Seaside Squares

There are just a handful of quilts that I've finished over the past six years and for one reason or another have never appeared here on my blog.  This quilt is one of them.  It's called Seaside Squares and this is actually the second time I've made this quilt.

 I first talked about this quilt here - waaaaay back in the Summer of 2012.  The fabric line was brand new and I was instantly smitten with it. (By the way, the fabric line is called Seaside, designed by October Afternoon for Riley Blake.)

Fast forward to 2014.  My mom came to visit and decided she really liked this quilt so it went home with her.  At this point I had completely forgotten that this quilt was still listed for sale on Etsy.  You see where this is going?

Yep.  A couple of months after the quilt went to live at my mom's house, the quilt listing on Etsy sold.  I went to find the quilt to mail it off to it's new lovely owner and I COULD. NOT. FIND. IT.  My mom happened to be visiting again at the time and gently reminded me that she had taken that quilt with her last time.  Doh. 

 I got in touch with the customer and we worked out a solution - one in which I happily got the chance to make this Seaside Squares quilt again.  As I was making it I realized two things:

#1:  I'm SO glad that I take detailed notes as I'm making each quilt.

#2:  I've never re-made the EXACT quilt before.  Ever.  

It was kinda fun!  I liked the challenge of tracking down the different prints from several online shops and retracing my steps as I created a twin sister to the original Seaside Squares.

Both finished quilts measure about 64" x 64".  Both are now happily living in their new homes.  And I have now double and tripple checked to make sure all of the quilts listed in my Etsy shop are actually here and ready to be shipped!  

Sneak Peek

 Happy Monday everyone!  How’s your summer going?  We’ve been busy around here.  Both my husband and I have had some big work deadlines, I recently did a trunk show in a nearby town, and our oldest son just returned from Scout Camp.  I’m ready for a break!  Whew! 

One of the things I’ve been working on this past month are two new patterns.  I have one of the quilts completed so far and I’m just doing the technical writing part now.  Since you’ve all been so patient with my lack of blogging, I thought I’d give a sneak peek of the first quilt.  I know it’s not much – sorry! 

I’ll be starting the second quilt this week and I’m hoping (fingers crossed!) to have the patterns all done by the end of August.  (side note: August sounds so far away to me.  But then I look at the calendar and freak out a little bit.)  

Have a great Monday, and I hope you find some time to sew this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Seat Belt Cover Tutorial

Hey everyone!  How’s your summer going?  Our family is looking forward to a few road trips this Summer – some camping, some exploring, some reunions.  I’ve been meaning to make some of these seat belt covers for a year or so now because the back seat belts sure rub on my kids’ necks.  Ouch!  So when the ThermOWeb Blog asked for a tutorial using their Fusible Fleece I knew these would be perfect. 

These are a quick project and I had everything I needed in my stash.  You can find the tutorial here on the ThermOWeb Blog.

Happy Sewing!

Patriotic Table Runners

When do YOU decorate for the 4th of July?  Do you wait for the 1st of July to roll around?  Do you pull out your red, white and blue décor in June?  I can never decide.  It seems to early to decorate.  A few days ago I found my table runners from last year and pressed them flat, but there they sit in my sewing room.  Maybe today is the day that I take them upstairs and embrace the idea that July 4th is only 11 days away.

By the way, the pattern for these table runners is called Patriotic Parade and can be purchased here for only $5!  You can see more about the Patriotic Parade runners here.  They’re made using a technique called reversible applique – which is not difficult and is fun to play around with.

A few weeks ago I worked on another patriotic table runner for my local quilt shop.  They needed a table runner pattern that they could give out for free during their shop hop.  So I got to work!

You can’t really go wrong with stars and stripes, right?

And here’s the finished runner-

So when it comes back from being on display I’ll have one more runner to help my home feel a bit more festive!  (Whenever I decided to finally decorate)

Creating

 Hey friends.  I’ve been spending some quality time (meaning late nights) with this lovely stack of fat quarters.  It turns out, they're pretty good company.  

These are from the Moda line Chance of Flowers.  Aren’t they gorgeous?  I’m using this stack of fabrics to test a new pattern that’s mostly written.  It’s tough to force myself to sit at the computer and work when it’s so pretty outside! 

Lucky for me (or unlucky?) it turns out I'm super low on vitamin D so I'm under doctor's orders to spend more time outside!  Hope you all have a fantastic (sun-filled) weekend!

Quick Quilting Tip: Quick Curved Seams Tutorial

All this week, to celebrate the release of her new book, Fabulously Fast Quilts, Amy Smart is doing a Quick Quilting Tips and Tricks blog hop.  There's already been so many great tips shared and I'm honored to be able to add one of my own!

Today I'll be showing my quick curved seams tutorial.

Recently I've been working on a few quilts that have curved piecing.  Curved piecing is fairly new to me - I've avoided any curved piecing for years simply because I'd heard that it was a pain.  But one of my goals for this year was to really challenge myself in the quilt-making department so I chose a pattern and dove right in.

And guess what?  The curved piecing is no big deal.  Seriously.  (Or as my nephew says, "silliously.")  Let me show you how I do it.

Now a couple of notes:

First of all, I use a 1/4" presser foot with a metal guide on the right hand side.  I'm sure you can do this technique without that guide, but it sure helps.

Secondly, you're going to want a pair of those handy-dandy tweezers.  My machine came with a pair that work fine, but I LOVE these bent tip tweezers that I found on Amazon recently.  You can get a pack of 4 for about $5!

Want to see more great tips and tricks?  Amy has curated a fantastic board on Pinterest that's chock-full of helpful tips for any quilter.  And you can see the other stops on the blog hop here, with more great ideas. 

And if you haven't had a peek at Amy's new book, you can see some of her gorgeous quilts here.  Fabulously Fast Quilts is a great book for any quilter - from beginner to not-so-beginner like me :)  Not only does it have 12 great quilt patterns, but it has plenty of quick quilting tips and tricks as well.  Oh and see that quilt - bottom row, center?  It's called "Modern Buzz Saw" and it's now on my to-do list!

Thanks for stopping by!

--Andy

American Made Brand Cotton Solids

 So I’m a gardener.  Did I ever mention that?  I love growing things.  Usually by about February I have my garden for that year all planned out.  I’d have a sketch of what will be planted where, I’d have my seeds selected and figured out the dates when each thing should be planted.  I love every step of that process.

Not so much this year.  It’s already nearing the end of May and I have just recently started thinking about what I’m going to plant.  It’s just one of those years.  I did buy a tomato plant the other day, but I didn’t get it in the ground soon enough, nor did I bother to water it.  So I’m fairly sure that it’s dead now.  I have planted some onions and some carrots so far and they’re doing well.  I really do love to grow things.

About a month or so ago I heard about this new American Made Brand of cotton solids from Clothworks.  I was very interested.  As you can see here on their website, this is All-American fabric – not just made here, but grown here as well.  That completely appeals to me. 

I’ve had a fat quarter stack of American Made Brand solids waiting for me in my sewing room for a couple of weeks.  It was just so pretty- I had to let it sit there as I thought about what the perfect project would be.  I love those vibrant colors! 

And now, I finally decided on how I’d like to use that fat quarter stack.  Yesterday I pulled out some low volume prints to go along with the solids:

And I finally cut into those fat quarters!

I’ve set aside some time on Wednesday to start piecing these into squares.  If you follow me on Instagram you might catch a sneak peek or two! 

To read more about American Made Brand fabrics go here, here or here.