moda modern building blocks - month 3

It's the third month of the Moda Modern Building Blocks quilt- Fig Tree style!

This 24" star block includes a tiny orange pindot print from the current Fig Tree collection, Somerset, mixed in with Moda Bella solids. I love having just the smallest hint of a print. It warms up the block and makes it a little less "modern" and feels a bit more vintage. And then there's the positively huge 30" star block.

These blocks are so dramatic because of their size. I'll also be constructing three smaller blocks this month, and when it's all finished, hopefully my quilt will look like this:

Image from Fig Tree and Company

The Fig Tree version is sold out, but there is a kit featuring an alternate colorway coming soon to the Fat Quarter Shop. You can also purchase just the pattern and use your own fabrics. The kit and pattern are both available here. 

This past weekend, I went shopping in search of some upholstery fabric. Any chance to visit NYC's garment district makes me happy. It takes me back to my days at school and hanging out in designer showrooms. And it's a vibrant reminder of the great design creativity that comes out of our country. I only needed to visit one store - Mood Fabrics!

You might have heard of Mood Fabrics. It's where the Project Runway contestants shop. The store was positively buzzing on Saturday afternoon. It's on the second and third floor of an unmarked office building. There are bolts of silk taffeta, shirtings, upholstery fabrics, organzas, satins, burnout velvets... I kinda wonder why some of those outfits on Project Runway are so ugly when the designers have access to all this great fabric!

All that fabric shopping left me hungry for a cupcake! That problem was quickly solved with a visit to Sweet Revenge in the West Village. Sweet Revenge is a tiny cupcakerie that also offers light lunch food, and has special pairings of cupcakes with wine or beer. There are never more than six cupcake flavors, and they're all amazing. I had a "Dirty" cupcake - dark chocolate cake, rich chocolate ganache and dusted with cocoa powder. The cupcakes seem very adult - no sprinkles, no pink and no gummy bears here!

I'd like to thank you for the great response to my Quilty Fun birthday cake quilt last week. I really appreciate the comments and emails that I received. I'm happy that you were able to celebrate with me!

quilty fun birthday party!

Happy First Birthday, Quilty Fun! Welcome to my stop on the birthday blog hop! 

Quilty Fun by Lori Holt has quickly become my go-to book for fun, scrappy patchwork designs. Seriously, I would like to make everything in this book! The book contains clear, easy-to-understand diagrams for creating the row quilt shown on the cover, plus ten additional projects ranging from pillows to runners to quilts, all using rotary cutting with no templates. 

To help celebrate the first birthday, Lori Holt has created a special, fun birthday cake block!

Mmmm chocolate layer cake. My favorite! I was so excited to print out the free pdf of this pattern's cutting instructions, and I immediately started sewing my birthday cake. But I liked it so much that I needed another piece of cake. How about a red velvet cake?

And because I have so many favorite cake flavors I just kept going! Anybody want a piece of strawberry cream cake?

Before I knew it, this happened. Twelve cakes with rainbow sprinkles sashing!

Who wouldn't love a fancy cake for Valentine's Day?

Or maybe a pretty birthday cake with fanciful buttercream rosettes?

Could I tempt you with a slice of chocolate mud cake?

Seriously, you are going to LOVE making these cakes. One would be cute as a pillow. Three would make a great birthday table runner. Or go crazy like I did and make twelve (or more)! Download the FREE copy of the Quilty Fun birthday cake pdf pattern here. You can also view all twelve of my birthday cake blocks on my Flickr page.

But don't leave yet because the birthday party is just getting started! Here are some of the amazingly fantabulous patterns in Lori's book. There's the full row along quilt that I made last year.

I loved making the Snowball Fight table runner. I really need to have this quilted before Christmas!

And the Quilty Fun book also has directions for Lori's signature bee pattern. Here I've reduced the size of the bee and made a quartet of them!

I do hope that you'll help me in celebrating Quilty Fun's first birthday. Pour yourself a nice hot (or cold!) drink, download the birthday cake pattern and start stitching!

Thanks for stopping by today. Be sure to visit the Fat Quarter Shop for a copy of the Quilty Fun book. Their blog will also have links to all the other bloggers participating in the hop. And drop by to see what Lori is working on here. I'll see you soon!

sashing the homestead

Yes, finally! All 20 Fig Tree Homestead blocks are finished!

