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Friday, February 12, 2016

Five Friday Favorites: Online Fabric Shops


Favorite online fabric shops and quilting shops

Today I thought I'd share with you my favorite online fabric shops!  Normally I prefer to see the fabric in person, but when my local shops don't carry what I need, or when I need the convenience of online shopping (which is happening more and more lately!) then I turn to these five shops.  

As a note, I need to add that these are in no particular order, and I receive no compensation for mentioning them here.  They really are my go-to places for buying fabric online!

(Click on the photo to be taken to their site)


The Fat Quarter Shop has a large selection, and I love the extras they have - the sew alongs, free patterns, tutorials, kits, etc.  They also have a nice selection of notions.  I can usually find what I'm looking for here!






Westwood Acres is known for their fun bundles!  They also have some really cool clubs to join, like the newest one - The Mini Quilt Club!  Join the club and each month you'll receive everything you'll need to make a mini quilt.  Such a fun idea.  





Fort Worth Fabric Studio has a fun way to browse on their site - a color picker.  You can't see it in my screen shot above, but when you go to their site you will see it in the lower left corner.  Simply click on the color you are looking for and a list will be generated.  So quick and super handy!  One of my favorite ways to browse for fabric online.  




 


I love checking out what Southern Fabric's Daily Deal is.  They also have a fun club called the Sew-lebrity Club.  It's a monthly fat quarter club at a great price.  Read more about and see the schedule here.




Hawthorne Threads has been a favorite of mine for years.  I find their site really easy to navigate, and I appreciate all of the various ways to search for fabrics (by line, by designer, by manufacturer, by color, etc.)  But my favorite thing is that when you are looking at a specific print, the site also shows you the same print in alternate colorways, and below that the ability to search for coordinating prints by color.  Genius! I can spend a long time just perusing fabrics on this site!  




I recommend checking out each site's blogs, and subscribing to each of the shop's newsletters.  I love that each week I get an email that shows the sales and new fabrics.  And a lot of times there's an exclusive coupon code available for newsletter subscribers.  

I'd love to hear your favorite online shops.  Have a favorite?  How about a favorite Etsy seller?  



Wednesday, February 10, 2016

A New EPP Project

English Paper Piecing

I was digging through some of my scrap bins the other day and decided to liberate some of them.  I realized that I had some really good red scraps and that they needed to be used and not just stored away.

So I started a new English Paper Piecing (EPP) project to work on while I sit at karate classes, wait in Dr offices, and watch tv in the evenings. 

English Paper Piecing 

My last project was these pink hexdens.  The hexdens have been stitched to a background square and the blocks are just needing to be sewn together into a quilt top.  For this next project I chose to make pentarings.  It's a ring shape made up of 10 pentagons.

These are the pentagon pieces I chose to use (I purchased them here).  


English Paper Piecing

What do you think?  Cute, huh?  I love the little pair of scissors.    


English Paper Piecing

I made a tester one, and decided that I love it.  I've now ordered more papers and cut my favorite red scraps into 2.75" squares - ready for basting!  




Monday, February 8, 2016

Bloom Sew Along

Have you seen the new sew along happening on the Riley Blake blog?  Lori Holt has designed a set of fun applique shapes and has a cute new pattern to go along with it.  (You can find the free pattern here)

I decided to join in on the fun, and try my hand at block #4:


Bloom Sew Along block 4

 In her videos and tutorials, Lori walks you through how to make each applique piece, how to place them on the block, and gives you options for how to baste and stitch them.  And let me tell you - the video tutorials are SO helpful!  I learned some great tips from watching.  On my block, I chose to glue baste, and then machine stitch the pieces down.  

About 95% of the time in my sewing, I am using a straight stitch.  So it was fun for me to play with the blanket and zigzag stitches on my machine for a change. 

Bloom Sew Along block 4

I think this sweet little block (12") is going to live here on my shelf!  All of the fabrics I used in my block are from Lori Holt's Calico Days fabric line.   I just love the cheery red and yellow together!

Bloom Sew Along block 4



Friday, February 5, 2016

Five Friday Favorites: Jelly Roll Quilt Tutorials


Welcome to another installment of my 5 Friday Favorites!  Today I'm sharing my favorite Jelly Roll Quilt Tutorials.



I always have a jelly roll or two (or seven) in my stash and I'm constantly on the look out for great ways to use them!  The five tutorials I'm sharing today are my favorites - and ones I'm hoping to use in the next year to be able to use some of those favorite jelly rolls that are just sitting there on my shelves.

Here they are (in no particular order!)

#1:  Sunny Skies


The Sunny Skies tutorial is actually a video tutorial from Missouri Star Quilt Co.  But it was this version (shown above) from Megan Pitz (Canoe Ridge Creations) that caught my eye!  You can watch the video tutorial here and read the blog post about it here.  I'm hoping to make a Christmas version of this sometime soon.


#2:  Positively Perfect


The Positively Perfect quilt is one of my all time favorites from the Moda Bake Shop.  I'm still (and have been for awhile) in love with plus blocks.  April Rosenthal's tutorial makes a great size quilt - 54" x 66".  How sweet would this be in all pinks?  


#3:  Ins and Outs


I love that this quilt was made with a jelly roll and then some low volume scraps.  I definitely have enough low vol scraps to make one of these.  The quilt is designed by Jo Kramer (blogs at Jo's Country Junction)  This is technically not a tutorial, but they do have a free, downloadable / printable pattern that's as easy to follow as a tutorial.   You can read about the quilt here, along with the link to the free pattern. 


#4:  Cross Terrian


This is another Moda Bake Shop tutorial, this time by Lee Heinrich (Freshly Pieced).  It's a clever way to use a Jelly Roll - and I mean every. last. bit.  See that cute little pieced border?  Those are the leftover bits from the Jelly Roll strips.  I love how scrappy this quilt looks too.


#5:  To The Point


I love when Jelly Roll quilts don't look like they're made with a Jelly Roll.  This To The Point tutorial by Amy Gibson (Stitchery Dickory Dock Blog) shows you how to make the blocks, and then gives you SIX other layout options.  So awesome.


Looking for more ideas?  I have a Pinterest board dedicated just to Jelly Roll quilts!  Have a great weekend!




Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Mazed Quilt

This is a fun, scrappy quilt made with the Mazed quilt pattern

I came across this pattern last year and immediately knew I would love it.  It's called Mazed, designed by Kristy Daum.  The idea behind it is so clever!  

You can use scraps or jelly roll strips (along with your favorite background) to make the blocks.  Then you arrange and rotate them however you want to create this fun maze look.  There's no WRONG way to lay it out, and you can't mess it up.

This is a fun, scrappy quilt made with the Mazed quilt pattern

I started this quilt at a retreat and actually messed up a few of the blocks but you'd never know it.  This pattern is SO forgiving!  And I love that each time you make the quilt it's a little different depending on how you rotate the blocks.  It was really fun to lay it out and watch how it changed every time I rotated a block.


This is a fun, scrappy quilt made with the Mazed quilt pattern

The finished quilt is 48" x 60" and I put a warm flannel backing on it - perfect for tossing over my lap when I'm reading.