Kerry’s Garden

This page originated as a couple of posts from an old blog that I no longer maintain. I am reproducing it here as someone recently asked me for the directions to one of the quilts I made several years ago.

The kids picked out the colors and patterns from what I had. I really enjoy making the 3d quilts. Its like drawing with fabric.

This picture doesn’t show the material very well. The background is brighter than this.

This quilt really intimidated me at first. It is a bargello quilt and is made by first sewing strips of color together to form the change from light to dark. These are then cut into strips and 4 of these are sewn together to make long strips which are then sewn into loops. By slightly altering the point at which the loops are cut the design flows and arcs. These long strips are then sewn to the quilt one at a time. This results in the quilting being done at the same time the top is sewn together. This was the first quilt I used the cotton batting with and I LOVE it. I will never go back to the poly batting again.

I love the blues in this one. I think it would look good in shades of purple too. I see a lap quilt in my future.

How to make Heather’s Quilt

This block is made using 4 colors from light to dark numbered 1-4. For the quilt I made I chose white for 1, light lavender for 2, a darker purple with a small black print for 3 and solid black for 4. Note #3 will end up being your background color.

Each block consists of the following square and half square triangle combinations.

A. Color 1 = 4 squares
B. Color 2 and 3 = 4 half square triangles
C. Color 2 and 4 = 4 half square triangles
D. Color 3 and 4 = 4 half square triangles

My blocks were 12″x12″ finished so my squares and half square triangles needed to be 3 1/2″ square. I initially made the half square triangles a little large to allow me to trim them to shape for a neater look.

HST Grids:
To make 24 half square triangles quickly…
Cut two pieces of fabric (colors 2 and 3 for example) 13.5″x18″ and lay them with the top sides facing each other. Using a marking pencil, divide the fabric into a grid 3 squares across the narrow edge and 4 squares down the long edge. Pin in the center of the squares.

Starting at the lower right corner draw the green line below. You should end up at the upper right corner when you are finished. Next sew along the red line 1/4″ from the green line, then do the same with the blue line. Both should start at the lower right and end up at the upper right. Once sewn, cut along the green line. You will end up with 24 half square triangles. These will need to be pressed and trimmed to the required 3 1/2″ square. I used a small square ruler with a diagonal line marked on it to line up the diagonal on the hst. I then trimmed the hst so that the diagonal was exactly centered.

The quilt I made consisted of 18 blocks (3 across and 6 lengthwise) and a double border. I had to make 3 HST Grids of each color combination (2-3, 2-4, and 3-4) to equal the 72 squares of B, C & D that were needed. In addition I had to cut 72 white 3 1/2″ squares. The squares were assembled as in the block pattern above. I then added a border of the #3 color and a black border outside of that.

My quilting is never fancy. I machine quilt and usually go for quilting in the ditch when I can.

Enjoy your quilt.