london calling - jumping jacks quilt

It's time for the Jumping Jacks quilt! 

This is perfect for my love of all things British. Well, maybe not all things, but the pretty and tasty ones. Like Liberty of London fabric, Spode porcelain, Cath Kidston kitchenware and those yummy butter biscuits from Harrods (Have you had those biscuits? They come in butter, lemon and ginger. Seriously, have somebody bring back a tin when they visit London!) And don't even get me started on the new wave music from the 1980's or Downton Abbey.

I saw Union Jack quilts popping up all over blogland a few years ago. I loved them - all of them. But I didn't like the patterns that I bought. The most popular pattern had lots of fabric waste, and all the edges were on the bias. Another pattern was paper pieced. I find paper piecing to be too time consuming, and I hate the paper removal process - I'm one of those people who picks out the paper that surrounds each stitch with tweezers. Finally, I discovered the Jumping Jacks pattern by Fig Tree Quilts. It has almost no fabric waste and the finished block is on the straight grain. But first I needed to make a large USA red, white and blue quilt! With the recent finish of my Butterscotch Tart quilt, I felt that I could now move on to the Union Jack quilt.

My fabric is mostly assorted Tanya Whelan prints that I've been collecting. There's lots of Rosy, some Delilah and even a piece of French Hatbox. And I forgot to add the Valentine Rose fabrics into these pictures. I'm sure that they won't all end up in the finished quilt but will be inspiration throughout the project. The finished quilt contains 12 blocks and measures 71" x 84". 

The pattern is very clearly written and the blocks are easy to sew. However, the sub-units needs to be trimmed before they're sewn into the finished block. If you try this pattern, I would recommend that you read it through completely before starting. And then read it again. It's not hard, but I find that I do need to really pay attention to the direction that I'm sewing each piece. There have been a few mistakes that I'm not showing here!

There are a few of us sewing along together and posting our blocks on Instagram. You'll find them there under #jumpingjacksqal. But don't worry - I'll be showing all of my blocks right here, too!

Thanks for visiting. I'd like to let you know that I have a super-busy work week coming up. I've got lots of meetings to attend and a presentation that I need to give this week (how to increase prestige fragrance sales with movie theater and radio advertising!) This means less sewing time. I'll try to post mid-week if possible. But otherwise, I promise to be right back here with you in just one week! 

friday finish - christmas dresden plate quilt!

Ok folks, crank up the Christmas music and pour yourself a glass of eggnog, because we have a Christmas in July quilt finish!

It all started with a Dresden plate quilt tutorial by Bunny Hill. Dresdens have always been one of my favorite designs, but I thought that they were too difficult for me. Anne Sutton's pattern sure looked easy. Just use this ruler to cut wedge shapes, sew them inside out and then flip them to the right side, stitch them all together and applique them down to a foundation. But I had a few problems. I didn't have that much experience with sewing odd shapes, and I can't do needleturn applique. I wanted it to be nearly king sized. And I had no idea what colors to use! I just looked at this as a fun challenge and a way to expand my skills. So first I printed 2 copies of the black and white pattern and taped them together to make a larger quilt pattern. Then I grabbed my colored pencils and started playing. Here's my final draft.

See how my sketch had alternating red and white centers? I went with all red centers in my final design. And I had absolutely no idea how much fabric I would need. I pulled all of my Fig Tree Quilts reds, greens and creams. I love how most of Joanna Figueroa's collections really do work together - the challenge is to break up those fat quarter stacks and play with color! This quilt has fabric from many of her collections including Patisserie, Gypsy Rose, Butterscotch & Rose, Strawberry Fields, California Girl, Tapestry and Avalon. Each plate contains 20 sections, and I used at least 40 prints in this quilt so no two plates are identical. They were hand-appliqued using Kimono silk thread. Eek, that silk thread is fine. It's like sewing with hair! The background is a printed cream, which has a slightly glazed appearance. It's sashed in a cream Tapestry print and bordered in a candy-apple red Avalon floral, and it measures approximately 95" x 105".

