Charming Baby Sew Along Week 4

Welcome to week 4 of the Charming Baby Sew Along!

If you're new to this sew along, we're using block patterns from the book, Charming Baby Quilts* (by Melissa Corry) and at the end of the six weeks we'll have a cute sampler quilt all pieced!  You can find all of the information for the sew along here on the Fat Quarter Shop's blog

*This post contains affiliate links

This week's blocks are so darling!   You'll be making blocks from the Ring Around the Rosie quilt pattern:

...and two blocks from the Shine Bright quilt pattern:

Don't forget to print this week's pattern sheet from the Fat Quarter Shop's blog here.

I love these star blocks.  I tried to use some of the bolder prints in these blocks so the white star points would stand out.  I love how scrappy they look!

Here's a photo of the full Shine Bright quilt from the book, Charming Baby Quilts.  Isn't it so fresh and lovely?  The Shine Bright quilt uses 3 charm packs and finishes at 56" x 56".

This book has so many great baby quilts- it's a wonderful resource to keep on your shelf!  Grab a copy here from the Fat Quarter Shop.

I'll be back next week with our last set of blocks for the sew along.  In the mean time, you can see the past weeks' blocks here:

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3


And if you'd like to make a quilt like mine, here's what you'll need:

• 5 Gypsy Soul charm packs
• 5 3/4 yards Moda Bella 98 for the background
• Here's the print I'll use for my binding 
• And my backing will be this coordinating Grunge fabric (love the texture!)

Charming Baby Sew Along Week 3

It's week 3 of the Charming Baby Sew Along and guess what that means?  After these blocks we're halfway through the sew along!

Are you sewing along with us?  We're using the new book, Charming Baby Quilts* by Melissa Corry as our guide, and The Fat Quarter Shop is hosting the sew along.  Be sure to grab this week's printable pattern here - you'll need that along with a copy of the Charming Baby Quilts book.
*this post contains affiliate links


This weeks' blocks are from the Just Blooming quilt pattern:

And the On The Move quilt pattern:

I decided to have a little fun with color this week and select only pink prints for the Just Blooming blocks, and green and blue prints for the On The Move blocks.  All of my fabrics are from charm packs of Gypsy Soul (by Basic Grey for Moda Fabrics)


As a reminder, at the end of our 6 week sew along, we'll have a throw-size sampler quilt to enjoy!

I'm looking forward to being able to put all of my blocks together!



For all of the details about the sew along, check out the kick-off post here.

And if you'd like to make a quilt like mine, you'll need 

• 5 Gypsy Soul charm packs
• 5 3/4 yards Moda Bella 98 for the background
• Here's the print I'll use for my binding 
• And my backing will be this coordinating Grunge fabric (love the texture!)

You can share your blocks on Instagram with the hashtag: #charmingbabyquilts

Charming Baby Sew Along Week 2

It's time to show the blocks for week 2 of the Charming Baby Sew Along - and if you haven't yet joined in, it's not too late! 

We're sewing along with the Fat Quarter Shop* and Melissa Corry's new book, Charming Baby Quilts.  Each week we'll make a couple of blocks from two patterns from the book, and by the end of the six weeks we'll have a fun sampler quilt!

This week we're making blocks from the Dream Big pattern, and the Hugs and Kisses pattern.

*this post contains affiliate links

You can find the Charming Baby Quilts book here from the Fat Quarter Shop

And be sure to stop by the Fat Quarter Shop's blog to grab this week's pattern sheet!  You'll need the pattern sheet along with the book to have the full instructions for each week's blocks.

For all of the details about the sew along, check out the kick-off post here.

And if you'd like to make a quilt like mine, you'll need 

• 5 Gypsy Soul charm packs
• 5 3/4 yards Moda Bella 98 for the background
• Here's the print I'll use for my binding 
• And my backing will be this coordinating Grunge fabric (love the texture!)

You can share your blocks on Instagram with the hashtag: #charmingbabyquilts

Happy sewing!

Charming Baby Quilts Sew Along Week 1

It's week ONE of the Charming Baby Sew Along*!  I'm sewing along with Melissa Corry and The Fat Quarter Shop to celebrate the launch of Melissa's new book, Charming Baby Quilts  - and you're invited to sew along with us!

Each week for six weeks we'll be making a block or two from each quilt pattern in the book:

*this post contains affiliate links

And then we'll be sewing them together into a sampler quilt:

 For my quilt I'll be sewing with Gypsy Soul, a new line by Basic Grey (Moda Fabrics).

