Layer Cake Crepe

In April, I shared that I was working with the Fat Quarter Shop again on one of their short cut Quilt patterns.  This time the pattern calls for a Layer Cake.

I decided to go with this lovely yellow and blue floral fabric.  It is called Sunshine and Blue Skies.  The free shortcut pattern is called Layer Cake Crepe.

You start by making these giant 9-patches.  

I put a 9" block there to show you how big they actually are.

Here is the finished quilt.  This is a great pattern for these large print fabrics that you hate to cut into small pieces.

The back is lovely too.

 

A big thanks to the Fat Quarter Shop for letting Many Hands and Many Hearts be a part of this project.  We still have another layer cake of the same fabrics to turn into another quilt or two and donate.  I think in the next version, I am going to make the blocks per the pattern but rather than set the blocks vertically, I am going to set them horizontally.  

I think it will be easier to control the size of the quilt better.

Fat Quarter Shop's shortcut quilt patterns are some of my favorite precut pattens out there.

Which one's have you tried?

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Something New

I am working with the Fat Quarter Shop on another project.

This one uses a Layercake.  

I chose this lovely one with yellows and blues called Sunshine and Blue Skies.  My background will be that spring green solid.  This pattern is one of their Shortcut Quilt Series.  I love this free pattern series exclusively at Fat Quarter Shop.  They are still finalizing the pattern but it should be released soon!

First thing you have to do is make some 9-patches.  

These are the biggest 9-patches I have ever made!  Here is one compared to a 9" block.

Crazy huh!?!

A huge thanks to Fat Quarter Shop for their generosity.  I was able to get two layer cakes so I am hoping to get two or three quilts out of them for Many Hands and Many Hearts.

Hopefully you will see some finishes in a few months!

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Jolly Bar Jumble

It is time for me to reveal my Jolly Bar Jumble quilt (sponsored by the Fat Quarter Shop).

Oh wait - I made two 😂

I couldn’t decide which Kona solid - navy or butterscotch - I wanted to use for the background. So I decided to go ahead and make two quilts.

 I used the newest shortcut quilt pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop.

I love this combination of Kona Butterscotch and the warm autumn tones in the Folk & Lore fabric collection. I didn’t quite follow the pattern. I decided to make the big squares darker colors and the small squares I used the lower volume prints. 

I used a dark blue print for the backing that was donated by Sandy.

This lovely little quilt will be donated to Many Hands and Many Hearts.

I ordered three jolly bars so I had enough prints to make another quilt with a Kona navy background.  I did follow the pattern on this quilt and jumbled up the light and dark fabrics.

I knew this was going to be donated to Many Hands and Many Hearts so I used this lovely light blue print Beth sent in for the back.

I really enjoy using the shortcut quilt patterns by Fat Quarter Shop. They are written for precuts and most of them are super easy to make.

The Jolly Bar Jumble is a free pattern. 

You can find it here. 

(My desktop died today so I had to write this post with my phone. Sorry for any errors.)

 

Jolly Bar Jumble

I have always been a fan of the Fat Quarter Shop's shortcut quilt pattern series.  They are written for various preccuts.  So when they asked me if I wanted a sneak peek at their newest pattern, I jumped at the chance to make it.

The pattern is called Jolly Bar Jumble and it is designed to use Jolly Bars.  If you don't know what Jolly Bars are, they are a Fat Quarter Shop exclusive precut.  They measure 5 x 10" (so half of a layer cake).

I ordered a few in the FolkLore collection by Fancy That Design House.

When I ordered them, I wasn't sure if I was going to use Kona Navy or Kona Butterscotch for the background.  I have both in my stash.

I love the colors in these printed fabrics!

I decided to go with the butterscotch and started cutting.  But I still really like the navy.....

I will continue to share this project as I go!

Thanks Fat Quarter Shop for including me in this shortcut pattern release.

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Mini Cakes Mint Quilt

 

Back in June of this year, I shared a photo of some precuts I received to start a new quilt.  I joined up with the Fat Quarter Shop again to sew up one of their free shortcut patterns.  

I am finally able to share my finished quilt!

I used the Bee Grateful collection by Deb Strain (for Moda Fabrics).  I thought some pretty photos in my garden was perfect for this bee inspired collection.

This was a photo shot in front of my succulent garden taken back in July.  Right now the tall sedums are in bloom and the honey bees are loving it!

This shortcut pattern is called Mini Cake Mints and the pattern is available for free from the Fat Quarter Shop  And they have lots of precuts to make the quilt.  In fact, they have a quilt kit you can purchased..

This pattern was super easy to make.  Great for beginners - there is very little cutting required.

I quilted it with a serpentine stitch in a 2.5" grid pattern.

And I used one of my favorite wide backings in a dark gray on the back.

You can download the pattern here. If you want to buy the kit, they have one available featuring the Red Barn Christmas collection.

I recently spoke at a local guild and one of my blog readers said she wanted to see more of my garden.  I thought I would include this photo of my shade area.  I love to create pathways that one must follow to see what is hidden around the corner.

