Works in Progress: Briar Rose

This week I have been cutting into some of my layer cakes. I just love to make simple quilts, they come together so quickly...giving me less time to get bored with the pattern and the fabrics.

I am a big fan of Pinterest...so many ideas in one place. I love to look at the pictures of quilts. I get a lot of inspiration from looking at the pictures. And I am always looking for the simple way to make the pattern.
 
I decided to cut into a Briar Rose layer cake that I have  and came up with this simple to make quilt. It will be a great sofa throw after it is quilted, so I may even decide to add some borders and make it larger for a bed...we'll see.

I started by taking my layer cake and cutting each block in half, giving me two 5in x 10 in rectangles. 

I left all the blocks in the order that they were cut. I then removed the top 3 blocks from one side and placed those on the bottom of that pile. Then I took the top piece from each pile and sewed these together.

After I had all of the blocks sewn together, I pressed the seams to one side, and then squared them up.

Then I began alternating the blocks and sewing them together to make rows. I had 7 rows that were 6 blocks wide.

These blocks were from the Sasparilla layer cake.

I alternated the blocks so that I did not have to try and match seams. I chain pieced these blocks together, but I forgot that I needed to alternate the beginning block on each row. So, I had to spend some time with my handy seam ripper.

But after getting the blocks laid out in the order that I wanted and then sewn together, the rows were easy to just match the seam and sewed together using a 1/4 in seam.

 

This top didn't take but a couple of hours to put together. It would have been a little less, if I had not had to take time to use the seam ripper. This makes a great project for a gift when time is limited.

I spent some time this week binding some of the tops that I had made. Now I just need to get them quilted.

I have gotten comfortable machine quilting a few all over designs. I think it is time for me to start trying and conquering some new designs, and maybe even using more than one or two designs on a  quilt.

 

How do you choose the machine quilting patterns that you quilt your quilts with? I would love to hear any comments on how you choose your quilting designs!

 

Joyce