This was started in December 2012 during the Christmas holiday break from work. I sewed, sewed, sewed like a maniac for a few weeks and then spent months doing the applique. I shipped it across the country to my longarm quilter, Melissa, with compete trust that she'd find the perfect custom design for it. (I neglected to tell her just how large it is!) And I really love the design that she came up with. I always do, and it's a nice surprise to open the box when the UPS man delivers it.

I can't wait for November to arrive so that I can start working on more Christmas quilts! But now I need to pack up the reds and greens for a few months. And stop playing Christmas music, and stop drinking eggnog. 

Thanks for visiting with me today! I'm linking with Finish It Up Fridays at Crazy Mom Quilts. Be sure to stop by to see what other quilters have finished this week.

christmas in july

Do you celebrate Christmas in July? I do!

Here's just a sneak peek of a Christmas Dresden quilt that I'm finishing up this week. It's big! It's heavy! It's all Fig Tree fabrics! And I'm just about finished with all 392" of the hand-stitched tomato red binding. Yikes. 

Normally I only like to work on quilts in season. This means that in September and October I'll eat candy corn and burn pumpkin candles while working on Halloween quilts. In November and December I'll play Christmas music (nonstop) while sewing Christmas quilts. But there's something kind of fascinating about Christmas in July. This Friday is the 25th - exactly 5 months from Christmas. It will be my third Friday finish this month! I'll have the full details for you about the design inspiration, construction, size, etc - and I even found my original draft sketch.

There's even more Fig Tree goodness this week. I've added another two Homestead houses to the collection. First, a little pink house in Strawberry Fields. All lawns should look like this, right?

And an aqua house in Avalon. I want to live here.

Eight houses have been built, with another 12 still to be constructed. Maybe I'll try to squeeze in a few red and green houses before the end of the month. It's that Christmas in July thing, you know?

Thanks so much for visiting today. See you in a few days with the finished Christmas quilt!

scrappy crossroads

I was at a crossroads this past weekend. Should I work on more Fig Tree Homestead houses? I made two of them. Should I work on the border blocks for my Mixing It Up quilt? I made ten of them. And should I start a new project?!

Lori Holt hosted a sew along on Instagram on Saturday by posting tutorial photos throughout the afternoon. I watched from my iPhone while I was out and about.... fun stuff like a trip to the new, improved Chelsea flea market, the quilt shop (I spent $60 on a trip to buy white thread! Kinda like going to the grocery store for milk and coming home with all that other stuff), and the brand new Michael's Crafts. This is our first true craft store in NYC. The entire store is in a basement, but never mind. Now at least I know where to go when I need neon glitter or unfinished bird houses or a pound of acrylic yarn or a bag of pompoms. You never know!

Then when I got home I started cutting! This is a great quilt to use up your scrappy 2 1/2" squares. I cut enough fabric to make at least 4 blocks.

All that's needed is eight easy-corner-triangle squares and eight four patches. I used a fun white-on-white recipe print from Pam Kitty Picnic for my background.  

Seams are pressed open for an extra-flat block. 

All ready for assembly!

This block seems positively huge at 16", but that means that fewer blocks are needed for a quilt!

You can see Lori Holt's blog entry about this sew along here, and you can find the full directions on Instagram at #scrappycrossroads.

And since it's Monday, I'm also linking up with other quilters on the Design Wall at Patchwork Times!

friday finish - strawberry social!

It's done! The Strawberry Social top is completely assembled!

One of my all time favorite Flower Sugar prints. 

It's always an extra-good Friday when I finish a quilt top, and this is my second finish this month! I know that I say I love all my quilt tops, but I really, really love this one. I had fun sewing every single berry. I used all my favorite reds and pinks from Pam Kitty Morning, Lori Holt, Flower Sugar and Bonnie & Camille. The pink-on-white dotted background is from the Pam Kitty Picnic collection. 

The pattern is Strawberry Social by Margot Languedoc's The Pattern Basket. Her instructions are very clear and easy to understand, although the leaf portion takes a bit of concentration.

