Out for a Stroll - A Finish and Tutorial

I am so excited to share my newest finish with you today ;)  I call it Out for a Stroll and I hope you like it as much as I do ;)

A while ago I was contacted by Frances Newcombe wondering if I would like to play with her Cherie fabric.   Absolutely yes!!!  And I knew just the design I wanted to do.  I have had this design in my sketch book for a while now just waiting for the right fabric to come along.  And Cherie was just perfect!!  Don't you just love that pop of pink in all the fabulous black and white prints!!

And since I was totally excited to finally be pulling this sketch out of the sketch book and into fabric, I decided you might just love it too and might want a tutorial to put it together ;)  So I took some pics along the way ;)  This quilt is so easy and so fast to put together :)  So here is what you will need to make your own Out for a Stroll twin sized quilt :)

MATERIALS NEEDED:
4 Yards of assorted white prints - I used 1 yard each of Bon Voyage Lumiere, Telegrammes  
          Nuage, Motif Avant Garde, and Les Points Powder
2 2/3 Yard of assorted black/grey prints - I used 2/3 yard each of En Route Gravel, Les Points
          Dust, Memorandum Cosmos, and Bon Voyage Noir
1 Yard of pink print - I used Les Points Rose

STEP 1 - CUTTING
It's time to cut.  I found it saved a lot of time if I stacked two of my assorted prints on top of one another to cut.  Then I am cutting through 4 layers at a time and slicing my cutting time in half.  And remember, press your fabrics before you cut, it will save you headaches down the road.

From our assorted white yardage cut
    (60) 3" x 13"rectangles   (if you are using 4 prints like me I cut 15 rectangles per print)
    (60) 3" x 8" rectangles   (if you are using 4 prints like me I cut 15 rectangles per print)
    (40) 3" x 5 1/2" rectangles   (if you are using 4 prints like me I cut 10 rectangles per print)
    (40) 3" x 3" squares   (if you are using 4 prints like me I cut 10 squares per print)
From your assorted black/grey yardage cut
     (80) 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" squares   (if you are using 4 prints like me I cut 20 squares per print)
     (68) 3" x 3" squares   (if you are using 4 prints like me I cut 17 rectangles per print)
From your pink yardage cut
     (9) 2 1/2" x WOF strips - to be used for binding
     (12) 3" x 3" squares

STEP 2 - MAKING THE BIG BLOCK

There are 2 blocks in this quilt that are actually the same size but we are going to refer to them as the Big Block and the Small Block because of their size of pieces ;)  We will start with the Big Block.

So grab your 5 1/2"x 5 1/2" black/grey squares and your white 3" x 5 1/2" rectangles.  We will sew 2 squares and one rectangle into a row as shown below.  So place a white rectangle onto a black square with right sides together and sew a 1/4" seam along the edge.  Then place a black square onto the pieced unit with right sides together and sew a 1/4" seam along the edge.  Press towards the black squares.  You will be making 40 but lets speed it up a bit :)

Most of the piecing in this tutorial is fairly simple so you won't need pins and chain piecing will save you a ton of time.   So rather than piecing one unit at a time, sew your white rectangle onto a black square with right sides together and using a 1/4" seam. Then without clipping your threads, feed another set through your machine.  Keep this up until you have done 40 sets.  (you don't have to count, just go until you run out of white rectangles ;)

Now clip your threads between your units.  And you can now add a black square to the pieced unit.  Place a black square onto the pieced unit with right sides together and stitch a a 1/4" seam along the edge, chain stitching all 40 sets.   Clip your threads and press the seam allowances outwards to the black/grey squares.

And now you are ready to make the blocks.  Layout 2 pieced rows and a white 3" x 13" rectangle as shown below.  Place the white rectangle onto the top row with right sides together and sew a 1/4" seam along the edge aligning as you go.   Chain stitch 20 sets like this and press the seam towards the center white rectangle.  Now, place the second row onto the pieced unit with right sides together and sew a 1/4" seam along the edge aligning as you go.   Once again, chain stitch all 20 sets and press the seam towards the center white rectangle.

And just like that, you have 20 Big Blocks done.  Set these aside for the time being ;)

STEP 3 - MAKING THE SMALL BLOCK

So the fun thing about the small block, is that it starts out just like the big block except that you are using 3" x 3" squares instead of 5 1/2" squares and you are going to be using some pink squares interchangeably with the grey/black squares ;)

So, just like before . . . Sew a white 3" squares onto a black or pink 3" square with right sides together stitching a  1/4" seam along the edge.  Chain stitch 40 sets.  (once again, you don't have to count, just go until you are out of white squares)  Clip your threads, but you don't need to press yet.   Now place  a black or pink 3" square onto your pieced unit with right sides together and stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge.  Chain stitch all 40 sets again.   Now clip your threads and press the seam allowances outwards towards the black/grey/pink squares.

And once again, you will layout 2 pieced rows and a white 3" x 8" rectangle as shown below.  Place the white rectangle onto the top row with right sides together and sew a 1/4" seam along the edge aligning as you go.   Chain stitch 20 sets like this and press the seam towards the center white rectangle.  Now, place the second row onto the pieced unit and sew a 1/4" seam along the edge aligning as you go.   Once again, chain stitch all 20 sets and press the seam towards the center white rectangle.

