Patchwork Quilt Along Block Nine

Alright - are you ready for block nine of the Patchwork Quilt Along?  It's available today from the Fat Quarter Shop.  

This month's block is called Grandmother's Choice, and if you go here you can find the free downloadable pattern and a video tutorial as well - along with the blocks and videos for the past months!  After this one we have just three more!

All year I've been making my blocks from Bonnie & Camille scraps, and now that their new line (The Good Life) is available in shops, I thought it would be fun to add some of these new fabrics in to my quilt. 

Here's the list of bloggers who are sewing along, and be sure to check out the Patchwork QAL Facebook group!  

Amanda from Jedi Craft Girl (@jedicraftgirl)

Amy of Diary of a Quilter (@diaryofaquilter)

Andy of A Bright Corner (@abrightcorner)

*Bonnie of Cotton Way (@bonniecottonway)

*Camille of Thimble Blossoms (@thimbleblossoms)

Debbie of Happy Little Cottage (@happylittlecottage1)

Greg of Grey Dogwood Studio (@greydogwoodstudio)

Heidi of Buttons and Butterflies (@buttonsandbutterflies)

Melissa of Happy Quilting (@happyquiltingmc)

Melissa of Oh How Sweet (@ohhowsweet)

Pat Sloan of PatSloan.com (@quilterpatsloan)

Renee of Sewn with Grace (@sewnwithgrace)

Sedef of Down Grapevine Lane (@downgrapevinelane)

Sherri of A Quilting Life (@aquiltinglife)

Sondra of Out of the Blue Quilts (@sondradavison)

Taunja of Carried Away Quilting (@taunjalynn)

Tina of Emily Ann's Kloset (@emilyannskloset)

Carrie Nelson/Miss Rosie of Moda Cutting Table

Holly Jolly Christmas Tree Skirt and Sale

The Holly Jolly Tree Skirt pattern is one of my best sellers, and I gave it a little update this last weekend!  I also wanted to update my family's tree skirt this year so I took this opportunity to make a new, fresh one from the Comfort and Joy fabrics from Riley Blake.  I love that red plaid!  

I've been hearing from customers that some brands of fabrics (usually sold at big box stores) tend to not be as wide as some of the brands sold at quilt shops such as Moda, Art Gallery, Riley Blake, and Michael Miller.  To accommodate the narrower fabrics, I adjusted the pattern's cutting instructions slightly. 

Another adjustment was to make the backing more longarm quilter friendly!  More and more of you are sending quilts out to your favorite longarm quilter and those quilters appreciate a backing that is 7 to 8 inches wider than the quilt top.    

Speaking of backing, did you know you could make this a reversible tree skirt?  Choose a coordinating print for the backing (like a fun plaid, or novelty print), and you'll have the option to flip the skirt over to change the look!  You can see an example of a reversible skirt here in this blog post.   

For the backing on this skirt, I used a red swiss dot print from Riley Blake.  

If you're considering making a new tree skirt this year, now is a great time to get started!  Especially if you're thinking of sending it to be quilted - beat the end of year rush!  For the whole month of September, the Holly Jolly Tree Skirt pattern is on sale for $6.00 in my shop.  No code needed - just add the pattern to your cart and checkout!  

PDF patterns are available now (immediate download), and paper copies are available for pre-order.  They'll ship as soon as they arrive next week!  And if you're a quilt shop owner, you can contact me at abrightcorner@gmail.com for wholesale pricing.

Looking for other Christmas ideas?  Check out these projects!  

Cabin Cushion

Christmas Patchwork Pillow

Christmas Surprise

Free Craftsy Classes? Yes Please!

Hey there everyone!  I just wanted to let you know about a great opportunity coming up this weekend.  All day on Labor Day (Monday, September 4) Craftsy is having a free, All-You-Can-Watch deal on their classes.  Did you catch that?  It's FREE!  So if you've been eyeing some classes, or have some on your wish list, this is your chance to catch them!  

Here are a few great ones:

And here are a few that I'm hoping to watch that day:

All-You-Can-Watch Day starts at 12:01am on Monday and ends at 11:59pm - so make yourself comfortable, and get watching!

Split Stars Quilt in Love Patchwork & Quilting Magazine

I'm so excited to be able to share that I have a quilt in the latest issue of Love Patchwork & Quilting!  And to my delight...it's on the cover!  Issue 51 is available now in the UK, and will be heading to the US soon.

  My inspiration for the quilt came from this photo I found on Pinterest:

I immediately fell in love with the color combo!  I took a screen shot of the photo on my phone, and used it at the quilt shop as I chose the colors of Riley Blake Confetti Cottons I wanted to use.  Here's the stack that I pulled off the shelves in the shop:

I'm a long time fan of mixing aqua & green together (here, here and here), but I love what the purples add to the group!

You can see sneak peeks of the other projects from the issue here on the Love Patchwork & Quilting site.  And watch for issue 51 to hit your news stands.  I know I'll be stalking my local Barnes & Noble for the next couple of weeks!

A Piece of Cake!

It's really been a summer filled with Christmas quilts!  This is the third one I've worked on this month (I'll share the others soon), and I have to say it's a little strange to go out and photograph a Christmas quilt when it's 90+ degrees outside and there's plenty of green grass around!  

Today I'm sharing a quilt that I made from this fun new book:

A Piece of Cake - Sweet & Simple Quilts from Layer Cake Squares written by Peta Peace (a.k.a. She Quilts A Lot).  The book is filled with great quilt designs, lovely photos, and easy-to-follow instructions and diagrams.  

When I fall in love with a new fabric line, often I'll buy a layer cake of it.  A charm pack isn't quite enough, and I find layer cakes to be more versatile than a jelly roll.  But then the layer cake sits there until I figure out what to make.  This book will be a great resource - it has so many great quilts, all layer cake friendly! 

