Barricade - New Pattern Launch

Inspiration for a quilt often comes from the simplest of things around us.

My Barricade pattern was from one of those simple things - a roadway barricade at the Biltmore Hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona.

I had wanted to go to the Biltmore Hotel for several years now - I had to see the stained glass window Frank Lloyd Wright called "Saguaro".

On the visit to the hotel, my cellphone camera was working overtime.  The architecture inside and outside of the hotel is stunning.

Everywhere I looked I saw rectangles, rectangles and more  rectangles.  I finally used my cell phone to measure one of the blocks of the hotel - it was 2 cellphones high by 3 cellphones wide.

Hasn't everyone measured something in "cellphones''.

Oddly enough, I was so mesmerized by my surroundings, I almost missed the stained glass window.

The window is described as a stained glass window, but not in the sense of a true leaded stain glass window.

It is more like pieces of glass glued/affixed to a flat piece of glass. The window is located in a dark room, so it is hard to get a good picture of it.  I am disappointed with my picture of the window

The furniture, light fixtures, railings and doors in the hotel are all Art Deco and would be described as pieces of art.






When I stopped to take a picture of this barricade, Bruce (my husband), thought I had lost it.

On to the pattern,.....

Barricade was designed to use those special larger prints that we can never resist buying only to find you don't want to cut them up into small pieces.


There are two different larger print fabrics in this quilt.  The fabrics in my cover quilt were found by my quilt buddy, Armiel, on one of her many quilt shopping tours.  You know the ones - you get a text with a picture and caption that says "How many meters am I buying for you?"  I am eternally grateful for these texts and look forward to receiving many more!

The blocks are rectangles.  When I was making the cover quilt, I had four blocks left over - I'll make a pillow!  That thought translated into an alternate layout for the quilt.

The pattern has a baby, lap and queen sized quilt for the alternate block layout above and a baby and lap sized quilt for the big block layout.

Ask for Barricade at your local quilt shop.  Quilt shop owners,  can order the pattern from my distributor - Erie Quilt Art in Calgary, AB.

So dig out those larger print fabrics you have in your stash or the ones you have been eying in your local quilt shop and make a Barricade quilt for that someone special.

Scrap Basket Quilt Along - Step 4

From my last post on, "That Elusive 1/4" Seam" you could read between the lines and see that I was working on Step 4 at that time.

There are several things that can impact the accuracy of our 1/4" seam allowance.  Things like:

• the sewing machine you are sewing on, where you are switching between machines
• the accuracy of your pressing and
• the type of thread you are using.  

As I have already posted about differences between sewing machines, let's move on to accuracy of your pressing.

In Step 4 you will be pressing your seam allowances open to eliminate the bulk when sewing the rows together.

It is far easier to press the seams open on this row than to force the seam allowances in another direction on the other rows where you have the HST's.

I use a pressing stick when I am pressing seam allowances open.  The stick's curved surface ensures there are no extra folds of fabric on the right side of the fabric on either side of the seam.  

I don't press with out a stick.  I carry a smaller 10" in my notions bag for when I am away from my studio.

The weight of your thread when piecing can also impact the size of your blocks.  I use So Fine by Superior Threads to piece.  This thread is a 50 wt polyester thread.  The heavier your thread (ie: a smaller number) the more fabric will be taken up when it passes over top of the seam, making the block smaller.

Recently when I was in Mesa, I was using Bottom Line, another Superior Thread.  It is a 60 wt polyester. With this finer thread I noticed a difference; there was less fabric being taken up when it passed over top of the seam, making my blocks larger.

My words of advice this week, take the time to follow the process of checking the size of the joined 2 1/2" squares in this step.  You don't want to get to the end of piecing a row with 32 squares only to find the row measures 1/2 - 1" longer or shorter than 64 1/2".

Trust me on this one.

Enjoy this step and don't forget to post your Step 4 on the Facebook Group - Modern Blended Quilts - Virtual Show and Tell or on Instagram using the hashtag #scrapbasketquiltalong.

Download the instructions for Step 4 from the link below:

Scrap Basket Quilt Along Step 4

Scrap Basket Quilt Along - Step 3

That Elusive 1/4" Seam
That perfect 1/4" seam, we often take it granted.  It does make a difference!

A dear friend of mine has often said, she always sews a complete project on the same sewing machine.  I thought it shouldn't make a difference, but yes it does.

Alas, 1/4" feet are not all the same from machine to machine, especially when you are sewing on different brands of sewing machines.

I started my Scrap Basket Sampler on my newer Pfaff machine.  It has an adjustable needle position that moves in small increments.  This is a valuable feature.  My classroom machine at home is also a Pfaff with the same adjustable needle feature.  At home when I am switching between machines, I know the adjustments for each machine to get that perfect 1/4" seam.

But alas at my vacation home, I have an inexpensive Brother machine that I thought didn't have an adjustable needle position that moved in small increments.  Read the manual Susan!  Depending on the choice of two straight stitches, yes it does have the same feature.  I had been merrily sewing along  assuming that I couldn't adjust the needle position in small increments.  I have owned this machine for over 5 years and only found this feature this past week.

As a result, I had to resew, 32 - 2 1/2" squares into a long strip to get the correct length for a row of my quilt.  Lesson learned, know your sewing machine.

On to Step 3!

This step hints at the overall design of the quilt and starts to show the movement in this quilt.

Ghosting, It can be a Problem
As I have been working with some lighter fabrics, the instructions for the strip sets have you pressing the seam allowances open.

Ghosting can be a real problem.  Ghosting is when the seam allowances of a darker adjacent fabric show through to the right side of a lighter fabric.  By pressing the seam allowances open, it is only the seam allowance from the same fabric that shows through to the right side.  In my quilt, I have been using precuts of Pond fabric by Elizabeth Hartman.  What is surprising in this line of fabric has several light fabrics and a white on black print - a real nightmare for Ghosting.

Additionally, with the HSTs, we end up with a lot of bulk at some points in this quilt.  By pressing the seam allowances open, we reduce the amount of bulk where the strip sets meet the HSTs.

"Natural Direction" for Pressing Seam Allowances
 It's often easier to press seam allowances in one direction than another direction.

A good example of this is when you are sewing the 6 1/2" x 2 1/2" joined HSTs to the 6 1/2" x 4 1/2" or 6 1/2" x 16 1/2"strip sets in steps 7 and 8.  The seams just want to be pressed towards the strip sets.  The diagonal seams in the joined HSTs create more bulk as compared to the strip sets with the open pressed seams.

So, do press the seams towards the strip sets.

A rule of thumb that I use, press towards the block or unit with the fewest seams.

Enjoy this step and don't forget to post your step 3 on the Facebook Group - Modern Blended Quilts - Virtual and Tell or Instagram using the hashtag #scrapbasketquiltalong.

Download the instructions for Step 3 from the link below:

Scrap Basket Quilt Along Step 3