Sunday Stash - True Colors

Did you catch the recent True Colors Blog Hop?  Being a big fan of fabric designer Joel Dewberry, I was so excited when I was told by Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts that some True Color charm packs coming my way!

I received in the mail a package filled with all sorts of swag!

3 True Colors Joel Dewberry Charm Packs
5 spools of Coats and Clark Thread
1 Jaybird Quilts pattern (Candy Dish)
1 Jaybird Quilts ink pen

And a beautiful card with her Northern Lights quilt on the front.


Lucky, lucky me!  Thanks Julie!  And thank you Free Spirit for sponsoring the blog hop.

It didn't take me long to cut up the charm squares and pair them with some Kona white.

I should have a baby quilt to share with you soon!


(Yep Susan, it is your "cheese slice" method of prep!)

 Linking up with Sunday Stash at Molli Sparkles this week.  See you there!

Quilty Randomness

While cleaning out the fabric closet, I came across my bag of flannel scraps.  I don't often use flannel and I have decided I really don't need to save flannel in my stash.  So out it went....but not before I made this final baby quilt.  (Boy, do I have a hard time letting fabric go!)

I also finished up this cute quilt made from my Tangerine Dreams pattern that was published in Quilty magazine (Sept/Oct 2013).  I recently taught a class on the pattern and made this as another sample.

It is always fun to see what fabric and color choices other quilters use for my patterns.

It was a fun day of new friends and sewing!  If you are in the Eugene/Springfield area, I will be teaching this class again soon.  You can also see what else I am teaching by going to my classes page above.

Linking up with TGIFF, Richard and Tanya Quilts,  Fort Worth Fabric Studio, Scrap Basket Sunday and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Scrap-A-Palooza! Quilt #3 Part Two

I am finally enjoying some sunshine!  Both outside and in the sewing studio thanks to this month's Scrap-A-Palooza quilt.  Check out all these pretty colors!

Last week, we determined our colors and sorted and cut our scraps into strips.  I decided to go with these hot colors.

Now it is time to get these sewn up into blocks!

For my quilt, I decided to go with 4 colors and make 5 blocks of each color for a total of 20 blocks. This will make a 40" x 50" quilt.

I randomly sewed my strips into color blocks that were at least 8.5" wide (and over 10.5" long). 

I prefer to cut my blocks to size after they are sewn - I like the better accuracy.

Applying chain piecing methods, I had all four colors sewn up before I knew it!

I also pieced the entire block before I pressed the seams all to one side.

Now each block needs to be trimmed up to 8.5" wide and 10.5" tall.

As soon as all the blocks are trimmed up, they will be ready for the next step.

I sure am enjoying working with these bright, intense colors!

When I can, I always try to incorporate the sashing right onto my blocks.  This makes piecing the top so much easier.  So I chose this white fabric and cut strips 1.5" x 10.5".  You will need two for every block. 

Sew them onto the sides of each block as shown.  Now your block should measure 10.5" square.










To finish up the assignment for this week, just sew up all the blocks for your quilt.  Here are mine...Aren't they so bright and playful!








So here's an overview of the important stuff to do before the next step!

• Sew your strips into colors blocks
• Square them up to 8.5" wide  x 10.5" tall
• Add the sashing strips to the sides to complete the 10.5" square block

 

 This quilt goes together really quickly.  If you haven't joined in in the past, maybe this is the quilt that will get you involved.  If you do join in, let me know so I can share your project.  And if you want to share with your readers what you are up to, there is a button to grab there on the sidebar.

Thanks!

  Remember, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me.

Time to don our sunglasses and do a little scrappy sewing!

I will be sharing this with the following linky parties. Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts, WIP Wednesday with Freshly Pieced and Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation.  Be sure and check out these blogs for even more quilty inspiration.

Star Light Star Bright QAL - Corners

I find it hard to believe that we are already nearing the end of Melissa's Star Light Star Bright Quilt-A-Long.  In the next post on this project, I will be sharing the finished quilt top!  Guess I had better make some room on my longarm schedule to get it quilted up so I can link it up to the parade of quilts scheduled for April 2nd.

