A Year of Finishes

Why not add another flickr group to my plate!

A friend of mine, Shanna, is a hard core blogger compared to me.  She is working on this whole project with Melissa.  You can join in too!

My January project is to finish my Batik Stripper Quilt top.  I sewn this part at Shanna's house on Dec. 29th, I decided to do a 45 degree sewing between each strip, the hardest part was making sure the angle was going the same direction on one long strip, but not every row is going the same direction.


I used about 40 batik 2.5" strips from a shop-hop collection that I gathered in 2011, it maybe covered half of my queen bed.  I estimated that I needed to cut another 40.  I am amazed I have 40 different batiks to add to this!  I didn't even get into my purple drawer!

I spent one night cutting, about 2-3 hours.  Another night sewing some together, another 2 hours.  Then another night sewing the rest and iron to see how big this is and it's FINISHED!



This could easily be a weekend quilt project.  I did not follow any pattern, it is all straight sewing.  It is a very nice way of using up scraps or jelly rolls that you have no clue what to make.  You can google "Jelly Roll Race" and see the different variations to this very simple idea.

Have fun and keep quilting!

SewBeeIt March Block

It's my month for the SewBeeIt group and I've selected to use batik fabrics to make a block referred to as the "Garden Fence."  Not sure why it's called that but I like the appeal of using scraps and strip piecing.  I've seen pictures on flickr that show the center square being one print, the corners being another print, and white solid for the block sashing.  Of course, I want to be different.

Jovanna's Batik Garden Fence Quilt Block

Here are the cutting dimensions for one block that finishes at 10" (10 1/2" unfinished)
Center square: 4.5" x 4.5"
Outer corners: 4 - 2.5" x 3" and 4 - 2.5" x 5" 

Beige (light): 1.5" strips

 This tutorial to to help my beemates to make 2 blocks for me.  Please do not wash the fabric.

March Batik Packet

Each packet will have 2 types of beige-ish batik for the sashing that needs to be cut into 1.5" strips (far bottom right).  You can mix and match like I did, or you can make them all match.

8 batik strips for corners

Next, identify the 2 batiks that are approximately 5" wide to cut the two 4.5" squares for the center (bottom left).

Finally, each person will have 8 different batik strips to cut into 2.5" strips, then cut one 3" and one 5" rectangles for the corners.  I provided enough fabric in case you have a lapse in measuring, like my first block had 4" centers so now it's going to be a glorified potholder.

How-To Sew It All Together

Batik Garden Fence Block

Sew a border of beige fabric around the 4.5" squares, sewing opposing sides on first, then the next opposing sides.  Press to the outside.

Layout the corners to determine which fabric will be paired together.  Sew the two top small rectangles together with a sashing in the middle to create a "spoke" from the center, and do the same for the bottom.  These are sewn on the bordered center blocks.  I prefer to sew the set to the "short" side first -- the side where the first beige border was sewn (see the example block).

Sew the matching longer rectangles to the beige sashing to create the last "spokes" from the center.  Make sure the batik fabrics match in the corners (see example block).

Press the seams anyway you see fit as you work your way around the block.

The end result will start to look like this:

Quilt layout without sashing

The "spokes" will match up creating an interesting effect of plus signs and floating squares.