Kids' Quilts Blog Hop: Day 2

Welcome back for Day 2 of our Kids' Quilts Blog Hop! Today Nikki from The Girl Who Quilts is here, sharing a tutorial that transforms a simple patchwork square design into something special with a little dimensional applique. Nikki used the English Rosey by Maria Kalinowski for Kanvas to make this quilt. 

Check out her technique in the tutorial, and then don't miss the spotlight on a charity accepting kids' quilts at the end, as well as a chance to win a bundle of English Rosey prints for yourself!

Hi! I'm Nikki, and I blog over at The Girl Who Quilts. I'm so excited to share a quilt tutorial today. I love to make charity quilts, so that makes this project especially fun for me!

Here are the great fabrics which Benartex provided me for this event. The collection is called English Rosey, and it's a great combination of different prints.

These are the prints that I chose to use in my quilt:

Here's what you will need to create this quilt:

4 - 5/8 yard cuts of coordinating fabric

1/2 to 1 yard of large scale print (I used a floral)

1/2 yard binding fabric

3 yards backing fabric

55" x 65" batting

Large batting scraps

Marking pen or pencil suitable to use on batting

Optional: Basting spray or glue stick to temporary hold the applique pieces

To begin, I cut 8 squares measuring 10" x 10" from each of the 4 coordinating prints.

Next I cut out 8 large floral motifs from my large scale prints. I left about a 1/4" edge around the floral motifs because I wanted the background fabric color in the floral print to frame the prints.

I am going to raw edge applique the floral pieces to one of my coordinating prints. To give them some dimension, I want to back them with batting. To cut the batting, lay each of the 8 floral motifs on the batting scraps and trace around the motifs one at a time.

I like to use a marker to trace on batting. This marker erases with ironing, but if you're using a marking pen that doesn't erase just be careful not to draw on the edges of the applique pieces.

Here you can see how I drew around my floral motifs:

All traced!

Now cut the batting *inside* the drawn line by 1/4" all the way around.

If you lay the batting over the wrong side of the applique piece, the applique piece should show around the edges by about 1/4", as shown here.

At this point, you can applique your floral pieces, or wait to do that during the quilting. To applique the floral pieces now:

Lay the floral motif on one of the 10" x 10" squares, layering the cut batting between the block and the floral motif, and stitch around about a 1/4" inside the cut edge. Feel free to use a walking foot or a free motion foot to do this step. (There are pictures of this below.)

Once the piece is sewn down, you can stitch around the different elements of the motif. If you'd prefer, you can save this step for when you quilt the quilt. (See photos below.)

You can now stitch your blocks together into a 5 block x 6 block layout. You will have 2 - 10" x 10" squares left.

If you'd rather applique the pieces during the quilting process, follow the instructions below:

I chose to wait to applique my floral pieces.

First, I stitched together my blocks in a 5 block x 6 block layout.

Next I pieced my backing and basted my top, backing, and batting.

Beginning in one corner of the quilt, I started to quilt an all-over loop design.

When I approached a square where I wanted to applique a floral piece, I placed the batting and fabric in place* and quilted my way to the edge of the applique. Rather than cut my threads, I sewed from the edge of the applique up to the edge of the floral design. Can you see the stitch line to the right of my quilting foot in this photo? That is how I transitioned from the background loop quilting to stitching down the applique!

*If you're worried about the applique shifting, try basting spray or a bit of glue stick to hold the piece in place.

Next I quilted around the entire piece, approximately 1/4" from the cut edge, holding it in place as I sewed around. No need to stitch perfectly along the print!

After quilting around the piece I outlined the individual flowers and leaves, plus added some quilting details. The double layer of batting really makes the quilting pop!

Continue to applique the pieces and quilt the rest of the quilt.

If you appliqued the pieces onto the individual blocks above, you can now baste and quilt your quilt as desired. Adding quilting details to the appliqued pieces really makes them pop!

Now bind your quilt with your favorite method!

Before washing the quilt check the applique pieces for excess batting, as shown here:

If there are large pieces of batting like this, trim a bit of it away. Be careful not to cut through the applique or quilt, though! It's better to leave the excess batting than risk cutting too close. This is as close as I would try to trim:

Now wash and dry your quilt!

 The applique edges should be soft and fluffy! Feel free to trim away any long threads. I also ironed the applique pieces to flatten the edges for this photo:

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! I'm excited to send this quilt off to Benartex for donation to Quilts for Kids!

Thanks, Nikki! 

Meet a Charity:

Quilts for Kids

Inspired by discontinued fabric samples that were being thrown away, founder Linda Ayre began Quilts for Kids to use those samples to create quilts for children in need. Fourteen years later, the organization has facilitated the donation of almost 30,000 quilts using the following mission statement: Transforming fabrics into patchwork quilts that comfort children with life-threatening illnesses and children of abuse.

How it works: Quilters can make and send in a quilt on their own or request and receive a kit to assemble a quilt, which is then returned to the Quilts for Kids headquarters to be given to a child needing comfort. The organization is always accepting donations of finished quilts, fabric, or for volunteers to "adopt" a quilt, providing financial sponsorship. Closer to home, local chapters organize quilts for local hospitals and are happy to have more volunteers. 

To find out more about how you can get involved, visit the Quilts for Kids website.

For a chance to win a fat quarter bundle of the English Rosey collection, simply sign up to follow this blog, either through Bloglovin' (or another blog reader service) or email (both options are in the right hand sidebar) and leave a comment letting us know you follow. In your comment, let us know what you're most looking forward to about spring. Leave a second comment and receive a second entry by following us on Facebook and letting us know. This giveaway is open through Sunday, March 2 at 11:59 PM EST. 

Make sure you check out all the tutorials from the Kids' Quilts Blog Hop:

Day 1: by the Benartex Blog Team, featuring Monkeying AroundDay 3: by Emily from Mommy's Nap Time, featuring Doodle Dog
Day 4: by Sarah from Confessions of a Fabric Addict, featuring Yard Dog