spicing things up!

I have 13 blocks left to piece for my biased quilt,  but I was feeling a little burnt out making those blocks, so I switched gears and pulled out my moody quilt instead. Variety is one good reason to have so many WIPs! Ha!

Anyway, I like this quilt and where it is headed, but I couldn't help but feel like it needed.....something.

I auditioned some black and white polka dots, which are nice, but not quite what I was looking for. (I'm completely shocked that polka dots weren't the answer! They almost always are!!)

My friend brianne suggested adding in a bit of mustard....and that was the ticket! The mustard really wakes things up! It's funny to me, because this is the second moody quilt that started out subdued and got a little spicy. You can see the first one in progress here, and the finished quilt here. (That happens to be one of my favorite quilts that I've ever made!)

Maybe my next attempt will be just plain moody? I guess we will see!

This pattern is an enlarged version of the chain of diamonds quilt from my book No Scrap Left Behind. The background fabric is Kona Shadow and the scraps are various weights and substrates. (Linen, denim, chambray, etc.) The background squares are cut at 4 1/2" so the individual blocks will finish at 4". I'm excited to see it transformed into a quilt top. Hopefully soon!

pincushion challenge revisited

Like I mentioned last week, I've decided to revisit my one-a-day pincushion challenge. My goal is to make a pincushion a day for the month of July. I did this last year and I had a blast! I'm happy to say that things are off to a great start!

day 1--I pulled out a bag of scraps that my friend Jacey gave me earlier this year. The color scheme is one of my favorites! For the design, I went after the first idea that popped into my head and I was thrilled that it turned out pretty close to my original idea on the first try. (That is NOT always the case. hahaha!)

day 2--this pincushion was inspired by the remainders quilt in my book No Scrap Left Behind. The triangles didn't turn out nearly small enough....so I tried again on day 3. I do love the one yellow triangle in this one!

day 3--these triangles finish at about 1/2"! This is what I was envisioning. I love this one so much and I have a feeling that this one will become part of my permanent pincushion collection.

Just to give you an idea of the scale of the triangles from day 2 and day 3....smaller=cuter!

A few things to mention:

1. I almost always quilt my pincushion tops to scrap batting. The quilting adds a lovely texture to the finished piece.

2. I use lightweight interfacing (SF 101) fused to the back of quilting cotton for my pincushion backings.

3. I use invisible nylon thread to hand stitch the openings closed, which I do by hand.

4. I use crushed walnut shells for filling, which are sold as lizard litter. I purchase them at Pet Smart. (25 dry quarts at a time. hahaha!)

I wanted to say a quick thank you for all of you who left name suggestions for my quilt top last Friday. I appreciate the help! There are some great ideas, it will be hard to choose just one!

One question I want to ask of you, do you have a pincushion collection? I'd be curious to know.

Happy Monday to you!

this quilt needs a name and Maine morning mitts

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

Last evening my machine was humming because I was in a race to beat the sunset. I wanted to capture a decent photo of the quilt top before the light escaped. It's a tricky game to play, as my son says, but I'm thankful that I won. :)

You guys! I'm so happy with this quilt top! It needs a good name, so if you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

If you've been following along with the quilt along, you already know that this is a slightly smaller version of my June quilt from my book No Scrap Left Behind.

The top measures about 51" x 68" or so. I'm pleased that the top is done, just as June comes to a close. Hurray for finishing the top! Boo for June being done. (It's one of my favorite months!)

I had another finish this week....a pair of Maine Morning Mitts. Knitting hand warmers in June is totally reasonable, right? My daughter actually wore them for a few days. Silly girl!

Last weekend we took a quick trip to Iowa for my niece's graduation party, so this is one of the projects I took along to work on in the car. I have been stalled out on this project because they needed thumbs and I hate knitting thumbs! My motivation? I wanted to use the leftover yarn to make knit pincushions. Hahahaha!

I'm so glad I had the motivation to finish them!

They are for my daughter and she LOVES them. Also, she was a willing model and the last photo was her idea. It was a lot of fun to photograph them with her!

