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Thursday, January 2, 2014

Baby Jane Twister Quilt

Yes, another twister quilt! Out of all the quilts I've shown my non-sewing friends, twisters are always the most popular. The following quilt was commissioned by a former co-worker whose friend just had a baby girl. This quilt was finished at the end of August 2013, but I couldn't reveal it because it was a gift. I had a week to work on this quilt and it was exhausting! Who know that working on a single quilt was more tiring than working on 15 quilts at one time? ;D I am very thankful for both my proximity to Fat Quarter Shop and their fast order processing time, because I was able to get this quilt started and finished very quickly!

Twister Quilt | 48"x48" | Baby Jane and Kona Snow


This is the first pattern I have repeated and I was able to implement all the "Lessons Learned" from the Twister at the Reunion Quilt.  I used Eric and Julie Comstock's Baby Jane fabric and I just love the vintage look of it. It is such a sweet line of fabric! I made the last baby twister quilt with a couple of charm packs, but I bought the whole fat quarter bundle for the making of this one. Baby Jane is about half cream colors, which would have blended into the Kona Snow background. With the fat quarter bundle, I was able to pick and choose which prints to use for the twisters. There is also the added benefit that I have some fabric left over for myself!


The first quilt top is made out of 85 printed 5"* charm squares* and 85 white 5"* charm squares. The white border is made from 5"* strips of fabric and the red border (Scarlet Hop and Skip) is made from 3.5"* strips of fabric. The first quilt top is a 74.5" square. I used the June Tailor Twist n' Stitch ruler to cut the twister blocks from the first top. The twister blocks are 3.5"* squares and the final quilt top is a 48.5" square.

*Unfinished sizes





The main backing piece is Baby Jane Happiness Multi.  The name is paper-pieced using ...from blank pages...  My First Alphabet pattern. I am not 100% sure about the exact color of the solid, but it is possibly Bella Solids Aqua. I could not find a chevron print that was a close match to the aqua, so I made a pattern and paper-pieced my own chevron panel. The quilt ended up the perfect size to fit four of the Scarlet Knick Knack "panels," so I used that print as the bottom fabric.


The batting is Heirloom® Premium 80/20 Cotton Blend. I quilted with a 2" crosshatch and Aurifil 50wt White.

I had to rip quite a bit of quilting out on this one, because of two silly mistakes:
  1. About half-way through quilting I realized there was a giant space between the "L" and the "Y," which made the name appear as "ADDIL YN."  It is something I should have caught before I pieced the back, but I didn't see it until after I quilted over the name!  I ended up ripping out the quilting and taking out the tiny piece of spacing fabric between the two letters (While managing to keep the quilt mostly basted. lol).
  2. After washing the finished quilt, I saw what looked like two giant red bleeds on the white fabric. It was not a bleed, but some fraying pieces of fabric that ended up underneath the white background. Fortunately the threads were close enough to the edge that I could somewhat easily undo the binding and quilting to remove the offending threads with a pair of tweezers. I will definitely be more diligent about checking for loose threads from now on! (EDIT 1/6/2014: kelly o! left a great comment about using a tiny crochet hook to reach through the top and grab those missed threads. LizzyO Quilts has a fantastic tutorial that illustrates this method!)



This is the first quilt that I pre-washed every single piece, including the batting. As you can see in this post-wash picture, it still turned out very crinkly. I have made quilts with absolutely no pre-washing that have turned out less crinkly! If anyone has any insight on this, let me know! My current theories are that the fabric isn't fully shrunk because I use the delicate cycle or it is just the nature of the Heirloom batting. I like the crinkly look, but I am never sure how non-quilters will feel about it.




I usually don't choose my binding until the end of quilting, since I usually change my mind after seeing the finished quilt. With this quilt, it was obvious from the beginning that Scarlet Cross My Heart was the perfect choice! I love stripe binding! When piecing the binding, I made sure to join it so it looked like there was no break in the stripe pattern. I got SO lucky in the end, because my final binding join matched up perfectly.





With the leftover fabric from the quilt, I made a complimentary pillow, with a simple envelope backing. I think the "Scarlet Knick Knack" print is so sweet and I really wanted it to be the focus.


This is the seventh and last quilt finish for 2013. I hope to have many more quilt finishes for 2014. I definitely have enough finished quilt tops to make that happen! :D

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and TGIFF, which is hosted by Quokka Quilts this week

23 comments so far. What are your thoughts?

Amy, a redeemed sheep said... #

What a darling quilt! Love that you put the baby's name on the back. Great idea!

Izzy said... #

Such a nice baby quilt. I love the name on the back and the binding is the perfect finishing touch.

Debbie said... #

oh I love all the itty bitty details you shared about this one. Just so sweet and I love the detailing on the back AND that perfect binding. Really nice!

Vera said... #

It is cool effect for sure. Nice combo.

MsMidge said... #

I absolutely adore this quilt! Especially the back!

Megan said... #

What a gorgeous quilt, I'm so impressed that you could do all that in a short space of time!

Amy DeCesare said... #

This quilt is just taking my breath away...love the adorable prints and colors, and the back is just as exciting as the front. Thank you for sharing each detail of the process and even those stumbles along the way. I love reading blogs like this! I really like knowing what type of batting, which pattern, which fabrics...etc. I had no idea how that Twister quilt was constructed, and it's like magic! I think you just sold me a Lil Twister tool!

Katy Cameron said... #

It looks fabulous, but wow, that's a lot of shrinkage from the original size, isn't it? I suppose that's what happens when you keep chopping things up and resewing them though ;o)

Kerstin said... #

Beautiful finish after all the trouble you had with it!

Sue Daurio said... #

What a great finish, both front and back. I LOVE the pillow to go with it.

Michelle said... #

I love that jagged border -- it adds so much zing!

Angie said... #

I love this quilt! Thanks for sharing all the details. I have a layer cake of this line, and have been waiting for inspiration to strike...this is definitely it! And, I'll have lots of charms left over :) And, I love everything about the back of this quilt too...such creativity!

Ashley @ WasntQuiltInADay said... #

Taryn, the way you do your backs is amazing. I love the name, the chevron, the prints, hello! Fabulous. I am going to have to check out your PP templates. Such an adorable finish!

Celtic Thistle said... #

Fabulous quilt Taryn, I bet your client and her friend were thrilled with it!

QuiltCandy said... #

What a stunning quilt and I love the cushion too!

LisaAnn said... #

What a cute quilt! The binding is perfection :)

Michele said... #

Just adorable and I'm sure that it will be well loved.

Sarah @ mila+cuatro said... #

It looks great, and I can't believe you managed to close the gap between the letters while keeping it mostly basted! And that you unpicked the binding to tweezer out the loose threads - very impressive.

kelly o! said... #

Fantastic quilt! Beautifully done!!

A helpful tip I learned a while back: when you have those "floating fibers" under the top, use a *tiny* crochet hook to slip between stitches and capture the loose threads. Works a treat!

Now I'm off to check out more of your blog!

Kathy @ Kwilty Pleasures said... #

Love those twister Kwilts!

Joanie's Trendy Quilts said... #

What a wonderful baby quilt - so bright and happy! The back is too! Love the name stip with the chevron arrows. So cute!

Heidi Staples said... #

Taryn, this is such a great finish! I love that you made a pillow to go with it. I've had that happen with loose threads under a light quilt top too -- so frustrating. I try to catch them all while basting, but they're sneaky...

Alyce @ Blossom Heart Quilts said... #

Wow, what a saga, but well worth it! Such a beautiful quilt :)

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