Striaght Out Of Line

Happy Monday! Hope your weekend was productive :) I actually took the day off from sewing on Saturday.  I was between projects and not sure which of the many quilts I have in my head on on my list of quilts needing to be gifted to start. . . just needed some time to think and ponder.  I knew one thing, it needs to be quick and easy!  After finishing the bargello (except for the border, you can see a pic and why I stopped at the border here and no it wasn't because I forgot my passport LOL), I knew the next project needed to be pretty straight forward and hopefully without a lot of fuss!!  I started the project yesterday and will keep you in suspense until tomorrow :) I should get a good way through it today and I don't have any pictures yet!

So what is Straight Out of Line? It's a ruler! This is another ruler designed by Karla Alexander.  If you have read many of my previous posts you know I am definitely a fan!! You can find a video of Karla explaining the different styles of quilt you can make with the ruler here.  I used the ruler for a baby quilt my husband asked me to make for one of the guys at work.  Here's how the conversation went:

Hubbins: Are you going to make a quilt for Ted?
Me: I hadn't thought about it but if you would like me to, sure, I can do that.  When is the baby due?
Hubbins: Two weeks.
Me: Wha what??

OK, I can do this.... My favorite go to girly fabric is Bali Crackers (pops or snaps) Kool Aid.  Just love the pinks purples and blues thrown in for good measure!  For the backing I used Moda flannel and minky.  This is one of those quilts that I did not get a good picture of before it went to its new home :(  I didn't even get a picture of it finished! So here are the pictures I have. 

So sad that I didn't even take a picture of the front after I quilted it!! :(

If you look really close you can see the quilting on this one.... I did an all over flower vine design.

Like the Curves for Squares ruler, I just loved working with this ruler! And no, I'm not getting paid to say that :) I watched the video several times and got to work! I had to get moving if I was going to get this done in what now was a little over a week due to having to wait for confirmation of whether I was making a boy themed or girl themed quilt....

There are a good number of seams to match when using this ruler. . . but really, that wasn't an issue.  I was very careful about my cuts and did use a pin at the seem intersections and it went well and was surprisingly quick.  I decided to use the left over 10" squares for the border.  I cut them down to 5" inch squares and made enough for the border.  The big squares went so fast I figured I had time.... The smaller squares went pretty quick too but what I had not taken into consideration was having the right number of squares on the border to continue the secondary design that happens with this ruler.... I obsessed with trying to make it work and in the end decided no one but me would notice. . . I'm guessing unless you go back and study the corners, you didn't notice either!  Well, that and there was no way to make it work, if the math doesn't work, it doesn't work!  Note to self, be a little more careful about pieced borders in the planning stages!!

I decided to piece the back too. . . Such a glutton for punishment!! haha I have days left to finish at this point, I had just received the flannel in the mail from Missouri Star Quilt Co and I did not order enough fabric.... What's a girl to do?  Well, I went to an LQS that has TONS of Minky fabrics and decided I would add Minky to the mix.  The cutting and sewing for the backing went quick.  11" squares (so I could do 1/2" seams, not because I was going to rag them but because I wanted to make sure if the fabric slipped some those seams were not going to come loose).

The quilting of this quilt went really smooth as well.  I was able to finish the quilting and binding in a matter of two days.  Good thing, I didn't have much time to spare!  Threw the quilt in the wash and ran to the store to get a cutesy bag and tissue. . . I was smiling just thinking about my husband walking into work with this huge baby girl themed gift bag :)

 Linking up with Merelize over at Stitch by Stitch for Anything Goes Mondays, go check out what peeps are working on this week and join in the linky fun :)


 Until next time, keep on quilting!