New Patterns!

Popping in to announce that I'm working on a series of seasonal quilted pillow patterns! Spring and Summer are already available on Etsy or Craftsy. My Etsy shop is 30% off through the 14th with code SUMMERFUN. I'm so excited about the different designs of these two sets and can't wait to finish up the fall and winter versions. The fall one is going to use some lovely woven plaids.

Why pillows? I love a big ol' snuggly quilt, of course, but I am busy and want (need!) the satisfaction of finishing something. I know I'm not the only super busy quilter out there! Pillows are a great way to make a manageable quilt project. They come together quickly, don't require a ton of fabric, don't need to be sent out to be quilted, and still add a big punch to living spaces. I feel like we actually use our quilted pillows more than our throws anyway.

It's fun to make little changes with the seasons, without giving everything a full bore holiday look. Pillows are perfect to change out with a removable cover that makes them store flatly and not take up too much space.

Heartland Blog Tour

Welcome to my stop on the Heartland Blog Tour! 

Pat Bravo from Art Gallery Fabrics has a beautiful new fabric line now out called Heartland. I have always loved their fabrics, especially for their high thread count substrate and on-trend designs and colors, so when Amy Friend asked if I'd like to be part of it, it was an easy yes.

I was tasked with making something from that line. It looks like I have a new guy that will be joining my life in a few months so I immediately thought it would be fun to take some of the the more masculine or neutral prints from the Heartland line and make a baby quilt suitable for a little boy. Life being what it is (busy!!! always!!!) and loving a minimal, modern aesthetic, I came up with this quilt made of oversized half rectangles in a graphic arrangement with the colors. It really lets the fabrics shine and is surprisingly sophisticated for how simple it is. 

Tip: 

when you go minimal, every proportion and fabric placement has a lot of impact. That means you can't really hide anything in the busy-ness, so although I saved time in the piecing, I had to make sure every fabric choice was well thought out.

Backing:

I backed it in the adorable owl print. So cute for a baby quilt!

Quilting:

I also used some newly gained ideas from Jacquie Gering's book Walk to use that owl print backing fabric as my guide and quilted it. I quilted it with the back side up. It is a variation on one of the motifs in Jacquie's book called Boomerang. I love how it adds a geometric texture on top of the simple geometric piecing. I had to be really careful when basting my layers that my owl backing fabric was registered nicely to the front but otherwise it was not tricky at all.

It was a quick, fun quilt to make! Thank you for stopping by and be sure to check out what this talented group of makers has created with the Heartland fabrics. Also don't miss the Trekant Rows free pattern from Amy Friend!

November 7 Debbie 
November 8 Jess and Charise
November 9 Jade
November 10 Amanda
November 11 Kari ---you are here!
November 14 Stephanie
November 15 Christopher
November 16 Kerry
November 17 Nichole
November 18 Krista
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Intentional Piecing: Tell Me A Story

My adaptation of the Tell Me A Story quilt from Intentional Piecing

I have to tell you about a new book that I absolutely love. It is Intentional Piecing: From Fussy Cutting to Foundation Piecing by Amy Friend. You probably know who Amy is from her blog During Quiet Time and her many publications and patterns. The premise of the book is to use fussy cut fabric in clever ways. There are so many great foundation paper pieced blocks, but I also have some of the other projects on my list like the cute little clutch. I had the good fortune to be able to help with the book production at Lucky Spool too and it was so hard not to drop everything and make something from the book! I have been waiting to finally dive in and be able to share it!

Tell Me A Story Quilt Stitched Storytelling Event

Amy has a Tell Me A Story quilt stitched storytelling event going on right now. For every block you make and post to Instagram until June 1, you are entered to win a lovely bundle of fabric. The full details on it are here. The instagram tag #TellMeAStoryQuilt is fun to follow!

That stack of fabric on the left is the prize! Lots of good fussy-cut options there!