Isn't this the quirkiest house block? I've never seen anything else quite like it. It's almost an optical illusion. I really love those Fig Tree blues - the sky and navy prints.

I started the sashing last night. But I just wasn't paying attention to what I was doing! Often the simple sewing is where I make the most mistakes. There was quite a lot of unpinning and unsewing going on. My biggest hurdle was getting the horizontal seams of the grass to line up from row to row. It was easy to fix with a little concentration and pins. 

It's amazing how much abuse those poor 1 1/2" strips of sashing fabric had to endure!

And after all that effort, I love how it's coming together. This quilt is going to become a favorite! I just need to add two outer borders and it will be ready for quilting.

Thanks so much for visiting me today. I'm always happy to have house guests (heehee get it?!).

friday finish - whit!

Meet Whit!

Whit by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. is finished! Maybe I should say that it's almost finished. After quilting, it will become a European pillow sham for my bed. To get the correct size for a pillow top, I needed to cut the border strips 2" wider than the pattern. And of course that meant that I needed to buy another 5" of background fabric. Grrrr. Luckily, Donna shipped extra fabric to me in just two days! (I could have joined my leftover fabric strips to get the right length, but I really didn't want to see the seams.) 

Whit measures 26" square. Each Flying Dutchman block is 4". I used Flower Sugar by Lecien - most of it is current season, but I tossed in some older pastel favorites, too. And for extra visual texture, I added 1/8" mini gingham from Riley Blake. I love how it coordinates perfectly with the florals. 

This was a fun quilt to make! Nice little blocks and short border strips. I usually dislike the process of pinning borders, but 26" borders - I can handle that! 

The Another Year of Schnibbles sew along is hosted by A Quilting Life and Pink Pincushion, and you can get all the details about how to join the group here. 

And now can I start a new quilt? I am dying to cut into my new Christmas fabrics

I'm linking up today with Finish It Up Fridays at Crazy Mom Quilts. 

flying dutchmen

Sixteen Flying Dutchman blocks are done! They're for my Little Bites "Whit" mini quilt. Why is this block called Flying Dutchman, anyway?! Wikipedia says that a Flying Dutchman is a legendary ghost ship that can never make port and is doomed to sail the oceans forever. Maybe this refers to how I felt doomed to make 128 mini flying geese forever?

I'm kidding, of course. The blocks were actually really quick and easy to construct once the geese were completed. There's nothing complicated here. Each block measures 4" finished. I was a little concerned about getting my points to match in the centers but they turned out really nicely.

It took some maniacal focus on Thursday and Friday nights to get these pieced. I spent the early part of last week in Dallas on a business trip - hence, no sewing for three days. This is an annual trip where I train and motivate a group of 75 people to sell my company's products throughout the holidays. It was quite a production, in a hotel ballroom. I had special music, snacks and decor, and I even did a costume change mid-lecture! It was hysterical, but hopefully they all learned something, too. Then I rushed back to NYC to meet with another retailer. So it was a temporary break from my normal life, but sometimes I gotta do the real job!

I'll leave you with a shot of all 16 blocks. They're ready for sashing, cornerstones and a border! A finish is coming soon!

floral flying geese

The flying geese have arrived! I've got 32 sets of 4 matching geese. They'll finish at 1" x 2". Yeah, I know. Crazy. They took longer to make than I had expected - they're super easy to make and trim with the Mini Fit To Be Geese ruler, but they're a little tedious. I also make them in color groups because then I have a feeling of accomplishment ("Yay, all the red geese are stitched!")

Ok, now that they're sewn and trimmed, I need to decide on a setting. First there is the Flying Dutchman variation. I love these. The blocks look scrappy, but they're really perfectly controlled. It does mean that my points will all need to meet in the middle correctly.

And then there are the straight rows of flying geese going in opposite directions. I really like these too! I could do them either randomly mixed up like I've shown here, or I could arrange them in an ombre rainbow setting.

So which will I choose? I'll think about it for a few days, because once I start sewing there's no unpicking!

moda modern building blocks - month 2

Howdy, everybody! I recently returned from a short trip to New Mexico (yes, again!) and immediately got back to sewing. It was exciting to find an envelope from Eric Figueroa at Fig Tree and Co crammed into my tiny mailbox. That could only mean one thing - the September fabric pack for the Modern Modern Building Blocks sampler arrived!