The pattern is Maine Morning Mitts, which can be found here.

Yarn is by The Yarns of Rhichard DeVrieze. The colorway is Kimberly. (Worsted weight, knit on size 7 needles.)

Tomorrow is July 1 and I decided that I am going to revisit my one a day pincushion challenge. I had so much fun with it last year and I'm super excited to try it again. I hope you enjoy following along!

Just a quick note....I've decided that from here on out, I will keep the link up open for two days rather than one, so you have a bit more time to share your finishes. I hope that's helpful!

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!

June QAL-week 3

Welcome to week 3 of the June quilt QAL! I hope you all are having fun making your June quilt blocks.

After the comments last week, I took another look at my cornerstone fabrics. (The original ones that I picked are the top left squares.) They ARE too light....(thank you for pointing that out!)...so I selected a more saturated red fabric. I like the saturated red cornerstones better, but I had a feeling there was still a better option. I auditioned a LOT of other fabrics, and I found two different aqua fabrics. I like them both, but I don't have enough of either one, individually, so I decided to use both. I think the aqua fabrics will add a lot more pizazz to the quilt. I'm still using fabric that I have on hand, so that's good! Remember what I said about editing until the very last seam is sewn? This is a great example of that very thing.

Today I will be giving cutting instructions for the background fabrics and the cornerstone fabrics. If you haven't finished your blocks from last week (I know I haven't!), find time to finish piecing them this week, if you can. Just a reminder, you will need 36 pieced blocks for the baby quilt and 48 pieced blocks for the lap size quilt. (100 blocks if you are making the quilt in the book.)

For the background fabric you will need:
1 1/3 yards for the baby size
2 yards for the lap size
(This allows for little waste, so please cut carefully and in the order listed, for best results. Feel free to purchase extra yardage if desired.)

For the baby size, cut 2 squares 12 5/8" and cut them in half on the diagonal, twice, to make 8 quarter square triangles.

For the lap size, cut 4 squares 12 5/8" and cut them in half on the diagonal, twice, to make 16 quarter square triangles. (There will be 2 extra QSTs for this size.)

Label as A.

For the baby size, cut 13 squares 8 1/2".

For the lap size, cut 18 squares 8 1/2".

Label as B.

For the baby size OR the lap size, cut 2 squares 6 5/8" and cut on the diagonal, twice, ONCE, to make 8 4 quarter half-square triangles.

(Edited to add, I'm so sorry about the error in the instructions! These triangles should be cut on the diagonal once, not twice. You need a total of 4 HSTs, not 8 QSTs. Thank you so much, Liz, for pointing that out.)

Label as C.

For the cornerstone fabric you will need:
1/3 yard for the baby size
1/2 yard for the lap size
(or a combination of two fabrics to equal those measurements)

For the baby size, cut 12 squares 4 1/2".

For the lap size, cut 17 squares 4 1/2".

Label as D.

For the baby size, cut 3 squares 7" and cut in half on the diagonal, twice, to make 12 quarter square triangles.

For the lap size, cut 4 squares 7" and cut in half on the diagonal, twice, to make 16 quarter square triangles. (There will be 2 extra QSTs of this size.)

Label as E.

Next week we will get into quilt top assembly!

If you have any questions, I will try to answer them in the comments. Thank you so much for quilting along with me!

June quilt QAL-week 2

Welcome to week 2 of the June quilt along! (If you are new to the QAL today, please check out my intro post here.)

This week we are making strip set blocks for our June quilts. I took a lot of photos to share and I hope that you find some tips or tricks to help you along the way. They are simple blocks to make...I hope you have fun with them!

This is my initial fabric pull for my low volume blocks. Anytime I make a quilt, I start with a fabric pull, but I edit constantly, up until the last seam is sewn.

These are a few of the strips that I took out, because when it came down to it, they were too bold for my liking.

Here are a few fabrics that I added because I needed more variety of subtle colors and prints. Successful scrap quilts take a lot of editing! It's a good thing there is no shortage of scrap around here. Ha!

