quilted hot chocolate

Brrrrr! It's coooold outside! With all of today's snow and super-cold temperature here in NYC, it made me think about a nice cup of hot chocolate. A cup of hot chocolate quilt, that is!

I started this quilt just a few weeks ago during the holiday break. And since it is snowing, I thought that now would be the perfect time to finish it up. Plus, it's holiday fabric - and I really want to move on to springy sewing. 

To make a cup of hot chocolate, first start with a generous helping of chocolate. Oops, I mean a generous helping of fabric! I've used a fat eighth bundle of In From The Cold by Kate Spain.

Next, start sewing! I used this great free pattern on the Moda website. Kate calls the pattern "Hot Cocoa" but I've always referred to the drink as hot chocolate. So I've renamed my quilt. But wow, this pattern is a LOT of pages, so fill up your printer with paper! There are just 9 blocks plus sashing. I've made a few alterations to Kate's pattern just to make it a bit more unique and, well, Grey Dogwood-y. Here are a few of my favorite blocks so far. 

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back soon with the finished top. But now I need to go play in the snow. And make hot chocolate. The real kind. With marshmallows. Lots of marshmallows!

four patching with quilty fun!

Yep, it's week 10 of the Quilty Fun sew along! It's also the debut of my blog! That's right, today is Day One of my quilt blog journey. You can learn ALL about me here.

So you all know about Lori Holt's amazing book, Quilty Fun, right?

To say that I love this book would be an understatement. I've already participated in Lori's Great Granny Quilt Along, the Bee In My Bonnet Row Along, and then the Quilty Barn Along.  So of course I was going to be a part of the Quilty Fun Sew Along! 

This week's project was to make three strips of postage stamps. Or, ok, Lori calls them four patches. Let's just agree that they are tiny and cute, ok? And luckily, Lori has an ingenious way of constructing these so that you don't need to fuss with tiny squares. How clever!

I'm again using fabric from Miss Pam Kitty Morning! I love her collections. Seriously, her fabric makes me happy, like sprinkles on a cupcake. And I'm a bit obsessed with cupcakes. And so, I've got a huge stash of all three of her collections. This time I'm pushing myself to include some black in each week's blocks.

These companion sheets from the Fat Quarter Shop are super helpful.

Ah, three rows of little postage stamps! Or, if you prefer, four patches!

Well, my first post wasn't so scary after all. Thanks so much for stopping by! And a special, big THANK YOU to my friends and family for their encouragement. Come back in a few days... I'll have more. Really!