Several weeks ago when Leslie of A Friend to Knit With posted yet another photo of her amazing quilt I knew that I had to come up with a way to recreate it. And I was so excited when Leslie was generous enough to give me permission to write up and share a pattern of my version of her gorgeous quilt with you. I modified the pattern so that the quilt could be strip pieced - thus eliminating the need to cut up hundreds of tiny squares - which is probably how Leslie's was constructed because it is hand pieced.
The first thing I did was sketch out this pattern. This pattern shows only one half of the quilt because I enjoy sewing much more than I enjoy pattern making - and I am a bit impatient.
I knew I wanted this quilt to emphasize color value. Value is the relative lightness or darkness of a color. We change the value of a color by adding white or black to the color. Playing with value makes for an interesting quilt because it helps define forms and create spatial illusions. If values contrast, shapes will appear to stand out from the others.
To keep things simple, I chose to use four low value colors (deep, rich colors, containing lots of black) and then add various higher value (lighter colors with lots of white) fabrics. This also makes the quilt easier to construct because you only need to keep track of 4 fabrics - all the others are randomly selected.
This is the 15 inch block. Twenty of these blocks laid out in a 4 x 5 grid will make a 60 x 75 inch quilt.
So, without further ado, my pattern for Leslie's Quilt, modified:
To piece this this 60 x 75 inch quilt you will need:
1 yard each of the yellow, pink, red and green fabrics.
3 yards of assorted fabrics containing higher values (more white) of these four colors (I used a mixture of 12 different fabrics)
A 1/4inch foot on your machine (it doesn't really matter what your seam allowance is as long as it's uniform throughout)
this ruler (so make uniform 2" strips - quickly)
Four darker and richer (low value) colors. One yard each. You can any 4 colors you wish as long as you keep the values constant. Just remember that the darkness or lightness of a color is every bit as important as the color itself.
Twelve lighter (high value) colors. Four 2" x 42" strips each (cut selvage to selvage)
the ruler that cut perfect strips - quickly.
Step 1: Cut all fabric selvage to selvage, into 2" strips. All strips will be 2" x 42"
You will need 16 green strips (2" x 42")
10 yellow strips, (2" x 42")
18 pink strips, (2" x 42")
14 red strips (2" x 42")
42 strips of the lighter value fabrics (4 strips from each of the 12 fabrics).
Step 2: Sew the 2" x 42" strips together into the 5 strip units shown below.
Each strip unit contains 10 strips.
You will need to make 2 of each of the 5 units for a total of 10 units.
Each unit will measure 15 1/2 inches wide x 42 inches long.
Unit #1: Yellow, Pink, Green, Red, 6 lighter value strips (selected randomly)
Make 2 of this unit.
Unit #2: Pink, Yellow, Pink, Green, Red, 5 lighter value strips (selected randomly)
Make 2 of this unit.
Unit #3: Green, Pink, Yellow, Pink, Green, Red, 4 lighter value strips (selected randomly)
Make 2 of this unit.
Unit #4: Red, Green, Pink, Yellow, Pink, Green, Red, 3 lighter value strips.
Make 2 of this unit.
Unit #5: 1 lighter value strip, Red, Green, Pink, Yellow, Pink, Green, Red, 2 lighter value strips.
Make 2 of this unit.
Using above ruler, cut each of the 10 units into 20 (2 inch wide) strips.
You will have 5 stacks - each containing 40 strips.
This was all I had left. I do not even cut off the selvage strips before sewing.
Step 3: Join these new strips into 20 blocks. Each block uses 10 strips - 2 from each of the 5 units.
These strips are very easy to sew together because the small squares and all those seams give these strip units a lot of give. Just sew slowly and tug the strip a bit to match the seams.
Tips for Sewing Together the 2" x 42" Strips:
1. To keep all those 42" strips nice and even always sew strips in sets of 2, then sets of 4, then two sets of 4 into a set of 8. Finally add the last set of 2. In other words, you do not want to ever sew one strip into a unit that already has 6 or more strips because the strip starts to stretch making it hard to keep the seams straight and even.
