Clamshell Coin Quilt

Last week I was doing some testing for one of the new Quilt Theory patterns (Spring release scheduled around April).  I knew that I was going to wind up with a bunch of strips so instead of having some partially made blocks floating around my sewing room, I made a bunch of additional strips and turned them into a simple coin quilt for charity.  

I used a bunch of colorful Tula Pink prints (mostly from her Slow and Steady line) paired with Moda Bella in white.  

To make the coin quilt, I sewed a print and a white strip together along their long edges to make strip pairs.  Then I cut each strip pair into 6 pieces.  I pressed the seams towards the prints so that when I sewed the columns together, the seams would nest and I got pretty decent points even without pinning.  

The quilt top finished at about 38" x 40" (it was important to me to keep the width of the quilt below 40" so I did not have to piece the backing).  I used some of the blue snail print for the backing.

Next came the fun part, trying out my new Bernina ruler foot.  I bought the foot right before the holidays but had to get some secret sewing done before I allowed myself to play with it.  

I used a the HQ Versa Tool by Handi gadgets   (affiliate link), a longarm ruler (so it is 1/4" thick) that is a little larger than my hand in size and has 4 different quilting shapes on it.  I used the clamshell shape and with complete luck (I wish I could say it was planned but it was not), the clamshell design was the exact height of the finished rows (2").

The foot is great and after a just a little learning curve, I was making the clamshells pretty quickly.  The entire quilting took under an hour and a half.  

This quilt is on its way to Tennessee for a family that lost their home in the large forest fires there this fall.

I am working on a post highlighting some of my learnings and tips for using rulers on a domestic machine.

I am linking up to Link a Finish Friday, Whoop Whoop Friday, Thank Goodness Its Finished Friday, Finish It Up Friday, Fabric Frenzy Friday, Sewjo @ My Go Go Life, and Show Off Saturday @ Sew She Can.