City Blocks Quilt Finish

 

Hooray!  A quilt finish!  Matt took it to the office this morning.

I'm going to post a little "guide" in case some random stranger finds this and wants to make one.  That's what happened to me- I found this quilt here, but she had no information.  It would have saved me some time if she posted her measurements. 

This quilt, made of 80 Half-square triangles, came together very quickly.  I started with 10" squares which makes this a perfect way to use leftover layer cake pieces!

The City Blocks Quilt, finished size approx 36 1/2" by 46"

You Need:
Ten 10" square in various prints. (I used mostly VeloCity by Jessica Hogarth for P&B textiles)
Ten 10" solids
1/3-1/2 yd contrasting solid for sashing, depending on how thick you want it.  Mine was 2"
1/3 yd (about 165") of binding.
 Backing

I took my ten prints and ten solids and made HST's using this ingenious method.  I trimmed them all to 4.5" and then paired them up.  I ended up changing the layout around a bit from what I posted here.  I wanted my prints to pair up at the corners, but the previous design would have required more sashing.  This way it's a bit more random, but still coordinated.

After they were all matched up, I sewed them together in blocks of four HST's and flattened the seams as Judi suggests.  Then I cut up the sashing.   I needed 15 8.5" by 2" pieces and 4 that were the width of the bolt.  I think the original quilt probably had 1 1/2" sashing.  It looks thinner to me.

I sewed the short pieces onto the block, then sewed them into rows and sewed the rows all together.  The hardest part was keeping all the rows organized!  I was constantly referring back to pics I had taken of the layout, and I STILL switched up two squares.  Can you find them?  Anyway, I'm really happy with the way it turned out.  I used Riley Blake Pear for the solid green sashing, but I wish I would have found something else.  In my LQS it looked like the perfect color.  It ended up being softer, less intense than I wanted. 

I sure hope the new mama (for the fifth time- all boys!) likes it.  I don't know her at all, really.  But I appreciate Matt's boss and all he's done for Matt.

And now, more pics!  Matt took these, so they are WAY superior to my regular pictures.

How badly do you want to pull the stray pieces of string?