Sunday, November 27, 2022

neutral Chinese coins strippie quilt, top completed

 
Neutral Chinese Coins, Strippie Quilt
Top completed 2022
84 1/2 by 80 inches

Block finishes 8 inches
77 blocks pieced into 7 columns of 11 blocks; 6 print columns
Block made with thirty-two 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inch pieces
Piece count: 2464 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inch rectangles
                    

When I made the blocks for Thirteen with the dark and brights from my 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inch rectangles bins, pulling them out sorted the leftovers into their own category of neutrals and lights. A bin full! There are some of my mother's and my grandmother's fabrics in here.
I love the Chinese Coin rectangle and made at least 4 quilts featuring them.

The beauty of having bins of scraps ready to go is just that--they are ready to go.

I wanted to work with orange and found this lovely Kaffe floral.  PWPJ112 Lucy by Philip Jacobs for Kaffe Fassett Collective, Free Spirit. A strippie quilts was planned.


I started by sewing together the rectangles together in pairs. I knew I needed a lot of them, so I did not keep track. They were used between blocks of other projects and for when I wanted some machine time without thinking. When I finally did a count of my fours, I was only about 80 away from having enough.
Pile of fours
These were then sewn into 4s, then 8s.
Then they are pressed all in one direction, rotated, and sewed into units of 16 pieces.
The units are sewn into blocks of 32 pieces, finishing 8 inches.
Blocks are pressed to one direction.

So:
77 blocks
154 half-blocks (sixteens)
308 eights
616 fours
1232 twos
2464 pieces
Blocks are sewn into seven columns of 11 blocks, rotating each block so seams nest, and should finish 8 by 88 inches.
(This did not happen according to plan--see the next paragraph!)
I cut six strips of the floral 4 1/2 inches to be inserted between each column of blocks.

Here is where humility comes in.
I consider myself a careful piecer, and my quilts are pretty on target with seam allowances. BUT, in construction with so many small pieces and no other sizes to keep them in check, they tend to shrink in size from the intended.
Mathematically, columns should measure 88 1/2 inches. My 7 columns averaged 84 1/2 inches. HUGE difference!
I cut my print to this measure and the top came together nicely and lays flat and square.

Press columns seams in one direction--I pressed down
Sew together with floral on top
Press towards floral
All seams nest

I plan to do a tips post on strippie quilts some day.

My design, use at your pleasure.



7 comments:

Julierose said...

Love those neutral coins with that KF fabric as a divider...nice work hugs, Julierose

Chantal said...

Wow! Now that's a lot of scrappiness to enjoy! So many little bits to look at. Awesome! To me, from afar, the quilt looks like a busy city with flowerbeds in full bloom. Well done! ;^)

karen berrisford said...

Awesome quilt. I know, its hard to get the finished sizes right on blocks with so many small pieces.

Nann said...

A thread here, a thread there accumulates with all those seams. Thanks for the detailed pressing instructions. The "block" approach makes things more manageable than huge long chains of coins. [I learned that when I made Bonnie H's Bitcoin.] The wide sashing allows the bold floral print to shine!

Jenny said...

What an amazing quilt, all those tiny little rectangles!

eileen said...

What a great use for all those bits we accumulate!! Love the orange pop of color!

Anonymous said...

Hi, I just "discovered" you blog, and just LOVE the quilts you make! I have 2 sons adopted from China, and the name Chinese Coin quilt sparked my interest... I like making quilts, particularly with squares, rectangles etc. so I think I just NEED to make this!!
Thank you so much for sharing!! b
Happy sewing and Merry Christmas!
Nicoline