Last month I made one 36" block and four 6" blocks, and this month's fabric made an 18" block and four more 6" blocks. Working with Moda Bella solids is fun! I don't think that I've ever used solid fabric for blocks, so this is a bit of a stretch for me. I love that tiny coral pindot fabric from Fig Tree's recent Mirabelle collection. It adds just a bit of texture without being too overpowering. 

The Flower Sugar fabric for my Another Year of Schnibbles "Whit" pattern also arrived while I was away (I could barely open my mailbox!) and I quicky starched and cut it. Here are my fabrics, just waiting to be sewn into flying geese.

So when I wasn't sewing or blogging last week, here's what I was up to. My sister took me on a trip to New Mexico to celebrate my upcoming birthday. She's traveled around the world but never to the Southwest US! First, we visited Taos Pueblo, which has been continuously inhabited for over 1000 years and has no running water or electricity. 

And we had to have a snack at the pueblo. I love this sign. 

No running water or electricity, but they managed to find Sue Bee honey and a plastic tablecloth. That cracks me up. 

Then came a 2 1/2 mile hike in Bandelier National Monument. It's breathtaking to see caves carved out of ancient volcanic ash where primitive people made their homes. There are still traces of their artwork thousands of years later (swirls, zigzag serpents, and... people with marshmallow heads?).

We saw these sunflowers EVERYWHERE we went, growing wild and out-of-control along the highways as well as in the park.

Surely this volcanic ash home could use a nice quilt with pointy-points and heirloom quilting?

After visiting the Bradbury Museum in Los Alamos to learn about the secret mission to create atomic bombs during WWII, we then stopped at Camel Rock, just outside of Santa Fe. We joked about how silly this rock formation looks, but after driving by it 8 times we decided that we just needed to get a closer look. I think that if you look at it head-on it turns into a cobra instead of a camel, but never mind. I wouldn't want Camel Rock Casino to have to change its name!

And, of course, we spent time in Santa Fe, where the annual Fiesta was taking place. And the green chile pepper harvest was being roasted in giant rotating metal drums. We really had a great time. I got to spend time in one of my favorite locations with my favorite little sister!

another year of schnibbles begins now

It's a new sew along! Another Year of Schnibbles has just started. So what's a Schnibble? They're small scale quilts made with 5" charm squares plus some background fabric. And now there are new Little Bites quilts made with 2.5" mini charm squares. The patterns are designed by the talented Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. They're a great way to showcase a new fabric collection without a big time commitment. Or, of course, you can use your stash. There's a monthly project assignment, and at the end of each month there is a parade of finished quilts with PRIZES. The quilt along is hosted by Sinta of Pink Pincushion and Sherri of A Quilting Life. Doesn't this sound like fun? You can get the full details here and here if you'd like to consider sewing along with us, and the pattern is here. 

I joined the group at the end of the spring season, right before the summer break. You might remember that I made the X Rated Schnibble quilt using Fig Tree's Mirabelle fabric.

And now September's project is Whit, which is shown at the top. The pattern includes three variations. I'd love to just copy Carrie's Dutchman's Puzzle quilt (upper left corner) using Lori Holt's Vintage Happy fabric. But that wouldn't be too original! I'm almost sure that I'll do the version with vertical flying geese using an assortment of Lecien's Flower Sugar fabric. I just ordered a white floral background from Donna, and I can start sewing the geese as soon as it arrives. 

We also got a preview of October's project! It will be Harvey. I'm already thinking about my fabrics for this one! Christmas-y, maybe? Or fall harvest colors?

back at the ranch

I have been quietly piecing the Fig Tree Homestead quilt blocks throughout the past few months. They help me to avoid other sewing projects. Whenever I have a quilt top that needs the dreaded borders, well, it's easier to stitch up a few houses! Fourteen houses are now done, with another six still to be built. 

