Every now and then blog readers send me a email or leave a comment in the comment section that I need to answer.  When I think other readers might be interested too, I answer them here on the blog. Today is one of those days…

From Susan the Farm Quilter:
“How fun to have grands born so close together!! Congratulations on the grands and that moms and babies are doing well. Will you be able to take care of them both, like you do Carver??”

Gannon will start childcare here at my house on March 19th….

it will only be two days a week for about six weeks.  Kalissa is on maternity leave from the hospital but she is also a clinical nursing instructor.  That job starts back up on the 19th but it’s only two days a week.


She’ll go back to her hospital job mid May.  Then Gannon will be here and come on the same days Carver does.

Georgia will be here… Continue reading →

Marilyn wrote:
“Jo- I am making the spider string quilt and would like to know what pattern will you use to quilt it. I have chosen black with tiny polka dots for my background.”

Marilyn is referring to this quilt….

Marilyn was wondering how I chose to quilt it.  I tried to so a little drawing to show how.  For the most part it’s about as continuous sewing as I could get and still be custom quilting.  The drawing below is primitive I know but I think you can get the idea.

The outer string border was just a back and forth straight line…you can see that noted in BLUE.

The inner border, noted in YELLOW, is a loop.

The WEB part of the design is noted in ORANGE.  I arched in a curve from corner to corner.  For the first row I only did the top arch closest to the inner border.  On my swipe back I finished off the triangles.  In the other rows I only did the top half of the web and in the swipe back I did the lower section.

For the solid area, noted in in green I did a flower.  I started in the FAR left of the black section.  From there I did the top half of the flower all the way across the row.  On the swipe back I did the bottom half of the flower.

As I went along I learned to stop at the far left and pick up the loop design in the narrow border to travel to the next section of the quilt.  I didn’t have to stop and start to do the inner border.

In the end I was happy with the design…my execution of it…needs practice.  My friend Carla who does the longarming got new bigger wheels for her set up.  I’m wondering if I might benefit from that as well.  I feel like my set up isn’t running as smooth as it once did.  I also keep telling myself PRACTICE more.

Here’s a picture of the back of the quilt…That might help you see the quilting design.

Another look….

Next comes a question from Joan:  “Are you hand sewing the double wedding ring or attaching by machine? I missed the beginning of this one.”

I am machine sewing the entire quilt.  No hand stitching for this girl.  You can learn more about the quilt with tips for making your own double wedding ring quilt HERE.

From Kim:
“Jo, your crumb quilt screams fun & is such an excellent choice for kids. I know you are a resourceful person & use “what’s on hand” first but I am curious do you have a “go to solid red”? Is there a certain solid red that you consider a must in your stash?”

Kim wrote that after seeing the center portion of baby Friedman’s quilt….

I do have a go to red that I prefer.

This was the first crumb quilt I made…That’s Kalissa as a teenager sleeping under it.  I loved the red I had for this one.

When I made the next one which turned out to be Carvers, I didn’t have enough of the original red so used this red.

It’s okay but somehow the red seamed “cheaper” looking to me.

That’s about the time I started being more “color aware”.  Kelli and I ended up getting a Bella Solid color chart.

Open it up and there are swatches of all the Bella Solid colors there are.
My go to for any “cream based” projects is Country Red.  If using white based I still use a darker red…the “Christmas Red”.    Others work great too but these are my go to’s.  

The charts are available at Fat Quarter Shop HERE.  We got ours from Moda when we were writing our book.  They gave it to us…thank heavens…the chart is kind of expensive but if you’re a mom and have everything you need…ask for it for a present.

We also have the Moda Marbles chart and the Essential Dot chart.
We use them regularly.  I used the Bella Solid Chart to pick the center color of my Spider Web quilt…it’s Charcoal.

I think that wraps up this edition of “Ask Jo”.  If you have questions please leave them in the comments or send me an email at rogjok@iowatelecom.net.

