You Gnome I Love You Quilt Tutorial

with
Jenny Doan

You Gnome I Love You Quilt Tutorial

Quilt Size: 69" x 72½"
Time: 27:16
Jenny Doan demonstrates how to make an adorable gnome quilt using 10 inch squares of precut fabric (layer cake). For this project, Jenny chose Ava Kate 10" Stackers by Carina Gardner for Riley Blake. The pattern for this quilt is the "You Gnome I Love You Quilt" Pattern for Hello Melly Designs. It's made up of pretty hearts and cute little gnomes with heart-shaped beards, pink noses, and pointy hats, of course! This pattern can be a Christmas quilt, but it's also classic enough to be an every-day quilt for anyone who loves gnomes as much as Jenny does!
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Hi everybody, it’s Jenny from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. And take a look at this quilt behind me. Isn’t this adorable? This quilt is called You Gnome I Love You. And if you know me at all you gnome I love gnomes. And so this is a pattern by Hello Melly designs. And with her permission we are doing this tutorial. And I am so excited about it. Now it’s pretty easy but a little bit smaller pieces than we’re used to but let’s look at this closely. So it has this heart block right here in between. And then the heart is repeated for the gnome’s beard. And so once you get that heart you’re pretty good on the block. So we’re going to start with this. Now the difference between her pattern, her pattern is all set up for fabric and so it will tell you just what to cut and where to go and even gives you these cool letters to put on your fabrics so that as you stack your piles up you know exactly what piece goes where. A lot of patterns are written that way. I wanted to do it with a layer cake because that’s what I do. And so let me show you, this is my professional cardboard off the back of the layer cake right here. We made a little cutting chart right here. And this is how you get your gnome out of a layer cake. And then also, this is how you get your hearts out of the layer cake. It’s quick and easy. And I generally do cut two gnomes out at a time so that I can swap their hat and their body out, you know, so this guy has the flowered hat with the red body and then here’s the red hat with the flowered body down here. So I just switched them. I did them two at a time so it makes it really easy.

So to make this quilt you’re going to need one pattern, You Gnome I Love You by Hello Melly designs. To make my version you’re going to need one packet of ten inch squares. And we have used Ava Kate by Carina Gardner for Riley Blake. You’re going to need 3 ½ yards of background fabric and that includes our first inner border. And for your outer border you’re going to need 1 ¼ yards. And for the backing you’re going to need 4 ½ yards of 45 inch wide fabric or two yards of a 108. 

So we’re going to start with the heart block right now. And on the heart block what we’re going to do is I chose, I went through this pack, the pack we used was Ava Kate and it’s got beautiful colors in it. It’s got the blues and it’s got some lights, some peaches, reds and darks. I wanted all of my hearts to kind of step back. So I went and pulled all the light pinks out of my pack so that I could make the heart. And I also pulled one pink out for the nose of the gnome so you might do that as well. So let’s go ahead and pull one of these out and I’ll show you how we make a heart because once you can make the heart you can make the beard. Alright so we’re going to cut this and we’re going to cut it in half like this, first, right in half. And then each heart piece is three by five. So then we’re going to come along here and we’re going to cut three inches in. And I am, right here, I’m ignoring these peaks so I’m right to the inside of the peak on that. And we’re going to cut one and this will make one heart right  here. And so you’ll get three hearts out of this. So we’ll cut again. And then we’ll cut one more time. These are three by five again, like this. Alrighty. 

So to make the heart, what we’re going to do is we’re going to choose two of these pieces. And we’ve got these little tiny pieces right here. Now most of you who sew with me are not used to cutting little tiny pieces like this. These are 1 ¼ inch squares. And you’re going to need four for each heart. So these tiny little pieces right here. Don’t worry, it’s not harder, it’s just smaller. And then we’re going to need these three inch blocks for the corners. So out of your background fabric, you’re going to cut some threes. You’re going to cut some 1 ¼. You’re also going to have a side piece that is two inches right here, like this just a strip. And then you’re going to have a strip that’s 2 ½ for the top and the bottom. And the reason we put those borders on is because we want this block to match with this block so that when you put it together you’re just sewing rows together. It goes together super easy. Alright. 