The latest batch of three blocks just did not want to cooperate with me! Sometimes the simplest piecing can get messed up really fast. These blocks are constructed in three layers. There's the roof section, the middle window and door section and then the walkway and grass. The middle row is just a bunch of rectangles. Should be simple, right? I stitched them over and over and over and over. First the strips were too short - I mean, 3/4" too short in the length! And then they became 1" too long. I ripped and resewed them. I cut more fabric and sewed them again. And then I sewed them together in the wrong order. Whaaaat? Well, I finally figured it out. My sewing machine needle was bent just a teeny bit, but it was enough to turn my scant 1/4" seam allowance into a generous 1/4" seam allowance. A new needle solved the problem. Now why didn't I think of that several hours earlier? (I can't even tell you how long the last 3 blocks took to sew! It's too embarrassing! But I did win this battle.)

And here's the house lineup so far! First, the blues!

The pinks and greys!

The reds!

And the aqua and yellow houses. 

I'll continue to work on these in between other quilts. I just need to get the border sewn onto the Jumping Jacks quilt and I'll have another finish soon!

quilt finish - mixing it up

It feels great to finish the Mixing It Up quilt top!  Once the weather cools off (it was 91 degrees in NYC today!) I'll think about baking again. Did you see the recipe for browned butter M&Ms chocolate chip cookies on Pioneer Woman's blog today? Yummy. I can't wait to try them!

Ok, back to the quilt. Cookie time will be later. 

Just looking at this quilt top makes me happy! There are all those colorful mixers, ready to whip up some amazing desserts. I had lots of fun just selecting the fabrics for each mixer. And do you remember how I bought the pale pink KitchenAid the same night that I sewed the pink block? 

The Mixing It Up pattern is by Lori Holt, and it's super-easy to understand, with lots of those easy-corner-triangles. The mixers are 15" square so you just need a few of them to make a big impact. I used mostly Bake Sale fabric with a little bit of Polka Dot Stitches mixed in, and solids from Riley Blake. I almost didn't make the mustard yellow mixer (come to think of it, Mom probably had a hand-held mustard mixer in the 70's). And yet, I found that I really needed the mustard just for the right color balance so that it wouldn't become too pink/red or too blue/green. 

I love the pieced "beater" border blocks. But I hate sewing borders. Let's just blame it on the extreme lack of space in my apartment. That's why these blocks sat around since February! I really, really wanted to just slap some fabric borders on this and call it done, but a quilting friend reminded me about how cute it would be if I followed the instructions. She was right. It's infinitely cuter with the pieced border. Borders are better!

Now I think that I've earned a special dessert tonite! Hummm maybe a cupcake instead of the cookie... 

catching up

Hi everybody! I hope that you had an enjoyable weekend! I've had some time to do a little bit of catching up on my sewing projects.

First, I finished August's four 6" blocks for the Moda Modern Building Blocks BOM quilt - Fig Tree style. 

Look at how small they are when put next to the giant 36" block! I had to fold the large block into quarters just to fit it into the photo.

I'm making the HSTs using my usual method instead of sewing triangles together as the pattern suggests - I'm sewing two squares on the diagonal, cutting in half, pressing open and trimming down to the exact size. I'm also using the Mini Fit To Be Geese ruler by Monique Dillard to construct my flying geese. The ruler really helps to make sure that they're sized perfectly and that I don't accidentally cut off my points. Monique has a nifty tutorial video on the Open Gate Quilts website about how to use the ruler. Basically, you sew two oversized "sky" triangles to an oversized "goose" triangle, and then use the ruler to trim it down to the right size. You might want to check this out if you've ever had problems sewing little 1 1/2" x 2" flying geese using other methods. I use the mini ruler and the full sized ruler to make almost all of my flying geese. 

And now I need to be patient and wait until the September fabric pack arrives from Fig Tree Quilts. I wonder if there will be some of Joanna's new Somerset fabric mixed in with the Moda Bella solids? But of course I need to work on something now. And so, this is the perfect time to finish my Mixing It Up quilt! Do you remember this quilt that I started in FEBRUARY?

And how about the spatulas?

It's called Mixing It Up, and the pattern is by Lori Holt for Bee In My Bonnet. I'm using an assortment of Lori's Bake Sale and Polka Dot Stitches fabric collections, with solids by Riley Blake. It's time to get this finished! I went from just a few of the border blocks to all 48 in three days. I can get stuff done when I focus! (Ok, I gotta admit a small flaw with my "focus" - I made two extra blocks because I wasn't paying attention.)

