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Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Something's Missing

Happy Needle and Thread Thursday, y'all.  As I mentioned in last week's NTT, I dropped off my beloved Regina Bernina for regular servicing on the way to QuiltCon last week (ps- it was AMAZING, and I can't wait for next year!).  Anyway, she's all spiffed up and ready to go, so I'm planning to pick her up tomorrow.  The shop is about 1.5 hours away- almost exactly halfway between here and Nashville, so dropping her off on the way to QuiltCon was easy, but it's not exactly a quick pickup.  Instead, while waiting for her to be ready, since getting home I've been sorting and pressing my yellow scraps, which are next up in my giant color wheel project.  I've also taken this time to finish up the pattern for the secret quilt I showed last week.


So, since I don't have any fun eye candy to share from my studio, let's get right to last week's party highlights.  This sweet, scrappy finish is by Something Rosemade-


Jan at The Colorful Fabriholic linked up this pretty plus quilt-


Amber at Sew With Sparkles shared this Alison Glass feather quilt, along with a great story of her first foray into quilting-


and finally, I am in love with this fun, scrappy heart quilt by LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color-


Wow!  Between browsing all of the fantastic projects from last week's party and all of the amazing inspiration at QuiltCon last weekend, I'm itching to get going on those yellow scraps.  I can't wait to get my machine back tomorrow!

If you didn't make it to Nashville, you should definitely look through all of the photos on Instagram to marvel at all of the gorgeous modern quilts.  I know they'll spark your creativity!

Alright, let's party!

1You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!
2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.
3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  
4. Spread the comment love far and wide!
5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!

*If you're new to the party, here's a helpful tip for linking up- select "Auto Crop"  when selecting your thumbnail photo.  For some reason, trying to crop your own image results in the dreaded "white question mark box," and we definitely want to see your awesome work!  :)


Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Home Grown Blog Hop and Giveaway

Today, I'm delighted to share a tutorial with you as part of the Home Grown blog hop.  I put together a quilt that adds a little twist to a classic Antique Tile quilt block, and it is so much fun in these fabrics.  I'm calling this pattern Hopscotch, and with strip piecing, it goes together quickly.


The colors in this collection by Nancy Halvorsen are so cheerful and the prints are super cute.  These fabrics really make me wish for spring, which is almost a constant state of mind these days.  Just look at those luscious colors!


So, let's get to it!

Hopscotch Quilt

Finished quilt size- 48" x 60" 
Finished block size- 12" x 12"
Fabric Requirements-
          20 fat quarters (*see note below)
          1 yard solid white background fabric 
          3 yards backing fabric (*see note below)
          52" x 64" piece of batting
          1/2 yard binding fabric 


*Because I love quilts with lots of fabric variety, I made this one with 20 different prints,  cutting one complete block from each fat quarter.  This is a large collection, and I really had a tough time choosing only 20 to use in this quilt!




I like to piece my quilt backings, so I used all of the leftovers there.  If you choose to do this, you won't need 3 yards of backing fabric.  Instead, follow the instructions at the end of this post for a scrappy backing!





If using 20 fat quarters
as shown in my quilt, cut from each-
*diagram not to scale

(2) rectangles, 2.5" x 18"
(1) squares, 4.5"
(1) rectangles, 2.5" x 10"
(4) squares, 2.5"





OR, if you don't like lots of leftovers, and want a more controlled fabric selection, you can make this quilt with just 10 fat quarters.  Just double the number of pieces cut from each fat quarter.  In this case you'll cut TWO complete blocks from each print instead.  Using this number of prints creates very little scrap fabric.




If using 10 fat quarters, cut from each- *diagram not to scale

(4) rectangles, 2.5" x 18"
(2) squares, 4.5"
(2) rectangles, 2.5" x 10"
(8) squares, 2.5"





From solid white, cut
80 rectangles, 2.5" x 4.5"
          Cut 5 strips, 4.5" x WOF (width of fabric), subcut each strip into 16 rectangles, 2.5" x 4.5"
          to yield 80 total pieces

20 rectangles, 2.5" x 10"
          Cut 5 strips, 2.5" x WOF, subcut each strip into 4 rectangles, 2.5" x 10" to yield 20 total pieces





Make each block with three contrasting prints-

1 strip, 2.5" x 18" print A
1 strip, 2.5 x 18" print B
1 strip, 2.5" x 10" print B
1 square, 4.5" print C
4 squares, 2.5" print C
1 rectangle, 2.5" x 10" white
4 rectangles, 2.5" x 4.5" white






Sew the 10" print strip and 10" white strip together and press open.  Subcut the strip unit into four equal pieces measuring 2.5" x 4.5".


