Friday, January 8, 2021

2 New/Old Baby Quilt Finishes

So along with starting new projects for the New Year, I also made a little "goal" to get some of my older WIP done.   And I am not even talking about the ones that need to be pieced.  I have a pile of fished quilt tops from 2020 (and older) that really need to get quilted and bound.   Again, I think this has a lot to do with the time factor of my trying something new in 2020, but the To Be Quilted pile has assuredly grown in the the last year.   So what better place to start this new 2021 year than with that pile.  So I started with the small baby size ones :)

First up, this beautiful Rose Garden quilt!!  I posted about wanting to make this quilt when I got it in my May Sew Sampler Box and then promptly never wrote about it again.   But ya, I was totally working on it :)


I pieced the entire quilt in a very short amount of time, and then had plans to share it when I got it all done, but that didn't happen so quickly :)    Ya know, it just kind of hid down at the bottom of the pile.   But I am so excited to have it done now, because this is just so pretty!!!  Isn't this such a great design!!!  


And when I quilted this yesterday, I decided on an all over swirl.   This was pretty much the first quilt design I "mastered" and I hadn't done it in a while so it felt good to bring it back :)   And it is super fast and it gives such great texture, so yummy!!!


I followed the pattern exactly for this quilt, only I changed the fabric placement.  Isn't this just going to make the cutest baby girl gift.  Now I just need a loved one to have a little baby girl ;)    Oh, and this pattern was an exclusive Sew Sampler pattern, so sadly, it is not available for purchase,  Just fyi in case you were looking for it.  


And since I was working on baby quilts, I decided to just load a second one on the long arm!!!  This is my Jolly Bar Row Along quilt ;)   Isn't it so cute!!!


This quilt was in celebration of the Jolly Bar 2 book being released (which is funny as the Jolly Bar 3 book has just been announced :)   I changed up the design a bit by repeating rows and omitting a few from the original design to give it an all baby feel.   I made the blocks and quilt top back in July, so it was high time this got finished.     And I just love how it turned out!!!


I decided to quilt it with an all over Curly Q design.   This is my favorite design to use for sampler or row quilts.  I just love how it ties it all together without taking away from each of the different blocks.   And I started to add a little second line into the Curly Q instead of always stitching right back on the same line,  and I think I like it.  I will have to keep playing with that and see where it goes ;)  


And that is my Jolly Bar Row quilt!!   And you can totally find this pattern at the Fat Quarter Shop.   All of the details and links for the blocks are in this post ;)   Now I totally want to make an entire quilt with just those sparrow tracks!!  So cute!!!

But first, more quilting on the To Be Quilted pile.   Here is hoping for lots more New/Old finishes in the coming weeks!!


I hope you all have a very Happy Quilting Weekend!!

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Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Breaking Bundles for New WIP's!!!

 Yesterday and this morning I cut out 4 new quilts!!!   That was a whole lot of cutting for sure, but what better way to start out a new year than with new projects!!!  And I tell you what, the hardest part is breaking open the bundles :)

I have been saving this Olive's Flower Market Bundle by Lella Boutique for some time now.  And a Flower Sampler quilt is just the perfect match for it!!!


I am teaching at a retreat next month and I am actually taking this Flower Market class as well.  So it was time to get all my pieces cut out.   I love samplers!!   I know they take longer to cut out, but they are just so fun to make.   And I decided to just use the pinks and blacks for the quilt, and I think it is going to be so striking!!! 


The next bundle I broke open was my Merry Stars Here bundle by Sweetwater.   It hasn't been sitting on the shelf quite as long, but still :)   I am taking a second class at the same retreat but in March (the original retreat was broken into 2 so more people could join in even with limited covid size classes :)  And when I saw this Midnight Crossing design by Fig Tree Quilts and Co. I knew it would just make the cutest Christmas Quilt!!!  So the bundle was opened ;)


I am going to alternate red and green blocks with black sashing 9 patches and center x's.   I actually enlarged the block so this will finish at a Queen size so that I will have a nice Christmas Quilt to go on the Guest bed (which is my daughter's room that she gives up when company comes, she's so sweet that way!!!)  Now the only hard thing will be waiting for March to start piecing this quilt!!


The next bundle I opened was this beautiful Goose Creek Garden by Michal Marko for Poppie Cotton.   Isn't this just so pretty!!! This one I haven't had on the shelf, it actually just arrived in the mail and will be available in March :)


I have been wanting to make a new Playground Picnic quilt in the lap size for sometime, and I think this line will just be adorable in the pattern!!!  And it had the benefit of cutting out super, super fast!!!  I stacked and cut my fat quarters and so it really just flew by :)  And this one I don't have to wait for a class to start stitching.  You better believe I will be sewing on this project later today!!


