Five Friday Favorites: Sources for Quilt Block Patterns

A few weeks ago I shared my favorite free quilt block tutorials.  And this week I'm sharing another great resource - my favorite places to find new block patterns and tutorials!

If you're doing a swap, belong to a bee, or need to contribute a block to a charity quilt, having a go-to list of sources is really helpful!  These are my top 5 resources when I'm searching for new blocks, or old favorite blocks!


#1:  Quilter's Cache

This site has been around for a long time and is a fantastic resource for finding quilt block ideas.  Years ago when I was involved in several online quilting bees, most of us would use Quilter's Cache as our resource for coming up with new ideas for the group.

The blocks are organized both alphabetically and also by size.  so the tricky thing is that if you're not sure what the name of a block is, then you could spend some time searching for just what you want.  But that's not always a bad thing, right?  As I'm searching for a certain block I inevitably find a few others to add to my 'must make' list!





#2:  Fave Quilts

I like to peruse Fave Quilts both when I'm looking for quilt block tutorials AND when I'm looking for full quilt tutorials.  This is a great site to bookmark.  I love that there are actual photos of most blocks (not just diagrams) and the link on each block takes you to the blog where the tutorial can be found.  I've discovered some fantastic new-to-me blogs this way too!




#3:  McCall's Quilting

I recently discovered this site and quickly added a few of these blocks to my wish list.  For all of the blocks there's a way to download and print the instructions, or you can just view it on the site.  They have great diagrams to step you through making each block.  And some of the quilt blocks have links to the full quilt pattern!



#4:  Generations Free Quilt Block Patterns Library

Yet another great resource!  All of the blocks in this collection are organized alphabetically and from I can tell from the ones I've done, they include the math for other block size variations.  So helpful!  

#5:  Pinterest

I know.  I should have had Pinterest listed as #1, right?  It really is where I turn first when I'm searching for a block pattern or tutorial.  I have one Pinterest board dedicated just to quilt blocks that I like, and want to make some day.  The one down side to Pinterest is that occasionally I find a great block, click on the link and there's no link to a pattern or tutorial-- or even a name for the block.  It's just a photo.  That can be frustrating and then I have to spend more time hunting down the information.  It's still a good source of inspiration (and eye candy!)  

Do you have other sources for quilt block patterns?  I'd love to hear them!  Where do you go when you're needing a new quilt block idea?   

Five Friday Favorites: Free Quilt Block Patterns

I'm always on the look out for fun new quilt blocks to try and there are so many great (and free!) tutorials out there.  Today I thought I'd share my current favorite quilt block tutorials and maybe they'll become your favorites too.

#1:  Churn Dasher

This block has always been one of my favorites.  You can find the tutorial for this block here on the Generations Quilt Patterns website.  She even includes instructions for different size blocks.

At the end of the tutorial she shows all of the variations on this one block.  It's fun to see how different one quilt block can look just from changing the fabric placement!

See the E-Z Quilt variation in the photo above?  It's similar to my scrappy New England quilt block tutorial.  I also love the 'Domino' version of the block.  I can imagine that would make a great secondary design when used in a a whole quilt!

#2:  Pretty Posy 

Pretty Posy quilt block tutorial from Sew Fresh Quilts blog

This sweet quilt block is from the Sew Fresh Quilts blog.  It's so cute done all in solids!  One flower finishes at 9", so a mini quilt with four flowers (like the one in the photo) measures about 18" square.  I have a spot on my wall that I'd love to fill with a mini quilt like this!  At the bottom of the tutorial, she shows what the full quilt would look like both with and without sashing.  Love them both!

#3:  Ribbon Star Block Tutorial

Ribbon Star Block tutorial from Freshly Pieced blog

The Ribbon Star block tutorial is from Lee at Freshly Pieced.  This one is on my list for two reasons.  First, I love a good star quilt block.  You just can't go wrong with a sawtooth star!   Secondly, I love the folded ribbon look in this block.  You could really have some fun playing with color / fabric placement on this one!  If you click on the link and scroll to the bottom of the tutorial you can see other color variations of this same block.  

#4:  Flying Kite quilt block

I've seen this one done before as a foundation or paper pieced block, but I love that you don't have to do either in this tutorial!  The block pattern is available as a free downloadable and printable page from the Fat Quarter Shop.  It was a part of their Wishes Quilt Along in 2014.  

#5: Disappearing Pinwheel block

tutorial & photo from the Sewn Up blog

So this is really cool.  Really.  One block, with 11 different variations.  It's from the Sewn Up blog - you really just have to go and watch the video.  It's about a minute and a half long.  You have a minute and a half, right?  This is just so clever.  Basically you make a pinwheel block then cut it up and re-arrange the pieces.  Here is the link to the video and instructions to make the first variation of the block.  What a fun sampler quilt these would all make!  Or, you could do a swap with friends and have them each make a different variation and then exchange blocks.  