*Time saving tip-  since each of the 10" print strips is paired with a 10" white strip, it is easy to chain piece and subcut these for all blocks at the very beginning.






To create the corner units for the blocks, sew each strip unit to the right of one 2.5" x 4.5" white rectangle.

















Make all four corner units and give them a press!











Next, make the side units for the block by sewing the 18" strips of print A and print B together.

Subcut the strip set into four equal pieces, measuring 4.5" square.






Now, just lay out your block into three rows like this, using the 4.5" square of print C as the center!  Easy, right?

Sew those together in three rows, as you would a nine patch block.  At this point, you have a classic Antique Tile quilt block.

Your block should measure 12.5" square.  If it doesn't, you'll want to trim it to size.






The part that gives this pattern a little extra pop is the addition of the corner squares, which create the diamond shape in the negative spaces between the blocks.  It's a simple modification, but I think the secondary pattern really makes the quilt special, and keeps it from looking like a big grid.  To sew the corner squares, there are a couple of different methods.  Lots of people draw a diagonal line on the back side of the corner square as a guide, but I prefer to use a different method.

To keep your sewing straight, use a piece of painter's tape, aligned straight out from your needle, NOT at the 1/4" mark.  Align the corners of your 2.5" square with the edges of the tape, and sew from corner to corner, using the edge of the tape as a guide.  It takes a few tries to get used to sewing without a drawn line, but once you do, it is so much faster!  This trick works for corner squares of virtually any size.  Best of all, it's accurate!







So, use whichever method you prefer to sew the four 2.5" squares of print C to the four corners of your quilt block.















Trim the corners off, leaving 1/4" seam allowance (I usually just eyeball this).














Give your corners a press, and your quilt block is all finished!


Sew the remaining quilt blocks using three contrasting prints in each block.
















Arrange your quilt blocks into five rows with four blocks in each row. Then sew the rows together to finish your quilt top.















If you decided to use 20 fat quarters, you have lots of leftovers, but since they're in big pieces, it's easy to use them on the back.  

Sew the long sides of 18 of the leftover pieces into three columns, using six fabrics in each column.  Then sew the three columns together.

Then, cut 1/2 yard of solid gray fabric into two pieces, 9" x WOF, and trim off the selvages.  Piece the two strips end-to-end to create one long strip, 9" wide.  Sew the strip to the side of the backing to widen it out enough for your quilt.




Then just baste, quilt, and bind!  This pattern would be great to showcase your free motion quilting skills, but I went with the fast finish, opting for a nice soft stipple, and a pop of yellow on the binding.


I really loved working with these fabrics!  They are gorgeous altogether, but I also love that the blenders in the line are great for stash building.  It's always great when fabrics play well with others.  


You can win a bundle of these beauties for yourself!  Just leave a single comment on this post to let me know what you'd like to make with these lovely fabrics (US only please).

Remember to leave an email address if you're a no-reply blogger, and only one entry per person please!  Unfortunately, replies to your own comment counts as an entry (the system numbers those, too), so remember to put your email address in your comment if necessary.

Additional replies/comments/entries will be deleted.  I'll announce the winners at NEXT week's Needle and Thread Thursday (March 6th).  Good luck!  :)

This giveaway has now ended.  Thanks to all who entered.  I'll announce the winner at this evening's NTT.  :)

PS- If you're hopping over from Sew In Love With Fabric and you're new to my blog, welcome!  I host a weekly link party and monthly giveaways, plenty of tutorials, and lots of fun.  Take a few minutes to look around, and then I hope you'll use one of the buttons on my right sidebar to follow along!

And don't forget to visit the full blog hop lineup this week.  Be sure to check out all of the other awesome projects (and giveaway chances!) throughout the week.

