Great Granny Table Topper

This was such a fun little quilt to put together, it measures about 45" X 45".

As I showed you last week, I finished all nine blocks.

I didn't take any photos of sewing the sashing and the borders.

I sandwiched the quilt top, the quilt batting and the backing and pinned it all together with curved safety pins.

I use safety pins on small projects because I can't stand basting!

When I first started quilting, I quilted by hand.  After a few quilts, I realized that even using a thimble my fingers were so sore that I didn't have any feeling in them.  I thought it was best to machine quilt.  I really love this process.  I look at the quilt for a few minutes and determine what method of quilting I should do.  I felt that stitching in the ditch wouldn't take away from the beauty of the fabric in the squares.  If you don't know what stitching in the ditch is, it is stitching on the seam line.

After all the ditches were stitched, I outline stitched each square.

The quilting is finished!

I bought a beautiful Amy Butler fabric for the back of my quilt.  I wanted a bright color for the binding, to keep the theme of the colors in the squares.  I picked an aqua polka dot out of my stash and auditioned it with the Amy Butler fabric.  I like it.

I have a Robert Kaufman app on my smartphone which I use for calculating the binding.  It told me I needed 5 strips for my binding. I cut the strips and sewed them together and pressed them in half.

Now I'm attaching it to the quilted quilt, using the method I showed you in my binding tutorial part 1 and part 2.

The table topper is finished :)

I decided to sew little circles on the sashing and borders of the quilt.
Here are some closeup photos.

I love the back of the quilt!

See how the stitching in the ditch shows up on the back?

I love finishing a project.  I put in it various areas of the house and admire it as I walk by!  Am I weird?  lol

Great Granny

Hello everyone! 

 My friend Lori, is having a "Great Granny Along" on her blog,

 Bee in my Bonnet. 

 You can find part 1 here.

I had a great time making the squares, they are very addictive. 

 You just love how one block turns out and can hardly wait to get started on another!

It has also been fun looking at everyone else's blocks on flickr and on other's blogs.

Lori made 9 blocks which created a table topper.  That is exactly what I wanted to do.  I am going to machine quilt it myself and I can only manage table toppers, table runners and baby quilts.

I decided to make each of the 9 blocks a different color.

I was able to use my scraps, which to me means anything smaller than a fat quarter.

The first thing I did was cut all 25 - 2 l/2" squares.

I turned all the squares so they were on point.

I sewed the 3 squares together on a row, then the 5, then the 7, etc.

After I had sewed the blue squares in rows, I added a white rectangle to the end of each row, excluding the middle row.

I sewed the rows together to make a block, and then sewed four longer rectangles on each end, centering them.  

The block's edges now look like stairsteps.

Each block will be cut to 12 l/2", so I simply center my 12 l/2" square ruler over the block.

With my rotary cutter, I trim off all four sides, even with the ruler.

I did mine a little differently.  I chose a colorful center, and surrounded it by the same fabric print.  All the other squares in the block are different, giving my great granny a scrappy look.

I love this aqua block, the colors are so soft.  Almost every square of fabric brings back a memory.  An outfit I made for a grand daughter, a quilt, doll's dress, bag, etc.

I love the elephant that I fussy cut in the center of this pink block.

I thought the gray block was really different.  I was thrilled to have little red riding hood fussy cut for two of the squares, including the big bad wolf and a pretty tree that is in the fabric line "A Walk in the Woods".  I also love the grey houses and flowers from "Daisy Cottage" by Lori Holt who is hosting the "Great Granny Along".

I had a harder time finding enough oranges, so I had to use some 30's prints.  I really like the butterfly in the middle.

I love the red, and like the apples I was able to find in my stash.

Can you see a little baby's head in one of the squares?

I am making a baby quilt with that fabric.

The little car and elf are pieces of some Japanese fabric that I have.

Can you tell that I am reminiscing about all the fabrics I used?  lol

It was really hard to find enough purple pieces.  I had to dig into my 30's prints and civil war reproduction fabrics.

All 9 of my blocks are sewn.  I really love the fact that each one has their own color scheme, it's very colorful.  I think I was inspired my the mini granny that I made here.

On Monday, I will show you the finished table topper, sashing, quilting, binding and all :)