red and white trees!

I made the first block for this quilt LAST year on December 20th, because I'm brilliant like that.....hahaha! Over the weekend I finished the last two blocks and assembled the top. It was a TREAT to have only 9 blocks to sew together to make that happen. Woohoo! The plan is to back it with the red and white polka dots (shocking, eh?) and one of the red fabrics shown will be the binding. I hope to finish it up this year yet and hang it in my entryway. The nice thing about the restrained color scheme is that I can get away with leaving it up well into February. Or all year round, really. The pattern is called Trees! and can be found here or here.

Are you doing any Christmas sewing? If you are, I'd love to hear about it in the comments. If you are already done, I'd love to hear your secrets to making that happen! ;)

Happy Monday to you!

my crayon challenge quilt

Earlier this year, the Minneapolis MQG held a crayon challenge. Each person that participated had to pick between 2-4 crayons (blindly) from a brown paper bag. The directive was to make something (anything) using those colors, with permission to add one other color to the mix. I was pretty pleased with the crayons that I drew from the bag. I was able to make my quilt top entirely from the stash, which is always a great feeling!

The colors I chose were violet red, cerise, sea green and sky blue. I added a creamy white background to the mix. I actually used two different prints of the creamy white, (both Carolyn Friedlander prints) because I didn't have 4 yards of one print, but you would never know it unless you looked really closely. 

The pattern I used is Emma's Sitting Room, except this time in the large size. You can see the small version here.  Isn't it crazy how different a quilt can look just by changing the fabrics? That, to me, never gets old. Never, ever! (Someday I need to do a round up of different quilt variations from one pattern. I bet I have close to 20 examples in my own collection of quilts!)

 

It was a gorgeous day for photographing this quilt today. I was happy to see those brilliant blue skies. Pretty amazing for the end of October!

This backing fabric was a lucky find at a quilt shop in Missouri. It was only $4.00/yard! I bought the rest of the bolt, naturally, knowing that it would make a great quilt back...someday. Wouldn't you know it? I finished the quilt top the next week and I had JUST the right amount of fabric to back the quilt. It was definitely meant to be! The binding came from my stash, too. This has got to be one of my favorite binding/backing combos ever.

I quilted it on my Juki with loop-de-loops all over in a cream colored Aurifil thread.

The quilt finishes at 80" x 75"....a nice large lap quilt. The pattern is available here, if you care to make one of your own.

It's so nice to finally share this quilt. I looked back and I finished it in April!

show and tell bag in Emma & Myrtle fabric

My new fabric line, Emma & Myrtle, (available exclusively at Connecting Threads) has been out for a several weeks, so I suppose now would be a good time to share a little bit more about it!

The collection was named after two of my great aunts: Emma and Myrtle. Emma was my grandpa's sister, and Myrtle was my grandpa's sister-in-law. Their names should give you an idea of the era in which they lived. :) Originally, I wanted to design a line of fabric based on my memories of them, but the collection evolved into more of a nod to things from that time period. I think that's pretty normal-to start with one idea and land in another place. The prints were inspired by retro kitchen towels, radiator covers, vintage aprons, an ironing board cover, gardens, bed sheets and an old spool of thread. I love how the collection came together! Many thanks to the folks at Connecting Threads for their expertise in developing a line of fabric. There is a lot that goes into it!

Picking out the colors for the line is one of my favorite parts! This was the original color scheme that I selected when I was starting out. It's fun to look back and realize that we didn't veer too far from the original palette.

Along with designing the fabric, one of the parts of the process is coming up with quilts/projects to make using the new fabric. That part is fun, but also challenging for me, as I'm more of a jump into a pile of fabric and start sewing to see what happens. (I'm usually not much of a planner in that aspect.)

The show and tell bag (pattern available here) was designed for taking your quilts to show and tell at a guild meeting or for hauling projects to a retreat. When I wrote the pattern, the fabric was not yet printed, so I made all of my samples from different fabrics from the stash. You can see those bags in this post. The pattern comes with instructions for bags in 3 sizes: Medium, Large and Jumbo.

The bag shown here is the large size. I folded up a few quilts (a lap size and a twin size) and this bag holds them both easily.

The pattern is charm pack or layer cake friendly. There is a kit available here, if you'd like to make one of your own!

(Full disclosure: in my version I took out the 4 fabrics shown above, which were included in the kit and I still had enough to make the bag as shown.)

I thought it would be fun to do a pattern giveaway today! If you'd like to win a PDF copy of the Show and Tell Bag pattern, please leave me a comment in this post. In your comment, tell me about a friend who you would like to win a pattern for. If I pick your name, you AND your friend will each win a PDF copy of the pattern. International entries welcome! I'll pick a winner in a few days. Please make sure to include your email address so I can contact you if you win. Thanks!