Thanks for joining in with me as I share my current favorite quilt block tutorials.  Want to see more?  Check out the Fave Quilts site.  They're a great place to find full quilt tutorials, but did you know they have a whole section dedicated to just quilt blocks?  Currently they're up to about 27 pages of quilt block tutorials.  Go check it out here, and have fun perusing!

Five Friday Favorites: Sources of Inspiration!

Today we're talking about color!  I think many quilters are intimidated with the thought of pulling together fabrics for a quilt - particularly when those fabrics aren't all from one line.  So today I'm sharing with you five sources of inspiration to help you put colors and fabrics together for your next quilt project.

#1:  A Main Print

I'm putting this one in the #1 slot because it is the quickest and easiest way to find coordinating colors.  And it's my favorite method!  Just find a multi-colored print that you love and look at the colors contained in it. The print above is from the Les Fleurs line from Cotton + Steel.  Take a close look.  You might be surprised at just how many colors are in one print!  Usually the colors in the print are also found on the selvages - think of it as a super handy cheat sheet.

Once I identify my favorite colors in a print, I choose some coordinating prints from there (dots, stripes, small florals, etc.)  Just as an example, I created the dots above to show you all the colors found in the print.  Below you can see just two color combinations you could pull from this one inspiration print!  No one says you have to use ALL of the colors - just choose your favorites.

color inspiration option 1

color inspiration option 2

You can see from the examples how the "feeling" of the quilt would change depending on the combination of colors you choose.  

#2:  Design Seeds

This site is full of gorgeous color palettes.  I could spend hours here just gawking at all of the pretty color combos.  For quick reference, I keep a pinterest board full of my favorite combos from Design Seeds (and other sites) so when I'm needing fast inspiration I head there first.  

#3:  Pinterest

photo credit:  thezhush.blogspot.com

Speaking of Pinterest....it sure is helpful for all sorts of things, isn't it?  Like I said above, I have a whole board of just color inspiration, but ....just by looking at some of your other favorite pins you can gather a color palette to use!  This photo is from a board I created when I was re-doing my son's room.  I pinned it because I liked the blinds used in the room, but later I realized I also really liked the colors in the photo!  So go and take a look at some of your other photos on pinterest and see what inspires you!  (photo source link here)

#4:  Your own photos

Life is beautiful.  Nature is beautiful.  We all take thousands of photos of our life - but have you ever thought to use those photos to help you choose the colors of your next quilt?  Take a look at your favorite photos in your phone.  Why are they your favorite?  Can you pull out color inspiration from them?  Give it a try!  

#5:  Palette Builder from play crafts

This one is fun (and addictive)!  You can use this site to upload a photo and it will help extract colors from the photo.  The best part?  It gives you the Moda Bella solids color name that corresponds to the color.

I uploaded my photo (takes a just a second or two), and the site automatically chooses 6 points in the photo to color match.  See the white dots on the photo?  You can drag those around the photo to change the colors.  Then see on the right hand side?  It lists the names of the coordinating Moda Bella solids.  You can also just take this to your local quilt shop and use the color swatches to choose some blender prints to bring into the quilt.  

I did another example below.  This photo was from a trip we took to Oahu.  What a great source of inspiration, and a great way to help preserve memories!

You can find the Palette Builder here, and also here on the Moda / United Notions website.  Give it a try!

Where do YOU find your color inspiration?  I'm always looking for new ones, so please share!  

Five Friday Favorites: Favorite Fall Project Ideas

Now that Labor Day is behind us, it's time to get to work on those fall projects!  I had my first pumpkin cupcake the other day, and today I used my favorite apple scented lotion.  I know it's not officially fall yet, but for us crafters we have to work a few weeks ahead of the calendar right?  Especially if we want to get our projects done in time to use them!  

So today I'm sharing five of my current favorite fall-ish projects!

#1:  Autumn Stars Quilt Tutorial

The free tutorial is from Missouri Star Quilt Co and obviously you don't HAVE to make it in autumn colors, but isn't it pretty?  I'd love to make a fall quilt this year!  

#2:  Fabric Pumpkins

I know there are a TON of these on Pinterest, but these happen to really be my favorite.  I think they're just so cute and chubby.  You can find the tutorial here on the Creation Corner blog.

