranges

Yellows

(As I don't have a lot of Yellows & Oranges in my stash, I have combined them in one bin.)  

The Neutrals (in one bin):

Black & Whites

Browns & Creams

And I can't forget about a couple of bins for yarn :) 

This bin that sits on top of the shelving unit has completed tops 

that are ready for custom quilting.  

There is my 3 & 8 Quilt Top  ready to go.  

In these fun green bins are

Fat Quarters and Japanese Prints. 

Happy Quilting!

..Melanie

Here is a nice new tutorial in the Warm Color Scheme

Vintage Vacation

Color Palette for "Vintage Vacation"

Here are my "new" fabrics for my next quilt called "Vintage Vacation".  My good friend generously shared some wonderful vintage fabrics that were given to her by her mom.   I'm so excited to work with these.  I will be posting the new pattern in a couple of days.  

These fabrics share a predominantly warm color scheme.  Please see my
"Warm and Cool Color Theory" Page for more information on the Warm Color Scheme.