I also made my quilt larger than the pattern. I think that it's the perfect sofa size. My top contains 36 berries and measures 62" x 75" - the pattern measures 53" x 66" and has 25 berries. 

Remember the two experimental blocks? I decided that they weren't ripe enough for this quilt, and so I turned them into jam. Ha ha! I'm glad that I tried something quirky, but, um, no... just too weird. 

I love this recipe print from Lori Holt's Bake Sale collection.

Yes, that's a strawberry covered in cherries!

Thanks for taking the time to visit with me today! I'm linking up with Finish It Up Fridays at Crazy Mom Quilts. I'll check out what everybody else finished this week after lunch. And maybe dessert. A strawberry sundae? A strawberry shake? I saw strawberry cream filled Twinkies at my grocery store last night, but they scare me.

socializing with strawberry social

I spent some time socializing with the Strawberry Social quilt blocks last night. I'm aiming for two quilt finishes this month! 

Here they are on my "design floor." I almost started to sew them randomly (it's hot and humid and I'm lazy) but I knew that the only way to evenly distribute the pinks and reds was to do the layout. Then the berries were sewn into vertical strips with more of that cute pink dot from Pam Kitty Picnic. 

And of course, the rows are marked with color coordinating Post-it notes. Actually, that was just a happy coincidence! Six rows of fresh berries! I'm making my quilt larger than the pattern, so I have 36 berries set 6 across and 6 down. 

Soon I'll need to choose border fabrics! Here are the leading candidates. I'm thinking of a narrow inner border of the green print and a wider outer border of the white wreath print. The two plaids are the binding options. I'm sure that the quilt will tell me what it needs once it's fully sashed. Your quilts talk to you, too, right?!

Can I have a second Friday finish for July? Stay tuned! And see what other quilters are working on this week at Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

Finally, thanks so much for all the Butterscotch Tart quilt love! I really appreciate the nice comments and emails. Making that quilt was a fun challenge, and I'm glad that you enjoyed watching my progress.

friday finish - butterscotch tart!

Guess what? It's D-O-N-E! The Butterscotch Tart quilt is finished! It's time for some fireworks!

I hope that you'll allow me to gush about my own quilt. I love everything about this! The goal was to do a patriotic quilt, but without any patriotic fabrics. There are no stars or fireworks here, but there are plenty of dots, flowers, cherries and strawberries. And then I dared myself to add light blue and pink. 

I feel a little bittersweet now that this is completed. I was in a big rush to complete it (yeah, I missed my July 4 goal), and yet, I felt a bit of sadness when I sewed that last border strip. Sadness as in, oh no, it's done and I won't get to sew any more of these cute blocks!

The quilt pattern is Butterscotch Tart by Fig Tree and Co and measures 66" square. I used a happy fabric mix from Pam Kitty Morning and Lori Holt. Special thanks to my Instagram buddies who cheered me on throughout the whole process. You can follow me there at @greydogwoodstudio to see daily updates of my projects. 

And, just for fun, I put the quilt onto my bed. It blends in perfectly with my collection of new and vintage Ralph Lauren bedding. The red and white faux drunkard's path was the second quilt that I ever made, and it's hand quilted with Baptist fans and dated November 98 - November 99. I'll never tire of red, white and blue quilts!

I'm linking up today with Finish It Up Fridays at Crazy Mom Quilts. Hop over there to see what other quilters have finished this week. And happy weekend, everybody!

assembling the butterscotch tart quilt

Finally! I have started to put it all together!

As you can see, it's always helpful to have a friend. (Ok, maybe not so much!) I like to use LOTS of pins. I pin about every half inch, and even more if it's a tricky block. And I even have a color coded system. The blue pins are removed just as the needle approaches the presser foot. But the yellow pins anchor hidden seams that point away from the presser foot, and I sew right over them to hold the seams flat. 

Putting these together takes a little longer than I'd like (you know that I'm dying to work on the house blocks, right?!) but I pin and go slowly to make sure that I don't accidentally chop off any star points. 

