Three Little Chevron Quilts

Last week, autumn seemed to really be here - the air was crisp and in the mornings, we needed sweaters and blankets for the walk to school.  So, I decided I "needed" to make a few stroller blankets for my little one.  I finished these over the weekend and surprise, surprise - it was 80 degrees yesterday!    

Since I was making these with a clear purpose and recipient, I decided it was a good time to try the chevron/zig zag quilt that has been on my list for awhile.  For this green/white version, I used the HST method.  I cut 8 inch squares of each fabric and then used this technique to make 4 HSTs at a time - I think they ended up about 5 inch square.

When you look close up, you can see I really missed at most of the points but from afar, I really like the way this type of chevron looks.  Oh, and do you see my super thin binding?  I thought I would try to preserve this fabric that I love by cutting thinner binding strips - I cut them at 1.75 inches!  It was actually counterintuitive because even though I used less of the fabric, you can barely see the binding!  Oh, well!

For the second quilt, I decided to try this method for the zig zag which does not involve any HSTs and therefore, no trimming of the HSTs.  For a true comparison, I should have also used solid colors for this one but I didn't have enough left in my stash (what kind of stash doesn't have white?!?), so I had to go with prints.  

These blocks were very quick to make but I have to admit I spent a little too long figuring out the block placement (I had to call in my puzzle-loving daughter to help.)  This was probably because I used two different prints with the linen for some of the blocks instead of one print and one solid and then had to match them up for the look I wanted.  And for this one, you don't even need to look closely to see that most of my points do not match.  I definitely plan on trying this method again but using only solid colors.

For the last stroller quilt, I used chevron fabric!!!  Actually, this one came about because I wanted to participate in the Scrappy Stash Quilt Along but I don't have nearly enough scraps.  If you read my blog at all, you might have noticed that I have two daughters that love to sew AND they love to sew using my scraps (um, well, the ones that I don't hide away!)  But seeing all the scrappy rainbow log cabins around blog land last week inspired me and this was the end result.

Since these were all small quilts, I decided to practice FMQ on all three.  And, yes, I still need lots more practice!!!  

There are still a few days left to enter the Contemporary Cloth fabric giveaway, click here.

Linking up to TGIFF and Crazy Mom Quilts.

*edited to add:  I've had several people ask which technique I prefer and the answer is: I'm not sure yet - I've ordered more solid fabrics so I am going to try the second technique again using those for a better comparison and then I'll write another post with my conclusions!