Thursday, June 2, 2011

AccuQuilt Twin Dinosaur Quilts

I have a grandson who's turning six in mid-June, sew...I had to make a quilt in a hurry.  I loved the fabric, sew I bought more than I needed and I'm making a 'twin' quilt at the same time for my oldest son's daughter's little boy who is four years old.

Because I have to have the work finished ASAP, I chose to pick out one of my AccuQuilt strip dies and get busy!  Here's what I did - I hope you find the instructions and tutorial helpful just in case you need to make a child's quilt in one evening like I did!

1 1/2 yards Fabric A (dark dino print)
1 1/2 yards Fabric B (light dino print)
1 1/2 yards brown minky
1 1/2 yards blue minky

This will make TWO child-sized quilts.

Using your AccuQuilt 4" strip cutter, cut eleven strips of each of the dinosaur fabrics, cutting six layers at a time 'cause we're in a hurry, folks, but it's still going to be perfectly cut!

Lay out your strips across your ironing board or work area next to your sewing machine.
Put your 1/4" foot on with a straight stitch setting.

Follow this pattern:

Strips for Quilt Top 1
A1
B1
A2
B2
A3
B3
A4
B4
A5
B5
A6  (end for quilt one)

Strips for Quilt Top 2
B1
A1
B2
A2
B3
A3
B4
A4
B5
A5
B6  (end for quilt two)

I ironed my quilt top seams so that they lay towards the dark fabric using Mary Ellen's Best Press.  Even in a pinch with time, I still starched my top, otherwise I'd have a disgusting mess - I always starch :-)

To save even more time, I chose minky backing to avoid having to use batting and after laying my minky right side down on my kitchen table, I sprayed it lightly with Quilt Basting Spray (great time-saving stuff!).

I smoothed my pressed top right side up onto my sprayed minky.  This is great spray because you can lift and re-do easily.

After putting my two layered quilt sandwich together, I brought it over to my Pfaff and set up the Fab-U-Motion!  This is the exciting part because if you're in a hurry, you can complete a quilt top in no time flat.  I decided to use "dinosaur eggs" as the idea for my free-motion quilting. I apologize for the dark photo, but it was at night. My grandson LOVES dinosaurs, so I think he'll love his birthday quilt - what do you think?


Uncle Rodger helping Grandma prepare the 4" strips on the AccuQuilt
Save your scraps - you can use a large crochet hook and create a floor or placemat!

AccuQuilt recommends sliding the mat across the cut fabric instead of picking it up.  This method works well.

I used a more challenging 'directional' fabric, sew I had to make sure that I laid my strips out all the same direction and I kept a careful eye on making sure they all went the same direction when sewing my quilt top together.



The 4" strip cutter allowed the faces of the dinosaurs to be displayed.  Aren't they just cute as all get out?!?


You'll sew eleven strips, alternating each time with light/dark for Quilt Top 2 and dark/light for Quilt Top 1



I believe this would work well with a wide variety of fabrics.


Here I have starched my seams with Mary Ellen's Best Press.
The two different backs are lying across the table.

Here's my Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.0 set up with the Fab-U-Motion (stitch regulator and moving table)


I am totally new to this, sat down, set it up, clicked on the foot and moved my hands.

Here's the back.  Not bad for the first time with this machine.


...and here's my grandson's dinosaur quilt!
Please let me know what you think!

This project took two hours from start to finish.
Thank you, AccuQuilt and Fab-U-Motion!
You've saved my sanity - I can get this
off in the mail and my grandson will
be please that I didn't forget
his birthday!!









4 comments:

  1. How adorable...and thanks for the tutorial!

    ReplyDelete
  2. So nice Mary Ann..I honestly can't say I am understanding the Accuquilt though...guess I'm a bit slow ..right???..lol...I am going to take a better look later though....I can finally comment again..but can't use my google account like I used to...have to do the name and url..don;t know why; but it works....lol

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love the dino quilt! Some day in the future I hope to purchase a AccuQuilt. Thanks for the great tute :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. One of the most common problems of mattresses is motion transfer. When one moves, the mattress follows and this can be disturbing to your bed partner. best pillows for sleeping india

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