I've started to sew the blocks into border strips, and I think that I'm going to have a finish by the end of this month!

moda modern building blocks

Hi everybody and happy Monday! I hope that you had a great weekend. I was able to spend some time with friends enjoying barbeque in Brooklyn and saw the new movie Magic in the Moonlight. Loved it. Set in the French Riviera in the late 1920's, it's the story of a famous magician (Colin Firth) who sets out to prove that a medium who conjures the dead (Emma Stone) is a fraud and a con artist. Go see it for a fun, light-hearted, grown-up movie with absolutely no explosions, no superheroes and gorgeous scenery. But right before all of that, I started a new quilt! It's the Moda Modern Building Blocks quilt, Fig Tree style. Here's a rendering of the quilt that I borrowed from the Fresh Figs blog.

I liked the original quilt when I first saw photos of it from the Pittsburgh quilt market. You might have already seen that version, in quite a rainbow of solid fabrics. Joanna Figueroa then reinterpreted the quilt in Fig Tree colors. What I really love about this version is that there are some subtle tone-on-tone fabrics mixed in with the solids. Her quilt is being done as a block-of-the-month. But it was very popular and it sold out before I could sign up. Then when I was in Florida a few weeks ago, Joanna posted a photo of it on Instagram and mentioned that a few slots had opened up. But I was in meetings and didn't see that message until hours later! Luckily I was able to get into the program. Whew. The first month's shipment arrived late last week.

Three fabrics came with the first installment - Moda Bella solids in Royal, Carribean and Ivory. They look just like my Delray Beach photos! The quilt includes 48 blocks in measurements ranging from 6" all the way up to 36", with the finished quilt measuring 84" x 96".  (The Fig Tree version is now sold out, but there are kits for the original version at several online retailers. You can also buy just the pattern and use your own fabric. Just do a search for Moda Modern Building Blocks.)

I never thought that I'd make a 36" square block out of a bunch of oddly sized triangles and actually like it. Yes, a square yard!

I was SO happy when this block turned out perfectly. I didn't know if I could do it! There are also four 6" blocks to be made this month. I've done two of them already.

The 6" blocks remind me of the Farmer's Wife blocks. And the construction method is similar. The Moda pattern provides cutting directions and a diagram showing how the pieces of each block fit together. It does not include instructions on how to construct or press the blocks, so an understanding of block construction is needed. I'm making HSTs and flying geese units with my own method instead of cutting triangles wherever possible (I love using the Mini Fit To Be Geese ruler for absolutely perfect flying geese).

I might customize my quilt even further by substituting some of my Fig Tree stash for a few solids. You know... just to be different. 

I've seen that a few other quilters are planning to do two versions of this, one in solids and one in prints. I can be completely happy with just this one quilt. But I'm also dreaming about a second version in pastels and florals - for example, Lori Holt's upcoming Flower Patch collection would be perfect for this. Then I could gift one quilt and keep one for myself. But can I fit it all in to my schedule?! I'm going to be optimistic!

a week at the beach

I recently spent a week in Delray Beach, FL. I've had a few requests for photos, so here's what my week was like!

My team from work met for 2 1/2 days to plan the introduction of new luxury cosmetic and fragrance products for 2015. It also gave us a chance to celebrate recent promotions and new hires within my group and to eat fancy dinners.

I was finally able to relax after our meetings wrapped and everybody else flew home. Then it was MY beach time!

Delray Beach is a 20 minute drive from West Palm Beach, and 25 minutes from Ft Lauderdale. My hotel was literally on the beach and perfectly situated amongst all the shops and restaurants. Many of the shops were closed for the season, but I did fall in love with Snappy Turtle. It's the perfect beachy preppy store - everything is pink and green and navy and monogrammed. Lots of zigzags, bright paisleys and whale prints. And of course it's right across the street from the Lilly Pulitzer shop. 

I ate so casually. Lots of conch fritters and ice cream.

My days consisted of breakfast, beach, lunch, pool, snack, beach, dinner, beach, pool. Repeat those steps for three days! 

I saw lots of quilty inspiration. Inspiration like sailboats and beach umbrellas.

Big fancy houses on the beach. Wouldn't these pastel house hues be pretty combined into a quilt with blues, aquas and sands?