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday
Nancy's Virtual Trunk Show @ Sew in Love with Fabric




Wednesday, February 20, 2019

QuiltCon, Secret Sewing, and NTT

Happy Needle and Thread Thursday, friends!  This week, I've been finishing up a couple of projects, and getting ready to go to QuiltCon.  Since it's in Nashville this year it's only a quick, three-hour road trip for me, and my quilty BFF and I can't wait!  I'll be there on Saturday and Sunday, and If you see me, be sure to stop me to say hello!

As for sewing this week, I've been working on a quilt with this soothing bundle of fabrics, and I just finished the last stitch in the binding this afternoon.


I really love how it turned out, but this is a secret project so I can't reveal it just yet.  Here's a little sneak peek though.


I'm taking advantage of my time away at QuiltCon to take my machine in for her regular servicing.  Even though she is sewing perfectly, I'm always worried that when I take her in, they'll need to keep it for some unforeseen reason.  I lost her for two whole weeks once, and I thought she was fine then too, so now I always worry a little bit.  I have a backup machine and like piecing on it, but the feel of the machine is so important with free motion quilting that I only do that on my trusty Bernina.  So, since this secret project is on a deadline,  I pushed to get it done beforehand.  You'll get to see the full reveal in a few weeks!

At last week's party, Jen at DeJong Dream House shared this lovely quilt, also made with soothing colors-


This scrappy beauty is by Cynthia at Quilting is More fun Than Housework-


Check out these awesome improv minis by Sophie at Luna Lovequilts.


This quilt by Jayne at Twiggy and Opal is so cool!



And you may have missed this one by Tami at Sew Much for Free Time because her link didn't post properly and the thumbnail didn't show up.  Both the quilt and the background are so gorgeous, and I couldn't resist showing it to you though!



Before we party, I owe you TWO winners from last week's giveaway post.  The winner of the fat quarter bundle from Lady Belle Fabrics is comment number 17, Tanya Quilts in CO.  And the winner of the pretty rainbow heron scissors from Fort Worth Fabric Studio is comment number 76, Suze.  Congrats, ladies!  I'll be contacting you via email for your information so you can get your prizes!



Okay, friends!  Let's party, and if you're going to QuiltCon, I hope we can party in person soon!

1You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!
2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.
3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  
4. Spread the comment love far and wide!
5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!

*If you're new to the party, here's a helpful tip for linking up- select "Auto Crop"  when selecting your thumbnail photo.  For some reason, trying to crop your own image results in the dreaded "white question mark box," and we definitely want to see your awesome work!  :)


Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Moving Right Along and NTT

Oh, this color wheel project is so much fun!  In the past week, I've finished two more minis, and pulled scraps for the next color. I have some secret sewing with deadlines fast approaching, so I've had to take a little break from these, but I can't wait to get back to them.


This orange quilt is called Ember.  The colors dance like glimmering fire, or more specifically, like the glowing wood below the flames, and even though it moves from light to dark like the others, it is slightly different.  Since I almost never use the darkest burnt orange or lightest peachy orange tones in my quilts, the color gradient is not quite as pronounced in this one.  That's okay though, because I definitely want the predominant colors on the wall to be the shades/scraps I love most.  Clearly my orange zone is more narrow, ranging from vibrant tangerine orange to softer creamsicle.


I quilted this one with the same swooping spiral.  This design is really fun to quilt and it creates so much movement.  Though I don't know that I would want to quilt this on a full size quilt, it is pretty quick to do on a mini.


On the backs of these, I've decided that I'm just going to pull whatever stash fabrics I have in that color.  They're going to be on a wall, so the backing really is secondary here.  This orange print does the job nicely.

Giving a nod to Valentine's Day, the other color I finished this week is pink!  If I had to pick a least favorite color in the rainbow it would be pink, so I didn't think this one would be as much fun.  I honestly just wanted to go ahead and get it out of the way.  I was so wrong though.  I love this one just as much as the others.

I actually had plenty of scraps ranging from hot pink to baby pink.  When my quilt calls for it, my personal favorite shade of pink is dark and saturated, but I've made a few baby quilts this past year where baby pink was specifically requested, so I had plenty light value scraps in my jar as well.