The quilt I chose to make is called Surprise.  It finishes at 56" x 71" and I used a layer cake of North Woods designed by Kate Spain.  The line came out last summer and I've been holding on to this layer cake since then - looking for the perfect pattern.  I love the little presents!

I backed this quilt in a soft mint flannel - it will be perfectly cozy come December!  For the quilting I used a longarm panto from Urban Elementz called Cake Walk. 

You can see more projects from the book by following along on the blog tour.  We've already seen three fun quilts from Sedef, Jemima, and Samantha - and there's plenty more to come!  You can also check out some other quilts from the book on Instagram with the hashtag #apieceofcakebook.

14 Aug Sedef - Down Grapevine Lane

15 Aug Jemima - Tied with a Ribbon

16 Aug Samantha - Aqua Paisley Studio

17 Aug Andy - A Bright Corner

18 Aug Kirsty - Bonjour Quilts

19 Aug Lisa - A Spoonful of Sugar Designs

20 Aug Alison - Cotton Factory

21 Aug Carrie - Moda Fabrics

22 Aug Nadra - Ellis and Higgs

23 Aug Angie - Gnome Angel

24 Aug Tara - Tara Sews

25 Aug Jules - The Creative Retreat

26 Aug Kristyne - Pretty by Hand

27 Aug Kimberly - Fat Quarter Shop

28 Aug Lissa - Moda Lissa

29 Aug Amy - Diary of a Quilter

30 Aug Kerry - Kid Giddy & Cat - Hello from Cat on Instagram

31 Aug Jane - Modern Makers Retreat

1 Sept Kate - Never Enough Hours

2 Sept Jodie - Vintage Ric Rac

3 Sept Sharon - Patches Indooroopilly (in store & online!)

4 Sept Amanda - Material Girl Quilts

5 Sept Amber - A Little Bit Biased

6 Sept Xanthe - Wife Made

7 Sept Rachel - Family Ever After

8 Sept Jenny - Martingale

9 Sept Amy - Nana Company

10 Sept          Peta - She Quilts A Lot

Patchwork Quilt Along Block Eight

Wow!  We're already on the eighth set of blocks for the Patchwork Quilt Along with the Fat Quarter Shop!  Just four more sets until we can start putting our quilt top together. 

This month's block pattern is called Rolling Nine Patch, and you can find a link to the free pattern here on the Jolly Jabber Blog (scroll down to find the Rolling Nine Patch block).

I started storing my blocks in these stackable wire baskets from the Container Store.  I was finding that the more I moved, arranged and touched the blocks the more they were fraying.  This way my finished blocks can stay in the basket all safe and sound until it's time to piece the quilt top.  

The list of bloggers who are sewing along is below, and you can also see what quilters from around the world are making in the Patchwork QAL Facebook group.  I'm so glad there's a place for everyone to add photos of their blocks, and ask and answer questions!  

Amanda from Jedi Craft Girl (@jedicraftgirl)

Amy of Diary of a Quilter (@diaryofaquilter)

Andy of A Bright Corner (@abrightcorner)

*Bonnie of Cotton Way (@bonniecottonway)

*Camille of Thimble Blossoms (@thimbleblossoms)

Debbie of Happy Little Cottage (@happylittlecottage1)

Greg of Grey Dogwood Studio (@greydogwoodstudio)

Heidi of Buttons and Butterflies (@buttonsandbutterflies)

Melissa of Happy Quilting (@happyquiltingmc)

Melissa of Oh How Sweet (@ohhowsweet)

Pat Sloan of PatSloan.com (@quilterpatsloan)

Renee of Sewn with Grace (@sewnwithgrace)

Sedef of Down Grapevine Lane (@downgrapevinelane)

Sherri of A Quilting Life (@aquiltinglife)

Sondra of Out of the Blue Quilts (@sondradavison)

Taunja of Carried Away Quilting (@taunjalynn)

Tina of Emily Ann's Kloset (@emilyannskloset)

Carrie Nelson/Miss Rosie of Moda Cutting Table

Five Fat Quarter Fun - Preppy Quilt Pattern

This month I was invited to be a part of the Five Fat Quarter Fun series with Amber & Amanda (Gigi's Thimble & Jedi Craft Girl).  Boy, I tell you - it was a fun challenge to design a quilt using only five fat quarters plus a little yardage.  I went through a few different options but quickly settled on this Argyle inspired quilt, called Preppy!

This is one of those quilts that looks more complicated than it actually is!  And for those of you who haven't tried making a quilt on point before this would be a great time to try it!  

Preppy finishes at 50" x 60", and uses 5 fat quarters and some yardage for the sashing and background.  You can download the free PDF pattern HERE.  

I love these Gingham Girls prints (designed by Amy Smart for Penny Rose Fabrics) and I've been looking for just the right project to use them in.  They were the perfect choice for this Preppy quilt.  And I added in the navy swiss dot (from Riley Blake) as well.  

The quilting is a design called Diagonal Plaid which I thought worked great with all of the other diagonal lines in the quilt, and it also added some great texture! 

If you make a Preppy quilt I'd love to see it!  Be sure to tag me (@abrightcorner) as well as Amber and Amanda (@gigisthimble @jedicraftgirl) and use the hashtags #preppyquilt and #fivefatquarterfun so we'll be sure to see it! 

And if you've missed the other Five Fat Quarter Fun patterns, you can find them here on Amber's blog and here on Amanda's blog.  They do a new pattern on the first of each month and it's so fun to see what they come up with each month!  Have you made any of their 5 FQ Fun quilts??

 Don't forget to download the PDF for the Preppy quilt pattern here!