I hope you are having a great week!

marmalade quilt top

Welcome to finish it up Friday! Boy, that came around fast, didn't it?

I pieced most of the blocks for this quilt at a retreat this past summer. A few weeks later, I assembled the blocks together. This week I added the borders on the right and the left, increasing the size just enough to make it a twin size quilt. Woohoo!

I used a much hoarded layer cake of Marmalade fabric from my stash...it's old, but it's so good! It was finally time to use it! (Fabric was designed by Bonnie and Camille for Moda.) Background fabric is Kona snow. The seams are all pressed open, which isn't my favorite method, but it will make quilting it easier at least!

The FREE pattern is called Cartwheels and you can find it here. You can see my first version made from Strawberry Fields fabric here, if you care to. I'm excited to get this one finished up!

Now, it's your turn! Please link up your finishes for the week. Thanks, as always, for joining me for finish it up Friday!

thread catchers and more

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

This week I decided that I needed to make a half-dozen thread catchers (pattern is available here) with the mini charm packs that I picked up at spring quilt market. I wanted to use them before too long, or I knew that I would hoard them until the end of time. (There is enough fabric in that category already! Hahaha!)

I used three different fabric lines: the good life, by Bonnie and Camille, Flower Mill, by Corey Yoder and First Romance by Kristyne Czepuryk of Pretty by Hand. (All by Moda Fabrics.)

I like using mini charm packs for this purpose, because each thread catcher uses 21 squares of fabric, so you can make 2 from one mini charm pack. (Hurray for that!) These will be gifts and door prizes, most likely....if I can let them go!

Last weekend I traveled to Indiana to speak and teach. It was a CRAZY trip in regards to travel, but the students were amazing, so it was totally worth it! My friend Suzanne drove several hours to attend the class and she brought her finished slopes quilt (pattern is in No Scrap Left Behind) for show and tell. Isn't it fabulous? She busted a whole lot of scraps and made it a twin size. Thanks, Suzanne, for letting me share your quilt! It's so fun to see quilts being made from the patterns in the book.

That's it for me today! Please link up your finishes for the week. Thank you for joining me for finish it up Friday!

focusing

I've been working on my focus blocks as much as I can lately. It's been quite enjoyable to settle into another hand piecing project! Fussy cutting the centers is a great starting point for each block.

This narwhal block is a favorite! I've been digging deep into my stash to find just the right fabric combinations. I'm using even my most precious fabrics for this quilt... trying to work against my fabric hoarding tendencies a little bit at a time. :)

My finished block count is up to 28! Eeep!

This is by no means the final layout, I felt the need to lay them out to see how it was progressing. I think they are going to work just fine together. Hurray!

 

The templates are available here, and there is a post about EPP here, that may be helpful to you. 

noodlehead pencil pouch

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

A few weeks ago, my friend, Anna, generously shared a tutorial for her canvas pencil pouches(available here) and I've been wanting to make some ever since. Actually, she showed the pouches on her blog before that, and I have wanted to make them since then, so it's been awhile! She has such a great style and aesthetic.... it's hard to not want to copy everything she makes. Her work is so inspiring!

I finally took the time to make a pouch yesterday, and I absolutely love it! It was a super fun project! (Incidentally, I used scraps that she gave me to make the pouch. So, double thanks to you, Anna!)

I love the color blocking on the pouch! So many possibilities!

I used zipper tabs to shorten a zipper that I had on hand, which seemed to work out pretty well. I have plans to make many more of these cute little pouches. The next one will probably be full on scrappy. (What a surprise!) I plan to use this one for transporting my rotary cutter and other sharp tools. That is, if one of my kids doesn't take it and claim it for their own. That HAS been know to happen....

This is kind of a silly project, but it will make me laugh for months to come. Awhile back, while I was shopping at SR Harris with my friend, Brianne, we came across this meat fabric by Dear Stella. It's kind of funny (and extremely weird!), so we decided that we needed to purchase some. I offered to turn the fabric into napkins, so we will each have a matching set of 4. They will be perfect for BBQ season!

And.... since no week is complete without the making of a pincushion, I spent some time playing with my tiny triangle scraps and made this cute little thing. (The pattern is in Plenty of Pincushions, Volume 1, which is available here.) I may make a whole series of these, one in each color....I have plenty of tiny triangles ready to go!

Oh! I almost forgot to mention! Next week I will be kicking off a blog tour to celebrate the release of my new book, No Scrap Left Behind. There will be chances to win a copy of the book each day of the tour. I'm excited to officially celebrate the release of the book and show more of what is inside. I hope you will join me.

That's it for me! I hope you have had a good week of finishing! Please link up, and have a great weekend!

the happy quilt

Welcome to finish it up Friday!!!!

