Alexandria's Meadowland

Are you familiar with my friend Lizzie's's work? Lizzie Clark designs beautiful floral fabric for Sweet Bee Designs and I was lucky enough to make a quilt with her newest line, Alexandria. It's so cute with both small and large florals plus some really fun supporting prints. I tried to pick just one favorite but there were several. How am I supposed to choose between teal and purple?

I knew right away that Alexandria would be perfect for Then Came June's Meadowland pattern. The light Flower Garden print was just right for the background and I added a few solids to round out the number of fat quarters needed. The blocks in this pattern are big so with just 12 of them the quilt is still a good lap size at 48 x 64".

I think it turned out pretty great if I do say so myself and just about everyone who saw me working on this wanted it for themselves so I guess they would agree. I was able to get this quilted (a simple 2" grid) and bound already so it's time for me to take it out and enjoy it!

This is almost the last stop on this blog tour so be sure to go back and see all of the beautiful projects made so far if you missed them. There is everything from quilts to bags, pillows, and more!

April 25 - Emily

April 30 - Meg

May 2 - Sharon

May 7 - Lissa

May 9 - Sherry

May 14 - Jen

May 16 - Diane

May 21 - Steph

May 23 - Nicole

May 28 - Allison

May 30 - Loni

Also make sure you're following Lizzie @lizzieclarkdesigns and Sweet Bee Fabric @sweetbeefabric.co on IG for plenty of eye candy and inspiration.

Owls at the Barn

My friends went on a bit of a baby spree last year - 4 of them born within a month! - and all but one* had received a quilt from me. Obviously this had to be remedied and once I came across Elizabeth Hartman's North Stars pattern, I knew what I would make for little Nate. All of the animals in this pattern are so adorably cute but I decided on the owl for this one.

North Stars blocks are 24" so not big enough for a baby quilt but I also didn't want to make 4 of them. I settled on 3 owls, doubled the borders (and turned them sideways), and added a bit of sashing. Voila! A baby quilt. Nevermind that he is now nearly 13 months old. At 40x48", it's a great size.

I used a cute Dear Stella fabric bundle along with some Kona solids and a gorgeous Windham cross-dyed aqua/white for the background. I'm pretty happy with the final quilt and I think Nate will be too.

Of course I had many options in my stash for a background but what could be more perfect than these houses? Not only are the owls right at home among them but they will do a fantastic job of hiding any stains that may come with the use of a baby quilt. Also, my 3 yr old nephew told me he likes this side better so.... I guess it's now a 2-sided quilt. Haha.

There's a little gathering spot near me called Country Village - they have shops (including a quilt shop), restaurants, a farmers market in the summer, wandering chickens and ducks, etc. It's all very quaint and unfortunately it's being torn down starting next month. I took this opportunity to take some pictures of the owl quilt around the village before it's gone. It was a nice little send-off I think. And now the owls have found a great home with their new friend.

* To my friends with older kids who do not have a quilt, I'm sorry. I just make more now than I did when yours were born!

Adventures in Urban Village design

If there's one part of piecing I love, it's definitely paper piecing. Even more so when I use my freezer paper method. So when I met Sarah Sharp in our do Good. Stitches circle way back when, I always looked forward to her months as lead quilter since she loved paper piecing as much as I did. Later, when she started selling her own patterns, I was so excited for her. I've had a Folksy Fish quilt on my to-do list ever since and I'm basically in awe every time she releases a new pattern.

When Sarah told me she was creating Adventures in Paper Piecing and Design, I knew it would be awesome. It was even better than I imagined. I love this book! There is so much great information about both working with paper piecing patterns and creating your own. She invited me to make some sea creatures for Folksy Friends and you just might be able to spot my Invisi-Jellies in her finished quilt.

I know by this point in the book tour you've heard all about how amazing this book is and I hope you've had a chance to get a copy for yourself (check out my instagram for a chance to win a signed copy directly from Sarah!). You've seen the projects, heard about the design prompts, and just about made your way through the whole book.