So what I’m going to do and what you can do is put your square in the corner, top corner of both sides of your three by five rectangle. And I would suggest drawing the line or using the diagonal seam tape. On a piece this small, the ironing is going to be a little bit harder to control. And so you’re going to put a square on each corner. And we are going to sew here and here, just like that on both sides. So let’s go ahead and come over here and do that. And I’m just going to start on this side and make sure it stays lined up right in the corner. Now one of the things that I noticed when I was sewing mine is that mine didn’t turn out perfect which is par for the course for the way I sew. But it was just a, you know, it would just be a little bit off so that when you put it in that quarter inch seam  you could hide it. And so I didn’t worry about it too much. So if you find that yours are coming out a little bit funny don’t worry about it because we’re going to border all around that. So again what we’re going to do is we’re going to line up our squares right in the corner just like this. And I’m going to turn mine so that this pinked edge isn’t at the top. And I’m going to put my squares right like this and we’re going to sew diagonally this way and then this way. Sew corner to corner on this. Just line that up right there. And you can eyeball it, draw a line, whatever you choose. I’m using the diagonal seam tape. And I’m going to come down the other side right here making sure that is still right in the corner. And the top of your heart is done. 

Ok so now what we’re going to do is we are going to trim off these corners and I’m just laying my ruler just about a quarter of an inch away like this. And one more over here. And then we’re going to press these open. And I’m just going to fold these back like this. Fold this one back. And then to make the bottom of our heart we’re going to put two three inch background squares on each corner. So these will cover your whole corner like this. And again what you’re going to want to do is draw this line like this. There we go. And I am just, you know, there’s lots of ways to do things and you could iron these. They’re plenty big enough. You could use your diagonal seam tape . And what I’m going to do because, so for me this is a lot of waste of fabric. And so what I’m going to do is I’m going to sew on this line. And then I’m going to come over and I’m going to sew again and I’m going to cut this apart and I’m going to save all these little triangles for something special, something special, not sure what, something special.. So anyway, what we’re going to do is we’re going to sew right on that line. And then I’m going to flip this around and I’m going to sew to the outside of that line, oh about a half an inch. And then I will cut right in between those two and then my little extra half square triangle for something special is already made. Now the reason I put the heart together and laid these out like this is they have to be going opposite directions in order to form a heart. And I’ll show you what I mean right now. So these are going to come together like this and see how we’re sewing opposite ways on both sides. And now I’m going to trim this. And I’m going to trim this. Oops, I got a little bit, there we go, hang on, let me cut that little thread right there. That was kind of living dangerously wasn’t it? Alright, then we’ll press these  out. And I’m rolling it back just like that. And then right here is our little heart and all we have to do is lay these on top of each other and sew a straight seam down the center. Now one of the things you want to watch is make sure this seam lines up right here as close as you can get it. And then because those are the parts you want to watch for as we’re sewing this middle seam together. It’s just that those parts and this little point down here kind of line up. Alright, we’ll press one more time. And then we’re ready to put our little  borders around it. 

And so you can see like the edges of mine right here, you know, they’re not perfect but I know that when I put this little border on here, my little side border, they’re going to be just, they’re going to be all hidden in there so it’s not going to be any big deal. Now what you can do is you can measure this. And you know this block is five inches and so you can cut your pieces five inches if you’d like. I will, a lot of times when I’m working on the whole quilt what I’ll do is I’ll just have a strip and I’ll do side, side, side, side, you know, and do my chain piecing that way. I’m going to cut two five inch strips for you because we’re just doing one block here like this. And I’m going to put these on the sides and that will border our, the sides of our heart. And I’m going to come over here and do this side. Remember this strip is two by five. Then I’m going to press it again. And then we’ll add the top and bottom. Now if when you’re sewing along, you know, this sort of thing starts to bother you, you can just trim that up really easily like this. And just shave off that edge so that it stays even with the top. You know sometimes when we sew, our fabric distorts a little bit. It’s not a big deal. And just like that right there. And then it stays straight. And then for all of you, you know, that that’s a thing, you might want to do that, take a little time to clean up your block. And then I’m going to trim off these selvedges right here. And then I’m going to cut two pieces. And these pieces are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and a half.  And so we’re going to come over one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and a half right here. Cut those. And then these are the borders for the top and the bottom. Right here. And we want to keep that pretty close on there. There we go. And then our top, we’re going to line up this top edge, make sure we’re lined up over here. There we go, we’ll press this out. And that's one of my favorite things in quilting is that every seam is enclosed in another seam so it just cleans it all up. Isn't that darling? 

