This post is part of the Jaybird Quilts Sew Along. For schedule of guest post pattern reviews, prizes, and contest rules, click here. Today’s guest post is from Lucy of Charm About You. Lucy has a bunch of free tutorials and tons of brilliant quilt finishes on her site, so check it out!
Hello! I’m Lucy and I blog at Charm About You. Today I’m sharing my review of the Tiny Dancer pattern. I was attracted to this pattern because of it’s bold, fun shapes and using the Hex N More ruler made it super easy to put together. The pattern does come with templates but if you’ve been following the Jaybird Quilts Sew Along you’ll have a good idea of just how many shapes and patterns you can make using the ruler!
I made the baby size quilt, I do love patterns that have different sizes all worked out for you and Julie has done all the hard work and states really clearly what you need for each size. I picked out eight cute FQs that I got as part of the Stash Stack Club from Pink Castle Fabrics.
The instructions are so clear and there’s only two shapes to cut so the cutting went really fast. I haven’t used a ruler like this before and I made a numpty move the first time I cut a half hexagon by following the ruler edges and consequently cutting into the strip of fabric where I shouldn’t. That’s hard to explain but what I will do is show how you should make the cuts, for any new quilters or tired folk who might be inclined to make the same mistake I did.
Position your rotary cutter with the edge up against the long side of the ruler and make the cut, then move the fabric out of the way and cut that little triangle off.
The triangles are pretty fool proof and the result is perfect points! You can quickly chain piece all the triangles and then you can have a play to decide your layout and I do recommend keeping the blocks on a design wall (AKA the floor, in my case!) so you can put them together in the right order.
I chose this sweet Kitty Calico by Alexander Henry for the backing and Riley Blake Small Grey Tone on Tone Chevrons for the binding, which I cut on the bias according to the pattern instructions and the result is pretty cool. I really love the uneven edges of the quilt, it was easy to do and it suits the overall design.
The design does remind me of pinwheels and so I decided to quilt a circle in the centre of the shapes. I hand quilted it using perle
thread, cream for the circles and the triangles and a matching colour for each of the patterned fabrics.
Ta Dah! A pretty, contemporary, easy to piece and lovingly quilted baby quilt:
A huge thank you to Sara for inviting me to take part and Julie for the awesome pattern and ruler, which I know I will be using
again!
I can easily a little baby being snuggled in this beauty! Your points and quilting are beautiful!
Ugh – typo! I can easily “see” a little baby…
I really like you pattern designs!
Nice quilting! Well done Lucy.
Love this pattern and the hexnmore ruler. Your hand quilting really makes this quilt special! I am going to try it the next time.
Love it Lucy xxx