Stairway to Heaven Quilt Tutorial

Hi All! In case you missed it, my Stairway to Heaven quilt was featured over on Moda Bakeshop last week. You can find a printable version of it HERE, or simply scroll down. Also, major props to @auntiePami over on Instagram for coming up with the awesome quilt name – thanks again! 😉

This is a super simple quilt that’s great for a beginner or anyone that
wants a fast and fun project, as this pattern uses a quick cutting
shortcut shown below. Your quilt will be done in no time!

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to actually quilt and bind this in time for my MBS blog post so check back if you want to see the finished quilt.

Before I begin, here are some pretty pictures of the quilt top with my child and furry children. 🙂 Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy the tutorial!

My quilting buddy Paige (below) does her signature roll and says “hello!”

And Bodie (a bit unsure of himself, and still terrified of my sewing machine) is wondering if he’s posing correctly like Paige always does. ;-p He’s a sweetheart!

This makes a ~72″x60″ quilt.

Materials

• 1 Layer Cake (you will need 25 of the 42 squares)
• *1 Jelly Roll (you will only need 15 of the 42 strips)
•  1 1/8 yard of solid
• 1/2 yard binding
•  3 1/2 yards backing

*Alternatively, you can cut your own strips from five different 1/4 yard cuts (cut three 2.5″ strips along the WOF from each quarter yard for a total of 15 strips)

Instructions: 

Before you begin, please note that “assemble” refers to sewing your pieces together (with right sides facing together, sew a 1/4″ SA and then press open with an iron.

Step 1: Cut the 1 1/8 yard solid fabric into sixteen 2.5″ strips along the WOF.


Step 2: Divide your layer cake into 4 piles of similar colors: color 1, color 2, color 3 and color 4. From color 1, choose 7 squares.
From color 2, choose 7 squares.
From color 3, choose 4 squares.
From color 4, choose 7 squares.

Step 3: Using fabric scissors, trim a jelly roll strip to the same length as the layer cake (I simply aligned the strip to the layer cake and then trimmed). Assemble two strips to the left and right sides as shown below. Note: these strips can be any color/design you want.

Repeat the above for all 25 of your layer cake squares, for a total of 25 blocks:

Step 4: Next, use a rotary cutter to quarter all of your blocks. This will give you a total of 100 7″x7″ blocks.

Step 5: Arrange your blocks as shown below. It helps to start by laying out the top row first, then the first block in each row, and then fill the rest in from there.