Alexandria with Lizzie Clark

Have you seen the new line of fabrics Lizzie Clark has put out? They are so pretty. I was thrilled when Lizzie reached out to me and invited me to be part of her fabric release blog hop! I worked with Lizzie on a previous collection, too, so I knew her fabrics would be lovely.

She sent along a file with fabric images, and right away I knew what pattern I wanted to try. Tabby Road Twist is a quilt pattern put out by The Quilt Room. A friend of mine had shared it with me a while back, and I have been waiting to use it. It is a fun pattern, and uses big pieces of fabric, so it is fast and also allows the fabric to speak for itself. It is designed to use 5″ strips of fabric.

I took advantage of some beautiful weather on Saturday and set up a sewing space in my mother in law’s garden. Don’t the fabrics look beautiful against the blooming azalea?

Lizzie’s fabrics are manufactured by Sweet Bee Designs, and they are luscious. They are so soft, and the colors are really saturated. I love the hand of these fabrics.

Here is my sewing area. I keep my EverSewn Sparrow in my car for just such occasions. (Jeremy seems to think this is excessive, but I think the evidence speaks for itself.) It was glorious to work in the sun for the first time this year. I don’t even mind that I got a sunburn. #worthit

The first step with this pattern was to choose which fabric to be the center block, and then separate the rest into two groups. The white and the grey are blenders. I decided the grey didn’t do anything for me, so it is not featured on the front of the quilt.

Then I cut my center square and strips. I lined the strips up until I was happy with the color flow, then it was off to the races. I think piecing took about two hours, and that was interspersed with checking how well the pool was filling up, and rescuing Oscar from under the deck. (Apparently someone has gotten a little rounder since the last time he was under there.)

I missed the very first step in the pattern, which told me to trim my strips, but the quilt still came together well. I tried to do geometry with my son over the phone, but he was burned out after a week of SAT and AP tests. Also, he is befuddled by quilt geometry. Those 1/2″ seams are confusing. He told me my math was correct, but I think he just wanted to go back to sleep. I ended up trimming a little bit off of the corners to make everything square, but not too much.

This pattern is so good, even if you do it wrong right from the beginning, it works. Thanks to The Quilt Room for pointing out the error to me.

I skipped the borders, because I don’t think they add anything to the design. I would do a solid color border if I wanted the quilt to be larger.

I opted for Quilter’s Dream wool batting for this project. I’m in love with the texture it gives to my projects.

I used the Plumeria pantograph from Urban Elementz for a fast finish. It is pretty and feminine, and free.

For the back, I pieced together the remaining pieces of Alexandria, along with some fabric left from another project. I’m not usually a pieced backing girl, but I have to say it feels good to use it all up.

These are my favorite two prints from the collection. I used the print on the left for the binding. I think it needs to be made in all of the colors. Something about the pattern just makes me happy.

Quilt Specs
Dimensions – 53″ x 53″
Fabric – Alexandria by Lizzie Clark for Sweet Bee Designs
Pattern – Tabby Road Twist by The Quilt Room
Batting – Quilter’s Dream Wool
Pantograph – Plumeria by Urban Elementz
Thread – Omni by Signature Threads in Rose

Be sure to check out the other makers on the tour. These projects are seriously inspiring.

• April 25 – Emily – sewdarnclose.com
• April 30 – Meg -megmadesewing.com
• May 2 – Sharon – colorgirlquilts.com 
• May 7 – Lissa – lovinglylissa.com 
• May 9 – Sherry – poweredbyquilting.com
• May 14 – Jen – dizzyquilter.com
• May 16 – Diane -dianesullivandesigns.com
• May 21 – Steph – stephjacobsonsdesigns.com
• May 23 – Nicole – modernhandcraft.com
• May 28 – Allison — allison-sews.com
• May 30 – Loni – havinsewmuchfun.com

And here is my sturdy little love puppy. He is a smug model.