I think that these little pinwheel setting stones are just so cute. They add the right amount of movement without distracting from the larger blocks. 

The next three rows are ready to be sewn. I have my hopelessly old fashioned way of keeping everything organized. The row number is always pinned to the left block of each row. It helps to keep my layout accurate without having to look at the blurry photo on my iPhone. 

And now I need to stay focused so that I can finish this. I started exactly one month ago today, and I'm really looking forward to the big finish!

Butterscotch Tart is a quilt pattern by Fig Tree Quilts, and my fabrics are a mix of Pam Kitty Morning and Lori Holt. Thanks for stopping by today!

homesteading with a unicorn

This sure was a busy weekend! Lots of Fourth of July festivities and social events here in Grey Dogwood Studio land. I didn't have much time for sewing, but I managed to squeeze in three new Homestead blocks. First was the aqua house in Fig Tree's Avalon fabric. Then I decided to work on two blocks at the same time. I thought that it might be faster to make them together, but it clocked in at the same time as if I had made them separately. I'm relying on the Alphabitties to help keep all of my pieces clearly marked for sewing. 

I also learned a nifty new trick with these two houses! Pam Kitty Morning recently asked readers if they baste before sewing. I read it and thought nope, no way, I'm never going to waste my time with that. But I have to admit that matching the four key points on these houses can be challenging. I wondered if maybe Pam's idea might work. So I dialed up a really long stitch length and sewed the problem seam, checked for accuracy and made a few adjustments, and then sewed over that line using a shorter stitch length. She's right, of course. It was much easier, and there was less seam ripping and resewing! I'm glad that I learned a new shortcut.

Then the weekend began! The torrential rain lifted just in time for Friday night's NYC fireworks (you might have seen them on the Macy's NBC broadcast). All 5 billion of us at the waterfront park loved them. Eek I don't think I've ever seen this many people! Then on Saturday was a backyard cookout brunch and the perfect time to catch up with friends and neighbors. To burn off the calorie intake from the grilled soy sausages (I learned that they aren't so bad if you smother them with mustard and sweet relish!), we went for a walk in Central Park. The park is just three blocks from my apartment (and Grey Dogwood Studio!) so I jokingly consider it my glamorous backyard. I had to go say hi to my turtle friends at Turtle Pond - they're so cute, just poking their heads out of the water to greet me. And then a walk around the Delacorte Theater (home of Shakespeare In The Park), the lake with rowboats and my favorite part, the Bethesda Fountain. 

After Sunday brunch in Harlem we visited The Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park. It's a branch of  the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the very upper tip of Manhattan. The Cloisters contain the museum's very extensive collection of Medieval art. Of course this requires a hike though a park, up a mountain with no signage, and past the fat woodchuck who was clearly oblivious to us. We just had to hope that we were going the right way! Why all this fuss? I needed to visit the Unicorn Tapestries. They're a series of seven tapestries done in the late 1400's which depict noblemen in pursuit of a unicorn. They're brilliant. I've loved them for many years. The tapestries take up entire walls, and the jewel is the unicorn tapestry itself. 

The amount of fine detail is amazing. Berries, dragonflies, lillies, tulips and other flora are all depicted in wool and metallic threads. An outer courtyard is planted with the fruits, herbs and berries that are depicted in the tapestries. 

And isn't it fun to find quilt pattens everywhere? I found a hexagon window!

Now that the long weekend is over I'll get back to some serious sewing. This week's goal is to sash the Butterscotch Tart blocks! And I hope that you enjoyed the holiday weekend, too! 

I'm linking up with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times where other quilters share what they're working on this week.

let freedom ring

Some things endure, like my love of American flags and house quilts. They're timeless, authentic classics. And while my taste in fabric has changed over the years, I still love basic, vintage designs. As I work on the Homestead house blocks and the Butterscotch Tart blocks, they're really just a fresh update of my early quilts.

