Embroidered and Pieced Quilt

This project combines some hand embroidery with quilt squares.  We did only 12 squares, (6 emroidered and 6 pieced squares) because we didn't want to repeat any of our embroidered designs... but you can make as many squares as you would like...

The quilt is a very simple format, so any novice quilter could put this one together... the actual quilting is the hardest part.

The first thing you need to do is find some hot iron transfers at the craft store...
THere are all kinds of hot iron transfers available through "Aunt Martha's".  There are lots of animal and flower patterns, but there are a whole bunch of other cool designs.... so find a design that will inspire you.  We chose a Scottish Terrier design, because that's what kind of dog we have... plus they were really cute!

The next thing you have to do is iron the transfers onto light-colored cotton squares, measuring 12.5" x 12.5". 

Use embroidery floss in the colors that you like and embroider over the transfered lines.  We decided to do our Scotty dogs in black and red.

Cut 16, 3" squares for each block of the quilt that is not an embroidered square.  We used a variety of red, white, black and scottish terrier printed fabrics to compliment our designs.
Sew the blocks together using a 1/4" seam... the final square should measure 12.5"... just like our embroidered squares.

Our lattice strips were made of a cherry printed material. The number of lattice strips will depend on how many quilt block you end up making.  Our quilt was 3 squares wide and 4 squares long... and it turned out a little small. (It would be perfect for a child's bed.)

Cut strips to 3" x 12.5".  You will need enough to connect the squares together lengthwise (Block A to Block B), plus a strip on the outside edge of each row.  In our case, we cut 16 of these pieces.  Sew all of the Rows together... (using 1/4" seams)

Then you need to cut lattice strips that will go the entire length of the rows.  We have 4 rows, so we cut 5 of these lattice strips... 3" x the width of you quilt... ours was 46" long. 

You may want to frame your quilt with wider lattice pieces on the outside eges, or even do a second border around the quilt blocks to add a little more depth. to the quilt.

Find some fabric for the backing of the quilt and enough cotton batting material to go between your layers.  Then pin the layers together using safety pins... the more you pin, the better, because your layers can slip around a lot!  We put a safety pin every 4-6" all over the quilt.  Then you can start to quilt the layers together...

We quilted all of the blocks by hand, using a large quilting hoop to hold the fabric taught.  Using quilting thread and a needle, quilt around the inside edge of all of your pieced squares.  You will also want to quilt around your embroidered designs.

When you've got the whole thing quilted... all you have to do is sew on the binding tape, and you're finished!

Now you can snuggle up in it!