No special tools are required for this quilt along, but I found these two very helpful. The ruler is 4 1/2" x 8 1/2"...the same exact size as the unfinished strip sets. The thread snips (by Farmore Cutlery) are wonderful for chain piecing. They are easier to pick up than a pair of scissors and are sharp, with a slightly curved tip...perfect for cutting the threads between quilt blocks.

One thing I hate about working with strings is just that....they are stringy! I recommend cutting a fresh edge right before you start using the strips. It makes it easier to sew the pieces together and the finished quilt blocks will be tidier. It takes a bit more time, but it eliminates a lot of frustration.

Isn't that much better?

Once the strings that you selected are tidied up, cut a few segments that are slightly longer than 4 1/2".

Sew two strips together and press the seam to one side.

Sew on a third strip, press seam to the side. (I like to press all the seams in one direction, but it really doesn't matter, in this case. If you are going to use a variety of lights and darks, I would press the seams toward the dark fabric as much as possible to prevent shadowing.)

I like to work on two or three strip sets at a time. Then, I can chain piece and that makes me feel efficient. Haha!

Audition strings and add pieces to either the top or the bottom. Or, some of each!

At this point, I measure my block. I have about 1 3/4" of space left to fill, so I start weighing my options and auditioning fabrics to finish the block.

I could either add in one wide strip....

Or add two narrower strips. Remember to account for seam allowances when measuring, especially when adding multiple strips. The goal is to avoid ending up with a very skinny strip (3/4" or less) on either end of the strip set.

I decided to add the one wider strip to the block. At this point, press the strip set well. A little bit of spray starch or steam is helpful for getting the blocks to lay flat.

Measure the block again and make sure that the strip set is larger than 4 1/2" x 8 1/2". There is a bit extra on nearly all sides, but very little waste. Hurray!

Trim the strip set to 4 1/2" x 8 1/2".

If you look closely at the block, you will notice that one of my strips was just a touch short (less than 1/16"), but that will be hidden in the seam allowance, so I am not too worried about it. If that strip would have been much shorter, I would have removed it and added a new one. :)

This block was better, with overhang on all sides....

and no gaps!

As you are making the strip sets, you may come across a time when one of your strips is no longer straight, but curved, as shown above. If this happens, take a second and trim it straight. (Or straighter, it doesn't have to be perfect.)

Then continue to add strips to the piece until it's the desired size. Sometimes trimming off a small sliver of fabric makes a big difference! You could also add a wedge shaped piece to the end to compensate for the curved piece. What you want to avoid is a banana shaped strip set. Those are pretty hard to square up.

Here's one other tip I wanted to share. It's pretty simple, but it's something that I think bears mentioning. I try to USE as many scraps as I can, without making a mountain of 'by-product' scraps. When I came across this scrap, just under 2 1/2" wide, I had to think it through. I could trim it down to 1 1/2" and leave a 1" strip, which would be hard to use, but also hard for me to throw away....

OR, I cut it in half, and have two usable strips. That's a much better solution! No waste, and no awkward scraps leftover. Win, win!

I managed to finish about a dozen low volume blocks for my quilt this week. I think they are so pretty all lined up together! I am very happy with my fabric selection and editing so far, too.

Here's your homework:

For the baby size, make 36 string set blocks.
For the lap size, make 48 string set blocks.
For the quilt in the book (85" square), make 100 strip set blocks.
Each block should measure 4 1/2" x 8 1/2".

After I made several low volume strip set blocks, I arranged them on my polka dot background fabric to see how it would look. It looked awfully bold and a little "out there". I wasn't completely sold on it.

I decided to audition my blocks on a chambray fabric instead. It's ok, but it's too safe and a little bit boring. After several days of consideration, I'm definitely going with the red and white polka dot background. Both would work, but I like the first option better! Often times seeing an alternate option helps make the decision. Taking a few days to think it though helps, too. There are hundreds of other fabric options out there, but I wanted to use my stash, so that's a big determining factor.

That's it for me today! I hope you have fun sewing up your quilt blocks! I will try to answer any questions in the comments. Thank you for quilting along with me!