Evening Blooms quilt and tutorial

Happy Friday everyone!  Today I have a quilt tutorial to share with you!

I made this quilt using just the black and white prints from Carina Gardner's Evening Blooms fabric line.  I love the bold florals in Evening Blooms and when mixed with the geometric prints it’s the perfect combination.  It was so fun to design a quilt that focuses mainly on the value of a fabric (lightness / darkness).  This pattern works well with prints that have a high contrast to one another, and there’s just something so classic about black and white!

This quilt is made entirely from half square triangles (HSTs) but don't let that deter you!  I have a fast and easy way to make a ton of HSTs in no time at all.    If you'd prefer a handy printable version of this tutorial you can find it here (for personal use only please!)   Let's get started!


Here's what you'll need for this quilt:
1/4 yard each of 7 various dark prints (you can use 5, but 7 gives you more variety)
1/4 yard each of 5 various light prints (you can use 3, but 5 gives you more variety)
2 yards of white / background fabric
1/2 yard binding
3-1/2 yards backing fabric

From each of the prints (7 dark and 5 light) cut 3 squares that measure 8".  You'll need 36 total.

From the white / background fabric cut 8 strips that are 8" x width of fabric. Subcut those strips into 36 (8") squares

To create your half square triangles, pair up each print square with one white square.  Match edges, keeping right sides together.

Sew around all four outer edges using a consistent 1/4" seam.

Using your rotary cutter, cut diagonally through each block twice as shown in the photo.

 

Being careful not to stretch it, press each HST.  I prefer to press the seam allowance toward the print.  Trim the little tails off of each HST.

If you are consistent with your seam allowances and careful to not stretch the HSTs you should not need to square them up.  If you find your HSTs to be varying in size, then square them each up to the same size (either 5.25" or 5" each).

Create all of your HSTs and then move on to the block layout.

Layout all of the HSTs you need for one block.  Notice in the quilt layout diagram at the end of the tutorial that not all blocks are the same.  The dark and light prints are alternated for the main part of each block and the corner HSTs are different depending on where in the quilt the block will be located.

Sew HSTs together into rows using a 1/4" seam.  Then sew rows together, matching seams.  Press your block.

Your block is done!   Now use the layout diagram to make the next 8 blocks.


In the layout diagram I used just two prints - one dark and one light so you can clearly see the placement of each HST.   This quilt will measure about 57" x 57".

You can find a handy printable version of the tutorial here.  And if you make an Evening Blooms quilt I'd love to see it!  Tag me on Instagram (@abrightcorner) and use  #eveningbloomsquilt and #abrightcorner

Want to see more tutorials from A Bright Corner?  Check these out!  Click on the photo to view tutorial.

Stashing Low Volume Fabrics

 I like to keep a nice variety of low volume fabrics in my stash.  I don’t keep a large stash of them – but just a small cut of many different prints. 

Most of them are 1/4 yard or less, many of them are fat quarters. 

How do I find them?  Oh, here and there.  No really! 

I’ve only purchased one low volume bundle (which IS a great way to gather low vol fabrics!) and the rest were bought a piece at a time as I find them in shops.  Usually as I’m looking for fabric for other projects I’ll take a moment to look through the sale stacks or the bin of fat quarters. 

Buying a low volume stack or bundle is a great way to beef up your LV stash, or start one for that matter.  Amanda from Westwood Acres usually has a few low volume bundles in her shop.  You can also find some here, here and here, and here.

Swapping is also a great way to get a nice variety of fabrics.  I know there have been some low vol swaps in the past – does anyone know of a low volume swap currently taking sign ups?  Maybe we should start one of our own, eh?

As far as storing my LV stash goes, I’ve tried two ways.  When I first started really focusing on collecting low volume fabrics I would just add each to the color stack I felt it belonged with – although most of them fell in with the grays and blacks. 

The downside to that is that when I needed to do an entire project that used many low volume prints I had to go through each stack to pull out what I needed.  Ugh!  So after that I just started a new stack on the end of my shelf that was dedicated to just low volume.  That storage method works much better for me. 

So what exactly ARE low volume fabrics and how are they used?  This blog article by Sherri McConnell is a great place to start.

How about some low volume inspiration?  There are so many fantastic quilts and pillows out there that effectively use low vol fabrics.  Here are just some of my favorites!

1. Modern Maples Quilt Top Complete!, 2. My low volume version of V&Co's Reverse Hopscotch Quilt, 3. Low Volume Pixelated Heart Baby Quilt, 4. Low volume quilt, 5. Low volume plus quilt, 6. Finished HST Low Volume Quilt (125), 7. FLiQS Quilt Received from Donna, 8. plain spoken low volume quilt, 9. Low Volume Single Girl Quilt, 10. Banderitas, 11. Outer Border Quilting - Marcelle Medallion, 12. Springtime Riot {do. Good Stitches August Quilt}, 13. Friends with Additions Starter Block, 14. mod pop, 15. low volume quilt- full front, 16. Goose Creek for do. Good Stitches

Scrappy Quilted Tote Bag

I had a bit of a change of pace this week – No quilts, but instead I worked on a scrappy quilted tote bag for a yet-to-be-revealed friend of mine.  A group of us from the Imagine circle of Do. Good Stitches bee decided to do a swap this month and this is the item I’ll be sending my partner.  I can’t reveal who it is yet, but I still wanted to show what I’ve been working on.