These were two of the earliest quilts that I made in 1999. The pattern is from the book Little Quilts All Through The House by Alice Berg, Mary Ellen Von Holt and Sylvia Johnson. I customized my quilts even back then by adding the outer ticking print border. I tea dyed them like the authors suggested. Yeah, that washed out fast. And so did the dye... the red bled and turned the cream stripes into pink. I'm happy that today's fabrics have much more stable dyes, because I never prewash my fabrics.

These two flags were on a wall in my kitchen until last fall. I think that I was just too lazy to remove them. But they also served as a remembrance of 9/11. Many of us in the city wore red, white and blue ribbons right after the event, and I pinned them onto my flags. My little flag quilts truly became a symbol of freedom. 

I'm so glad that I signed my quilts even back then. Today I like to create labels, but back then I just wrote directly onto the backings.  Check out the date that these were completed!

Happy Fourth of July!

the homestead grows

Happy Monday, everybody! I hope that you had a great weekend. I did have that sushi on Friday night. Actually, it turned into a whole weekend of eating! Let's see... there was a homemade strawberry marshmallow and a homemade "Ring Ding." And then there was the artisanal pizza at Dellarocco's in Brooklyn and chocolate cake. And finally a cupcake at Georgetown Cupcake in Soho. EEK! I never did get around to that vacuuming. Now what was I supposed to tell you about? Oh, yeah. I built more houses!

I had fun pulling fabrics for the remaining 19 houses in the new Fig Tree pattern called Homestead. I'm aiming for a clean, summery beach look. I'm using mainly the larger and brighter prints from Fig Tree's Avalon collection (I edited out the smaller prints, the creams and the stripes). I also finally broke down and mixed in some of my prized Fig Tree Strawberry Fields fat quarters. I've always felt that they're too special to use, but I can't see them when they're on the back shelf in the closet!  

Joanna Figueroa's pattern uses just one green for the grass. But I don't have enough of one green, and I prefer controlled scrappy anyway.

This little red house happened on Sunday night. Maybe it was the sugar rush that caused me to make a few mistakes...

I KNEW that something was wrong with the right part of the roof, but I couldn't see it until after sewing this section together. And because I had already trimmed out the underlayers of fabric, the only solution was to redo it.

Ah, that looks better.

I wasn't sure if the big red Avalon floral would work here but I'm thrilled with how it looks. I actively planned the fabric cuts to make sure that I had plenty of full roses showing. 

And tonight I built the house that just had to be made. Pink and green and strawberries. Had to do it!

If you happen to be in NYC within the next few months, there are two excellent fashion exhibits that you might want to check out. Exposed: The History of Women's Lingerie is at the Museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology until November. The exhibit focuses on the evolution of undergarments from the late 1700's through the present. It explores the technological developments that made their construction possible, as well as the changes to meet designer and consumer demands. I visited the show over the weekend thinking that it would be something to do (I studied design at FIT, and I enjoy visiting all of their museum and gallery shows) but I actually learned something, too. Included are undergarments which gave shape to Christian Dior's New Look dresses of 1947, bustle cages and a pair of Twiggy stockings. (Alas, no quilts here!) Also definitely worthy of a visit is the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Charles James: Beyond Fashion exhibit which puts a dazzling spotlight on America's greatest (and until now, forgotten) couturier. Visual animations and x-rays trace and recreate the dressmaker's patterns on digital screens alongside the actual gowns. It's on exhibit until August, and I'll definitely return for a second visit. 

friday homestead

Hi folks! Just a quick post today as we start a nice sunny weekend here in NYC.

I had just a few hours to squeeze in some sewing today. I really wanted to finish up that last Butterscotch Tart block before the weekend. But they take about 3 hours apiece, and I like to start and finish a block all at one time. I decided to try this new Homestead house quilt block by Joanna Figueroa at Fig Tree Quilts. That should be quick and easy, and still leave plenty of time to read and clean the house before going out for sushi, right? I've made lots of house quilt blocks over the years, but this one has an unusual, modern log cabin look. Homestead is a new pattern introduced last month. I downloaded the pattern a few days ago and started searching through my stash in search of fabric from Fig Tree with a clean, summery look. I pulled my stack of Avalon fat quarters from last summer. It still had the original shrinkwrap! You know that I've been in a red and navy mood lately, so I immediately pulled this navy mini floral for the first house.