All right so now we know how to make the heart and now you know how to make the beard of the gnome so let me show you how to make the gnome. And I'm going to save these really quick right here. I have a little baggy stash of all my half square triangles. I just can't let that big of a thing go to waste. So right here is our cutting chart for our gnome and I'm going to choose two colors here and I think I will go with this blue and ope, I have two blues here so I need two opposite colors. And maybe this black stripe will be kind of fun. I love a good stripe and a quilt. I think this one I, oh yeah I bound it with this little stripe right here. See that little bitty stripe? I love a stripe on the binding. All right line these up carefully and I follow my little cutting chart every time. And so what I'm going to do first is I'm going to cut this at four and a half right here. I'm going to cut my piece off at four and a half and this will make my hat, like that. Save this piece. Now I'm going to come over here and I'm going to cut some one and a half or one and a quarter inch squares because we have to have the same little tiny squares. And this little piece, I'll get my one and a quarters. There's one, there's two. Okay so you need two of these for each block. And then this hat has to be 4 ½ by 8 ½ and it's just a tad bigger so we're going to trim this edge down here just like this. Alright we’re going to set these hats aside up here. And this is extra. 

And then we’re going to take this other piece and we are going to cut two three by threes. And this is going to go around the body of the gnome. Again these are the parts that go to the bottom of the heart that make it look like he’s wearing a little coat. So we’re going to do, I’m actually going to cut this little tiny pinked edge off here. Come over and make sure this is three by three. And I’m going to cut one and I’m going to cut two. And then this right here I’m going to set over here. And these I need two two by five. So I’m going to leave this long, all the way long. And I’m just going to trim this so it’s two inches and then we’re going to trim it at the five line right here. And these are his arms.

Alright so once you get your pieces cut for your gnome, for the background pieces you only need three cuts. And that is the two three by fives, this is the beard. And then you’ve got your two two by twos. Those go on the bottom of the arms of the gnome. And then you’re going to need two 4 ½ inch squares for your hat. So let’s start with the hat and let’s make this gnome have a nice black hat. And I’m going to go ahead and draw the line on these because it is quite a distance to eyeball. And we’re going to make this just like you make a flying geese. And so, you know, super easy. We’re going to sew on that line. And of course, I don’t want to waste anything so I’m going to sew right over the line as well. So what we’re going to do is we’re going to take this square. We’re going to put it right up on the top right here. And I am going to sew here and then I’m going to come over and sew a little bit and you don’t have to do that, that is just me not wanting to be wasteful. So we’re going to go on the line. And then I’m going to come around and sew again. And then I’m going to cut right in between those and put that in my save, because I’m going to make something amazing, bag. I’m pretty sure all of us quilters have one of those bags or shelves or bins, you know, as it goes. Alright so there's one side of our hat and now we're going to add the other side and we'll put it here and you will notice if you cut right this should cross over and that will allow you to keep your quarter inch seam and your point which all gnomes love a pointy hat. There we go and when I get sewing on this quilt what I do is I do a whole bunch of hats and then I'll do a whole bunch of, you know, I just I just kind of rote sew it so I do a bunch of the same things at once. Alright these go in my baggie, my baggie, can go down here. 

