Jenny: Hi, I am Jenny from the Missouri Star Quilt Company and I am here with Lynne Hagmeier.
How are you, Lynne?
Lynne: I am good. Glad to be back.
Jenny: We are so glad to have...
Jenny: We had such a great time the last time Lynne and I filmed together and if you remember
or haven’t seen that video it’s about a book called Loose Change and Lynne has a
new book out and since I think she’s a genius and I just love the way she sews… this one
is called Layers of Love. And what Lynne does is layered patchwork on top. So, today what
we are going to do is this quilt behind us right here and wait until you see how easy
this is. I mean, it is just amazing. It’s just so quick and easy. I just love the way
you think! It’s just amazing to me. So, walk us through this, would you?
Lynne: If you are going to traditionally make a pinwheel, there are a lot of parts and pieces,
and every time you take a seam and have to press, there is more chance of error.
Jenny: It’s true.
Lynne: So, if you can cut background squares and layer on triangles and stitch them, you
are just stitching squares together in a row. So what we are going to do is…
Jenny: Wait, tell us what we need for the quilt, just tell us what we need.
Lynne: Okay. You need a charm pack and two fabrics: background and border.
Jenny: So how much of one charm pack? How much of the background do you need?
Lynne: A couple yards.
Lynne: A couple yards of each.
Jenny: So you are going to need a couple yards of background and we have these background
squares right here and then you are going to need, just one charm pack?
Lynne: One charm pack.
Jenny: One charm pack makes this?
Lynne: Seventy-two inch a square.
Jenny: And that?
Lynne: And leftovers to make a little runner.
Jenny: Oh my gosh.
Lynne: You have to buy additional background obviously; all you have leftover is pinwheels
but...
Jenny: Very cool, that’s really cool. Alright so tell us now, now tell us how to put this
baby together.
Lynne: I like to layer up to three charm squares. I feel like I can still cut and not mess up
with three layers.
Jenny: I do too. I agree three’s a pretty good number.
Lynne: I will line up my charm on my mat so that the two and a half inch mark is kind
of in the middle and then use a square, ruler or any kind of square ruler that is at least
three and a half inches, most of them are about four, this one happens to be a six.Then
you can line up your forty-five degree markup on a line and feel pretty confident that three
and a half is on both sides. And then we are just going to cut the two corners.
Jenny: Very nice.
Lynne: Now we have a bias edge which we are going to pretend now is a straight edge, so
now you can cut a three and a half inch square just like you would cut a three and a half
inch square, which also cuts off the other two corners.
Jenny: Very cool.
Lynne: And then you just cut corner to corner and get two big triangles.
Jenny: And I love how you, yeah, I love how you have that laid out on your mat right there
because this, right here, it just looks so cool
Lynne: There is your charm square.
Jenny: There is your charm square, yeah.
Lynne: Any time you are doing layered patch work, you want to make sure, if you do not
use the factory pinked edge, you have a bias edge or you use a pinked edge rotary cutter.
Jenny: And...
Lynne: Because then...
Jenny: Wait, go ahead.
Lynne: it doesn’t unravel, it just curls and frays and you get a nice, primitive look
without it just falling apart.
Jenny: That’s right. We use the bias edge because it doesn’t unravel.
Lynne: That’s right. Correct.
Jenny: Very cool. So then, so when I see this, actually, I see this cut in half and the corners
cut off. So it was interesting to watch you cut that. Do you show how to do that in your
book?
Lynne: I do. This technique is in your book, uh, my brain didn’t even go there, but I
love the fact that you always see things a little bit differently, and we can also
cut it that way. So, if we cut our five and a half inch square...
Jenny: Wait, oh no, yup, that’s right. I actually was thinking, “wait it won’t
be a square if you cut it in half,” but that’s what we want. That’s what we want.
Lynne: So we are cutting it in half first.
Jenny: Right.
Lynne: And then I will have to think about this a second to get the correct...
Jenny: Well, you got your two and a half in here...
