Tuesday 20 March 2012

Tuesday Tutorials (or Tips) – Mile a Minute

Mile a Minute 62" x 82"

Okay, here is my hope; I would like to post an ongoing Tuesday Tutorial (or Tips).  I am going to start with the Mile a Minute Quilt.  I have made a couple of Mile a Minute Quilts and people always respond so enthusiastically to them.  As you can see this one is bright and fun.  I have also been asked again and again in classes that I teach “Should I save my fabric scraps?” or “How little does a fabric scrap have to be to be worth saving?” 


Fabric Scraps

I save everything bigger than one inch and toss it into a drawer, if I can’t close the drawer it’s time to start another Mile a Minute.  My students are always asking me to teach Mile a Minute; however it’s not really a good class for the Quilt Shop as it doesn’t sell a lot of fabric.
 
So let’s begin.
From your scraps gather 80 small scraps no less than one inch ‘sort of square’ and not greater than two inches.  

80 small scraps
 
Now take a bunch of your other scraps and put them in a large paper bag, these can be all shapes and sizes larger than one inch.  If you have large pieces you want to use cut them into strips between one and two and a half inches wide before putting them in the bag.  Don’t worry about the strips being even and straight, in fact wonky is good.  I find the strips left over from truing your fabric or the extra trimmed from the back of a quilt after layering and quilting are excellent for this project. 
  
Bag of Scraps
 
So until next Tuesday’s Tutorial, have fun gathering your 80 little squares and your bag of scraps.  Our finished quilts will should fit a twin size bed and measure approximately 82 x 62 inches.

11 comments:

  1. Love your quilt! It is very inspiring. Your tutorial is very well presented - especially the 'stay-tuned' element to it. I am going to follow your rules but I already don't like this 'bag of scraps' - you are going to make us pick random scraps and not let us try to match scraps, aren't you - lol!
    A lurker who found your website from a link on littlehousecreations.blogspot...

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    1. I followed the rules the first time, it will make a beautiful quilt (that's my first in the top picture). After your first Mile a Minute I'm sure you will have lots of scraps to get particular, creative or matchy with. Thanks for replying and participating.

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  2. Looks like fun! Thanks for posting!

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    1. Thanks Susan, I hope you are quilting along with us!

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  3. Thanks for this Edith. As you know I have been one of the people after you to teach this class so I am so happy you are doing this. Maybe tonight while the boys are off to basketball practice I will have time to sort material. Some fun to look forward to after a long day of work! Thanks again Edith! Nadine

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    1. Yeah Nadine, you are one of my encouragers and one of the reasons I'm doing this. Glad you're joining in!

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  4. I am so excited about following you with this quilt. It is the exact one that I have wanted to create since I took my first quilting course with you over a year ago! Sharon

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    1. Thanks Sharon, I'm excited by the enthusiastic responses. Thanks for you reply and for joining the group!

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  5. I am a beginner quilter. I have a 3 year old grand son and have been saving his clothes to make a quilt. I am very interested in this quilt but can not find the pattern or any directions. Can you please help me? Thanks

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    1. This post is the beginning of the instructions, then go to next Tuesday for the next set of instructions, it goes on for six Tuesdays, you can access next Tuesday on the right side of this blog - Step two.

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  6. So where is the next set of instructions?

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