Today is all about creating a repeat design. The Jungleview pattern completely blew me away when I first saw it and I'm kicking myself a little for not signing up for that day of the blog tour - it totally would have jumped the quilt to-do list to get done in time for this post! But I'm glad I decided to create my own repeat pattern instead as I ended up with something I think is pretty great.

The hardest part was deciding what to draw. Seriously. I considered many things but then remembered this picture I took on a trip to Iceland years ago. Reykjavik is the most charming little city and I just loved all of the colorful little houses I saw from up high in the Hallgrimskirkja church. So, houses it is.

I followed Sarah's steps to draw out my pattern, moving the quarter pages around to make sure all the lines matched up. Then I added some windows and other details and thought - holy crap, this is way too busy for one little square.

Back to the drawing board, with bigger houses this time and a bit more planned alignment. By version 3 things were looking pretty good and I was ready to divide it up into sections and then the pieces within those sections. H's and T's, H's and T's. They were endless.

At this point I remembered that I own EQ8 and thought it would be a little easier to mirror and enlarge if I put it all in the computer. In it went and, with a bit of tweaking the lines here and there, I was ready to print my pattern and sew. Yay!

I've started sewing and though each of my 4 blocks have many pieces, they are pretty simple and go together quickly. I could have left more blocks windowless or ready for improv piecing  but I think I'm pretty happy with the final pattern.

When I was filling in colors in EQ8 I just happened to go with an icy, wintry color scheme and I liked it so much that it will likely be how the whole quilt ends up. I've started with some darker fabrics for now but we'll see where it goes. I'll make the blocks just a few at a time and not every block #1 (or 2, 3, or 4) will use the same color for the houses so it will be a little more varied than this final mock-up. I sure do look forward to working on this over the next few months and finishing it up long before I'm looking for a quilt to cuddle up with next winter.

Did I mention before that Sarah is giving away a signed copy of Adventures to one of my lucky followers? Head over to my instagram to enter. She's so generous, she will even ship internationally. Anyone can win! Unless you're one of those annoying spam accounts.

There are many other awesome stops on this tour and a few more still to come. Be sure to check them out for more giveaways and a ton of creative projects. And then head back to your sewing machine to paper piece all the things!

#adventuresbooktour

Adventures in Paper Piecing & Design

January 7 – 26, 2019

Monday January 7 - Plant Lady

Heather Givans (@crimsontate | crimsontate.com)

Featured Quilter: Marion McClellan (@myquiltdiet)

Tuesday January 8 - Graffiti FPP

Sarah Sharp (@nohatsquilts | nohatsinthehouse.com)

Wednesday January 9 - Design Prompt No. 1 - Learning by the Letter

Giuseppe Ribaudo (aka Giucy Giuce) (@giucy_giuce)

Thursday January 10 - Snooze

Amanda Castor (@materialgirlquilts | materialgirlquilts.com)

Featured Quilter: Karlee Porter (@karleeporterdesign)

Friday January 11 - Design Prompt No. 2 - Traditional with a Twist

Katy Cameron (@the_littlest_thistle | the-littlest-thistle.com)

Saturday January 12 - Prickly Path

Anneliese Johnson (@eyecandyquilts | eyecandyquilts.com)

Featured Quilter: Angela Walters (@angelafmq)

Featured Fabric Designer: Alison Glass (@alisonglass)

Monday January 14 - Design Prompt No. 3 - Objects

Alison Robins (@littleislandquilting)

Tuesday January 15 - Voodoo Feathers

Jennifer Sampou (@jennifersampou | jennifersampou.com)

Wednesday January 16 - Design Prompt No. 4 - Creatures

Anne Sullivan (@playcrafts | play-crafts.com)

Thursday January 17 - Folksy Friends

Raquel Olivo (@raquelsews)

Featured Quilter: Kathleen Riggins (@kathleenquilts)

Friday January 18 - Design Prompt No. 5 - Think Outside the (Square) Block

Cath Hall (@wombatquilts | wombatquilts.com)

Saturday January 19 - Fireflies

Sarah Lauzon (@cera.bee | sarahjlauzon.com)

Featured Quilter: Rachael Dorr (@rachaeldorr)

Sunday January 20 - Sunday Book Review!

