Quilted in the hoop blocks using the Rejoice! Quilting Collection

Last week I was playing with some of the “combo” designs included with the Rejoice! Quilting Collection and wanted to share the results with you.

The combo designs were the result of a few minutes playing in the software and there are 4 included, but many more combinations are possible. I was thinking “pieced block” at the time. The two combo designs I chose to play with are:

The first one is sized for an 8″ block, the other one is sized for a 12″ block. The beauty of these quilting designs is that you can resize them to be any size you want. If you have a big enough hoop (e.g. for the 8″ block) you can stitch it as it’s included in the collection. If you don’t have a big enough hoop (e.g. for the 12″ block) you’ll find it’s remarkably easy to build it up in multiple hoopings.

This is the 8″ combo design stitched out, along with a closeup of the center. What kind of pieced block can you see this quilted on?

I finished my block off with a couple of eyelets and a binding around the top edge to make a glasses case to attach to my archery quiver.

I don’t have a hoop big enough to stitch out a 12″ block, so the 12″ combo I stitched out took 5 (really fast!) hoopings.

I started out marking some placement lines on the fabric, and then basting along them with a 6mm stitch length. For this 12″ block, there’s a 6″ square in the center and the sides are all 3″ wide. I started out stitching the center:

When I was cutting my fabric for this block, I was thinking “12 inch finished square needs to be cut at 13 inches”. I had a bit of batting left over from a previous project that was just big enough. And then I discovered that I wasn’t going to be able to hoop my block to quilt all 4 sides.

The solution to this problem is pretty simple. I stitched a piece of polymesh stabilizer to the side of the square (I needed a piece on both sides). You could use any scrap of fabric – and you can even recover it at the end of stitching to reuse it.

The placement lines show you where to position each part of the design. I added the feather design and the corner design to the hoop, got them into position for the first side and then repeated 3 more times, making minor adjustments to the positions as needed. Using a hoop template/grid made aligning the background fabric in the hoop really easy.

Using my largest hoop, I could have stitched this block out in 3 hoopings, rather than the 5 I did (center panel first then the side repeated).

I finished this 12″ square off as a hot pad which will be put to good use in my kitchen. A layer of InsulBright batting will protect the hand of whoever uses it.

One of the things I love about quilting in the hoop using my embroidery machine is it is so fast. And the results are quite stunning. How many quilt tops do you have sitting waiting to be quilted? How about using the designs from the Rejoice! Quilting Collection to turn your UFOs into GFQs?

Click here to purchase your copy of the Rejoice! Quilting Collection today!

*** GFQ = Gorgeous Finished Quilt