The quilting on this one was a bit of a happy accident.  When I drew the chalk line to guide my quilting, I was so focused on centering the spiral and evenly curving the swoops that I accidentally put both swoops on one side of the quilt, rather than opposing corners.  Yes, I am officially using the word swoop as an honest-to-goodness word these days.   Anyway, if you can believe it, I didn't step back from it and really look at the whole spiral before I started quilting, and I didn't realize it until I had quilted three full lines on the mini.  Yikes!

You know I'm not one to rip things out if I can think of a way to fix it on the fly, so I decided to add a swoop to the other two corners.  So, this one has four!  Now the only thing to do is to make half of the minis one way, and half the other.  Crisis averted!


Even though this dark pink print has navy accents, I decided to go ahead and use it for the backing since I had enough without piecing it together.  Again, on the wall the backing won't matter a bit.  All of this scrappy, swirly texture reminds me of the petals in a full, lush bloom so this one is named Peony.


As I mentioned earlier, I have a few secret sewing projects to finish up, but I've already been sorting my yellows, and I can't wait to get to them.  It's my last warm color!

Okay friends, let's take a look at some of my faves from last week's party.  Check out this Urbanologie quilt by Kris at Sew Sunshine-


Something Rosemade linked up this awesome quilt, and that green background is calling my name!


And this sweet quilt is by Shannon at The Flemings Nine.


Okay, y'all!  Let's party.

1You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!
2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.
3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  
4. Spread the comment love far and wide!
5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!

*If you're new to the party, here's a helpful tip for linking up- select "Auto Crop"  when selecting your thumbnail photo.  For some reason, trying to crop your own image results in the dreaded "white question mark box," and we definitely want to see your awesome work!  :)




Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Studio Inspiration and NTT

Happy Needle and Thread Thursday, friends!  I don't know if you have noticed this, but I really don't make very many mini quilts.  I don't always know what to do with them, and even though I do have some display space in my studio, I like for the things on my wall to be a bit more cohesive (more on that later).  Because of this, I rarely sign up for swaps and challenges (even though I know I'm missing out on some fun).

Well, when I dove into my blue scraps last week for the BLUE show, I had a little epiphany.  I had so much fun with it, I decided that I'm going to create a giant scrap color wheel on the only available wall in my studio, and I'm SO excited about it.


I decided to pull out my reds next, because I knew the color gradient effect would be a little trickier to pull off.  I figured that if I could make the reds work, then the idea would be a go.  Lighter reds can very easily read as pink, which I tried hard to avoid.  Instead, for the lightest reds on the edge, I chose red prints mixed with lots of white.  It definitely works!  The color gradient shows up well, but the entire mini quilt still looks red.


I'm naming this little quilt Caboose, and I quilted it with the same swooping spiral design as the blue, using 50 wt. Aurifil #2265, Lobster Red.  I didn't mark the beginning spiral first with chalk this time though, so this one is not quite as smooth.  It isn't noticeable on the front, but lesson learned.  I'll mark them from here on out for sure.  The cloudy daylight is also casting some weird shadows making this one look wrinkly on the back, but it really isn't.

So, this wall is where my giant color wheel will go, and right now it is pretty uninspiring-


My original plan for the wall was to create a mini quilt for several of my favorite patterns, using similar colors as the quilt on the cover of each pattern.  Though it seemed like a good idea at the time, after making these four, I just wasn't feeling it.  I really don't like tiny piecing, and the wall was looking too hodge-podgy for my taste.  Without a better idea I just left them up, but now I can't wait to sew and hang my color wheel.  Two down, seven to go.  Stay tuned; orange is already in the works!

Last week's party was amazing.  Laura at Slice of Pi Quilts shared this beautiful quilt, and just look at how it sings against the snowy landscape!


This Fruit Salad quilt by Katie Mae Quilts is super fun.

And finally, this mermaid quilt by Jen at DeJong Dream House is so adorable that I can't stand it!


Okay y'all!  It's time to link up the latest happenings in your sewing space!

1You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!
2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.
3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  
4. Spread the comment love far and wide!
5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!

*If you're new to the party, here's a helpful tip for linking up- select "Auto Crop"  when selecting your thumbnail photo.  For some reason, trying to crop your own image results in the dreaded "white question mark box," and we definitely want to see your awesome work!  :)




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