Summer Beach Quilt Tutorial - Part 3 - Water Row

This is part III of my Summer Beach Quilt tutorials--the Water row. 

Here's what you'll need:

2 - 5.5in x 3in white rectangles

33 - 3in x 3in white squares

1 - 8in x 3in rectangle

16 - 5.5in x 3in aqua rectangles (I used Michael Miller Cotton Couture aqua) 

The first step is to make the 16 flying geese. If you've never made flying geese before it's really fun and easy. 

First, draw a diagonal line on the back of 32 of the 3" x 3" squares.

Place the square on your aqua rectangle as pictured in the diagram making sure it is flush with the outside edge.

Sew along the drawn line. 

Trim off excess fabric on the outside of the line leaving a 1/4" seam allowance.

Press towards the white fabric. 

Place a second square on the opposite side as pictured. 

By the way, I just notice my cutting mat needs a serious wipe-down!

Anyway, sew along the drawn line on the second square.

Trim leaving a 1/4" seam allowance.

And press towards corner and square to 5.5" x 3". 

Note: Squaring up IS SO IMPORTANT. I cannot stress this enough. Whenever I get lazy and I don't square up the blocks I always regret it later because of the amount of frustration it can cause:) 

Now just make 15 more flying geese. 

Lay out 10 flying geese and sew together. Press seams open.

Lay the second row of water out in the following order:

3" x 3" white square, 1 flying geese block, 5.5" x 3" white rectangle, 3 flying geese, 5.5" x 3" white rectangle, 2 flying geese, 8" x 3" white rectangle

Sew the second row of water together and press seams open.

and now sew the two rows together. This should measure 50.5" in length. 

In the next tutorial, we will be making the sailboats:) Please refer to the layout diagram for sashing/assembly instructions.

Summer Beach Quilt Finished!

My summer beach quilt is finally quilted and ready to be shipped off to it's new owner and it makes me a little sad to see it go. It was so much fun to make, and turned out to be so colorful and happy.





I quilted it with a daisy pattern





and backed it with some Cream Apron from the Marmalade collection. I had alot of problems with the backing on this one. Usually I baste my quilts on a wall, but this time I decided to baste it on the floor and it didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. And maybe I'm getting too old, but crouched down on the floor for hours was really painful! I'm considering sending my quilts off to be professionally basted : )






I used my left over jelly roll to make a scrappy binding which turned out really cute because it was so colorful and whimsical already. Anyway, I hope the new owner loves this quilt as much as I do!

Summer Beach Quilt

I have been talking about my dad alot lately, but I wanted to show you my latest creation, and this just happens to be all about him. The story begins with this quilt I made for him last year...

 

 He works as a Harbor Master in Rockport, Texas and has always loved sailboats and sailing. When I was a teenager I would get so mad because he would wake me up at 5am on Saturday morning so we could get out to the sailboat in time to watch the sunrise. At the time I thought it was stupid, but now it's one of those things I appreciate more as an adult. Anyway, I made him the blue and white nautical quilt with a pinwheel pattern. I think it's a great quilt for a guy that sails, but this summer I went to visit him down on the coast, and I started to feel like this quilt didn't really capture what the summer, or the beach, or sailing was all about--at least not in Rockport. Rockport is full of color--there are flowers blooming and cute little cottages everywhere.

 I told my dad (at the time) that I would like to make a quilt that really reflected the beauty of where he lives. A couple of weeks after I returned home to England, he called me and he asked if I would make a new quilt for him to give as a gift. Apparently the quilt I made him is very popular at the marina store where the air-conditioning is too cold for the employees. He keeps the quilt at his job, but his coworkers are always stealing it. In order to get his quilt back he wanted to start giving the employees their own quilts, and one of them is having a birthday soon, so he requested I make it in time for that. The only requirement, he told me, was that it was pink. I'm a pink-lover myself, but I know that too much pink can get a little nauseating, unless you're under the age of 5. So I decided to use Marmalade fabric by Bonnie and Camille. It's colorful, summery, it has pink, and overall it's just pretty. I was just going to make a magic jelly roll quilt, but I started thinking about it, and I knew this would be a perfect time to make the quilt that would really capture what I wanted to achieve. I didn't have a pattern to go by, so I started kinda drawing out what I wanted, and then drafted it up on the Threadbias quilt tool. Then came the fun part!

I used the jelly roll to make the striped sails and scrappy border, and used other cuts of fabric I had to make everything else. I would have really like to get some "pinterest-worthy" photos, but alas, I'm not at that level yet. You can see all the wrinkles when the sun is so bright!!! But anyway, I really am in love with this quilt. I want to make another one for myself, and I'm going to be adding some tutorials for the sailboats, cottages, and fish, so in case anyone ever reads my blog that actually wants to make one, they can! :)