And the center of your Small Block is done and now you just have to border it :)  And you guessed it, we are going to chain stitch again ;)  Place a white 3"x 8" rectangle onto the top of your pieced center with right sides together and stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge aligning as you go.  Chain stitch all 20 pieced center like this.   Clip your threads and then repeat for the bottom, chain stitching a 3" x 8" white rectangle onto the bottom of each pieced center unit.  Clip your threads and press the seam allowances outwards.

And now, you just repeat for the side borders.  Place a white 3" x 13" along the side of the pieced unit with right sides together.  Stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge aligning as you go.  Chain stitch all 20 units this way.   Repeat for the second side.   Now press the seams outwards towards the white rectangles.

And just like that, you have 20 Small Blocks and a few of them with some random pink splashes in them.   Wasn't that so easy and fun ;)

STEP 3 - MAKING THE SETTING TRIANGLES

Before we can layout the quilt top we need to make some corner and side triangles as this quilt is sewn together on-point.   So grab 8 of your Big Blocks.   Cut 1 Big Block diagonally twice to make your 4 corner triangles.   Cut 7 Big Blocks diagonally once to make your 14 side setting triangles.

STEP 4 - MAKING THE QUILT TOP ROWS

And now, you can layout your quilt top.   You will be laying your blocks and setting triangles out as shown below.  Take a bit of time to play around with the placement of your pink pops of color to ensure they are well balanced.

It can quickly get confusing to layout out a quilt on point.   So I like to to start in the corner and work my way down diagonally.   So I add my corner first.   Then add a small block directly under that and 2 side setting triangles.   Then as you build your rows moving downwards, you will rotate the big and small block placement underneath each other.  Each row you will add an additional 2 blocks ;)  You will make 2 rows with 7 blocks and then start shrinking by 2 blocks each row ;)   Hopefully it helps a bit to see it this way ;)

Once you have your quilt all layed out, you can start sewing your blocks into rows ;)   For the first pieced row, place a setting triangle onto either side of your small block.   Your setting triangles won't overhang 1/4" of your block but don't worry, the binding will hide that ;)  Just make sure that they are close to to the top of the block.  Sew a 1/4" seam along either edge.  Always press the seams of your rows towards the Big Blocks, that way they will nest when you go to put your rows together ;)

So now you are onto the second pieced row.   I find the easiest way to do this is to just add one block at a time until the row is complete.  (and once again, don't worry if your setting triangle doesn't overhang your block, just be sure you align the bottom and the point reaches the top of the block ;)

So I like to stack up a row in the order I will be sewing the blocks and move it to my cutting mat right next to my machine.

This makes it easy to place the next block in line right onto my row with right sides together and stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge, aligning as I go.  I just keep adding blocks until my stacked row is done.

Then I press the seam allowances to the big blocks and lay the row back into place.  I like to lay out each row as I sew it to help make sure I haven't made any mistakes and keep me from getting confused.  Then stack up the next row, and off to your machine you go.

Continue in this fashion until you have sewn all of your blocks into rows ;)

STEP 5 - MAKING THE QUILT TOP

And now, you are ready to sew the rows into a quilt top.  Once again, start in to top corner.  Place your corner setting triangle onto the top row with right sides together.  Center it over the Small Block, it will nest in there just perfect.  Sew a 1/4" seam along the edge and press the seam open.

Now you just keep adding rows :)  Place the now pieced rows onto the next row with right sides together.  Align, nest, an pin each of the seams, once again, the ends should reach just to the edge of the row.   Sew a 1/4" seam along the pinned edge and press the seam allowance open.

Continue adding each row until you are halfway across the quilt.   At this point I like to start at the bottom corner and work my way in in the same fashion.  And before long, you have 2 halves ;)

Place the top half onto the bottom half with right sides together.  This is a lot of bulk in your machine so I like to pin align and pin the seams first and then also add a pin at each of the block centers to keep it from slipping ;)  Sew a 1/4" seam along the pinned edge and press the seam open.

Now one more quick step.  Run around the 4 sides of your quilt and trim all of those fun little triangle guys that popped out ;)

And your quilt top is done!!!  Isn't it just so chic ;)

STEP 6 - FINISHING THE QUILT

And now, it's time to finish.  Baste It, Quilt It, and Bind It.  I know, I say it every time and every time it is so much rolled into a quick sentence.  But no worries, if you are new to quilting, you can see these video tutorials on how to finish your quilt ;)  They will walk you through each of those three steps with lots and lots of detail ;)

I quilted mine with an all over free motion quilted echoed paisley.   I have a video tutorial here on how to do this free motion quilting design, just in case you want to do the same quilting ;)   And it can be a little difficult to choose the right color thread for this quilt as you are dealing with black and white.  I wanted my quilting to blend so I went with a light grey, it is 503 So Fine Thread by Superior Threads and it blends away ever so nicely ;)

And now, you can just wrap up on the couch with your super chic 70" x 88" Out for a Stroll quilt and enjoy ;)

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and if you make your own Out for a Stroll quilt I would love to see it!!!  You can add it to my Flickr group here ;)  

That's it for today ;)

Have a Happy Quilting Weekend!!!

Linking up to Sarah's and Amanda's ;)