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Sunday, May 8, 2011

Raw Edge Mosaic Tile Quilt

For a while I've been blog and google surfing looking at postage stamp quilts, coin quilts and raw edge quilts.  A few weeks ago I decided I was going to come up with my own plan to incorporate all the ideas into one quilt.  I have a 12" plexiglass template that I used for the basis of each block.  I also had a bunch of white flat sheets that I wanted to use for something and tons (seriously....tons of scraps).  I started off by cutting 25 12 inch white blocks.  The I free hand cut 25 slightly larger pieces of quilt batting and 25 larger square pieces for the back.....
My next step was to sandwich together the three pieces to make one quilt block.  I pinned the block with one safety pin in the middle and twelve around the perimeter.  Before I started sewing, I went through all my small pieces and cut them at random sizes and had them stacked next to the sewing machine.  I used a ziz zag stitch and sewed approximately 1/4" in around each piece of fabric.  Sometimes I would end up with a smaller area than I had a piece of fabric for, so I would cut the fabric to fit the space and did not worry about it being straight or not.  I knew since I was doing raw edges that after washing the quilt all imperfections would disappear!
When completed I had a stack of 25 blocks that needed to be trimmed.....
I used my cutting mat, plexiglass ruler and rotary cutter to get them all trimmed up evenly....
I then arranged them all out on the living room floor to work on the position of each block...
After I got the blocks put in the order I wanted, I sewed my rows......
Layed them all out on the living room floor again to make sure I still had the rows in the right order for sewing them together.  This is when the Bichon decided he wanted in on my game....

I had to take about a twenty minute break to play with the dog, get him worn out so he would get up on the couch and take a nap so I could return to my floor arrangements....
After I got all the rows sewn together, Riley was ready to get on my quilt once again!
This quilt turned out a little more feminine than I had intended so I chose a plaid fabric for the backing.....
I also used the orange plaid for the binding.  I cut 2.5 inch lengths of fabric, sewed them together, folded in half lengthwise and pressed with the iron.  The binding was then put on the quilt by matching raw edges to raw edges and sewing on to the quilt.  I sewed the binding onto the back of the quilt first, then folded it over to the front and used a blanket stitch to secure it in place...............
The next step was to run the quilt through the washer and dryer and let all those raw edges of those hundreds of little quilt pieces do their magic..............
There were many threads to trim after taking it out of the dryer......
I thought I got most of them until I started looking at these pictures and see all the tiny ones I missed!
I think I'm going to send it through the washer and dryer again and let the edges curl up some more and do some more thread clipping....
I love the way it turned out.  It's so colorful just like I wanted and I love all the little pieces.  I can tell you a story behind almost every scrap!
I'll probably be making several more quilts using this technique.  I can't even tell that I made a dent in my scrap pile!
                                Scroll to the bottom to see who all I have linked to 

69 comments:

  1. Really like this! How did you attach your squares together?

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  2. This is a beautiful quilt! I dont have the courage yet to try a quilt but my husband is always telling me itd be a piece of cake for me, esp considering Ive done alot of quilted bags in my career. Love this for inspiration!
    xo,
    Sarah

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  3. This is so pretty and a wonderful use of your scraps!

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  4. This is so exciting to me..because I have been thinking about making something like this but didn't quite know how. i am a beginning quilter. Thank you. I honestly just love looking at your pics of this quilt. :) I am a little weird about fabric and colors!! :)I will be back.

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  5. Very cute quilt. Interesting technique.

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  6. What a great quilt! I love the mosaic tile look! Did you butt your squares next to each other and zigzag as well?

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  7. Yes I did sew the squares directly to each other and then attach the plaid to the back. After that, I did a zig zag stitch through all seams of each block and then put on the binding with a blanket stitch. Mosaic tile is the perfect description! Sounds much better than scrap quilt. I think I'll change the title of my blog post with that great idea!

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  8. This is SUCH A GOOD IDEA! Seriously. You are a genius and I will have to steal this idea because my random scraps are getting out of hand! I just stumbled onto your blog and now I'm a follower. :-)

    BTW, your dog is adorable! I have the same issues with my cats when I try to sew...or read or do anything that doesn't involve giving them attention.

    Marie
    http://educatorssoliloquy.blogspot.com

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  9. I have been putting off doing this because I thought you had to do it on a quilt size piece of fabric and I wasn't up to making all of those turns with that much fabric. I never thought about doing it in small pieces. you are brilliant. Thanks for sharing. Selina

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  10. This is really a lovely quilt.. my favor kind really!

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  11. That is a beautiful quilt. I love the idea and I must try this one with my homespunny fabric:) Thanks for sharing. Your newest follower.

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  12. So adorable! I will definitely be trying this.

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  13. this is super cute, and love the puppy play, my dog does the same thing!

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  14. Your quilt is beautiful! Thanks so much for the helpful tutorial. Hope you enjoy it!

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  15. Oh wow! That is one fantastic quilt! I love that it's all from scraps and an old sheet!

    Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
    Hope you have a great week!
    Jill @ Creating my way to Success
    http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

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  16. Wow! What a beautiful quilt and such a great idea!

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  17. it's gorgeous. I've been wanting make something similar. I love how you did a square at a time.

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  18. I heart this quilt!! Thanks for sharing!! :)

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  19. Wow--I LOVE this quilt! So beautiful! This must be a fantastic way to use up all those scraps we all cling to :-) Gorgeous work!

    Rachel @ Maybe Matilda

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  20. Love how all the pieces come together. I've added this to the To-Do List on my blog.

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  21. THis is stunningly gorgeous! I love how you have incorporated all the lovely scrap pieces- they need love, too! I am so inspired to do something like this with my girls outgrown clothes! Thank you so very much for sharing your work of art!:) Lori

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  22. Such a GREAT way to use up scraps! I just finished my first quilt ever last night and I think I got the bug! I really want to try this technique next! I'm your newest follower : )

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  23. I saw this on Creations by Kara. I love it! I've been wanting to make a quilt for my daughter, and I have tons of scraps too, so this would be perfect. I also love the idea of using sheets. Great job!

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  24. What an interesting technique you used to make your quilt! I love quilts. I've only made 2 crib-sized ones and I used a kit that already had the pieces cut. I hand sewed everything because I don't have a machine.

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  25. What a fun scrappy quilt. I love all the beautiful fabrics you used!

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  26. adorable, great job. thanks for sharing this at my party!

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  27. brilliant my dear! thanks so much for partying with whipperberry!!
    kisses

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  28. I love this idea, great way to use scraps. :)

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  29. This is so great!!! I it looks awesome!

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  30. I have never seen a quilt like this before, I love it! thanks for sharing!!

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  31. Love how that turned out! What a great way to use all those scraps! Thanks for sharing. :)

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  32. This is AWESOME!

    I have linked this to my blog....http://angelassewingforsanity.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-top-5-project-tutorials.html

    Thanks so much for sharing!

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  33. Very nice. One day I'd love to make something like this. Thanks for sharing. I am sure it took you awhile to make this beauty :)

    I am visiting from the Wandering Wednesday blog hop. It is nice to "meet" you.

    Blessings,
    LaVonne @ Long Wait For Isabella

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  34. How did you avoid having a big amount of bulk at your seams since you had to sew the batting together to piece your blocks? Yours looks great!

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  35. Fabulous! So beautiful with all the colors. Well done. Thanks for linking up with Finished It Up Friday!

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  36. Love it, hope you don't mind if I use your technique to make a scrappy quilt. As quilters we always seem to have more and more scraps.

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  37. This looks like something I would enjoy making. I am starting to build up scraps and what a great way to make another memory.

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  38. featured this on my blog today

    www.kimboscrafts.blogspot.com

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  39. check my blog out to see how you inspired me!

    thanks again for sharing!!!

    angela

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  40. Love, Love, LOVE this! Exactly my style of quilting! Thanks for sharing! Here via Fireflies & Jellybeans

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  41. I'm a new follower. I have been wanting to make a quilt forever. I have bookmarked yours because I am sure I could make most of it, and I have quilting friends that could help with the binding and finishing. Very, very cute.

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  42. I really want to make one of these. It is gorgeous!

    I am still curious to know how you sewed the 25 blocks together. goobersbride articulated the question well. Did you lay them right sides facing each other and sew through the front AND batting? I don't understand how butting them together would create a strong enough seam. Can you please describe what did you do with the extra batting?

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  43. Aly V:
    I just got around to reading comments today. Sorry for the delay. I did lay the quilt blocks right sides facing each other and sew through the front and the batting (before doing this I trimmed all quilt blocks to remove the extra batting around the edges. This does create a strong seam. Next I trimmed all the seams as close as possible to get rid of the bulkiness of the thick seams and then I attached the backing. To quilt it, I stitched in the ditch of each seam on the quilt top and then attached the binding. I've got to get busy on making one of these for myself since this one will be a wedding gift!

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  44. love this! Please share on my weekly linky party, Reap What You Sew Sundays...http://the4rsramblings.blogspot.com

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  45. Looks great! I love all of your detailed steps. This is certainly on the one day list :)

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  46. I loved1 You are so creative in everything! I shared this lovely quilt
    LibyanQuilterina.facebook

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  47. I LOVE that you took your ideas and made a beautiful quilt!

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  48. Every school year I take scraps, white layer cakes, and glue sticks to my grandchildren's classes and we make Ticker Tape quilts for a local charity each class selects.
    So fun! While they are busy designing their block, I teach a color wheel class and discuss the beauty of tertiary colors... ;)

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  49. Gosh, this is super lovely. I just bought a 3mm pair of pinking shear scissors which would be great to cut the fabric to give it a nice edging. I may try this method out you used. Great idea. And, glad you followed through with your own design layout.

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  50. Loved this, I may just try my own version. Thanks for the idea.

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