It was the most blissful time imaginable. It's not often that New Yorkers just stop all activity and do nothing. Well, I need to do that more often. 

In fact, I was too relaxed to even work on my hand-quilting project that I brought! It's time to get this pillow finished. It's made of Fig Tree's California Girl, from a pattern by Happy Zombie. I pieced this two years ago, but isn't it interesting how it really reflects the colors of my Florida trip?

I'm grateful that I had a break, but I'm glad to be home in my own bed, too. I need to close my eyes and remember the feeling of being on the beach, alone, whenever I feel stressed. 

I will be back very soon with a whole NEW quilting project. I'm so excited about the first block that I just pieced and I can't wait to share it with you!

I leave you today with something that greeted me on the beach one morning. The beach was deserted. Just me and this... um, creature. 

some assembly required

All twelve Jumping Jacks blocks are done! 

Here they are - a dozen Union Jack quilt blocks are ready to be assembled! This is the very first time that they've been lined up! I made each block by pulling my favorite fabric combinations, hoping that they would all work together. I'm super happy with the result. 

Have I already mentioned 5 times that these blocks are fun to sew? And that I love them all?

Now it's time to audition sashing fabric. I think that these Tanya Whelan floral prints will play nicely with a pink dot on cream background from the Pam Kitty Picnic collection. I'm considering white floral sashing posts from one fabric to help unify the blocks. And I've reserved a pretty paisley print for the border, in either white or aqua.

Now I'm just gonna sit back and look at the blocks for awhile!

still jumping

I've had a jolly productive week! Five new Jumping Jacks blocks!

I'm having a great time with the Jumping Jacks quilt along. I can now make the whole block without looking at the pattern. I've been listening to British 80's new wave radio on iTunes while sewing. I've imagined the Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith) rolling her eyes at my quilt and tossing off one of her icy barbs. How long do we need to wait for the next season of Downton Abbey?!

The most creatively challenging part is coming up with each fabric combination. I am so loving using these Tanya Whelan prints. I think that they bring the perfect, almost-but-not-quite-shabby look to the blocks. And here's where I get weird. You know me and my over-analysis! I love the dots, but I can't let the dots take over the quilt. I really wanted to incorporate striped stripes and plaid stripes, but I needed to figure out how to cut them. Does anybody else overthink their fabric combos?!  And then that little voice in my head tells me to just DO IT. 

And the blocks that I thought wouldn't work ended up becoming my favorites. How did that happen? I'm really surprised by how much I like the huge cabbage rose blocks.

I've got just three more blocks to make! My fabric combos are sitting on my cutting mat. There might even be a red, white and blue flag in the works!

It's been fun sewing along with the group on Instagram. You can check out what everyone has been creating by searching for #jumpingjacksqal. And I'm @greydogwoodstudio.

Breaking news! Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts has just released a MINI version of this quilt pattern! It's available here, along with the original, full-size pattern that I'm using.

Happy weekend, everybody! Hope you have something fun planned!

jumping along

I'm back from my short break! And I'm back to the Jumping Jacks quilt along!

Last week I needed to take a short break from sewing because of work responsibilities. My team met in Delray Beach, FL to begin strategizing about 2015. After the conference ended and everybody flew home, I spent the next few days on the beach. Just me and the sand and the waves. It was blissful. No work, no sewing machine. I was very inspired by the colors, scents and sounds of the beach, and I continually thought about how to capture the experience in a quilt. I'll have some pics of my trip in a few days  - yeah, there I was in the ocean with my Nikon camera.

And by Saturday night I was home and got right back into the Jumping Jacks quilt along!

I've added two new Union Jack flags for my quilt, using a pattern called Jumping Jacks by Fig Tree Quilts. This playful re-interpretation of the Union Jack isn't too literal, but hopefully, it's still respectful of the amazing history and culture of the United Kingdom. I love how easily each block comes together. Tanya Whelan's fabrics sure do make this easy!

After doing three blocks with polka dot center stripes, I wanted to try something new - a heart print stripe! My next block will have a "striped" stripe.

The Jumping Jacks quilt along is currently in progress on Instagram and was started by Joanna Figueroa. Anybody can join, although you'll need a copy of the pattern. Just upload your images using #jumpingjacksqal.

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!