On the first day of spring, I finished my happy quilt. What perfect timing! I absolutely love this quilt, which means I took a ton of photos to share with you. I'm going to let the photos do most the talking today, with details about the quilt at the end of the post.

 

 

 

I fussy cut the text block to highlight the year 1997, which happens to be the year that I married my husband. Awww. :)

Pattern: Waiting, which is available for purchase here. It is newly updated, to include 3 sizes!
Technique: Fusible applique with blanket stitch, which was done on my Janome Horizon.
Finished size: 74" x 74"
Quilting: free motion loops, quilted on my domestic machine-my beloved Juki
Thread: Aurifil 50 weight in white
Backing fabric: 104" wide Picnic Gingham by Connecting Threads (it's on sale at the moment...)
Binding fabric: Ta Dots by Michael Miller
Completion time: 3 years and 3 months (I've had worse. Ha!)

That's it for me today! Now, it's your turn! Please link up your finishes. Thank you, as always, for joining me for finish it up Friday!

bright birch trees 3-a completed quilt

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

Last evening, just before 10 pm, I put the final stitches on the binding of my third bright birch tree quilt! (You can see the first one here. The second one is here. The pattern is available here.)

This pattern proves that every scrap deserves a chance! The blocks in this version finish a touch larger than 12" square.

I paired strips of scraps with a variety of solids from my stash. There are so many tiny details in this quilt. One could sit and look at it for hours. I love quilts like that!

For the quilting, I did a simple stipple all over with Aurifil thread, color 2615.

Did you notice the heart detail? I love little bits like that! The lattice print makes such a great binding! It's an old Denyse Schmidt print from JoAnn's. The polka dot backing was a gift from my friend Tara. I had just enough, so I figured it was meant to be.

The quilt measures about 48" x 60". This is my 5th quilt finish for the year. AND.... it brings my WIP total down to 5! I'm extremely excited about that!

Now, it's your turn! Please link up your finishes for the week. Thank you, as always, for joining me for finish it up Friday!

show and tell bags-a new pattern

Before I start my post today, I wanted to let you know that free shipping on signed copies of my book ends tomorrow. On March 2, shipping and handling will be $4.00. Just a heads up!

Over the past few weeks, I've been prototyping and designing a new bag pattern! I wasn't expecting to share it quite this soon, but everything fell into place so quickly at the end, so here it is. Hurray for something going faster than expected! That hardly EVER happens, so it's noteworthy, for sure!

These bags were designed especially for taking quilts to show and tell at a guild meeting or large projects to a quilt retreat. A few years ago, I made a huge bag as a part of a challenge at my local quilt shop. I've used that bag an awful lot over the years. I have re-designed the bag construction and I also made it in three sizes... because one size is simply not enough!

The medium size uses 4" squares and it finishes at 17 1/2" wide x 17" tall x 4 1/2" deep. It is great for carrying baby or lap size quilts.

The large size uses 4 1/2" squares and it finishes at 20" wide x 19 1/2" tall x 5 1/2" deep. This one is great for large lap or twin size quilts.

The jumbo size uses 5" squares and it finishes at 22 1/2" wide x 22" tall x 6" deep. Admittedly, the jumbo size is a little bit ridiculous. It is HUGE.... it fits at least two king size quilts. (Because it's totally plausible that someone would have not only one, but two KING size quilts for show and tell, right?!?!?!) I love that it's so ridiculous. It will also be very useful!

Just to put the size in perspective, my almost 11 year old can totally sit inside this bag. :)

I love that the bag looks so different in each of the fabric choices. So many possibilities!

The pattern is charm square or layer cake friendly. Each bag exterior uses 20 10" squares or less, so if you have a layer cake with 42 squares, you could make patchwork for two bags from it!

The PDF pattern is available for purchase here, for immediate download, if you are interested.

PLEASE NOTE:
This listing is for a PDF (electronic) file. The PDF pattern will be sent to the e-mail address in your pay pal account upon payment. The e-mail will include a link to download the file directly to your computer. This link will allow you to access the file a limited number of times, so please do not access the pattern repeatedly (on your phone, for example) without downloading and saving it on your own computer first. If you do not receive the file, please check your junk mail folder. After that, if you have problems, please let me know! :)

Happy Tuesday, my friends!

WIP Wednesday-BBT 3 quilt top

I finished my bright birch tree quilt top! This is the third version of this pattern that I've made to date. I decided to abbreviate the name to BBT 3, just for fun. :) (The pattern is available here.)

So many tiny scraps were used up in this quilt top!

At one point I was running low on tiny scraps because I used most of them up previous blocks, but thankfully that problem was short lived. All I had to do is wait a week or two, and there were plenty more from other projects!

These blocks finish at about 12 1/4" square. Even though I love these birch tree quilts, I'm determined to branch out (hahahaha!) next time around and use my tiny scraps in another format. I've got a few ideas.....and plenty more scraps!