Lynne: Right, so there is your two and a half. Here we go. Still basically the same. It is
easier, though, because you actually have your half marks to do. So, six to one, half
dozen to the other.
Jenny: Yes, I love, I love the different minds, how different minds work. That is really cool.
Lynne: And even as much as I have simplified things, it is amazing to me how you can take
it one step further and go, “oh but what if,” and then I just go...amazing. Ok, so
we will finish up this other one and then I will get you to...
Jenny: Yes. Finish that up.
Lynne: Position and I will have you sew one. So then we get...
Jenny: We have two different size triangles here and we have our background square. How
big are these background squares?
Lynne: They are six and a half inches.
Jenny: Six and a half, okay. So we are going to take one of those and... you guys watch
this, it is so cool. So we are going to put this right here and we are going to take a
big triangle and a little triangle.
Lynne: We are going to put a big triangle on one corner and a little triangle on the
opposite corner.
Jenny: Now, does it matter which corner? You want to make sure you are all putting them
on the same side.
Lynne: Yes.
Jenny: Okay. So you are going to do lower left,
Lynne: Upper right.
Jenny: Upper right on the small.
Lynne: Correct.
Jenny: And then, how do we attach these?
Lynne: We stitch.
Jenny: Just on top.
Lynne: An eighth of an inch from your bias edge or from the pinked edge.
Jenny: I love that part. I love that part because there are no pieces to cut. So, we
are really just going to stitch right along this edge, so I am going to go to the sewing
machine and do that.
Lynne: You are really embellishing a square, so you have not distorted the square, anybody
can sew squares together in a row.
Jenny: Yes, even me.
Lynne: Especially you.
Jenny: I got this lady one time and she says to me, “You even sew crooked and it works
out.” And I was like, “Well, I don’t try to sew crooked”.
Lynne: How rude of her to point that out.
Jenny: I know, I just thought that was like, I thought, well, oops! Now, I'm hung up
on something here. I am doing too much talking. Hang on. There we go.
Lynne: The eighth inch is kind of a basic rule of thumb. I really prefer that if you are
going to err one way or the other that you do a thread’s width wider than an eighth
inch because if you get too close to your bias and you are not perfectly straight and
you run off into the pinked points or off your bias edge, then when you wash it, it is going
to come undone a little bit. The beauty of it is, you just go back over it and stitch
again after you wash it if it comes out, because you can go right through your quilting and
everything.
Jenny: I love that.
Lynne: This is a quilt that my granddaughter has adopted. The Layers of Love book is actually
based on... the layers is for the layered patchwork, the love part is our eight grandchildren are
featured in the book. Each one of them either selected or I made a quilt based on their
personalities. So, this one is called Delainey’s Twirls and Swirls. She is our dancer diva
in the family.
Jenny: I don’t know why I have so many threads on here, that shouldn’t be happening.
Lynne: It didn’t happen on the first place.
Jenny: No.
Lynne: Okay, so now we have...
Jenny: Hang on, a few more threads.
Lynne: A bunch of big triangles and a bunch of little triangles...
Jenny: Alright ,and they are all going to be stacked here. So, you are going to do...
do you assembly line sew like I do where once you get to a certain point you sew all your,
all this on and then all that on, yeah that’s what I do.
Lynne: I get all my blocks together, I cut all of my charm squares into triangles, I
will go through every block and sew the big triangle on one corner and then cut them apart
and then flip them around and do all the little triangles.
Jenny: It keeps it from getting mixed up.
Lynne: It does. And then you start at the same corner every time. So, as you are laying
this out across your quilt top, we would obviously go in rows, and since we don’t have enough
to show you the whole quilt top, we are going to do a block.
Jenny: Look how cool that is.
Lynne: As the small ones…
Jenny: Look how cool this is.
Jenny: So then, so then when the small ones get together…
Lynne: So they automatically come together if you put the big ones all together in the
middle, the little ones are automatically going to come together in the intersections
in the corners.