There are LOTS of pieces here, and I sewed a few pieces incorrectly and cut the grass strip too short. Ugh. Seam ripper time. So my quick little project took just as long as a tart block!

Do I even need to mention that there was no time to read or to clean the house?! I think I'm ready for my sushi now. Happy weekend everybody!

pinwheels!

I'm nearing the end of the Butterscotch Tart quilt! I needed a break from the tart blocks so I worked on the pinwheel sashing posts. 

There are 24 of these guys. They measure 3" now, and will be 2.5" when finished.

I've completed 11 of the tart blocks and have just two more to make before I can start the big quilt assembly!  The blocks will be sashed with a pale blue print from Pam Kitty Picnic that I used very sparingly in my blocks. I used no light blue or pink in the pinwheels because I want darker colors to "pop" against the sashing. Can you believe that the sashing print is actually current and in stock? No midnight Ebay and Etsy searches this time! It's due to arrive in the mail tomorrow, so you'll see it very soon. 

I actually like making half-square triangles. I know that I'm in the minority here. I make them too big, and then trim them down to size using my 6" square ruler. This ensures that I always have exactly the correct size. (I take the pattern measurement and add 1/2" regardless of what the directions specify.) Yes, there's waste involved. But I don't need to squish and mash and stretch the blocks to get them the right size. I did that for years and was always unhappy with the results. And really, what's a little waste? It reduces my stash faster and frees up space for more new fabric!

Butterscotch Tart is a pattern by Fig Tree Quilts, and my fabric is mostly by Pam Kitty Morning. The tart blocks also have several red and pink prints by Lori Holt, plus a few random pieces of Lakehouse, Riley Blake and Bonnie & Camille. 

quilt blocks for aneela

I received my special delivery of Aneela Hoey's "Posy" fabric on Friday afternoon. Hello little bunnies, chickens, flowers and... is that pollen?!

As I mentioned on my previous post, several quilters are making blocks to comfort Moda fabric designer Aneela Hoey as she undergoes treatment for breast cancer. Chelsea at Pins and Bobbins has organized this project, and I knew that I wanted to participate as soon as I heard the sad news. Blocks can be made in either 10" or 5" (mine are 10") using any of Aneela's prints and need to be mailed out by July 1. You can read the full details of this project here. The pattern that we are using is a free tutorial by Canoe Ridge Creations. These were fast to sew - start to finish took me just 1 hour! - and really fun to make. I used fat quarters, but all you really need is 8 charm squares, plus some white stitch-and-flip corners. They were a calm, easy break from the complicated red, white and blue Butterscotch Tart blocks that have kept me occupied for the past few weeks. This pattern really allows the focus to be on the fabric.

I had to make a block from my favorite color combo, pink and green (ok, I cheated a bit with the lavender, but I wanted the block to have a softer look). And now I have 9 nearly full fat quarters to use in another project! I can't wait to see how Chelsea finishes the quilt, and I think that Aneela is really going to love receiving this gift. Get well soon!

I'm linking up with the Design Wall Monday over at Patchwork Times, and I invite you to check out what other quilters are working on this week.

butterscotch tarts + a special quilt

I've finished another three Butterscotch Tart blocks! See that red rose print? Probably one of my favorite prints from the past few years. Love it. It's Annie's Farm Stand by the talented Holly Holderman at Lakehouse. I knew that I wanted to use this fabric. It's so American Beauty - the rose, not the movie! Just one problem. I checked my stash and found none in the studio. I used it all up on last year's Quilty Barn quilt. Panic! I considered sending a note to Holly or putting out an SOS on Instagram. Never mind that there are a gazillion other rose prints. I needed THAT one. So, late one night I searched online and found just one seller who had some. When it arrived I made one block with a rosy center. And then another with a rosy ring. 

Plus, I made another block with an alternate rose print by Pam Kitty Morning. 

