As promised, I’m continuing on my journey using the 2 1/2” Moda candy squares to make some fun little projects.
I used the same pattern booklet for this one as I did for Marmalade Starburst.
The Chateau Rouge Candy Dish Quilt kit, fabrics by French General for Moda:
I started by laying out the candy squares, sorting by color & value.
Then, I played with fabric placement for the candy dishes, til I was happy with the arrangement. I wanted the fabrics to “melt” together into a pleasing checkerboard.
Then, I used fusible web to make the little handles. I wanted to do hand applique, but I couldn’t find my mini iron 
If you want to learn how to do these by hand, check out this past blog post, here.
The handles are fused into place, a little offset on the background rectangles. I thought 1.5” from one end looked about right. For machine applique, be sure to use a test piece to be sure you like your stitching before you start stitching.
These were really fun blocks to piece:
The two blocks are set on point, and if I followed the pattern exactly, the quilt would have been done at this point. But, I thought it looked unfinished… just begging for a border!
And, what better way to add a border, than to use a border stripe? I fussy cut border segments, and carefully aligned my ruler 1/4” from the chosen edge.
First, I tried the filigree stripe around the full perimeter:
Then, I noticed the scraps of medallion stripes. Hmmm..
I liked that.
I added the filigree to the sides, carefully stitching just one thread inside the stripe, so that it was in perfect alignment.
After I added the side borders, the medallion stripe was just a little too wide…
So, I carefully folded it the medallion stripe in half, and altered it just a little bit to pull the ends in (I used a basting stitch and adjusted the seam allowance ‘til I was happy with the fit).
The final result:
I was left with a little pile of scraps. And, I was seriously loving working with these beautiful fabrics. I combined my scraps with some other French General prints from my stash, and look what I made for you! See the post below…
Happy Quilting!
~ Laura
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Fun stuff. But maybe a bit too fiddly for my fingers to actually handle. Tried just laying one set of the mini-charms out to look at and it almost defeated me! But love the effect and have always been attracted to miniature things.
ReplyDeleteBrenda... Don't give up! You can do this! What about trying quilter's gloves to give you a better grip on the fabric? Another trick I use is that I stitch the small pieces together first, then square up and trim to size. Just use a little narrower seam allowance, to give yourself room to square up! Good luck.
DeleteThanks for the encouragement. I have the quilter's gloves but never thought about using them in this context. Have a couple sets of the mini-charms that I ordered to make a dolly quilt for my three-year-old great-niece. Will have to resurrect those and try again, just sewing squares to squares.
ReplyDeleteBTW, like the new look of the site and the blog!