 This week has us sewing up the corners of our blocks.  With only 4 big blocks, whipping out these 16 units were easy peasy!

 Can't wait to see it all together!

  It is such great fun to see what fabrics others are using for thier quilts.  you can head to Happy Quilting and see for yourself how beautiful they are all turning out.

Linking up with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, Anything Goes Mondays at Stitch by Stitch, Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story and Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday.

Sunday Stash - Rewarding Myself

I recently spent some time organizing my fabric closet and I was so impressed with how much I have reduced my stash in the last 6 months!  

I have been making a concerted effort to use what I have and it really seems to be paying off.

So how do I reward myself?  With a little fabric shopping of course!  Navy blue has been in my thoughts for quite some time so I picked up these three pieces during a recent visit to the LQS.  The top fabric is Botanique by Joel Dewberry and the bottom two are from the Dear Stella line.  Not sure what they will become but I am enjoying them just as they are!

 And I just couldn't leave the store without buying this piece.  It is 'pet piranha" by Alexander Henry.  I know someday I will NEED this fabric and now I have room for silly little purchases like this.

 I also picked up some stash fillers from the sale section. It feels good to freshen up the stash a bit.

A Stitch in Between is hosting Sunday Stash this week for Molli Sparkles.  I will also be linking up with Anything Goes Mondays at Stitch by Stitch.  Hope to see you there!

More Lovely Scrappy Finishes!

I am continuing to see more quilt finishes inspired by my Scrap-A-Palooza scrap series and I thought I would share them with you.  All of these quilts were influenced by January's Horizontal Bar quilt.

This fun one was made by a friend from a bunch of scraps left over from a couple of recently finished quilts. 

The light colored sashing really sets off the playful colors in the scraps.

 It was quilted in a pattern she has dubbed "Snail Trails". 


The bright red thread added even more character!

At first glance, this one appears to have random scraps but looking closely, every fabric has black in it.

This is a perfect example of the "Naming your quilt".  I think this really helps to create a successful scrap quilt.

I had the pleasure of quilting this one and I found myself spending way too much time looking at all the fun fabrics.











And this one I have shared before but I just finished quilting it up for a friend.  It too was made from leftover scraps from a previous project. 

I love the variation in the bar widths. 











A friend from Portland stopped by to share her quilt top with me.  This one was made with donated fabrics and will be passed on to a charity when it is finished.

It will definitely bring a smile to someone's face!

And finally, I wanted to share Joanie's Valentine's quilt.  I thought it was brilliant how she lined up her colors in vertical columns.    You can read more about this lovely quilt on her blog here.







I thank all of you who are following along with the series and I love to see what each of you create.  As more quilts get finished, I will be sure and share them.  I truly enjoy seeing all the different variations and having others see there is beauty hidden away in those scrap bins!

To see all the quilts in the series, you can also check out the Scrap-A-Palooza Quilt Gallery.

Linking up with Pretty Bobbins, TGIFF, Richard and Tanya Quilts,  Scrap Basket Sunday and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

If you are sewing along, don't forget to link your Scrap-A-Palooza quilt over at FairyFace Designs for Sarah's Put Your Scraps To Work series.

A Lovely Year of Finishes - March Goals

It's a brand new month so that means choosing a goal for this month's finish as part of A Lovely Year of Finishes hosted by Sew Bittersweet Designs. So far this year I am 2 for 2 so I hope to keep the momentum up for at least a few more months.

I recently quilted this lovely appliqued wall hanging for a customer of mine.  It is from the Kaffe Fassett book Quilts in the Sun.  Seeing it reminded me that I had a finished top just waiting to be quilted up.

After a few minutes of searching, I found my pastel version in the back of the closet (along with three other wallhangings...sigh).  So I have decided to make quilting this my March goal. My longarm schedule is booked solid with customer quilts this month but I will just have to squeeze it in somewhere!

To see what everyone else is planning for the month, you can find lots of links here.


What fun plans do you have for March?

I will be sharing this with the following linky parties. Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation, Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts, and WIP Wednesday with Freshly Pieced.