A Year in the Life …
FINISHED SIZE: 62˝ × 90˝ • BLOCK SIZE: 14˝ × 19½˝
ASSEMBLED BY Tacha Bruecher; QUILTED BY Angela Walters
This quilt is the perfect keepsake for your family. Have fun choosing fabrics, fussy-cutting motifs, and adding embellishments to each block to make the quilt more relevant to you and your family. The calendar panels are key to making the quilt look more like an actual calendar. They also are a fun way to further personalize the quilt—for example, by adding embroidery details to dates that are important to you and your family.
Materials and Supplies
CD content is available to download from http://tinyurl.com/11026-patterns.
NOTE Refer to each month’s instructions for fabric requirements for the individual blocks.
•Black-on-white polka dot fabric: 2 yards for sashing
•White-on-white polka dot fabric: 1 yard for right side border and cornerstones
•Black text fabric: ⅜ yard for letters
•White solid fabric: ⅛ yard for the month panels and optional ⅝ yard for the calendar panels (Refer to Create the Calendar Panels on page 17 for other options.)
•12 fat quarters of coordinating prints for month block sashing
•Freezer paper
•X-Acto or craft knife
•Sizzix Big Shot Machine (optional)
•Sizzix Movers & Shapers Base Tray (optional)
•Sizzix Movers & Shapers Cargo Stencil Number Set (optional)
•Stencil brush (optional)
•Fabric paint (optional)
TIP
I used polka dot fabrics from the Spot On range for Robert Kaufman fabrics.
Cutting
BLACK DOT FABRIC
•9 strips 2½˝ × 14½˝ to sash the blocks
•8 strips 2½˝ × 20˝ to sash the blocks
•2 strips 3½˝ × 53½˝ for top and bottom borders
•1 strip 3½˝ × 84½˝ (pieced, for right border)
•1 strip 4½˝ × 84½˝ (pieced, for left border)
WHITE DOT FABRIC
•6 squares 2½˝ × 2½˝ for sashing cornerstones
•2 strips 8½˝ × 20˝ to sash the word strip
•2 strips 2½˝ × 60˝ to sash the word strip
•9 strips 1˝ × 4½˝ to sash the letters
•4 strips 2½˝ × 4½˝ to sash the words
FROM EACH OF 12 COORDINATING FAT QUARTERS
•2 strips 1½˝ × 20˝
•2 strips 1½˝ × 12½˝
•1 strip 1˝ × 12½˝
•2 strips 2¼˝ × 3½˝
•1 strip 1˝ × 5½˝
WHITE SOLID FABRIC
•12 strips 2˝ × 3½˝ for month number. Cut these after stenciling. (Refer to Create the Month Panels, below.)
INSTRUCTIONS
All seam allowances are ¼˝.
Assemble the Block
1. Assemble blocks January through December following the instructions for the individual months.
2. Trim each block to 12½˝ square.
DESIGN NOTE The calendar quilt is designed based on the seasons in the Northern Hemisphere. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, you could rearrange the blocks or use a different fabric selection to represent your seasons.
Create the Month Panels
1. Enlarge a font on your computer until it is about 1˝ tall. Print a copy of the numbers of the months in this font. Place the freezer paper shiny side down on the numbers. Trace the numbers and cut out using an X-Acto or craft knife to create stencils for each month.
TIP
The Sizzix Big Shot Machine, in conjunction with the base tray and magnetic number set, is ideal for making stencils for the month panels. Simply arrange the numbers on the base tray, place the freezer paper on top, and run it all through the machine. Quick and easy!
2. Iron the number stencils to the white solid strips. Use a stencil brush to apply fabric paint. Allow to dry before removing the stencils; then fix with an iron.
TIP
To produce sharp, neat edges, make sure the edges of the stencil are pressed snugly to the fabric. Apply paint sparingly to the brush, and use an up and down motion to paint the fabric.
3. Trim each number to 2˝ × 3½˝.
Create the Calendar Panels
The calendar panels should measure 5½˝ × 9˝, including seam allowance. You will need 7 panels with 31 days, 4 panels with 30 days, and 1 panel with 28 or 29 days. Various options are available for making the calendar panels.
•Thermofax screen
Many companies can create Thermofax screens from photocopies or images. I used an A4 Thermofax screen to create the calendar panels. I used the same screen to print all 12 months. For months with fewer than 31 days, I placed a piece of freezer paper on the back of the screen over the numbers that I did not want to print.
