The Three Dudes Quilt: Easy Quilting with Rob Appell of Man Sewing and Jenny Doan of MSQC

Jenny: That's great. So how many, how many blocks, what do we have here? Rob: I think there were 36 if I remember correctly. Jenny: Six across and six down. Rob: Yeah. Jenny: And, you know, they're going to have to refer to this image to determine the location of that color. Rob: Right. Jenny: With those beautiful, dark ones that come in the corners. Rob: Right. Rob: And, at my retreat, as I was bragging (a quick option and then we'll move on to the edges), one of the ladies took some of the center lights and moved them to the outside corners and then I brought some of the middle ones to the center and then I put the dark ones on the outside.

Jenny: I imagine you could do anything. Rob: It was like a pulse. Jenny: Oh! Rob: It was really cool. Jenny: Beautiful! Rob: I'll make sure there's... when this tutorial is available, I'll make sure there's an alternate photo of my friend who took hers at the retreat. It's really impressive too. Jenny: That's great. Rob: Okay, so... Jenny: So, we're going to sew six across, six rows of six, and we'll get a

quilt

that's what size? Rob: I don't know. It's sixty squares when I'm done. Actually, I know this because, when building the borders, I had to measure, because... let me explain that to you, real quick, if you're ready.

Jenny: Yes. I think so. Rob: We don't need any more of this, okay? I just want to go home and make the

quilt

again. Thanks love. Jenny: It's beautiful. It's just beautiful. Rob: So, like I said, I had those leftover strips, whichever ones there were, which I had

three

of in this particular package, and then I made a strip set row without any of the thin black strips, just color and the like. in color scheme, starting with my light and graduating in both directions, now, try to go slow with this, I calculated the distance along the outer edge, right?

The outside edge of my quilt. So the first step was to place one more thin black strip around it. Jenny: Okay. Rob: So I needed to sew two strips for the bottom, two strips for the top, and two for the sides. So I used eight strips there. Jenny: Uh huh. For that first frontier? Rob: Right. The inner edge. Then I measured the math all the way around and then, I think, at that point, it was around 56 or so. Jenny: Uh huh. Rob: I sewed this, figured out how much I would need to go around the entire quilt, figured out how much I needed here, and divided it up until I could get enough strips evenly.

Now I know that sounds crazy. So here's your answer:

three

inches. Jenny: Three inches. Thank you. Phew! Rob: But that's how I did it because I do everything on the fly. I literally measured and said, “This is what I have and this is what I need, break it down,” and that's how I figured it out. Jenny: Perfect. Rob: But at the end of the answer, it's three inches. Jenny: Okay. Rob: Three inch cut. Jenny: Wow, that was a lot of work. Rob: So when I was done with those three inches, I had enough for the label on the back.

Jenny: Oh, very cool. Rob: That was all I had left of math. So if I had gone to 3 ½, I wouldn't have made enough for all those strips I needed. Jenny: So, you strip 3 ½ inches. Rob: Right. Jenny: And then I sewed them together, end to end. Rob: I did and I also continued with the order of the colors as I went along. So basically, it's probably easier to show it here, I stitched this color to this color. Jenny: Ok, like here. Rob: Exactly. That way, it makes a complete turn. Jenny: Yes, beautiful. Rob: And then for me, when I got to the corners, there was only one piece, you know, that was a little shy, and it's such a big quilt that no one cares.

Jenny: Nobody cares. Rob: ...you'll even see it. Jenny: Awesome. It's lovely. Rob: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for coming and doing this with me. Jenny: Oh, you're welcome. I love it. Rob: I have truly been blessed to be a part of your team here and your family. Jenny: Oh, we love it. We love having you. Rob: Ok, enough of the sadness. Well, we want to know what you're going to use for your first color scheme when you build your variation of the 3 Dudes quilt and the 3 Dudes watching you, thanks again for the great patterns.

And until next time, this is Man Sewing.