Hi ,

Last week I shared a new Fruit & Vegetable quilt pattern featuring 4-inch squares. Many quilters replied and asked for the quilt pattern to be adjusted for 5-inch charm pack squares. I agree - precut fabrics make it so much easier to dive straight into piecing.

This week I'm including this new charm pack quilt pattern, which you can use to showcase any fabric, not just food fabrics!

This is a terrific way to showcase your favorite charm pack. If you'd like to try this technique with larger pieces of fabric, Click Here to check out the Fabric Shadow Showcase pattern.

Charm Pack Shadow Quilt Pattern

I've resized this quilt pattern to fit 42 precut 5-inch squares, which is the typical amount included in most charm packs. 

You can pair this with one solid precut jelly roll pack of 42 - 2 1/2-inch strips, used for the sashing, borders, and binding. This will piece up much faster, but the finished size of the quilt will be constrained to 47 x 54.5 inches. 

Of course, you can cut wider borders or sashing strips from yardage if desired. Just be sure to use the same color fabric throughout the sashing and borders to maintain the shadow effect behind the blocks.

Materials

• 42 precut 5-inch squares. Click Here to find fun spring packs on Amazon.
• 1/2 yard Shadow Fabric - Double check that this solid fabric reads darker than the background fabric. I use these Color Evaluator Glasses to easily check.
• 1 precut 2 1/2 inch strip pack is enough for background and binding. Make sure to select a precut pack that is one solid color - not multiple fabrics or prints - in order for this pattern to work. Click Here to find solid color packs on Amazon.

Before sub-cutting and definitely before piecing, starch and press all of these fabrics. Here's a short video on how to starch and press a whole precut pack in far less time. This makes piecing the blocks and quilt top much easier with far greater accuracy.

Cut List for Shadow Fabric

Cut 2 - 5 x 42-inch strips

Cut 2 - 4 x 42-inch strips

Cut List for Background Fabric

Cut 4 - 1 1/2 x 42-inch strips

Cut 6 strips into 35 - 2 1/2 x 6-inch rectangles

Piece Background Strips for Sashing and Borders

• Piece together 7 - 2 1/2-inch strips together with a diagonal seam create the long sashing strips. 
• Piece together 5 - 2 1/2-inch strips together with a diagonal seam. Set this aside to cut the border strips at the end of this project.
• Cut 6 strips down to the width of your preferred quilt binding (I prefer 2 1/4-inches wide). Piece together with a diagonal seam and press in half to create the quilt binding.

Get started cutting and keep reading to find the block piecing instructions below!

First Steps to Quilting with QuiltMotion X

I am so excited to be sharing the new QuiltMotion X Foundations system and all the awesome new ways you can quilt with your sewing machine on a Cutie Breeze Frame.

I designed this spring quilt panel specifically to teach you how to quilt with QMX on a Little Rebel sewing machine. We're exploring how to quilt with pantographs, blocks, and straight lines.

I printed my panel on 1 yard of 56 inch wide Organic Cotton Sateen. From this piece, you can make a 20 x 56-inch wall hanging, plus use the additional blocks for quilting test blocks and experimenting with the system.

Feel free to follow along with the spring quilt panel, or use a plain fabric sandwich instead. You can mark the fabric with squares and rectangles to simulate a quilt to practice placing and quilting designs.

Step 1 - QMX Speed Test

The scariest part of using QMX is the first speed test. I was honestly stuck on this step for a few months. The purpose of this test is to find the right speed your machine should run in order to balance with the speed of QMX moving your sewing machine.

Once I did it, I felt pretty silly for waiting for so long. It's really no big deal! Unthread your sewing machine (take out the bobbin and remove the top thread) and set the speed controller on your machine to a middle speed setting.

In this photo you can see my settings on my Little Rebel sewing machine: Q off, speed set to 3 lights illuminated on the speed selector.

To test the speed, unthread your machine completely. We are going to gauge the speed based on the distance between the holes made by the needle.

Select the straight line and place the line on your quilt. Follow the simple on-screen prompts and remember to hit Start on your machine in time with the start of QMX moving. You can set the system to give you a 5 count or 3 count to start.

As the system rolls over, watch the needle bouncing up and down. See the holes left in your fabric. Are they the right size, or should they be a little big bigger?

If the spacing of the holes looks too big - increase the speed on your speed selector. If the space between the holes is too small - decrease the speed.

The picture above shows the stitches created from 4 speeds on the Little Rebel: from the lowest speed to 4 lights illumated.

No, I'm not using the Little Rebel's stitch regulator. I run the machine in manual mode - "Q" off, speed selector set at slow to medium speed. Which sized stitches do you think look best in the picture above?

