Tuesday Tutorial: Snuggly Layer Cake Quilt & a March Bag Giveaway

1 Layer cake, I used Hunky Dory by Chez Moi
1/2 yard fabric for binding
Cotton Batting (I use quilters dream cotton)
2 yds Snuggles for backing
thread to match backing fabric

Applique letters or machine embroidery

Sort your layer cake into piles based on the predominant color. It is very important to pick out all of your layer cake pieces before you start cutting, otherwise you won’t have enough of each color to complete the pattern.

The colors I chose were pinks, creams, yellows, blues, greens.

Save out one layer cake piece that you really like (one with a large or unique print) for your center block.

Set aside 6 each of 3 different colors for your strip blocks.
Set aside 8 blocks of one of your other colors (blue in my case)
Set aside 8 blocks of your last color (green in my example)

Take your 3 strip colors of and begin cutting the layer cake pieces into strips. Cut them to 3 1/3″ wide (leave them 10″ tall for now).

When you are done you should have
18 pink strips
18 creams strips
18 yellow strips.

With the cream in the center, begin sewing the 3 colored strips together, taking care to vary the patterns so that you do not have 2 blocks that are exactly the same.

Press your seams to one side.
Trim your entire block to 9″ x 9″
Repeat until you have 18 sewn blocks.

Take 8 blue blocks and trim them to 9×9. Do the same for your 8 green blocks, and your center feature block.
If desired applique or machine embroidered a name to the center of your center feature piece.

Begin sewing the blocks into rows using the diagram below.

Press seams to one side, alternating each row (example press the seams of all of the odd rows to the right and the seams of all the even rows to the left).

When your quilt top is assembled, cut a piece of cotton batting and your snuggles about 3″ wider on each side than your quilt top.
Using basting spray, assemble your quilt “sandwich”.

With a fabric pen/pencil (something that will wash off) draw diagonal lines on the quilt top according to the diagram above (the dashed lines are your stitching lines).

I chose to use a thread that would match the snuggles but contrast the top of the quilt. Using a walking foot,  first quilt a stitch in the ditch down the long side on each side of the center column, then once down the short side on both sides of the center row. This will stabilize your quilt to help prevent stretching as you finish quilting it.    Stitch in the ditch the remaining rows/columns of the quilt. (you are quilting around each square).

Then quilt along the diagonal lines you drew.

Also…

I’m hosting a giveaway over at Finding Fabulous today!! I’m giving away one of my March Bags! (pattern available here)  It’s made with my brand new So St. Croix fabric... I didn’t want to cut it.. it’s so pretty!! But I did and am so happy with how the bag turned out. (you can NOT enter here… you have to enter over at their site)…