Quilts in Review 2021
This post is basically a record of all the quilts I made in 2021 – my first full calendar year as a quilter!
As some of you will know I consider myself a ‘confident beginner’. I started quilting during the first lockdown in 2020 and quickly became capital O Obsessed! I probably clocked several years worth of quilting practice during that time so I feel like I learned a lot pretty quickly.
I did a video where I talk about the quilts I made this year which is below.
You can also scroll past the video to see photos and find the links to all the blog posts, free patterns and video tutorials if you see a quilt you want to make too!
Quilts in Review Video
Denim Improv Quilt – Just make anything!
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This was the first quilt I made in 2021. I was in a sewing rut after the rush of sewing Christmas presents for family and friends at the end of 2020.
So I found myself stopping and starting various projects in January and just feeling anything but confident.
Eventually, I decided I just had to ‘make anything’ to get myself out of that headspace so I grabbed some denim and a Moda Scrap Bag and just kept going even when I wasn’t sure it would turn out well!
The Denim Improv Quilt Tutorial & Video is here.
Fleece Backed Linus Quilts
The next 3 quilts I made were all based around some unfinished patchwork blocks I bought on ebay.
I basically had decided to buy several lots of unfinished patchwork to try to finish the work of some more experienced quilters. I contacted the sellers to ask a bit about the quilters and was told they had either passed on or were in a care home and couldn’t keep quilting.
These 3 quilts were made with the blocks of one lady who had developed Alzheimer’s.
I didn’t use any patterns I just built on what she had made with the fabric I had in my stash.
When I contacted Linus Quilts (where I eventually donated these) to ask their requirements I was encouraged to try backing them with fleece so I gave it a go and found out I really liked it!
Blog Post & Video about my 3 Fleece-Backed Quilts
9 Quilt Backing Ideas – From Super Simple to Super Scrappy!
Rainbow Raindrops Free Baby Quilt Pattern
I made this quilt super quickly using an Accuquilt die for the raindrop shapes and simple raw edge applique.
It was also the first quilt I used my ruler foot on for the quilting. I was really pleased with how it turned out.
Free Rainbow Raindrops Baby Quilt Pattern, Tutorial & Video
Accuquilt GO! Fabric Cutter Review
‘The Beast’ – Queen Sized Quilt-As-You-Go Quilt
This was my first ever queen-sized quit.
The pattern is the Rojas Quilt by Wisecraft Handmade.
HOWEVER – I knew I could not just follow the pattern straight on this one – I had to adapt it to be quilt-as-you-go because there was no way I was going to be able to fit the whole thing through the throat of my machine!
So I spent a lot of time researching different quilt as you go methods…I was specifically looking for a way I could achieve this without hand sewing!
I eventually found a method that worked for me which I’ve spoken about in the video and blog post about this quilt.
Queen Sized Quilt-As-You-Go Blog Post & Video
7 Quilt-As-You-Go Methods – In search of the perfect NO HAND SEWING Method!
X Marks the Scrap – Free Scrap Quilt Pattern
This quilt is one of the ones I love cuddling up with.
It was a labour of love and has so many scraps in it!
I used adding machine tape to make the scrap fabric strips that make up the X blocks – making the scrappy strips was the slowest part of this and I did it as I finished other projects to clean up the scraps.
I have a free pattern for this quilt on the blog as well as a video tutorial.
X Marks the Scrap Free Pattern and Video Tutorial
How to Sew Scraps to Adding Machine Tape
Modern Improv Scrap Quilt
This quilt was made as a wedding gift. It was a quick make and took just under a week to make.
I used Ruby Star Society scraps and low-volume remnants for the background.
Modern Improv Scrap Quilt Blog & Video Tutorial
The Grey Quilt
This was my last quilt of 2021. It was a Christmas Gift for my sister and her family.
My sister loves grey! I made her these grey coasters for Christmas as well!
I don’t have a tutorial for this one as I was in a rush to get it finished but you can see a bit more of it in my video about the Microstitch Basting Gun as that is the method I used to baste this one.
The hexagon blocks are foundation paper pieced blocks that I drafted myself in Electric Quit 8 and I might use them in another pattern in 2022 so look out for that!
2020 Quilts
I didn’t write a post like this at the end of 2020 so below are links to the quilts I made in 2020 in case you are interested!
I think there might be one or two from that year that never made it to a blog post but these are most of them anyway!
- My First Quilt – Improv Quilt
- Quilt-as-You-Go Learner’s Quilt: Part 1 & Learning to Quilt: ‘Learner’s Quilt’ Sampler Part 2
- Reversible Denim Quilt from Old Jeans – My First Denim Quilt!
- A Scrappy Quilt with Scrappy Binding (& even Scrappy Quilting!)!
- Scrappy Disappearing 9 Patch Quilt
- Easy Sailboat Quilt