I generally prefer smaller stitches, so I tend to use my Little Rebel with 1 1/2 speed lights illuminated.

Once you have a speed you like, re-thread the machine and run the speed test again, this time pulling up thread at the beginning of your stitching. The best time to pull up your thread is after pressing "move to start." 

Use the Needle Down / Up button on your sewing machine to drop the needle and bring it up. Tug on the top thread and it's fine to roll your machine away if you need to. The top thread will pull up a loop - that is your bobbin thread.

Tuck both thread tails under the foot and hit "Start Sewing Countdown." When it reaches 0, hit Start on your sewing machine. The machine will make stitches in time with the QMX moving.

With that line quilted, we've actually done more than just a speed test, you have also quilted your first line with QMX. You can place and quilt all lines on your quilt this way, one at a time, quilting from left to right.

Would you like to see these steps in a quilting video? Reply to this email and let me know if you'd like to see all the steps to quilting a speed test and straight lines with QuiltMotion X Foundations.

QMX Combo Prices

Remember - QMX is compatible with sewing machines that have a start / stop button, speed selector, and needle up / down button. You must set up your machine on a Cutie Breeze Frame too (not the original Cutie frame).

I've set up 3 QMX combos to make it easy to get everything you need all at once:

QMX - Foundations - $1499.95 - This is just the QMX system, so purchase this option if you already have a compatible sewing machine and a Cutie Breeze quilting frame.
 

QMX + Cutie Breeze - $1999.95 - This combo includes the QMX system and a Cutie Breeze frame for a great price! This is perfect for quilters who have a compatible machine, but need the right frame and the QMX system.
 

QMX + Cutie Breeze + Little Rebel - $4402.06 - This is an extra special sale price for April since the Little Rebel is 11% off as you'll learn below!

This combo includes EVERYTHING - a high speed, 13-inch throat sewing machine with the features needed to run QMX, the QMX system and the Cutie Breeze frame. This is everything you need to dive into computerized quilting at a fraction of the cost of an embroidery machine and a much easier quilting experience.

Curious to learn more? Dive into the details and see all that you can do with QMX Foundations. Click Here to learn more about QMX Foundations.

Machine and Frame Bundle Sale

Through the month of April you'll save 11% when you bundle any Grace quilting machine and quilting frame. This is a terrific time to upgrade your quilting setup and expand your creative quilting ability!

I'm also including a Ruler Quilting Accessory Kit with Grace longarm machines which comes with over $480 in accessories so you can begin ruler quilting immediately!

If you've been wanting to upgrade, or considering an entirely new quilting system, now is the time. This deal will end April 30th.

How to Piece Charm Pack Shadow Blocks

Let's get back to piecing our precut Charm Pack Shadow Quilt!

Piece the Blocks

To piece the blocks, we will first piece strip sets:

Piece Shadow Fabric 5 x 42-inch strips to Background Fabric 1 1/2 x 42-inch strips. Repeat once to make two sets of strips. Subcut these strip sets into 42 - 1 1/2 x 6-inch rectangles.

Piece Shadow Fabric 4 x 42-inch strips to Background Fabric 1 1/2 x 42-inch strips. Repeat once to make two sets of strips. Subcut these strip sets into 42 - 1 1/2 x 5-inch rectangles.

To piece the blocks, sew one smaller strip to the right edge of the food fabric square, then sew the longer strip to the bottom edge. Make sure the shadow fabrics are aligned across the corner to create the right effect:

After piecing, the blocks should measure 6 inches square. To complete the quilt top, arrange the blocks in rows of 6 blocks each. 

Piece the background 2 1/2 x 6 inch rectangles between them, making sure you maintain the same alignment of the blocks throughout. If you accidently turn a block and have the shadow facing a differnet direction, it will ruin the effect.

After piecing the rows, measure the length and cut the longer 2 1/2-inch sashing strips. Technically these should measure 2 1/2 x 43 inches, but my rows turned out just a little bit bigger than expected.

Piece the long strips between the block rows, pinning at the middle and end to keep everything aligned.

Repeat this process for the border strips. Measure the top and bottom edges of your quilt and cut the strips to length. The final step will be to cut and piece the longest side border strips.

I'm still on the fence about how to quilt my Fruit and Vegetables Tablecloth quilt. The tricky part of finishing a quilt like this is making sure you honor the shadows behind each square. If you cover the entire quilt with all-over style quilting, you may reduce or even override the 3D effect. 

Stay tuned for more details on this quilt... possibly quilted on an awesome new machine coming soon!

Let's go quilt,

Leah Day