What is a fat quarter?

I know this may seem like a really basic post. But for beginning quilters, especially us Ozzies, this can be quite a confusing part of the fabric buying process. (We use the metric system)

Lets start big and work our way down.

A yard is 36" x 44"     =    91.4 cm x 111.8 cm

A regular quarter yard is 9" x 44"   =   22.9cm x 111.8cm

A fat quarter is 18" x 22 "   =   45.7cm x 55.9cm

A fat eighth 11" x 18"   =   27.9cm x 45.7cm

Charms quilt squares are any thing from 1" x 1" squares up to 10" x 10"squares.

Jelly Rolls can be 2.5" x 44" strips. But the sizes do vary depending on the manufacturer, so you should ask before buying online.

I stick with inches when quilting. It really seems the easiest way for me, as all of the shops I buy from are online and are in the States. You'll send yourself mad trying to convert to centimetres all the time.

Steve's Hope Quilt

This quilt is being made for my husband for our wedding anniversary. ( Coming up on the 3rd of May) Everyone in our family likes to slouch and snuggle into our lounge and for that we always 'need' a quilt or homemade blanket depending on the temperature.

This lap quilt was totally inspired by a quilt called Queen Baby Quilt posted by Alissa from www.handmadebyalissa.com on September 7 2011.

Of course the fabric choice and colours are mine and I did make variations to the type of blocks I decided to make. I've used a mosaic wonky mod block.

You can use scraps to make your wonky mod mosaic blocks. There really is no size restriction, however I didn't go any smaller than 2.5 inches and no larger than about 15 inches. Cut a variety of sizes in squares and rectangles. ( Sorry for the poor quality photos. They were taken on my phone. And on my bedspread and floor) But I'm sure you get the picture. Lay out your pieces to estimate the size your blocks will eventually be, by doing this you can then cut pieces that you may need to complete your block. That way there should be no holes in your composition.

To join: Place two pieces (squares/ rectangles) overlapping the edges by about half an inch. Make sure the non overlapping pieces are parallel. Use a ruler and rotary cutter and cut a slightly wonky line through the two pieces of fabric. You should be left with two pieces with a perfectly matched wonky angle.

Sew the two pieces of perfectly matched sides either side of your sashing. I used a one and a half inch wide measurement. That way I was left with a negative 1 inch sashing between my mosaics.

 ( Again, sorry for the bad quality  photos and I have just thrown this quilt on the bed, so it is looking a bit rough)


We are currently renovating our home and have chosen a really light colour pallet for our interior. A kind of modern beach theme. So the colour choice for Steve's quilt (my gorgeous husband) had to be light and beachy.

I used Kona natural for my negative space and a variety of blues from my stash.

On the backside of Steve's quilt I again used random width sizes of rectangles to make a colour strip. I also wanted his quilt to carry a message. This one was 'Hope'. There have been quite a few jokes made about what this might mean. It really wasn't meant to be that deep.

I've started to free motion stitch a stippling in the blocks and lines on the negative spaced area. I'm doing them about an inch apart. Again, this idea came from the Queen Baby Quilt posted by Alissa from www.handmadebyalissa.com on September 7 2011. ( You can click on her link under my inspirational sites menu)

I'm still trying to figure out what I'll do for my binding. Any suggestions?

Would love some feedback,

Lisa