Teal & Gray Scrappy Birch Trees Lap Quilt

I machine pieced this quilt on my Bernina 240.

I quilted this quilt on my Janome QMP-18 long arm.


Finished size: 55" x 68"

(click on photos to enlarge)

🌱FINISHED QUILT:🌱

Front piecing: 12 blocks (each 14" finished), in shades of teal, gray and white, with scrappy birch tree trunks inserted per the "Bright Birch Trees" pattern by Crazy Mom Quilts.

Borders: One narrow teal inner border, surrounded by a 4.5" pieced piano key border.

Backing: The back is a lovely teal-on-teal leaf print called Miyako "Packed Leaves" by Jinny Beyer. 

Quilt Stitching, Pattern: I quilted using edge-to-edge "Sticky Buns" by Anne Bright Designs. My second time using this design, and it again provided fantastic results!

Quilt Stitching, Thread: I used "Silver" (So Fine 50 #408) thread for the front of the quilt, and "Glacier" (So Fine 50 #471) thread on the back.

Label: I embroidered the label directly onto the binding. Still my favorite way to label a quilt!

🌱INSPIRATION:🌱
I've been blessed with three amazing gifts: time, talents and tools - all the ingredients needed to be able to craft, create and gift to others, hoping to add a bit of joy into people's lives.

So...I'm pretty selective about what I choose to ingest from social media, but one afternoon I stumbled upon a story of a young woman who lived in Minnesota (where my husband's family is from) with a headline that caught my attention: "As I Was About To Give Birth, to a 'Terminal' Baby, My Seemingly Healthy Husband Died". I've had my share of loss in my life, and as I read about Kelsey's experiences, and saw what fortitude and strength this young woman has, I felt strongly that I needed to use my gifts to somehow let her and her precious son Maxley know that they were being thought of. Kelsey openly shares her and Maxley's lives on social media, and her genuineness and goodness radiate in her videos and photos. As she faces some challenging months ahead with regard to her son's health, my hopes are that when Kelsey and Maxley use this quilt in their home, whether on the couch to cuddle together or on the floor to play together, they'll feel the love I've put into each stitch.

🌱PROGRESS PHOTOS:🌱

Construction-Blocks:

To make the 14" blocks, I used the colors that Kelsey shared were in her home: teal, white and gray. I also used some of teal's neighboring colors - turquoise and aqua.

To make the birch "tree trunks" I pulled complimentary snippets (from my scraps) of yellows, greens, blues and purples. I avoided any strong reds, blacks or browns.

The finished strips range from 1.25" to 2.25" wide, and some of the scrap pieces making up the "tree trunks" are only ½ inch thick.

The pattern suggests starting with a 15.5" square and then cutting it down to 15" when the three strips have been placed, but my various fabric pieces weren't all large enough. So my finished blocks ended up 14" square.

It was definitely helpful to starch, press and pin the block pieces, since some of the angled cuts were on the bias and could easily stretch and become misshapen.

I rearranged the blocks a few times, rotated some and swapped some, to get the balance I wanted.  After joining them together, it was time for borders.

Construction-Borders:

This quilt called out to me from my design wall and said: "Please, a piano key border!" So I again dove into my scraps and cut strips that were 1⅜" by 5", and sewed them together on a  foundation of 5" wide strips of lightly colored scrap fabric. (I've learned the hard way that without a foundation beneath it, a piano key border can very easily stretch and distort while being stitched on the long arm).

I made a narrow inner border with the same teal fabric that I used for the backing and the binding, to give the eyes a resting spot before moving on to the outer piano key border.

For the four corners, I followed TeaQuilt's mitered-looking method. Looks great every time.

One more photo to check everything, then on to a last pressing, followed by preparing the backing, and finally starting the quilting!

Quilting:

Prior to beginning quilting, I double-check the backside of the quilt, making sure all of the numerous piecing seams are pressed open and flat and the quilt appears square. Here you can see the different light-colored scrap fabrics I used for the piano-key border foundations.

The backing and batting are loaded, and the top is floated to be sure everything is squared and ready. I loaded the quilt lengthways so that it would require fewer rows for the stitching to be completed. 

 I baste each quilt completely, down one side, across the belly bar, and back up the other side, advancing and repeating, before I actually quilt it.

This is the 2nd time I've used Anne Bright Designs' "Sticky Buns" digital pattern. Its swirls are a perfect complement to the straight lines and sharp angles of the blocks and scrappy tree trunks on this quilt!

Beginning row #1 of 5 total.

This is quilt #86 that I've stitched on my longarm.

Working on the 5th and final row of stitching.

The following morning when I went to remove the quilt from my longarm, I was already in love with the texture and movement of the swirly stitching pattern. 

Trimming:

Before trimming off the extra backing and batting, and squaring up the quilt, I run a large stay stitch all the way around the outer edge of the piano key border, a bit wider than a ¼" seam. This helps keep the "piano keys" straight, and secures any quilting stitches that may have not fully stitched off the edge of the quilt. (I use contrasting thread colors so the stay stitch is easily seen on both the front and back for removal later, if needed)

When I trim a quilt after it's off the longarm, I line up my ruler along an internal border rather than trying to cut straight on the outer edge of the fabric (here I wanted a 4.5" piano key border). This almost always produces a nice, square quilt every time. Now to add the binding.

Binding:

The binding is 275" of 2.5" wide Miyako "Packed Leaves" 

 (the same fabric used for the narrow inner border and the backing) folded in half lengthwise.

Very carefully embroidering the label onto the prepared binding fabric. 

First machine attaching the binding strip to the back of the quilt...

...then wrapping the binding around to the front and hand-sewing it, using an invisible stitch.

Washing:

I machine washed the finished quilt twice (cold water, no bleach) using dye trapping sheets (I like either Color Catchers or Color Grabbers), which absorbed much of the teal fabric dyes.

After washing, the quilt is soft, with beautiful scrunches and swirly wrinkles. I hope that Kelsey and Maxley will enjoy using it, and that it will be loved for a very long time.

🌱QUILT SUMMARY:🌱

I machine pieced this quilt on my Bernina 240.

I quilted this quilt on my Janome QMP-18 long arm.

Finished size: 55" x 68"

Front piecing: 12 blocks (14" finished), in shades of teal, gray and white, with scrappy birch tree trunks inserted per Crazy Mom Quilt's "Bright Birch Trees" pattern.

Borders: One narrow teal inner border, surrounded by a 4.5" pieced piano key border.

Back: A lovely teal-on-teal leaf print called Miyako "Packed Leaves" by Jinny Beyer. 

Binding: The same teal fabric as the backing and narrow inner border, machine sewn on the front, hand sewn on the back.

Quilting: Edge-to-edge "Sticky Buns" by Anne Bright Designs. Thread used on the front is "Silver" (So Fine 50 #408) and on the back is "Glacier" (So Fine 50 #471).

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