And finally, this didn't start as a bundle, but it was to pretty not to share.   16 Beautiful Grunge colors in glorious Fall tones.   This is for some secret sewing that I won't be able to share for a while, but I am so excited to get to start working with all of these beautiful colors, and you know how I just love Grunge!!!  It is going to just light up the snowy days ;)


So that is what I have been up to since the new year started ???  How about you???  Any new Works in Progress for the New Year?

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Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day!!

  It's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day!! Let's have some fun :)

First, we need to announce the winner from last Terrific Tuesday Giveaway!!  
The winner of the $40.00 Gift Certificate  from Olie and Evie is . . .   Number #527  . . . Congrats kristychikadee!!  I have messaged you :)    

    

And on to today's

Today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway is being sponsored by Green Fairy Quilts.  Green Fairy Quilts is your home for pre-cut goodness and they always have amazing sales going on every weekend on a selected pre-cut or notion!!!   And did you know that Green Fairy Quilts has a Deal of The Day, I just love these!!!    And right now, Green Fairy has an amazing New Year Clearance Sale, with 40-80% off so many items, including my favorite Bloc-Loc Rulers!!!! 

And for today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway, Green Fairy Quilts will be giving one lucky reader 2 Mystery Honey Buns!!!  These will be a surprise of some of your favorite Moda Lines, it is so fun to try and guess which ones you will get!!!!  

You have two entry chances here on the blog, and please leave a separate comment for each.  All Entries are welcome, including International Entries.   Please just be sure to leave an email address if you are a no-reply blogger ;)  

ENTRY 1 - Simply leave a comment that has the number 21 in it :)

 ENTRY 2 - Show your Green Fairy Quilts love.   You can Sign up for their Newsletter which I highly recommend as it will ensure you catch all of their amazing sales!!  You can follow them on Instagram or Facebook,  or you can visit the Shop and then share a favorite item ;)   Just be sure to leave a comment of how you showed your Green Fairy Quilt Love!!!

And that's it ;)  The giveaway will be open until next Tuesday, January 12th, when I will announce a winner at the beginning of next weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Post :)

You can also pop over to my Instagram and/or Facebook to enter there as well :)  

Good Luck and Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!
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Thursday, December 31, 2020

2020 and 4 Final Finishes a Year in the Making!!!

Well, 2020 was a different year for sure.   And it was super apparent as I began to write this post.   I had no mini or projects finished this year, no bee blocks, very little teaching, and 25 Quilt finishes.   And I know that is still a lot of quilts, but for me, the number is small ;)  

But I do have a story that includes 4 very special finishes that were a year in the making . . . I will get to that in just a minute.

But first, let's see some of my Happy Quilting from 2020!!! 

 
First off, the biggest excitement of the year was the release of my  Charming Baby Quilts  Book!!   I can't begin to say how happy I am over all of the Charming Baby Quilts love I have seen ;)   I am just thrilled that so many of you are just loving this book and using it as your "go-to" baby quilt book.   I have loved seeing all of your Charming Baby Quilts and can't wait to see more in the new year!!!! 


Charming Baby Remix Quilts 

Along with the release of my book, I was super excited to make 10 additional Charming Baby Remix Quilts this year.    This idea came to me when I was chatting with a friend and she mentioned that she wanted to make quilts from my new Charming Baby Quilts book,  but didn't have any babies to make them for.   So I set out to Remix all 10 quilts in the book, making them bigger so they could be used from Lap Size quilts up to King Size Quilts.  I just love that it basically doubles the value of Charming Baby Quilts and what you can make from it!!!  

Each quilt has a Charming Baby Remix Pattern Alterations PDF, that goes along with the directions from Charming Baby Quilts  (yes, you need a copy of the book for the Remix's :)    All 10 of the Pattern Remixes are in this Full Pattern Download PDF.   Or you can go to this post and download the individual PDF's. 

And this year, I also hosted the Charming Baby Sampler Sew Along, which took a block from each of the 10 quilts in Charming Baby Quilts and made it into a fun sampler quilt!!!   You can find the  Full Pattern Charming Baby Sampler Download Here (and again, you need the book to go with it :)  



Happy Quilting Quilts 

I also finished up 9 other quilts this year, (one I can't show yet) and loved making each one!!   3 of these are new Patterns that I released in 2020 and I am just tickled pink with how much you all loved the new patterns.  Thank you so much for your love and support!!




So there is a quick view of the 2020 quilts.   But as I mentioned, there are 4 more to join the group today and they are the main reason (and Covid, of course) for the smaller number of quilts I finished this year.   And here they are . . . 



This is Good Morning Sunshine.


This is Winter's Magic.


This is Beach Days.


and This is Tangiers.  


Now I know you are wondering, how can 4 simple patchwork quilts take a year to make??  Well that is where the story comes in and I will start at the beginning.

 

As you all now, I love to teach quilting.  I just love being able to share my passion for quilting and hopefully share some helpful tidbits along the way.   Well, whenever I am teaching, the most common question I get asked is "So, when are you going to start designing fabric?".    And it makes total sense, as I have asked myself that question over the years as well.   

