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-   -   Rag quilt. "Make it in a day", they said! Yeah, right!!! (https://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1/rag-quilt-make-day-they-said-yeah-right-t199880.html)

StaceySewsSorta 09-09-2012 05:06 AM

THanks :) LOL

had a major snafu yesterday....
I buy my thread by the 1200 yard spool.... makes it so much easier. LOL Well, one of my kids (no one will own up to it, go figure) messed with the spool and had the ENTIRE THING strung out and tangled and ruined. And, of course I cant find my spare spool.... which I KNOW I have.

I had to switch threads, and this crappy thread I am using now may just cause me to lose my mind. Its so STIFF. Its 100% cotton, but it feels like it has some kind of coating on it, its like sewing with wire or something!!!

It keeps catching in my machine. :(

May have to drive half an hour to JoAnns just to grab another spool of "the good stuff" !!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!!!

arheath 09-10-2012 02:46 AM

1 Attachment(s)

Originally Posted by StaceySewsSorta (Post 5499215)
Ok, first off (as I mentioned in my Intro post) I dont "quilt". (The pretty, all-over sewing.) So when this rag quilt tutorial I found online said "quilt as you go", I was all :shock: :thumbup:

AND, they said it could be made in a day!! Sweet!

Yeah. Well.... It took 4 days JUST to get all my fabric squares cut! Another day to assemble my front-batting-backing "sandwiches", and I am STILL trying to get all my squares quilted so they can FINALLY be assembled!

With school starting for my kids, I got sidetracked and let the quilt sit, but I would REALLY like to GIT ER DONE!!!! LOL!!

I went with patriotic colors (NO Patriotic PRINTS.... keep reading) but with a rustic twist.... Its almost ALL florals and other prints that evoke "old fashioned" or "pioneer" times prints/fabrics.... and there is NO WHITE fabric at all.

The top is all reds, maroons, creams, browns, and blues of varying shades. The back is plain neutral muslin, as well as other cream, tan, ecru, brown, etc squares.

I have ZERO intention of making a "pattern". I like the idea of throwing these squares together hap-hazardly.

But I fubarred. (I think) The "quilt as you go" part is what made me want to try it....
SO as I started quilting my sandwiches together, I alternated each stack (one stack=one row) with square quilting and X quilting... figuring on doing "every other row" on the finished quilt with little quilted squares and X's. I have not finished all my sandwiches, and Im second guessing my "every other" plan. :(

What is your experience with rag quilts?? May I see some pictures to refer to? :)

(Oh, and the other thing that sold me on this kind of quilt? No mitering corners! YAY!!!!) LOL!

I have made several rag quilts. I don't use batting in them at all and they are plenty warm and cozy. Don't think they could be made in a day though because the clipping takes longer than that.

DebbieJJ 09-10-2012 03:39 AM


Originally Posted by arheath (Post 5503569)
I have made several rag quilts. I don't use batting in them at all and they are plenty warm and cozy. Don't think they could be made in a day though because the clipping takes longer than that.

Oh arheath, I love your ragquilt! Don't know why I didn't think of using strips of fabric for this, but I only have imagined squares of fabric for ragquilts....my imagination is very limited sometimes! :eek:

DebbieJJ 09-10-2012 03:41 AM


Originally Posted by BellaBoo (Post 5500361)
I've made a lot of them. The last one I finished a few weeks ago was a little time consuming as it had certain pieced blocks. I can make regular 8" squares rag quilt in a day if I use the rag die (Accuquilt Go) I won't make a rag quilt without the real rag snips. I use these. http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg
http://www.quiltingboard.com/attachm...8721-santa.jpg

