Quilters Dream Green & Summer Star Quilt [pic heavy]

About a year ago I took a class on Y-seams at my local quilt shop.  We used the Tumbling Blocks Table Runner pattern from the 2012 book Friendship Strips & Scraps from Laundry Basket Quilts by Edyta Sitar.  Its been awhile since I worked with Y-seams and I had a great shamrock green batik that I thought would make a lovely background (and its March, so why not make a green quilt). I decided to make the Summer Star Quilt this time around.

Edyta is all about pulling from your stash.  Grabbing random fabric, all color tones and textures - even ones that don't match - and stripping piecing them together to create a whole new 'fabric'.  My first table runner turned out great using this technique so I thought I would give it another try using the shamrock green batik.

First you cut your fabric in varying widths sewing them together. Make sure all your seams are facing in the same direction.

Strips ready to be sewn together

My scrappy stripped 'fabric'.

Next, using the template provided in the book, cut diamonds from your striped 'fabric'.

After cutting all the diamonds, don't throw away your scraps, Edyta gives instructions in the front of the book for how to piece the left over edge triangles into usable pieces.  

After you have cut the diamond (in my case 96!), mark the diamonds with a 1/4" seam allowance on all four points.  This aids in knowing when to stop sewing when creating Y-seams.

Then cut squares and triangles from the background fabric and mark a 1/4" seam allowance on those as well.

Next, sew!  Be sure to stop at the point where the two 1/4" marking meet.  If done properly, the seam should just fold open when flipped right side up.  Even one stitch too many and you will get a puckered look.

Sew the background squares and triangles onto your scrappy star. And voile!  One block done.

Front View

Back View, look at those seams! Yeah :)

I don't know if i love the look of the green batik background against my scrappy star.  So I decided to quilt one block and see if a bit of quilting improved the overall look.

I used Quilters Dream Green batting.  Its a mid loft poly batting made from recycled plastic bottles (think 7-Up and Sprite) lending a pale green hue to the batting.  It quilts up and washed just like Quilters Dream Poly Select.  Having just used Poly Select in another project I wanted to see how the two finished projects compared.

It quilted up beautifully, I love the texture the Dream Green poly batting adds and its green!  Perfect for a St. Patrick's Day quilt.  Still don't know if I'm married to the green batik background.  What do you think?

Interested in giving Quilters Dream Green a try?  Give us a call at 1-888-268-8664 to receive a free sample.

Guest Blogger: Dog Under My Desk ~ Puff Mini Comforter Tutorial & FREE Puff Twin Giveaway!

Since having the chance to play with Quilters Dream Puff, I can say it is by far my favorite puffy poly batting. It’s so much softer and more flexible than some of the stiffer high-loft poly battings, even those labeled “soft”, and you can quilt it up to 10” apart rather than 2-5” that other poly battings require. It’s about 1/3” thick, so you can easily add a second layer for more loft and still be able to quilt it on your sewing machine.


Since the craft size package is about the size of a yard of fabric, I just had to make little mini comforters for the pups. My dogs always prefer to snuggle in a blanket, even if it’s on top of their dog bed (or MY bed!) and it’s nice to have little blankets that are easy to wash and don’t take up a lot of room to store. These would also be super quick kid gifts! They are the perfect size for toddlers to drag around. They are also a great stash buster. If you don’t have a two yard cut, just add an extra seam instead of the fold and use two complimentary one-yard pieces!


Continue reading Erin Erickson's Puff Mini Comforter Tutorial at Dog Under My Desk>>>>>>>>>>

Want to make a Mini Comforter for the furry friends in your life?

Post a Comment below telling us your pets snuggle habits.
Do they sleep on the floor? Have their own bed . . . steal your bed?
Let us know below.

This Friday Dec. 6th we will select one random post to receive a FREE Puff Twin from Quilters Dream!

Batting made from recycled bottles??!!

 Have you heard of Quilters Dream Green batting?  If not, you won’t believe that is being made from plastic bottles!  Dream Green batting is soft, cozy, and cuddly and is 100% made from recycled bottles – which is why it has such an unusual green color (there must be a lot of Mt. Dew drinkers out there).  You wouldn’t think anything this soft could come from those stiff plastic bottles, but it is true!

 

The plastic bottles are washed and cut into chips, then melted and extruded into fine denier poly microfibers.  Other than the color, these fibers are indistinguishable from virgin polyester fibers.  It is wonderful any time we have the opportunity to recycle and reuse plastic, and this use is just amazing.  Each pound of Dream Green rescues 10 bottles that could be added to the landfills.

 

But why would someone want to use polyester batting?  Dream Green and Dream Poly battings are not the same polyester as you may remember from years ago – the new microfibers mimic the cotton fibers in being breathable, soft and drapeable.  The fibers are so fine that they bend when coming in contact with the fabrics so, like cotton fibers, they also resist bearding.  There is no scrim, glues, or binders that cause resistance to the needle, and the fibers are long enough to provide enough structure for easy machine quilting.

 




Gidget lounging in the Dream Green fibers before it is processed!

Dream Green and Dream Poly battings are becoming more popular with modern quilters for a number of reasons:

·         The poly fibers do not hold moisture so it washes and dries very quickly in the machine or on the line

·         There is no shrinkage, so the quilt will have the same look after washing a hundred times as it did when it was first quilted

·         Dream Poly and Dream Green do not hold a crease – fold and store the quilt (or ship it to a show) and shake it out flat with no worries of fold lines or wrinkles.

·         The fibers are needle-punched so you get the right amount of loft – not too puffy and just lofty enough to show off the stitches

 

Give the friendly “Dream Team” at Quilters Dream Batting a call (888-268-8664) or email quiltersdreambatting@juno.comfor a free sample square of the Dream Green, and a mini sample of all the lovely battings made by Quilters Dream!  (We’ve stocked up on samples so there are plenty to go around!)

 

Happy Quilting!

 ~The Dream Team

 

 

You can count on us...



Scrap batting made into a flower.

We hope everyone had a fabulous relaxing summer and stayed cool! Now that the kiddies are back in school and the holidays are just around the corner ( Uggg so soon right?) we are certain you are going to be busy bees quilting and crafting away. Keep in mind we are always here to help you with your batting questions and needs. Please call us for samples of our batting to try! We will be more than happy to send you some and a user’s guide to go along with it. We will also be glad to help you with goodies (mini samples) to put in gift bags for grand openings, guild meetings or shop hops! Give us a shout and we’ll help ya out!



Mini Samples

Thank you for your support.We truly appreciate it!

Quilters Dream Batting
888.268.8664
quiltersdreambatting@juno.com

Happy Quilting!

 ~The Dream Team