I used a fantastic tutorial that Amanda (a.k.a Jedi Craft Girl) wrote on her blog.  I used her same measurements, but instead of using a solid piece of fabric for the top half of the bag I pieced that section. 

I did sketch everything out before I began, and here’s what I came up with:

front panel

back panel

First of all, I cut my low volume squares – everything is 2.5”.  You’ll need a total of 57 squares but don’t sweat – it won’t take you long to cut them. 

Then I cut the 2.5” squares of my bright fabrics. 

I put both panel arrangements up on my design wall just to make sure I liked the look.  Then I sewed them into rows.  Odd numbered rows get pressed to the left and even numbered rows get pressed to the right.  This helps the seams nestle together nicely when you’re sewing the rows together, which is the next step!  

Once the front and back panel are pieced then proceed with the rest of the tutorial as written. 

The bag is a medium to large size – it measures 7” deep, 14” high, and 13” wide.  It has one nice long pocket inside, which I divided into sections for pens, cell phones and sunglasses.  I think if I make this again I’ll add another pocket on the other side as well.

I’ve really only made a handful of bags and totes in the past several years and every time I make one I wonder why I don’t make more!  I wish I could just copy/paste this one so I’d have my own but I have a couple of deadlines calling my name this weekend. 

To go along with the bag I’m adding a small packet of fabric and (of course) chocolate.  Everything will be in the mail tomorrow!

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday

Sewing Just Because + Fabric Stack Friday

There hasn’t been much sewing around here for the past few days.  My sister is visiting from Oregon and we’ve been helping another sis get ready for a few Holiday Boutiques / Craft Fairs / Whatever-it-is-they-are-called-where-you-live (what ARE they called where you live??)

I will show you what I was working on earlier this week though -

First of all I cut into this fat eighth bundle of Wrens & Friends that I got last spring from quilt market (this is where Fabric Stack Friday comes in!)

I’ve been flipping through this delightful book, trying to decide what to make first:

I settled on one of the table runners – mostly because I need a nice fall-ish one for my table.  In a short time I had my fabrics for the blocks all cut and half square triangles made.

By that evening the three star blocks were finished

And now I’m just deciding on what to use for the border and binding.  I’m not convinced my fat eighth bundle has what I need for the border so a trip to my local shop is most likely inevitable. 

I’m hoping to find maybe a light green for the border and a brown for the binding?  What would you choose?

Have a delightful Friday!

A Little Afternoon Sewing

Remember Saturday?  Yeah, me too.  I have fond memories of Saturday.  Sigh.  It was a gorgeous 70-ish degrees outside, clear blue sky, the sounds of children playing outside…

Yesterday? – snow.  Today? It’s cold.  No children playing outside.

So this afternoon I pulled out some warm and bright scraps to work with.  It helped to cheer me up just a bit.

These two blocks were made using this Pineapple Blossom block tutorial. 

The blocks are for our Imagine at Do. Good Stitches bee and we were asked to make the larger size block.  They were a lot easier than I expected them to be.  And this is a perfect tutorial if you have a lot little bits leftover from jelly rolls.  Which I do. 

This next block was also for our Imagine group.  Heidi created this Starstrip Block tutorial so it will use up extra jelly roll strips - or you could just cut width-of-fabric strips from your stash.  I had to do a bit of both to get a nice group of reds for this block. 

And now just to prove to you that I am willing to accept that it is Fall and the weather will no longer be “nice”, I have one block made from Fall colors:

This is one of three star blocks that will soon become a new table runner. 

Have a great (and warm) afternoon!

Quartet – a new pattern

Happy Monday everyone!  I’m excited to be sharing a new pattern with you today called Quartet.

 

Quartet came about through a misperception.  (Is that a word?)

One afternoon I was quickly scrolling through my blog reader and caught a brief flash of a quilt as it scrolled by.  At that moment I thought, “cool quilt!” but when I went back to look at it, it wasn’t at all what I thought.  Before the original image left my brain (which happens kinda quickly sometimes) I scratched out a quick diagram of what I had thought I saw. 

I later did all the math and realized this would a perfect quilt for using jelly roll strips (2.5" precut strips)

The pattern includes instructions for four quilt sizes:  baby, throw, twin, and queen. 

The pattern can be purchased here in my shop as either a paper or PDF version, or here on Etsy (PDF only available on Etsy).  

The quilt shown in the photos above was made with a Scrumptious jelly roll (by Bonnie & Camille for Moda Fabrics) and the background fabric is Kona Snow.

Looking for more Jelly Roll friendly patterns?  You might also like these-
(click photo for more information)