Sarah Ashford (@sarahashfordstudio)

Tuesday January 22 - Design Prompt No. 6 - Repeat Designs

Allison Dutton (@allisonsews | allison-sews.blogspot.com)

Wednesday January 23 - Jungleview

Merran Fryer (@123bluejumper)

Thursday January 24 - Design Prompt No. 7 - Single Foundation Paper Piecing

Jamie Swanson (@jamiemswansonquilts)

Friday January 25 - Double Diamond Wedding Ring

Elisabeth Hardy (@elisabew | elisabewquilts.com)

Featured Quilter: Andrea Munro (@practicaldazzle)

Saturday January 26 – Recap and Photography

Sarah Sharp (@nohatsquilts | nohatsinthehouse.com)

Eric Lubrick (@ericlubrick | ericlubrick.com)

So many turtles!

I've been keeping an eye out for Trish and Birdie fabric for awhile now and was thrilled to finally get my hands on some! This newest line from Deane Beesley for Sweet Bee Designs is the cutest. The turtles, the flowers, the little birdies - all totally adorable and suuuper soft. I was piecing this top at a sew in with some friends and they were all raving about just how soft this fabric is.

There were two prints in particular that jumped out at me, wanting to become a quilt - the aqua turtle shadows and the navy stripe. They are both great blenders with lots of surprise turtles in the aqua when you look close. Deane was kind enough to send me a yard of each along with fat quarters of the whole line and that was enough to make this 51" square quilt. Can you believe it? I of course had to include some of the main turtles (Trish!) and I'm thrilled with how the whole quilt came together.

I'm looking forward to playing around more with the other prints and have gotten some great inspiration from the other stops on the tour. Lucky us, there are plenty more projects to come - be sure to visit these other crafty sewists to check them out:

Jina @ Jina Barney Designz

Becky @ Be So Crafty 

Andy @ A Bright Corner  

Allison @ Allison Sews 

Missy @ The Little Green Bean  

Cassie @ Lily Shine Creates 

Erin @ Piper’s Girls 

Sherry @ Powered by Quilting 

Stephanie @ Steph Jacobson Designs 

Lissa @ Lovingly, Lissa  

Jackie @ Jackie’s Art Quilts  

Keep an eye out at your favorite quilt shop for these new prints from Sweet Bee Designs and be sure to ask for them if they are not on the shelf yet. You are going to love sewing them up!

Are you following Sweet Bee on instagram? I hear there may be a giveaway at the end of the tour plus, who doesn't like pictures of pretty fabric.

A Wonder Full Zipper Pouch Secret

Surprise, surprise, it's another zipper pouch post from me. I love making pouches for just about everything and when Lizzie Clark asked me if I'd like to play with some of her new Wonder Full fabric, I knew it would make some darling bags! I was so excited to jump in and cut it up that I neglected to take a picture of the full collection together. Luckily, Lizzie has one I can share with you:

A post shared by Lizzie Clark (@lizzieclarkdesigns) on Jun 5, 2018 at 2:36pm PDT

Those pinks! The blues! I love them! I wanted to use them all but limited myself  to just a handful of the pinks with some accents of the olive and navy. Ahh, triangles. And then more triangles. Before I knew it I had 2 panels all finished up and ready to be pouched.

I don't know about the rest of you but baggy pouch linings that don't stay put really bug me. I've experimented with a few ways to keep them in place and I thought some of you might like to know my secret. This works for any size pouch.

I start by sewing my pouch per the usual instructions (the Open Wide pouch is always a favorite) and stop once I've boxed the corners of both the exterior and the lining. And then:

1 - Sew your pouch, box your corners and trim off the excess. Leave about 3/8" seam allowance.

