Wednesday, February 3, 2010

TicTacToe Winnings - Quilt Plan

I've never done anything this big, so I thought I'd plan it out on paper.  I want to make a quilt for my bed to protect my embroidered duvets from excited cat claws at breakfast time....  I'm just going to have the blocks on top and a backing with no batting filling so it'll be good for all seasons.

My bed is 60" wide and 78" long, so I reckon a drop on the sides of 12" each and 6" at the end (as it's got a footboard) and 20" at the head so it can be tucked under and go over the large square pillows I have - gives me around 84" wide and 104" long.

I think I've won 48 blocks, so I need to make another 15 if I have 7 blocks across and 9 down because their finished sizes are 8", with 2" sashing in between and surrounding them and a 4" border (I think it's pianokeys but could be wrong), then maybe another 2" sashing then a 1" binding.  I'm not sure I'm using the right words.

The plan only covers 2/3 of the length with full width (I couldn't find the sellotape to extend it):

Does that seem about right or have I forgotten something crucial?

PS I'm assuming it's ok to post this? If not I'll take it down.

11 comments:

  1. I like it! I think that will look fabulous on your bed. And yes, I believe you are using all the right words. I would definitely put the extra 2" WOW (white-on-white) border outside the piano key border. It looks great!! You might even want to consider a scrappy binding rather than solid.

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  2. I deleted my above post as I misunderstood. The binding is the bit at the very ends that covers the raw edges isn't it.

    I was wondering if I could make the backing a bit bigger than the front and wrap it over to the front to make the binding. Which would make it solid. But I don't know if that's possible, or sensible.

    How would a scrappy one work? Assuming it needed to be on the bias (then my wraparound solid wouldn't work anyway) it would be a nightmare to cut across otherwise whole pieces just for that (and wouldn't be truly scrappy)? I know how to take a full piece and sew it into a tube then cut a sort of spiral to make it bias binding, but I can't get my head round how that would work scrappy without lots of extra seams? like an huge piece of crumb piecing then used with the tube method?

    I also don't know how to do the sashing... So much to learn!

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  3. First, yes it is OK to post a message like yours here.

    One easy way to attach the sashing between the blocks is to sash each block individually by sewing your sashing to two sides, for example the right and bottom of each block. Then you'll have larger blocks that you attach to one another. When you finish, you'll need to add a border to two sides of the top, in my example it would be the top and left. If you attach the sashing this way, it also gives you the opportunity to make it a little wider than you want and then square up the blocks (with sashing sewn on) all to the same size. This is a sometimes useful thing to do when you are dealing with blocks made by different people and sometimes slightly different sizes. of course with our Tic-tac-toe blocks, you can easily trim them all to the same size before you begin.

    Binding does not have to be cut on the bias. Bonnie has some good how-to information on her quiltville site on binding here. And yes, sometimes people DO fold the backing front to the front to finish the edges of their quilt. It isn't as sturdy as a double-fold binding, but it done.

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  4. cool and colorful plan! I like it.I may have to borrow some elements of "your"plan for my tic-tack-toe winnings - if you wouldn't mind!

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  5. What a great use of the blocks, it's going to be a stunner!

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  6. I love this... way cute use of the blocks.

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  7. Not at all, feel free to borrow Rho, I suspect it's stuff I've absorbed through looking at blogs anyway and not really mine.

    Thanks for the advice on sashing and bindings - I went to the library today and took all 3 books out that they have on patchwork & quilting, so I shall do some small scale practising before I start messing around with the real thing.

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  8. I love your quilt plan for your winings. I think the easiest way to sash the blocks is the way Sophie suggested, adding sashing to the right side of the block then the bottom. I've done that several times and it worked out great.
    Terri

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  9. Great design. If you are new to borders, it may be easier to select a nice rainbow stripe fabric and use crosswise strips to create your "piano keyboard" border. I did it the hard way on my daughter's band t-shirt quilt (with strip quilting) and there is some need for care in getting the strips uniform and perpendicular so you don't end up with a wavy border. Since this is "liberated" quilting, a little "cheating" with the striped fabric might be in order. I have a photo of the tshirt quilt on my blog.

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  10. Here's another thought to tuck away. Since the look of these blocks is a little wonky, your sashing could be a little liberated, too and you wouldn't have to stress over getting it perfect. Look at the "pillow with improv sashing" that I just saw at the bottom of the linked blog post.

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  11. I noticed that this link, that someone shared in response to your question on the forum has some good illustrations on adding sashing (and cornerstones) to the blocks one-by-one.

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