I've been working towards an even distribution of red and blue outer rings which isn't so easy because I've come up with lots of fabric combinations! The final three blocks might see just a bit more pink. And so far I've avoided stripes and gingham because of the fear of wonkiness. I expect to finish the last three by early next week, and then I can start the sashing with fun pinwheel posts. I've been auditioning sashing fabric (scrappy whites? pale blue print?) and thinking about my outer border. 

On a more serious note... 

I read just a few days ago that fabric designer Aneela Hoey was scheduled for surgery for breast cancer this week. I've loved Aneela's fabrics for a few years. They're so naively whimsical. She opened up her quaint English house to us on her blog. She's given us lots of fun fabric collections, such as Sherbet Pips, Little Apples and Cherry Christmas. And now a group of quilters is getting together to create quilt blocks that will be assembled into a special quilt for Aneela. The request is to create two simple blocks using Aneela's fabric and to ship them by the end of the month. You can read how you can help here. I'm happy to contribute. And now I need to admit that I ran out of my supply of Aneela's fabric when making the Quilty Barns last year. So I just bought more of her Posy collection from an Etsy seller and asked her to put a special rush on my order. Are you noticing a common thread here with me always running out of the perfect fabric?! Oh well. I can't wait for it to arrive!

butterscotch tart's new colors

The experimental blocks are done for my Butterscotch Tart quilt. I've completed the blue-on-blue star, and the red-on-pink star. And here they are!

And you know what? I'm loving the addition of the pink! I was positive that the light blue would work, but the pink was iffy. But I didn't just stop there. Oh no. How about some blue strawberries?

And maybe some pink and red polka dots?

I'm having so much fun putting fabric combos together that this is the only quilt that I want to work on! I'm not the slightest bit bored. And I am sooo excited that I'm more than halfway through. 7 blocks done and 6 to go. Woo hoo. I can finish these blocks by the end of July. Yes, I can! Now I just gotta come up with a few more fabric combos. Hummm, maybe some stripes will be next...

The Butterscotch Tart pattern is by Fig Tree Quilts, and I have used an assortment of fabric by Pam Kitty Morning and Lori Holt.

Thank you for stopping by. I'll be back in a few days with an update, and I promise to not add any green or yellow!

butterscotch tart

I've made it official. I have now pledged allegiance to my latest quilt blocks. 

It's so much fun to see these blocks come together. The first block was easy (but time consuming) to sew and I hoped that the next one would go together as easily. I reversed a few of the pressing directions so now the seams all nest perfectly. Just for fun I checked to see how many pieces are in each block. Sixty five pieces! These are definitely a make-one-at-a-time blocks. But once I've turned on iTunes radio I'm good to go!

(Have you checked out iTunes radio? You choose an artist that you like and then you get an endless stream of similar music. So for anybody curious, tonight's block was courtesy of Kylie Minogue radio - all dance. Last night's block was accompanied by Martina McBride's country radio.)

And coming soon are some experimental blocks! I'm curious to see light and dark blue together, and red with pink. Yes, pink in my patriotic quilt. It's just light red, right?! I think that light blue and pink will add a bit of whimsy and help to reduce the sameness of the blocks. The Butterscotch Tart quilt pattern is by Fig Tree Quilts and you can pick up a copy here. I've had a few requests about my background. It's Pam Kitty Love and is now out of print, but there is a similar white with pink dots currently available in the Pam Kitty Picnic collection. Here's a sneak peek of some upcoming star fabrics - the reds are Lori Holt's out-of-print Polka Dot Stitches, and the light blues are Pam Kitty Picnic and Pam Kitty Morning. I'm making strawberry print stars. Imagine that, it's my never-ending strawberry addiction. And look at how different and soft the pattern can look when made from Fig Tree fabrics. I think that this pattern would be perfect for a Christmas quilt, too. 

I'm off to slice up this new fabric stack. Be back soon with more stars!

a fresh start

My patriotic quilt month continues! Remember last week's Milky Way stars? I loved them, but I just wasn't having fun sewing them. And quilting needs to be fun, right?! My third block finished lumpy and bumpy and I knew that it was time to hoist the white flag and surrender.