2 - Looking at the (still inside-out) pouch with a side seam facing up, hold one lining corner and one exterior corner.

3 - Bring these 2 corners together and pin to hold. Do not twist them.

4 - Fold and pin the other side in the same manner.

5 - Here's what you should see looking at the exterior  - that's the bottom seam. The zipper/top seam is in the middle of this rolled up sandwich.

6 - And this is what it looks like from the lining side bottom seam, with the unsewn opening for turning the pouch right side out. 

7 - On the first side, sew these two pieces together making sure to stay in the seam allowance from the boxed corner. Sew the second side the same way.

8 - All sewn up and looking like a rolled-up knot.

9 - Go back to your lining side and find the unsewn section.

10 - Turn the bag right side out, sew up that opening and give it all a good press. 

Bam! An awesome pouch with a lining that stays put. As they all should.

These fabrics were fantastic to work with. Super soft and sewed up like a dream. Be on the lookout for the Wonder Full fabric collection by Lizzie Clark Designs for Sweet Bee Designs at your local quilt shop and if you don’t see it, ask your quilt shop to carry it!

Be sure to follow along on a Wonder Full project tour at these blogs:

6/25 Sarah at Sarah Goer Quilts
6/26 Becky at Be So Crafty
6/27 Becca at Sunflower Seams
6/28 Stephanie at Steph Jacobsons Designs
6/29 Allison at Allison Sews
6/30 Andy at A Bright Corner
7/1 Lissa at Lovingly Lissa
7/2 Jennifer at Dizzy Quilter
7/3 Sherry at Powered by Quilting

Windsor Garden blog hop + giveaway

There's nothing quite like a fresh bundle of pretty fabric to inspire you to try something new, and that's just what I did with Kelly Parker Smith's new line Windsor Garden when it arrived on my doorstep. How adorable are these prints?!? Perfect for a bright, summery project.

I so enjoyed working with Kelly's fabric. In addition to being adorable to look at, it is super soft and has fantastic drape. I especially love the Amelia print with it's variety of whimsical flowers and shapes - I knew that would be a great starting point for the Brimfield block that I've been seeing pop up all over instagram lately. I'm not one for a whole lot of hand sewing and I already have another EPP project in the works so I though I'd try something a little different - fake EPP!

I starched all my fabric before starting the process to make sure it would hold it's shape when the paper was removed, then glued the fabric on to the paper pieces as usual. I then gave it a good press to make sure the fabric was creased really well. Here's where I veered off track.

Instead of stitching the pieces together by hand, I wanted to see if some fusible interfacing would hold it all together in place of hand sewing. I tried a really lightweight interfacing first and it wasn't quite strong enough so I switched to Pellon SF101 and it worked great! I cut it into 1/2" pieces to use over all seams I would have hand sewn. I made sure to butt the edges right up against each other as I heated the interfacing - watch those fingers though!

I was pretty gentle with the fused pieces (especially when removing the papers) but it definitely held together. I did find that it was a little easier to interface them with the papers still in versus without. Next I used some good ol washable Elmers to glue baste the blocks on to the background and then stitched them down by machine. All that's left now is to quilt it.

These fabrics were really fun to work with and I could definitely picture them in many more projects. This is just the beginning of the blog hop so lucky us, we will get to see lots of ideas in the next few weeks! Make sure to visit these other makers to see what they have up their sleeves:

June 21 - Kelly Parker Smith
June 26 - Allison Sews
June 28th - By Dylan M
July 3 - South Bay Bella
July 5 - Knot and Thread
July 10 - Color Girl Quilts
July 12 - The Little Green Bean
July 17 - Elise and Emilie
July 19 - Steph Jacobson

Whew! So many projects to still look forward to. Would you love to have a fat quarter bundle of your own to play along with them? Visit my instagram later today to win a bundle of your very own!

For more information on where to buy Windsor Garden, visit Sweet Bee Designs and then come back here Thursday for a peek at another new Sweet Bee line, Wonder Full by Lizzie Clark.