2. Press after sewing each seam. I highly recommend using the assembly line method. First make 10 sets of 2 strips units. Then take all 10 to the ironing board and press. Next sew the ten 2 strip units together into five 4 strip units. Take those to the press. Etc.
Stay tuned for part 2 of the tutorial when we set the 20 blocks into 5 rows of 4 blocks each to reveal the quilt pattern. Of course, first I need to piece the other 17 blocks! (but they only take about 20 minutes each) People, putting this quilt and pattern together has been SO MUCH FUN! And thinking of other ways to play with color value, hues, tones has had me up when I should be sleeping - in fact, I already have the fabrics cut for my next value quilt.
I will leave you with this amusing little story. I spent several hours each day this week volunteering at my kiddos school, helping with all the 1st and 2nd grade testing as well as some lunch duty. My husband, who works nearly every weekend, was home several days this week. On Thursday, when I returned home after 1:00pm and told him that from now on I will only be reading with 1st graders two mornings a week he mentioned that he thought I really enjoyed being at the school and asked me if I wanted to become a school teacher now that all three kiddos are in school. Well, these four weeks have been the only four weeks in my entire life when I have not had a job, been a student, or a mom - or some combination of the three. And after only about a dozen hours to myself I am not at all ready to get a full time teaching job. I appreciate my husband's concern (and I know he meant well because he's a sweetie) but there are many more quilting, sewing and knitting projects calling my name! Plus, who will have the strawberry banana smoothies waiting for the kiddos when they get home?
exactly! and those smoothies are filled with nutrients and lots of mama's love! I am amazed at your talent and ability to break this major quilt down into doable steps. WoW! I am also quite taken with that ruler. That could make life quite simple. Thanks so much for doing all this Larissa...this could become chapter 4 {Leslie's quilt, modified}.
Posted by: Lisa Q | October 04, 2009 at 09:57 PM
this project looks like it took a lot of mental energy and time to create! your quilting friends will be following along and thanking you at the end of the project!
amazing, simply amazing!
full-time teacher? haven't you told him about your book? you're going to be one of the newest best selling authors! another chapter in progress.
Posted by: kristyn | October 04, 2009 at 10:25 PM
Your instructions are so clear and detailed it even makes me (a quilt novice) confident that I could do it :)
I used to wonder why at home moms didn't get jobs the minute all the kids were in school....now that I know why-They need/deserve a little bit of time to themselves :)
Posted by: Andrea | October 05, 2009 at 08:17 AM
This is so amazing. Your tutorials are always so clear and easy to follow along with, and I love the way that this turns out. I will be getting my fabrics together in the coming weeks.
Thank you Larissa
Posted by: Heather | October 06, 2009 at 11:53 AM
Hey! Just found your blog and love all of your quilt projects. Looks like you live near me in VA, too!
Posted by: mjb | October 06, 2009 at 12:13 PM
I don't know how I didn't stumble upon you and your lovely blog before, but I am glad I have. Thank you for this great tutorial. I think I now know what kind of quilt I will be making for my little girl. You are a genius!
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Posted by: menova | April 27, 2012 at 01:39 AM
Thinking like that is really imrpessive
Posted by: Jailene | May 16, 2013 at 02:19 PM
Time to face the music armed with this great informtioan.
Posted by: Kourtney | May 16, 2013 at 02:19 PM
Just what the doctor ordered, tanhtkiy you!
Posted by: Reggie | May 16, 2013 at 04:27 PM
It came out so cute! The quilting looks great. Sometimes I feel preussre (self imposed) to master the free hand style, but I like your lines and such. It is all I can do to manage large amounts of quilt in my standard machine. I like to thrift Store shop too. I've been reading Tallgrass w/o commenting lately but love your recent work. The bookmarks were clever and SO small/detailed! I like how your Star QAL came out. I'm still working on mine.
Posted by: Mayako | July 05, 2013 at 03:24 PM