But I'm not ready to give up on my patriotic quilt dream just yet. And so began the time consuming search for a new pattern. Of course, nearly every pattern that I own is scrappy, so I had to imagine what they'd look like in three colors. I pulled patterns out of my notebooks. I bookmarked photos of vintage quilts. I bought more pattern downloads. I searched Flickr, Pinterest and Instagram for new ideas. I am an expert at making myself myself crazy! And then I remembered that I had a pretty pattern from Fig Tree Quilts called Butterscotch Tart. It's from several years ago, with on-point blocks in pale caramel, taupe, ivory and pink. Aha! Couldn't this classic carpenter's wheel block look like a firework if I did it in red, white and blue?!

It looks firework-y to me. I like this block even better than the previous blocks! It was fairly easy to sew, although I might change the direction of some seams on my next block so that they'll nest better. It's 10" and is designed to be set with sashings and pinwheels. 

And even though I've been quiet for a few days don't think that I haven't been sewing. I was back in the strawberry fabric patch. I have just a few more strawberries to sew and then I can begin the big assembly!

milky way

If it's June, then it must be patriotic quilt time! Meet Milky Way by Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts.

I often like to piece with fabrics that match the seasons, and in the hot summer months I think of red, white and blue. I also like overblown garden florals. (No pumpkins for me in June. They need to wait for their turn in September!) My initial fabric pull is a Pam Kitty Morning assortment, but I'll also add in other fabrics as I progress. I had been searching for just the right Fourth of July quilt idea. That involved considering just about every pattern that I own. And then I remembered this quilt, and how Joanna calls the red, white and blue version "Firework." Perfect! The only problem was that I had been dreading all the bias edges. And there are a lot of them. So with starch, pins and about 5 hours, I got my first block.

After Instagraming this block (and whining about how making it almost killed me), I received some good advice from Joanna herself. She told me to remember to measure and cut carefully, handle the bias edges as little as possible, and that the only seams that really need to match are the perimeter of the center star. Ok, deep breath. I can do this. I am not a quilty quitter! I will beat the bias! On to the second block.

This one went together MUCH easier and even took less time. The center is just a smidge off but I think that I can live with it. And you know I'm not redoing it because those bias edges would just s  t  r  e  t  c  h. This block is 19" and I will also be making 14" and 9" blocks. I think that the smaller blocks should probably go together easier (and quicker, please!) now that I've got the method down. 

I ran out of the background fabric after just two blocks! It's from Pam Kitty Morning's "Love" collection last year. Now why did I use a discontinued fabric for my background?! I'm very happy that I found a seller on eBay with 7 yards. I bought all of it, and I can resume star making in a few days. My crazy self-imposed deadline is July 4!

Milky Way. Hummm. I love the Milky Way Dark candy bars. They aren't red, white, blue or floral but they are delicious. Wish I hadn't just thought of that...

Thanks for stopping by to visit with me today! 

back to the strawberry patch

I've completed all 25 strawberry blocks for my Strawberry Social quilt!

But I'm not ready to leave the strawberry patch! The quilt pattern finishes at 53" x 66." I really want this quilt to be larger. I have red and pink fabrics in my stash that I haven't even used yet, and there are some, like Lori Holt's "Bake Sale" red recipe print that I would like to repeat. (It's the bottom left corner.)

Last night I asked my Instagram followers how they feel about making the quilt larger. The feedback came in quickly, and nearly everybody had a humorous way of reminding me that we can never have too many strawberries. And some people thought that my quilt would be a nice decoration in THEIR homes. Haha. So, larger it will be! But yes, maybe a whole bed-sized strawberry quilt would be too many strawberries. My goal is now sofa-napping size. I'll need another 17 strawberries for a quilt that measures 69" x 76", or another 24 strawberries for a quilt that measures 69" x 87."

I'm ready for the real strawberry season to begin... I need to check out the farmer's market! And as I await the crop of strawberries, I think that there's more rotary trimming in the near future...