And BellaBoo, love your Santa! Did you make up the pattern for this? I'd love to find it. :thumbup:

promenades 09-10-2012 03:43 AM

I make rag quilts a lot. I have had my friends do rag quilts before they do any other type of quilting because they are fast and easy. I never would do them till I got my Accquilt Go Cutter and the rag die. The hardest part for me was running the flannel thru the cutter. I have Lupus, Ra and As and the rag dies are hard to run thru because of the cutting of the fringes. I can make a queen size quilt in a weekend. They are fast and easy. My friends have had a blast making them. One did one for her Wedding Anniversary. Her husband ran the material thru the cutter and she sewed. :) They show off their quilt every chance they get.

squires1042 09-10-2012 03:44 AM

Love this scrappy version will have to try that. I have made several of these mostly for gifts and the grandson who loves to run his hand over them. I also use flannel in the middle and if you stack all three strips as you will sew them before you cut them, they will already be in place and ready to sew/quilt as you go as long as you pick them up carefully. I usually try to snip somewhere between the 1/4 adn 1/2 inch mark.

I usually pick a size square for the big square and then for the alternate squares use a 4 patch sewn normally, alternating them as I sew the blocks together.

Most of mine are crib or lap sizes, not sure I want to snip a bed size one. The raq snips are a must, or I will use a seam ripper and go out from the line of stitching to the edge, then I don't have to worry about snipping the stitching. Make sure it is a heavy duty seam ripper.

nycquilter 09-10-2012 03:56 AM

I put together the last one I made in an evening. It was a baby quilt so the size was either 5x7 or 6x6; I can't remember now. I used 8" squares of fabric, 7" squares of batting and sewed the layers together with an "X"--I chain stitched everything. After all was sewn, I joined DH in front of the TV to snip.

Caswews 09-10-2012 05:14 AM


Originally Posted by StaceySewsSorta (Post 5500332)
I did go ahead and buy spring loaded snips, as I am NOT looking forward to that task. LOL This quilt, once finished will be APPRX 64 x 76 (Before I started it, I got strict instructions to make it a bit bigger than my tan/red one... his feet stick out the end of that one. LOL!)

The only reason I used batting (Its low loft, 100% cotton) is because I chose fairly thin, regular cotton fabrics... I have been collecting the different fabrics for nearly 6 months. LOL

Here is a collective shot of all the fabrics I used for it, and of the stacks of sandwiches. LOL

**In response to a thread about photo size, my apologies; Im still trying to figure out how to re-size ;)

PLEASE NOTE, *NONE* of the fabric here is white... just an over-achieving flash on my camera. LOL
But ALLLLLLLLLL the fabrics you see here are just for the TOP of my quilt.... the back is a combo of neutrals, creams, tans, browns.... 304 squares per layer, 912 squares in all... WTH was I thinking??!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]361332[/ATTACH]

Love the avatar .. Used to have pigs when I was a kid visiting the Grandparents farm.
Love the colors you must post a picture (s) when all done.

romanojg 09-10-2012 05:25 AM

I love rag quilts. I think one reason is that before I made my first one I went to the LQS and tried out the Accuquilt rag die to make sure it was woth buying or cause me more issues keeping those little slits of fabric out of the way. Well, I got the cutter and it makes life so much easier. I also have a square die cutter the same size that I need my batting to be cut so I can do it all. What I like to do is I'll pick up flannel and then sit down and make up alot of blocks, quilted and ready to go. I store them in a tote and when I need a fast quilt I pull out the color/designs I need and within a few hours I'll have one done. The only reason it takes a few hours is because I get so picky at picking out just the right colors and placement of squares. Sometimes I applique something on the back side so that it is a two sided quilt which is great for a small child. The next one I'll do is instead of making the X in the middle I'll use my embroidery machine and put a design on it for the quilting part. If the slits you cut get in the way you can use the blue painters tape to hold them down out of the way. Then I always wash them first so that the person getting it won't think their quilt is coming apart. At the quilt show someone did one and made it into the shape of a turtle; that was nice.

carolynjo 09-10-2012 06:17 AM

If you use flannel, just be sure you have washed it and dried it several times as it does shrink 2-3%. Your fabric choices are very pretty.


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