11.13.2015

Northbound - A Low-Volume Quilt Tutorial

My local modern quilt guild, Red Rock Modern Quilt Guild, recently issued a Low-Volume quilt challenge. I was pretty excited about this challenge and couldn't wait to get started. Even though I'm not much of a "stasher" I do have a few fabrics that are left over from quilts I've made that I've just been dying to use. You all know that I love brights, so I knew that the combination of brights and the low-volume fabrics would be the perfect combination for my quilt.

I had the idea in mind to make flying geese, but I wasn't quite sure what the layout would be. I just wanted to go with what I had. I did pick up a few low-volume prints from my local quilt shop, Quilted Works, but other than that, the fabrics are all leftovers.


To make my quilt I began cutting all of my fabrics. I just cut what I had and decided to go from there. I really thought that the quilt would end up being lap or throw size, I was quite surprised when it finished at 78"x90". I'm thinking it'll be my new picnic quilt!
After making the quilt I decided to machine quilt it with straight lines, I would have loved to quilt some really cool custom quilting, but because I had in mind that this would be come a picnic quilt I knew that more simple quilting would be more appropriate.

So, I machine quilted edge to edge straight lines. I quilted the whole quilt in off white thread and then I decided it would be fun to go back through and add in some colors. So, I added in blue, gray, green, pink and blue threads. You really have to look close to see the thread colors, but I really love the little bit of interest that it added to the quilt.
The lines are also very random, there is no rhyme or reason to them, just straight lines. In fact, they are so random that I actually recruited my 3 year old boy to help with the quilting.
Channel locks are awesome in more than one way! :) #nataliaskids
Posted by Piece N Quilt on Friday, November 6, 2015
The quilt was so much fun to make I thought I'd share a little tutorial with you today!

To make this quilt you will need the following fabrics:
Background/Low-volume fabrics: 6 1/2 yards
Bright Prints: 2 yards
Binding: 3/4 yard
Backing: 5 1/2 yards

Cutting:
Bright fabrics:
147- 3 1/2"x6 1/2" strips

Background/Low-volume fabrics:
294- 3 1/2"x3 1/2" squares (draw a diagonal line from corner to corner on the wrong side of these.)
245- 3 1/2"x6 1/2" strips

Sewing:
Place one 3 1/2"x3 1/2" square on the left side of one 3 1/2"x6 1/2" strip.
Sew along the diagonal line.
Trim 1/4" on the outside of the draw line.
Press.
Place one 3 1/2"x3 1/2" white square on the right side of the unit from the previous step. 
Sew along the diagonal line.
Trim 1/4" on the outside of the draw line.
Press.

Blocks should be 3 1/2"x6 1/2"

Repeat, make 147 flying geese units.

For more detailed flying geese instructions visit our Mosaic Star Quilt Block Tutorial.

Sew the blocks together into rows.
Rows 1 & 13.
Sew 3 flying geese blocks and 27, 3 1/2"x6 1/2" low-volume rectangles.
Press the rows up.
Rows 2 & 12.
Sew 6 flying geese blocks and 24,  3 1/2"x6 1/2" low-volume rectangles.
Press the rows down.
Rows 3 & 11.
Sew 9 flying geese blocks and 21, 3 1/2"x6 1/2" low-volume rectangles.
Press the rows up.
Rows 4 & 10.
Sew 12 flying geese blocks and 18, 3 1/2"x6 1/2" low-volume rectangles.
Press the rows down.
Rows 5 & 9.
Sew 15 flying geese blocks and 15, 3 1/2"x6 1/2" low-volume rectangles.
Press the rows up.
Rows 6 & 8.
Sew 18 flying geese blocks and 12, 3 1/2"x6 1/2" low-volume rectangles.
Press the rows down.
Row 7.
Sew 21 flying geese blocks and 9, 3 1/2"x6 1/2" low-volume rectangles.
Press the row up.
Sew the 13 rows together. Refer to the illustration above for layout.

Quilt and bind as desired.

For more machine quilting tips and tricks check out my books; Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting and Next Steps in Machine Quilting.

13 comments:

  1. Love this! Thanks for sharing the pattern.

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  2. Very very nice! Thanks so much. I love it!

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  3. I wondered whose quilt you let your son play on when I saw that posting on IG. Good for you to make yourself a quilt!

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  4. I wondered whose quilt you let your son play on when I saw that posting on IG. Good for you to make yourself a quilt!

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  5. Thank you for this tutorial. I love your quilt!

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  6. Thank for sharing the pattern. I would love to do this in Christmas fabrics. Your helper is adorable!

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  7. Your quilt is stunning and the the little is adorable.Thanks for the tutorial!

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  8. It's sooo beautiful :-)
    Best regards,
    Kathrin

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  9. This quilt is SPECTACULAR! Bright colors on a scrappy low-volume background is my absolute fave and this one is going straight to the top of the list. Thanks for including a tutorial. I think I''ll have to add something similar to my 2016 project list. It really is gorgeous!

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  10. Thank you for the time you spent on this tutorial. I love this quilt and have already started it. I am a long time fan of your work.

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