Today it’s time to share the fourth quilt that’s presented in my book Piece and Quilt with Precuts. Here’s, “S.W.A.K.” featuring a colorful X+O themed design. This is the last quilt in the first section of the book that’s all walking-foot quilted. Of course you can mix and match any of the pieced and quilted designs in the book, and there’s tons of options for you to choose from!
S.W.A.K Photography courtesy of Martingale/That Patchwork Place and Brent Kane.
Piece It
Of course if you look closely, you’ll see that this quilt is constructed entirely from one of my favorite units – the half-square triangle (or HST for short). I could literally design a book full of quilts based on this versatile building block!
The trick that makes this design work is the color placement of the blocks. The pattern actually includes two sizes for the quilt. You can start with fresh fabrics, or you can do what I did and use leftovers from another quilt in the book (coming up later on the hop). Whichever way you choose to make it, I’m sure you’ll have as much fun with it as I did!
For the thread, I chose a shade of blue from my Aurifil Piece and Quilt Collection It’s just the right shade that blends into all of the fabrics, but you can still see it on the navy print. The stitches sink in nicely to the quilt because I’m using one of my favorite battings from Hobbs – 80/20 cotton/poly.
See the end of the post below for a fabulous batting giveaway!
Quilt It
In each of my books so far, I’ve taught different ways to quilt spirals with your walking foot (or dual feed). For S.W.A.K. I figured out how to quilt a continuous square spiral. The secret is to count your stitches when you quilt the starting square! Of course I go into a much more detailed explanation in the book and include plenty of diagrams and closeup photography so you can follow along. I also include which fabrics and precuts I chose, along with which batting and thread I used for each quilt. I wanted you to have all the details for each quilt!
More S.W.A.K inspiration
Check out the amazing color options below. Head to each blog to read more about their fabric and quilting choices and be on the lookout for more giveaways! Whether you like to piece, or quilt, or both, we’ve got you covered with loads of inspiration!
Who says you have to make the quilt exactly as shown in the book? I love how Michelle Bartholomew made fewer blocks and turned them into this lovely table runner. And her straight line quilting adds incredible texture to the piece. Visit her blog to see more stunning pics and read what she has to say about her version of S.W.A.K.
If you plan to attend at QuiltCon next year, you’ll definitely want to take her photography workshop. Isn’t her picture so fab?? I always admire those who can style and shoot a beautiful beautiful image!
Sherry from Powered by Quilting chose stunning black, white and gray prints with a pop of blue and red. Here’s a bonus tip: If you want to skip all the triangle trimming, you can, as long as all of your blocks are the same size. It will make your quilt slightly bigger but since it’s made from the same unit throughout, they’ll all fit together.
If you do choose to trim, here’s any idea on what to do with the waste: stuff them all into a pillowcase. When it’s full, simply stitch the end closed and donate it to an animal shelter to use as a pet bed. It’s an eco-friendly way to recycle even the tiniest of scraps!
Didn’t Sherry do such a fantastic job with her version of S.W.A.K? The color scheme gives it a sort of modern patriotic vibe and she did an amazing job with her quilting! Head over to Sherry’s blog to see more gorgeous pics and read about her interaction with the book.
As you can see by all of these examples including Allison from Allison Sews, this is such a fun design to make from your favorite scraps or coordinated precut bundle!
Look at all that yummy texture!!
I’ve enjoyed watching Allison share her in-progress videos on Instagram. Now you can pop over to her blog to see how she chose to quilt this beauty, along with her fabulous finish!
Today’s Gift – Win Batting from Hobbs
In the book I made nearly each quilt from a different batting so I could try them out, and I listed which batting was used so you can try them out, too. My #1 piece of advice when choosing batting is to use a different batting on your next few quilts and see which ones you like best!
My preference is for natural fiber battings and I love that Hobbs offers such a wide assortment. Today’s lucky winner will receive a Hobbs batting of your choice, so you can experiment, too!
Natural fiber battings cling to the quilt, helping you to prevent shifting and puckers!
To enter, leave me a comment on this blog post letting me know how you prefer to buy batting – do you like to get it by the yard, in pre-sized packages, by the bolt, or some other way? I’m curious to know! This giveaway is open to all, and a winner will be chosen at the end of the hop.
If you haven’t yet purchased your copy of Piece and Quilt with Precuts,
I have a fresh box of them waiting to ship, and I’m happy to sign one for you!
Update: Winner Selected and Comments Closed
Congrats to Peggy P. who has been notified via email.
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