Colorbrick Quilt

The Simplicity quilt started last month is now a finish!

The tutorial for this quilt is posted at Stitched in Color.

The pattern calls for "bricks" cut to 10"x 5.5" so

the quilt sews together pretty quick.

I began the process by laying out all the bricks on my

design wall in random order.

Stitched in Color posted a tip on her site about using

painter's tape to mark the rows of the quilt as you sew them 

together. I took it a step further and used painter's tape to mark

the bricks as I sewed them together. It worked great and eliminated 

a lot of confusion as the rows were sewn together.

The painter's tape was also useful as the seams were pressed

at the completion of each row.

The biggest "opportunity" I had in piecing this

quilt is that I should have chosen a heavier fabric to use

for the sashing. The sashing is the glue that holds this 

project together so be sure to choose a fabric with a

tight weave if you make one for yourself.

One of my personal goals for this year is to expand

my machine quilting skills. I purchased a wonderful DVD

by Patsy Thompson called "Fast and Free" which is full

of machine quilting design ideas. The above pattern is from

the Loop-D-Loop family. The awesome thing is that Patsy

offers a series of free patterns and videos that can be downloaded

off her website if you would like to check it out:)

This was the first time I've used this particular machine quilting design on a quilt

and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I actually found it quite

relaxing to stitch out and a nice change of pace from the basic

stippling pattern that I normally use.

Here is a close-up of the quilting on the back. The thread is difficult

 to see since the shades of color are so similar, 

but it does add a nice texture to the back of the  quilt.

In conclusion, this was a fun quilt to make 

and it was liberating to try several new techniques.

Check out the other finishes this week at

Crazy Mom Quilts

Sew Darn Crafty

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Sew & Tell Friday

It's Overflowing

Simply Classic Sundays

May you always Sew in Peace!