I dove right in and couldn't stop. These things are like block crack! They go together quickly and easily and it was fun to find a use for some novelty prints I've had stashed away. I seriously thought that I didn't have that many novelty fabrics before I started putting these together. I guess I have more than I thought. My theme is loosely fairy tales and childhood stories. That was an easy one to have on my mind since I have to small kids that I read to on a daily basis. I was impressed that when my daughter saw the blocks, she exclaimed "Mommy, these are all like story blocks!" I see some fun times looking at the little details and making up our own stories together.

Here are some of my favorite blocks out of the bunch I made:

I had so much fun making this beautiful, fun project and making it my own! I didn't use any background fabric in my blocks like in the gorgeous original and made up a little complimentary border. I've been in scrap busting mode so I figured I'd use up some odds and ends from my scrap bin.  The projects in this book are awesome for that! Now it is time to get it quilted but until then, the top is hanging up in my family room play corner already.

I used the same foundation pattern for the block to make the border.
It is a block with only the corners pieced in and then cut in half. Easy peasy modification!

Next up!

My next project from the book is the Stash Happy Tote. It will make a great teacher gift!

Discount!

Lucky Spool is offering a 30% discount on the book on their site! Use the code: FRIEND30

June Bee Sewcial block

I made these two blocks for Debbie for June's Bee Sewcial bee blocks. She requested mid-century modern and provided some great ideas on her Pinterest board. I know I had a bit of Alexander Calder on my mind when I made these, even though I think that is sort of a subtle influence. I chose to keep the color palette restrained for each block, but with some carryover of color from one to the other. I think they'll play nicely with some of the other blocks I've seen too.

Speaking of the other blocks, I am amazed by what my bee mates come up with every month. You can see all their brilliant work on the Flickr group. I'm lucky to be a part of this!

My first zippered bag

This is a fairly old project but I'm trying to catch up on blogging on a few things I've made. I haven't had much time to sew since January, but that it turning around a bit now. Thank goodness!

I love this lining fabric!

I used wire cutters and popped off the zipper pull
and replaced it with this cool button.

I made this for a zippered pouch swap at the Front Range Modern Quilt Guild. It was from the free No Guts Boxie Pouch that I downloaded from Craftsy. It went together well, except for one little detail. I want to make those tabs on the ends a bit bigger next time. I decided to add in the coral polka dot stripe and paid attention to how my stripes were cut so they would wrap around and meet up at the seams. It turned out pretty neat--and big. I somehow did not expect it to be quite as big as it is.

It was so easy to do a zipper. I'm not sure why I put off trying it for so long!

It ended up going home with Stephanie. I hope she likes it or at least finds it useful! It reminds me of a Red Green quote, something like if your wife doesn't find you handsome, she should at least find you handy. And, yes, I am a total dork.

Free quilt and sewing patterns

I just added a link list for free quilt patterns. There are lots of great ideas and patterns out there!

Speaking of free patterns, I just made some flannel burp cloths from a free pattern. I've got two couples to give gifts to: one had a boy last week and another due with a boy in early December. The pattern was easy to put together. Here is the link. The directions I used were for sewing without a serger, flipping it inside out and topstitching. Make sure to use some sort of orange stick or blunt pointed object to smooth out the seams before ironing.



I did add two things regarding closing up the seam, although it does involve fabric glue. (I'm lazy to do anything by hand). It is much easier to sew the closure shut if you start at the indent in the middle, not at the bottom of one of the ends. Also, if you only sew a 1/4" seam and do a 1/4" topstitch, you willl most likely not sew the opening shut. I opted to use Liquid Stitch to close the opening, which is washable, quick and can't be seen. Purists may want to just use an invisible stich to close the opening.

I also experimented with one side being terrycloth instead of flannel. Maybe my sewing skills are just lacking, but the terrycloth distorts so much that the shape ended up out of whack.

Do all you Moms out there prefer this style of burp cloth or this?