BANANA SPLIT QUILT - Fat Quarter Shop Pattern

I recently had the great pleasure of making a beautiful quilt using the new Cake Mix Quilt Book by It's Sew Emma Patterns for Fat Quarter Shop, I was so excited to use the new Mama's Cottage by April Rosenthal for Moda Fabric!  This fabric is perfectly named, because I honestly thought of childhood memories of summers at my Grandma's cottage.  The fabric is so colorful and fun, I can't wait for you to see it! You can pre-order  ​www.fatquartershop.com/mamas-cottage-yardage

The quilt pattern I made from the book was the Banana Split Quilt, this pattern uses the 
Cake Mix #5 Recipe Cards, and it was my fist time using the recipe cards.  I will report that it was a great way to put a big quilt together pretty quickly!  I really enjoyed the cards, I will say though that you need to stock up on rotary blades, because you will be cutting through a lot of paper, but the seams are all perfect and the blocks go together fast and accurately, I didn't even use very many pins! Totally worth it!   www.fatquartershop.com/cake-mix-recipe-5

The red fabric in this line is all beautiful, but red is favorite color, so I did all of the red blocks first and I loved seeing them cover my design wall!  This banana split quilt is 91x9 so I had to make a ton of blocks, and it didn't take long to fill up my wall, so I had to start stacking them by color!  However the Cake Mix Recipe #5 includes 44 recipe cards that yield four 3.5" finished half square triangles and four 3.5" finished 4-Patches. So once you cut the pieces the blocks go very fast! 

I wouldn't be me, if I didn't share a mistake! ha ha  Because that is part of sewing, you are going to make them, no matter who you are.  There is no quilting mistake that a seam ripper can't fix, so make sure you keep one close by!  I have also learned not to sew late at night, because I always have bloopers after dark. :) Plus I am kinda a directional dork! 

Once I got all the blocks complete, the layout part was so much fun!  My sewing room in not a huge room and my Handi Quilter Avante Long Arm machine is in there too, so I had strips all over the place!  Once I get the block portion of the quilt front done, I like to bring it outside so I have some fresh air and natural sunlight to help me check myself for any mistakes.  Thankfully, I didn't have any more, so I was clear to add the white boarders!  Woo Hoo! 

When I test patterns for the Fat Quarter Shop, I always learn something new!  The recipe cards were really fun, and they make a quilt with good points you will be proud of!  I use a Juki 2010Q sewing machine to add my binding to the quilt front, then I hand stitch the binding to the back side of the quilt.  I really enjoy the hand binding part of quilting.  I love to snuggle up on the sofa and watch some football and hang out with my boys!  I struggled with binding for many years, but after lots of practice I have finally mastered it!  So if you hate this part as much as I used to, keep trying, you will figure it out!!  

I tried to get a better final picture, but we had a ton of rain here in Texas that week,
in fact, I will never forget making this quilt, because I did a big portion of it during the hurricane Harvey that effected so many in South Texas.  But because we are Texas Strong, the Fall Quilt Market 2017 in Houston Texas will go on!  The Fat Quarter Shop and It's Sew Emma Pattens will be taking this Banana Split quilt with them to market, so if you get to go, keep an eye out for it!  Stay Positive, Laugh Often, and Seize the Day!  #CapreQuiltin
Thank you for visiting my blog.
​Gina