Jenny: That is so cool. So let’s take a look at how this goes. So you have a row where
you have: down, pointing, down, pointing, down, pointing, I mean, just a row of that,
and then you add your next row. And I might be inclined myself to sew them together into
four patches.
Lynne: I actually did. I did my pinwheel blocks together because I felt like I had more control
over color.
Jenny: I think so too. Oh yeah that is true.
Lynne: And then really, randomly, there is a couple in here where there may be two colors
together in the little pinwheels, but they are much less obvious so I don’t worry about
that. But that really is the easiest way.
Jenny: To do them together in a four patch?
Lynne: Block of rows, rows of blocks.
Jenny: Yes, rows of blocks.
Lynne: You know what I meant.
Jenny: So, I am going to go ahead and sew these together and I am going to do it just
like a four patch. So just like this is laying here, I am going to put it right sides together
on this one and sew it together and then we will do the same thing with this. And this
one you are going to do... you are back to your quarter inch seam, correct?
Lynne: Even though we use an eighth of an inch seam for our layered patchwork, I am
a normal quilter and use quarter inch seams.
Jenny: Wait, wait, wait, did you just say you were normal?
Lynne: Well, fairly normal. I use normal quilter quarter inch seam. I have a lot of questions
about that. I didn’t realize in the instructions that I needed to say...
Jenny: Is this the side right here?
Lynne: It is. This is your side right there. Do you want to rip that one off and I can
press it?
Jenny: Yes. Here we go... my, here we go. Team work here.
Lynne: And I just like to press these the way they want to go, away from the pinwheel
that has, it will press this direction for this one, press this way.
Jenny: Yeah, so it just basically, the bulk of your fabric is right here so it will go
the opposite direction, which means the other ones will also go the opposite direction.
Lynne: Make it happy.
Jenny: And you will be able to put those right together. So, we are going to layer these
on top of each other and match up our seams right here so they line up nice and tight,
and then we are just going to sew this down. And I have my machine set on a quarter of
an inch but it looks a little fat. But the point, the point is it’s most important
just to be consistent, correct?
Lynne: It is. On a quilt like this where all the blocks are exactly the same, consistency
is key.
Jenny: Alright, let’s iron this baby open. Oh how cute! Look how cute that is! I have
to show. Okay, go ahead and iron it.
Lynne: Thanks.
Jenny: That is so fun. So then you just put them in blocks and automatically those little
pinwheels now are going to form.
Lynne: Yes, they are.
Jenny: Because as you start putting these little ones together, let’s see. It goes
this way, okay, because this would make a block in here.
Lynne: Correct.
Jenny: So then you have these tiny ones. So that is how you get the big pinwheels and
the small pinwheels. They come right off the corners. So tell us a little bit about your
book. How many projects are in here?
Lynne: There are about twenty-one projects, twelve unique ideas. We have eight grandkids,
so we added a couple extras, but with the major projects and things like the little
runners or we have pillow toppers, large and small, from two different sizes of precuts,
just lots of fun things.
Jenny: Oh and is that Delainey?
Lynne: That is Miss Delainey right there.
Jenny: So this is Delainey’s, what is it? Delainey’s...
Lynne: Delainey’s Twirls and Swirls, she named it.
Jenny: Delainey’s Twirls and Swirls. And that is a picture of her right there. And
you have made a special quilt for her.
Lynne: She picked out the fabric.
Jenny: Very cool, oh that is beautiful. Look at that. So look at this one, you guys. Isn’t
that great? That is so darling. So any kind of fabric you choose, this will work. It works
awesome, it goes together quickly, we love those kinds of quilts.
Lynne: Pick a charm pack that you love and a background and a border and you are good to go.
Jenny: So we hope you enjoyed this tutorial on Delainey’s Swirls and Twirls and you
can get the pattern in this book Layers of Love plus a lot more. Thanks for coming today.
It has been so fun to have you.
Lynne: Oh, thanks for having me.
Jenny: It’s really great. We hope you enjoyed this tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.