 

So when I saw that Carina Garden was offering a Fabric Design Academy class, I started to wonder if I should take that question seriously.   I talked to my sweetheart, and he encouraged me to give it a try as it is something I have always wondered about doing.  So I signed up and classes stared in early 2020.

 

And I can not say enough good about this Fabric Design Academy.  (I highly recommend it!!!)   Carina is an amazing teacher and walked the class through each lesson step by step.   I was amazed that having never used Illustrator or Photoshop before, Carina taught me how to use both programs to design fabric and made it so easy to follow along.   The class was wonderful and I fully immersed myself over the next month on learning the basics of fabric design. 

 

And I found, it was fun.   So I decided to really start trying to design fabric lines.   I took the basic knowledge I had learned from Carina, and began to practice, practice, practice.   (Yup, it always comes back to that. )   I spent the next several months working on 4 lines and when I say "working on" I mean like several hours a day pretty much 5 days a week.    I found that I really enjoyed certain aspects of design, and others I had to push through.

   

Here is what I loved . . . I loved the feeling of creating.   I loved seeing a design all come together and knowing that I had made it little bit by little bit.   I really loved the programs, as they gave me so much ability to create, especially playing with geometrics.    I also loved that I was trying something new and realizing I could do something that I had pretty much wondered about for years.  

 

Here is what I struggled with . . . I am no artist, (seriously, it took me hours and hours to draw a simple bird.)  I felt confined in my designing by my own artistic limitations.  Hence why I liked geometric designs so much.  With those,  I could manipulate lines, and curves, (a lot like designing a quilt) to create beautiful images.    I also realized that choosing colors is not easy.  I was hoping this would come naturally, especially with how much quilting I do.  But I quickly realized there is a reason I love pre-cuts so much . . . all that color is already done for me.  Creating color palettes was difficult, but I still enjoyed the process of working through it.  


So after months and months of working on designing, I got to a point where I figured I was ready as I ever was going to be and I submitted my "4 lines"  to a fabric company.  (which will remain anonymous :)     I really had no idea what would happen after that.  I was afraid of being accepted as I had no idea what all that would entail.  Would I have to change my blog, my patterns, my my business model???   But I was also afraid of not being accepted as I had put my heart and soul into this work.

 

Well, I went back and forth with the company for a bit, and after a while, I was very gently told no.   My design style was to similar to other designers in their employ and that would not be fair to me or them.   I totally understood!!  So then there became the question . . . do I submit to another company or let it go???   

 

So I took it to my family and to prayer.   And I can happily say that I made the decision to let it go (at this time).    I knew that I could probably submit to other companies and possibly be accepted.  And there was always the option to keep practicing and resubmit to the same company.   Like all things, practice makes perfect, right.    

 

 I truly enjoyed designing, but honestly, when it came down to it, I looked back over the past year and realized one thing most of all, I really missed quilting!!!!    This was such a huge chunk of my time in 2020, and while great and fun, I really missed just sewing away.  I realized that a big part of my joy in quilting, is just happily stitching away.   I really loved the idea of being part of a fabric family and working with so many amazing people, but I just didn't want to miss out on all the time in front of my sewing machine instead of the computer.   Luckily, I can still work with all of the amazing people in this industry, the same way I have in the past using so many amazing fabrics from so many wonderful fabric friends!!    

 

Now this isn't to say that I never will try this adventure again and that it wasn't hard to take the initial "No".    I really did enjoy the process of designing and am so glad I learned so much about creativity and honestly, myself over this last year.   It was a wonderful journey.   But for now, It's all about the Happy Quilting.  

 

However,  I also wanted to have something to remember all of this learning and growing from.  So I uploaded my designs at Spoonflower and order a cheater print of each of my 4 lines.  (and I can say, when they arrived actually in print, it became all the more clear I needed more practice, tee hee hee. )    I promptly cut up my squares and added sashing to them to make for these 4 Simple Patchwork Quilts that will now always be a treasure for me.   



So in 2021, you guessed it . . .  I really just want to get back to designing quilts and stitching them up as fast as I can :)   Meaning you can expect lots of Happy Quilting for 2021!!!    I have New Patterns in the works, I have Publishing submission in the works, and plenty of fabric to keep me busy all year long!!!  


So here are my 4 Goals again for 2021

1 -  Priorities, Priorities, Priorities
2 -  Daily Enjoyment and Accomplishment
3 -  Remember the Big Picture
4 -  Family First and Foremost



And One Last Thought Before I Wrap This Up . . . Thank you!!!!

I really can't say it enough.   It was so amazing this year to celebrate 10 years of this blog and I am daily grateful for the decision to start it back in 2010.   I am just so blessed with so many friends that have come through this industry and this little blog!!!    Thank You so much for sharing my quilting journey and I hope you are finding joy and happiness in yours as well!!!

So long 2020, Time for 2021!!!!!  Here is looking forward to lots and lots of Happy Quilting!!!!!!
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