To get started you'll need the Charming Baby Quilts book, and this PDF printable from The Fat Quarter Shop that lists the fabric requirements.  You'll also need to download each week's pattern (week 1 is here).  

All of the info for the sew along is on the Fat Quarter Shop's blog here.  

This is the first week for the sew along and we'll be making a block from the 'A Star is Born' quilt, and the 'Color in the Lines' quilt.  Here are my blocks for this week:

Be sure to download this week's pattern sheet here! You'll still need the book for measurements and construction details, but each week's pattern sheet tells you how many of each size piece to cut.  

I'm loving the soft spring-like colors in the Gypsy Soul line - so perfect for this time of year!  

This is the block from the 'A Star is Born' quilt.  The fabric placement in this block is designed to be scrappy, but I decided to use just the coral prints for the block corners and the blues for the star points.  It adds a fun secondary design to the block!

And these are the blocks from the 'Color in the Lines' pattern.  Nice and quick and easy!

So grab your charm packs (or scraps!) and get sewing!  

I'll be back next week to share my next two blocks for the sew along.  And if you follow me on Instagram (@abrightcorner) be sure to enter the giveaway of two Gypsy Soul charm packs and a spool of Aurifil thread - courtesy of the Fat Quarter Shop (all details are in my Instagram post)

Here's who will be sewing along with us:

Amanda Castor, Material Girl Quilts

Andy Knowlton - Me!

Beverly McCullough, Flamingo Toes

Melissa Corry, Happy Quilting

Melanie Call, A Bit of Scrap Stuff

Pat Sloan, Pat Sloan

Grab a copy of Charming Baby Quilts book here

See all charm packs currently available at the Fat Quarter Shop here

Builder Quilt + Walk, Jog, Run Book Review

I admit....it's been a long time since I've done any free motion quilting!  For many years I did all of my quilting on my Juki sewing machine and then later on a non-computerized Handi Quilter longarm.  And I've missed FMQ!

I now own a computerized Handi Quilter and it's just too easy to load up a design and let the computer do the work while I shuffle around working on other things.  

I have really been wanting to try free-motion quilting again and see if I had any muscle memory left.  So when my friend Dara Tomasson asked if I'd be a part of the book tour for her new book Walk Jog Run: A Free-Motion Quilting Workout*, I knew this would be a great way to for me to brush up on my free-motion quilting skills.  

And guess what?  I was so rusty!  And nervous!  But after several practice sessions I quickly remembered how much fun FMQ really is.  

*this post contains affiliate links

Dara's book covers so much great information and it was a perfect refresher course for me - but it would also make a terrific reference book for those of you who are trying free-motion quilting for the first time.  

The first section of the book covers the basics: what tools you'll need, tips for choosing threads and batting,  and even trouble-shooting tension problems.  It's filled with a ton of great info.

The second section covers TEN different FMQ designs and includes plenty of tips for successfully creating each design on your quilt.  Dara covers:

• straight-line quilting
• directional e's and i's
• loops
• daisies
• paisleys
• stipple / meandering / puzzle
• circuit boards
• wishbones and fancy L's
• ribbon candy
• clamshells

And each design has a project to go along with it.  

The quilt I chose to make is called the Builder Quilt and the design that goes along with this pattern is  called wishbone.  

I thought it was clever that she designed a quilt with rows that were the perfect height for practicing this wishbone design.  It was nice to be able to follow the design of the quilt as I quilted the wishbones.  

I tried to make my wishbones just touch the seam allowance at the top and bottom, and then I spaced them out from side to side having one wishbone in each small block, and two wishbones in each large block.  You can see what I mean in the photo above.  

I also tried to make the little loops on the ends all the same size.  That was tougher than I thought it would be, but I definitely got better with practice!

The Builder quilt pattern was a fun one to piece.  Dara's instructions and diagrams were clear and easy to follow.  I added a few more rows and columns to my quilt to make it a large throw size since I knew my teenager would be using this one.

You can find Walk, Jog, Run: A Free-Motion Quilting Workout here on Amazon.  And learn more about Dara Tomasson here on her website.

Quilt details:
63" x 73"
Pattern: Builder Quilt from the book Walk, Jog, Run by Dara Tomasson
Fabric: Harvest Road by Lella Boutique for Moda Fabrics
Quilting: Wishbone quilting (from the book Walk, Jog, Run by Dara Tomasson)