TIP
Screenprinting is much easier than it looks, but not every print will be perfect. Always make more prints than you need to allow for ones that are flawed. Don’t throw away flawed prints; you will be amazed how useful the numbers can be. I used the “flawed” numbers from one of mine on an advent calendar.
•Spoonflower
You can also use a fabric printing service, such as Spoonflower.com. If you arrange the image carefully, you should be able to get up to six panels from one fat quarter.
TIP
You can find my calendar panels in my Spoonflower shop: spoonflower.com/profiles/natashabruecher.
•Commercial fabric
If you choose to use commercially available calendar prints, such as Kumiko Fujita’s line for Yuwa, you may need to adjust the measurements of each calendar block or add sashing to the print to bring it to size.
•Replace
Instead of using calendar panels, you could replace the section with a stenciled word. For example, you could abbreviate the months—Jan, Feb, Mar, and so on.
Assemble the Calendar Blocks
1. Take a pieced month block and the calendar and month panels for that month. Sew the matching print 1½˝ × 12½˝ strip to the top of the pieced month block, and the 1˝ × 12½˝ strip to the bottom.
2. Sew the print 1˝ × 5½˝ strip to the left of the calendar panel.
3. Sew the print 2¼˝ × 3½˝ strips to the top and bottom of the month panel.
4. Sew the month panel to the left side of the calendar panel and sew to the bottom of the month block.
5. Sew the print 1½˝ × 12½˝ strip to the bottom of the block and the 1½˝ × 20˝ strips to either side.
6. Repeat Steps 1–5 for all pieced month blocks. Then remove the foundations from all the month blocks.
Sash the Blocks
1. Arrange the blocks in a 3 × 4 layout. Sew a black-on-white dot 2½˝ × 20˝ strip between the blocks in each row.
2. Create a sashing strip by sewing together 3 black dot 2½˝ × 14½˝ strips and 2 white dot 2½˝ squares. Start and end the sashing strip with the black dot strips. Repeat this step to make a total of 3 sashing strips.
3. Sew the rows together with the sashing strips in between.
4. Sew the black dot 3½˝ × 84½˝ strip to the right of the quilt top and the black dot 4½˝ × 84½˝ strip to the left.
5. Sew the black dot 3½˝ × 53½˝ strips to the top and bottom of the quilt top.
6. Cut the leftover print scraps into 1½˝-wide lengths. Sew the lengths together into a strip and trim to 1½˝ × 90½˝. Sew this strip to the right side of the quilt top.
Assemble the Words
1. Use the black text and white solid fabrics to assemble 1 each of the Y, R, N, T, H, L, and F patterns; 2 of the A and I patterns; and 3 of the E and period (for the “...”) patterns.
2. Sew the letters into the words “A,” “YEAR,” “IN,” “THE,” “LIFE,” and “…”. Sew a white dot 1˝ × 4½˝ strip between the letters in each word. Be sure to check that your letters are in the correct order before you start sewing!
NOTE The I patterns already include the 1˝ × 4½˝ sashing strip, so do not sew an extra strip before or after each I.
3. Remove the left white strip from the I in the word “IN.” Sew the words together with a white dot 2½˝ × 4½˝ strip between each. Do not sew a strip between “LIFE” and “…”.
4. Sew the white dot 2½˝ × 60˝ strips to the top and bottom of the “A YEAR IN THE LIFE …” strip. The white dot strips will be longer than the word strip. Trim any excess.
5. Sew the white dot 8½˝ × 20˝ strips to the left and right sides of the word strip. Trim the strip to 8½˝ × 90½˝.
DESIGN NOTE When trimming the strips, keep in mind how you would like the words to appear on the quilt. Do you want the words starting at the top, in the center, at the bottom, or somewhere in between? You choose!
6. Sew the word strip to the right of the quilt.
Finish the Quilt
1. Layer the backing, batting, and quilt top and baste in place.
2. Quilt as desired. This quilt was quilted by Angela Walters.
TIP
For ideas and techniques in modern free-motion quilting, see In the Studio with Angela Walters and Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters, both published by Stash Books.
3. Cut the binding fabric into 2½˝-wide strips and sew them together into a continuous strip. Use the strip to bind the quilt.