Black, Blue & Purple Couch Quilt

I machine pieced this quilt on my Bernina 240.

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


Finished size: 62" x 70"

(click on photos to enlarge)

👽FINISHED QUILT:👽

Front piecing: I chose to recreate a photo of a quilt I found online: 6" wide concentric rectangles of solid black alternating with wonky piano-keys predominantly composed of gray, purples, aqua blues, and black & white prints.

Backing: The striking backing fabric is yardage of a zentangle print I recently purchased at a discounted cost from an Etsy store that was downsizing.

Quilt Stitching, Pattern: I quilted using edge-to-edge "Love My Cats" from Intelligent Quilting.

Quilt Stitching, Thread: I used "Charcoal" (So Fine 50 #410) thread for the front of the quilt, instead of a true black thread. The charcoal highlighted the quilting stitches just enough against the solid black cotton.

Quilt Stitching, Thread: Then I chose true "Black" (So Fine 50 #411), for the back of the quilt.

Label: I embroidered a short label on the front, directly onto one of the strips of the wonky piano-keys.

👽PROGRESS PHOTOS:👽

Inspiration:

A wonderful young lady who is very dear to me, asked me to make her "a black quilt". I've known her since she was born (she's in high school now), and I wanted to honor her request. I asked her if she would pick some miscellaneous patterns from my novelty stash to incorporate into the quilt, promising to keep black as the dominating theme. She chose The Mandalorian, Jack Skellington and Mulan! She also requested cats and frogs. Luckily I was able to work with black & white, gray, aqua blue and purple prints in such a way that the quilt blended together in a scrappy yet pleasing-to-the-eye manner.

Construction - Blocks:

For the actual layout of the quilt, I saw a photo of this amazing quilt. But it was only a photo - no pattern.

So I sketched out on graph paper a rough idea of how I would construct it. The quilt recipient is tall (6' 2") so I wanted it to be large enough for her to comfortably cuddle. My finished goal was a length of 70".

I first started piecing scraps together to make strips between 6" and 8" long, anywhere from 1.5" to 3" wide. Did a lot of chain piecing to move the process along. The completed quilt includes more than 325 strips.

I then cut 6" wide pieces of a very thin cotton to use as a foundation, and started attaching strips, purposely not being perfectly parallel, but rather a bit wonky. I assembled these "wonky" piano-key sections to be anywhere from 12" to 30" long. 

This technique of attaching strips is sometimes called "stitch and flip".

As I trimmed off the overhanging pieces of fabric strips from the foundation sections, I was able to join those scraps together to make more strips. This brought even more visual movement to the wonky piano-key sections, and also helped me use up almost ALL fabric pieces!

Construction - Block Arrangement:

Like a lot of the projects I make, I started not knowing exactly where I was going to end up.😊 

I began in the center, and worked outwards. I used true black Kona cotton for a nice strong contrast, and just kept growing the quilt until I was at a length of at least 70". I tried to be as random as possible with the piano-keys. The only purposeful placement of the strips I did was to not have two identical prints side-by-side, and to try to keep contrasting values next to one another.

Pin, pin, pin - in my opinion, can never use too many pins when joining together long fabric pieces. 

Piecing finished - ready for the long arm!

Quilting:

After loading the backing (I like to roll the loaded quilt back and forth between the back and front bar a couple times, which really helps even tension) and adding the batting, I floated the top to be sure everything was squared and ready.

👽👽👽

Then I basted the rolled quilt sandwich completely, down one side, across the belly bar, and back up the other side, advancing and repeating, before I actually quilt it. This basting has saved me hours due to a straighter, more even quilting experience every time!

Since the recipient loves cats, I used my ProStitcher software to resize, repeat, and wrap the edge-to-edge "Love My Cats" from Intelligent Quilting. 

The stitch is fun and flowy, a great compliment to the straight edges and right angles of the quilt's design.

I laid the quilt with the longest length running side-to-side on my longarm, so I could stitch in fewer passes.

Row #6 - Just one more row to go!

Label:

I had originally planned on embroidering a label onto the binding of this quilt, which I do often. But right before I finished the last row of stitching on my long arm, I changed my mind. I wanted a discreet label right on the front, onto of the wonky piano-key strips. So I put my embroidery machine up onto a high table, slid a still-unstitched corner of the quilt top into an embroidery hoop, and got the label completed! Then I finished the stitching of the last row on the long arm.

Trimming:

When trimming, I lined up my rulers to cut exactly 5.5" from the outer edge of the inner black rectangle. 

Binding:

I joined together several 2.5" strips of the black Kona cotton until I had a total of about 300" of binding strips. Then I ironed them in half.

First I attach the binding fabric to the back of the quilt, using my sewing machine and a scant 1/4" seam.

Then I wrap the binding around and sew it to the front of the quilt. 

When machine attaching bindings, I use my Bernina 240's blind hem foot, which helps to make even, straight seams. 

I use a couple of heavy-duty straight pins to get perfectly mitered corners.

Washing:

I machine washed the finished quilt twice (cold water, no bleach) using dye trapping sheets (I use either Color Catchers or Color Grabbers). I always wash a quilt before I gift it, so the quilting stitch pattern will show to the fullest and the quilt's softness can be enjoyed immediately!

Ready to be used and loved. 

👽QUILT SUMMARY:👽

I machine pieced this quilt on my Bernina 240.

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

Finished size: 62" x 70"

Front piecing: 6" wide concentric rectangles of solid black alternating with wonky piano-keys.

Back: Striking blue tones in a zentangle print. 

Binding: Machine sewn black cotton.

Quilting: Edge-to-edge  "Love My Cats" from Intelligent Quilting. "Charcoal" (So Fine 50 #410) thread on the front, and "Black" (So Fine 50 #411) on the back.

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