“Every now and then blog readers send me a email or leave a comment in the comment section that I need to answer.  When I think other readers might be interested too, I answer them here on the blog. Today is one of those days…”

I’m trying to get to the bottom of the pending questions.  It can be a task at times to answer them all but I really like doing it.  Often I can reminisce about a project while I am answering the question.

Cheryl asked:
“What size do you make the triangles?”

Cheryl asked this about my Fair and Square quilt.  This quilt is from Bonnie Hunter’s book Scraps and Shirttails II.  I LOVE this book and the quilt.  The string for this quilt came primarily from gifted fabric scraps from blog readers.

You can read about the finished quilt HERE.  You can read about how I trimmed the blocks HERE.

In the directions Bonnie Hunter suggests that the quilt be made by making two different blocks…the one with the checkerboard and the one with the strings.  This means that the quilt then is put together using an “on point” setting.  I hate “on point settings”.  So…I decided to put it together differently.  I made the triangles then added them to the checkerboard block.

Then I trimmed the whole block to 14 1/2″.  So the question is what size should the triangles be made….the same as the book suggests.

Some people don’t like to do this as they feel there are more bias edges but that doesn’t bother me at all.  Anytime I am working with string blocks they are more “stretchy” than normal fabric and this is no different.  Some people sew a small line of stitching around the outside of a block like this help with the shifting.  I don’t.

The next question came from Paula:
“Will the posted size be a queen size. If not what is the “adjustment to get a queen size? Thanks. Hoping I can do this as a first”

Her question was about this quilt.

This is a free pattern we offer HERE.

To make the quilt with one jelly roll or 42 ~ 2 1/2″ strips you would sew them strips together giving you 14 strip sets.  From each strip set you can get 6 cuts.  That means you can get 84 blocks.  You could but them into a 9 x 9 setting giving you a 54″ x 54″ throw quilt or an 8 x 10 setting giving you a 48″ x 60″ throw.

Using two jelly rolls would give you 28 strip sets giving you 168 blocks.  Those blocks could be put into an 12 x 12 setting giving you a 72″ x 72″ quilt or a 12 x 13 setting giving you a 72″ x 78″ quilt.

Ideally I like quilts that are about 84″ x 90″.  For that you would need 210 blocks…or 35 strip sets.  You could get that from 2 jelly rolls and 21 extra 2 1/2′ strips…if you’re making it from your scraps you can make this size of quilt with 105 ~ 2 1/2″ strips.

Now queen sized… 96″ x 96″
You would need a 16 x 16 layout.  That would be 256 blocks.  That would be 128 strips…if you’re making it from jelly rolls that would be 3 jelly rolls.  It’s EXACTLY 3 jelly rolls so I would suggest buying an extra 1/4 yard of fabric to make something stretch in case you had a miss cut.

It’s a good scrap buster quilt if you make it with scrap.

We had another question about this quilt….this one from Sandra:
“Hi Jo, I am new to quilting and love this pattern! Thank you for sharing it with us! Did you use any batting between the top and backing and if so what type, please?”

Being I made so many quilts, I buy the batting by the yard.  It can easily be bought in a single size.

I use two different types of batting…
Warm and Natural
or
Hobbs 80/20

For me these two and the most cost effective and the most versatile.  I like working with Warm and Natural better.  It doesn’t stretch and tear like Hobbs can when I’m getting the quilt together and machine quilted.  Warm and Natural goes in any quilt we send out for publication.  It’s a little more sturdy if the quilts are going to be hung for photographing.  It’s sturdy and can take many washings.

Hobbs is instantly cuddly…I like it for quilts I know we will keep and be part of our family.  It’s drapier.

Neither are a wrong choice.  I have tried other off brands.  I’ve tried the more expensive bamboo battings.  I’ve tried lots of battings but these two are the most universal for me.  They do the best job for the costs point.

That wraps up this edition of “Ask Jo”….I’m getting closer to caught up!!