Now that the weather has cooled, the plants are greening back up.  

Autumn is such a wonderful season!

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Linking Up:

My Quilt Infatuation (Needle & Thread)

Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!)

From Bolt to Beauty (Brag about your Beauties)
Alycia Quilts (Finished or not Friday)

BTW - if you are ready to finish a quilt, Connecting Threads is having a sale to help with that!

Playing with Scraps First

 Earlier this month I posted that I was working on a quilt using some precuts for the Fat Quarter Shop.

Once I finished up the cutting and pieced the top together for the shortcut pattern, I immediately had to play with the scraps!  Of course I did!!

I used all the leftover "strings" to make some striped blocks and alternated them with some trimmed extra squares and made a sweet little baby quilt.

It isn't very big - I think it measures about 36" square.

When I have a bunch of scraps like this from the same fabric collection, I sometimes try to turn them immediately into a quilt.  I think I added in a few solid cream, black and gray into the pieced blocks to stretch out the scraps.  I used up all the leftovers!

With a quilt this small, there is always something in my stash I can use as a backing.  I kept the quilting easy with just a meandering loop and I found a black leaf print for the binding.

The fabric line is Bee Grateful by Deb Strain.  The bee fabric goes so well with some of the flowers in my garden.

It isn't quite time for me to share the shortcut quilt that the Fat Quarter Shop is sponsoring.  

But I am hoping to be able to soon!

On a gardening note, a neighbor a couple houses away set up a honeybee hive this year.  I was wondering why I was seeing so many more this year than usual.  I love thinking that bees are going home and doing a wiggle dance telling all their friends to head to my house!

I hope all of you have a reason to do a dance this weekend!

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Linking Up:

My Quilt Infatuation (Needle & Thread)

Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!)

From Bolt to Beauty (Brag about your Beauties)
Alycia Quilts (Finished or not Friday)

 

Up to Something New

 Not too long ago, the Fat Quarter Shop asked me if I was interested in participating in the release of another one of their shortcut quilt patterns.  Of course I said yes!  I love these easy quick patterns that use various precuts.

I was able to pick my fabric collection and I decided to go with Deb Strain's Bee Grateful by Moda.  As a gardener, I love my honeybees and other pollinators.

So even though I already have so many projects going on right now, I have gleefully started another one.  This shortcut quilt is called Mini Cake Mints and is available for free.

This one should be a quick make so I hope to share the finished quilt soon!

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Happy National Quilting Week

 This is our week - The week we celebrate Quilting!

And thanks to a few of my affiliates, there are lots of ways for you to celebrate.

First up, you can take 20% off your entire order at Connecting Threads.  I just placed a nice fabric order that included a number of backing pieces.  I will share photos of my purchase once it arrives.  But the sale doesn't apply to just fabric - they have batting, thread and lots of notions.

The Fat Quarter Shop is celebrating with a free World Piecing quilt pattern along with a contest if you wish to participate.  You can read more about the event here.

I should also note that right now, they have all of their Clover Notions 30% off.  Not sure how long that sale will continue...

At AccuQuilt, for a few more days, you can get 25% off many of the Go! products.  Remember to use the code CUT25 when you checkout.

Right now, these are the only events I am currently aware of.  If I see more, I will let you know!

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A Charming Christmas

Summertime is almost here so that means the new collections of Christmas fabrics will be arriving in the stores soon.

So it is the perfect timing for the Fat Quarter Shop to release another one of their shortcut quilt patterns.  This festive project uses Charm Packs.

The Fat Quarter Shop asked me which Christmas collection I wanted to use and I picked Little Tree by Lella Boutique.  I knew it was going to look great with the White Grunge fabric I wanted to use for the background.

And here is my finished quilt!

Isn't it fun?

This shortcut pattern is called Charming Christmas.  

You can download the free pattern here.

The quilt finishes at 59" square.  You can easily make it a little bigger by making the outer border a bit wider.  The Fat Quarter Shop also has the pattern written so that it uses mini charms.  You can find that pattern here.  The mini finishes at about 26" square.

It is hard to see in the full photo, but I quilted some holly leaves and berries on this one in a white thread. It is a pantograph that I have had forever.  It gives the quilt a nicely quilted texture.

If you make the quilt, I do have a little trick to share.  When you make the triangles for the tree, the pattern has you just cutting off those bonus triangles,  I sewed an additional line and ended up with these 12 nice sized HSTs.  They can easily become some potholders or my plan was to make a table topper.  

You can see the finished mini here.

Photos of white quilts are so difficult in the summer months.  In the sunshine they are so bright, and I didn't have a spot of shade without any sunlight sneaking in....but I am not complaining!

If you are interested in making one of your own, the Fat Quarter Shop has kits available in a similar fabric line. Or order some holiday charm packs or mini charm packs and get started early on some holiday gifts.

I am not the only one making this quilt - If you want to see more versions, you can check out the Jolly Jabber blog post about them.

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Linking Up:

My Quilt Infatuation (Needle & Thread)

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From Bolt to Beauty (Brag about your Beauties)

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