Alright so now we're going to make the body of the gnome and what we're going to do is we're going to put his beard and we're going to make the beard just like we made the heart. And so we've got these two outside pieces here.  Our coat is going to be blue and remember I told you that I pulled one whole piece out for my noses. So I use this stripe piece right here. You have 25 gnomes and you're going to put a little one and a quarter inch square on both sides here for the nose. So here's the little tiny nose right here, one and a quarter inch squares. And so I’m going to do is I’m going to cut a 1 ¼ inch strip right here. Actually let me, it make it so much easier if I cut off these little peaks and then I can get a straight line because these tiny squares they’re so tiny, you just want to, this is a brain thing, you guys, so if you have a half inch ruler on your ruler, watch that because it can mess you up. So I’m coming over here to the full one inch side. I’m going to put it at 1 ¼. I’ve trimmed off my little peaks so that it’s much smoother cutting and I’m just going to cut right like this. And I’m just going to cut some 1 ¼ inch squares here for my noses. And because it’s such a tiny square I just don’t like to deal with those little tiny pinked edges. So I have a few right here. So then we have these little tiny noses and these are going to go in the inside corner like this. And so what we’re actually going to do is we’re going to do the same thing we did on the heart. Only this time we’re doing it on colored squares. And we’re going to put our noses in the middle. Because this is such a tiny space here in the middle, I did not try to line anything up and worry it, worry about it at all. You can see like this, you can see parts of little stripes but it’s just a little nose. Now as I was making them I did think it would be interesting if this block was longer or wider, you know, you could change the nose shape a little bit, you know. But that’s just me. I just always look at things and see about 30 ways to do it. So anyway we are going to stick with the pattern on this. 1 ¼ inch squares. We’ve got our outside print on this outside one and our nose here in the middle like this. And we’re going corner to corner. And then we’re going to take this one right here, this is our coat piece. This is the three inch square. I’m going to put it on the bottom of the heart right here and I’m going to sew straight diagonally side to side. Now I have my diagonal seam tape so I can do that. And you can do all this at once. Actually you can do the same thing with the heart. I did it in pieces so that I could show you exactly. But you can do this whole thing like this while you’re here at the sewing machine. And then make all your cuts at once. The one thing you have to remember is that again, these two pieces have to go opposite and so you want to make sure if you sew one, check the other because I did have a few hearts that were both going this  way. It just doesn’t work. It doesn’t make a heart shape. And so on this right here, we are going to come from the outside into the middle and we’re going to come across here and over here so we’ll pick up this whole little block. And then I will take them both to the ironing board. Here’s our nose piece. Here’s our, I guess I’ll call this the shoulder. And then I’m going to go from the outside to the inside on this piece to make the bottom of the heart. And again I’m just going to come back and sew that again. I just remembered that I didn’t do it on the other one so I’ll do him really fast. Just like this. Now interestingly enough if you didn’t sew those and you cut them apart, they’re going to stay together for a little while. They kind of, even, not sewn, you know, if you toss them over here, those two pieces would stay together just because of their fabric. And they’re, you know, I’m not actually sure why but they do for a little bit. So anyway we’re going to go ahead and trim these off and trim our heart piece here. And I’m going to save that there. And we’re going to press these now. So press, just roll them up and press back. You can set your seams if you want. I kind of set my seams by rolling over the whole thing. And then this piece goes out and this nose goes up. And then any little threads that you have that you didn’t clip in between these two, clip these now so they can lay nice and flat. And then what we're going to do now is we’re going to sew this together. So see how this beard makes this, his beard makes the heart so we’re going to sew this together. Lay these right on top of each other and then sew right down the side. I’m making sure that nose lines up pretty good. All noses aren’t perfect but nobody’s nose is right. There we go. Now we’re going to press this open. 

And then what I’m going to do is now we’re going to add the arms to the sides like this. And again on our arms we have, they have little hands and those hands have to go opposite direction. So we come in on this side and we come in on this side. So I’m just going to draw a little line right here. There we go. And then on this one, you can put a pin in there if you’d like. And then I’m just going to take this to the sewing machine like this. Sew right on that line. And then this one as well. Make sure it stays right lined up. Alright, then we’re going to trim these and we will iron them open. This is a little small for me to save. I do have to admit I have my limits of what I’m willing to save. But I do know people who would pick those right up and keep them. Alright, let me iron these back. And then again the lowest part goes to the middle like this. And we’re going to sew these two side pieces on right here. And then this one over here. And I’m making sure that I’m putting it on so that the fabric is to the fabric. Little mantras that we have. Alright now I’ll press that open. 

Alright, so here, this is our gnome body. That’s really all there is to it. We’re going to attach it now to the hat. We’re going to put this on here like this. And I am going to line this edge up right here and just sew it a quarter of an inch across the side. And I’m watching to make sure that all my seams lay down the way I want them to. I’m going to press this hat up right here. Oh, it’s so cute. You gnome I love this right. Alright so what you’re going to do is you’re going to make 25 of these. Then we’re going to sew them together. We’re just going to alternate them. So you’ve got one, two, three, four in the top row, three in the second row and you just alternate your heart in between. There’s no sashing, nothing, you’re just going to sew straight rows. So the next row to the next row,  just like this. So on her pattern, she has just bound this, just finished that and bound it. And a lot of people like that. I’m a lover of borders and so I actually added an inner border, a little 1 ½ inch white inner border all the way around it. Just to set it in a little bit. And then I added a nice big six inch border out here on the outside. And of course I bound it with the tiny little stripe which I think is beautiful. The backing on this is this beautiful red print that appears in the layer cake as well. It’s gorgeous. And we quilted it with hearts, little hearts because there’s hearts all over it and it’s just a darling quilt. So once you get this big border on, ours is 69 by 71. If you finish it without the border, it is 56 by 59 so you get some choices there. 

Anyway I love this pattern, You Gnome I Love You by Hello Melly designs. And we hope you enjoyed this tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. 

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