I have finished another quilt top!

Last week I mentioned that I would give you some details on this quilt.

First, I washed and dried all the fabric then starched and pressed it.

This quilt top was finished in a short time because I did “strip piecing”.

I cut several strips of the background fabric on the 44” side at 4 1/2″. Then cut one strip from each of the Halloween fabrics from Ruby Star Society. And stitched them together.

Then cut them up into 4 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ rectangles.

I had enough of these green-eyed cats from last year’s Halloween stash to make twelve more blocks. I couldn’t strip piece those. Just stitched them together.

I had originally ordered two yards of the background fabric but it wasn’t quite enough, especially since I cut one strip too small. I actually needed 17 more blocks and had to cut two more strips. When I make this quilt again, I will get 2 1/4 yards.

I went to the local quilt shop and they carry neither Rifle Paper Company nor Ruby Star Society. I ordered more of the background from Etsy. I also purchased backing and binding for the Lucy quilt.

While I was waiting for these supplies I played around with placing the pieces and stitched what I could together.

Here is how far I was before the additional fabric arrived:

Strip piecing really speeds up making a quilt, but some of my blocks were coming apart!

I had to restitch a couple. I’m wondering if I should make the stitches smaller in the future. I already use 2.0 mm when piecing. I use 1.6 mm when doing Foundation Paper Piecing so the pieces don’t come apart when pulling the papers out. I think I’ll try that using a smaller stitch next time I strip sew. I went out on the www for tips and there was nothing about this issue. Is it just me? Anyone out there have suggestions to prevent this unraveling?

For this quilt I pressed all of my seams open. I know that a lot of quilters say this is a no-no–especially if you “stitch in the ditch”. And I understand the concern–you are only quilting over the threads that are holding the blocks together. But I will not be stitching in the ditch for this quilt. I plan to use a serpentine stitch that will go back and forth on both sides of the seam. Plus I have never had a quilt fall apart when pressing seams open–or to one side.

Here is how I pin my blocks together. I line up the seams. Then put a pin in that seam. Followed up with wonder clips to hold the seam allowance down and then I pull the pin out. After the entire side is done, I flip the fabric over and stitch from the side that I was not pinning from. That way, if I messed up with the clips, I can fix it as I sew.

My seams usually match up very well. In the following photo, I have not even pressed it yet. Looks good!

This was a really quick, easy and fun quilt. My quilts are usually my own design but I couldn’t resist this pattern called Mabel from Penelope Handmade. I highly recommend it. At first I thought I would name her Mabel the Witch but there isn’t one witch in any of these fabrics! Broom sticks, owls, coffins, cats, ghosts, but no witch! I had to rename her Spooky Mabel! I might eventually make a scrappy Mabel if I need a quick quilt in the future.

Trimming, batting, quilting, and binding going on before Halloween!