#3:  Scrappy Pumpkin Table Runner

This is a great way to use up those fall-colored scraps, and it's a fast little project.  You could even just put one pumkin on a square background and use it for a mug rug.  You know, to put underneath that pumpkin spice latte you've been craving.  Link to tutorial can be found here!

#4:  Scrap Buster Fall Pillow

Another great use for your favorite fall-colored scraps.  This is so cute with the raw edge applique!  The tutorial is from Allison Harris and can be found on her blog, Cluck Cluck Sew.

#5:  Woodland Quilt

This is a free printable pattern (found here) for a quilt that measures 43" x 56" - great throw size.  Back it in some flannel or minky and you've got a quilt you can use all the way through November as you sit on the couch at night watching Netflix.  Find / print the free pattern here.  

Have a great weekend, and happy sewing!

Five Friday Favorites: Favorite Free Motion Quilting Designs

Hi everyone!  I'm back with another Five Friday Favorites post.  This time I'm sharing my favorite free motion quilting (FMQ) designs.  These are the ones that are my go-to designs.  My favorites and the ones I use most often.  Any of these could be done on either a long arm OR a domestic machine.  I promise!  I know, because I've done them.  

First, a little about me.  I started doing FMQ on a small Brother machine, bought from my local Costco.  Man that little machine was a workhorse.  It did everything I asked it to - I even quilted a queen sized quilt on that thing!  Then I graduated to my Juki TL-2010Q - which has a much larger throat space and faster speeds.  Then a few years after that I bought a used HandiQuilter long arm.  

I've tried all of these designs on several different machines, so I know that they work.  If you can drop the feed dogs on your machine, then you can try FMQ too!  Now, by no means do I profess to be an expert.  You'll see in my photos that my quilting is far from perfect.  I've always enjoyed quilting my own quilts, and these are just my most-used and most-loved designs!  

#1:  Mod Dotz (or Curly Cues)

This design is available as a pantograph from Urban Elementz but it's a fun one to do freehand!  I love how this one flows as I quilt it.  As I go, I try to keep each loop about the same size.  As you can see, sometimes I'm better at it and sometimes I'm not :)  But it's okay!  That's what I love about the non-computerized quilting - it has personality!  You can see more of the quilting on this quilt here on this blog post.

#2:  Geometric Lines

  

This is a good one to have in your quilting repertoire.  You can make it as dense or as open as you want.  Work on "drawing" squares and rectangles - keeping your lines straight as you can, and angles at 90 degrees.  I used this design most recently on my Mazed Quilt - it goes really well with the geometric aspect of the quilt!  There's an awesome video here, where Angela Walters shows you how to do this design, as well as some other geometric ones.  

#3:  Basic Meandering

  

I hear some quilters refer to this as stippling, but to me this is more of a meandering design.  If this were really dense then I would call it stippling.  Like - REALLY dense.  But I'm not the quilt police.  So you can call it whatever you want.  This still is one of my go-to quilting designs mostly for it's speed.  And I don't have to think much about it as I go.  When I started doing this one, I would try to make the shape of a puzzle piece - some convex curves and some concave.  Keep that puzzle piece shape in your mind as you practice.  You can see more of the quilt and the meandering quilting here on this blog post.

#4:  Medium Loops

Recently this has been my favorite.  I think I've used this one 6 or 7 times already this year.  It's feminine but not frilly or complicated.  This design is just some medium (nickel-sized) loops mixed in with some meandering.  Add in as many or as few loops as you want, just try to keep the loops all the same size.  I like to imagine I'm tracing around the edge of a nickel or a quarter as I go.  You can see more medium loop quilting here on this Little Miss Sunshine Quilt and here on my Little Ruby Quilt.  

#5:  Swirls and Shells

This one is the most complicated design that I do free-hand.  I call it Swirls and Shells, although it probably has a whole bunch of other names.   This one takes me the longest to do, but I love it the most.  If you're new to this one, I would recommend practicing just doing swirls, swirls and more swirls.   Then try adding in a shell or two here and there.  

You can see some great videos that are similar designs here, here and here.  

And this video is great because she's using a domestic machine to make her swirls.  

You can see more quilts that use this design here and here.  

So there you go - my five favorite FMQ designs!  If you're trying a design for the first time, my advice would be to practice, practice, practice!  Get some paper and a pencil and try drawing it first.  Get the feel of how you will move through the space.  Then make some little sample quilt sandwiches (like 20" square or so)  and try the designs out on the machine.  For each design I'll go through 3 or 4 quilt sandwiches before I feel confident enough to move to the final quilt.  

Oh and before I sign off, I'd like to announce the winner of the Christmas Kitsch fat quarter bundle.  Congratulations to  Lorri!  And thank you to all who entered!

Five Friday Favorites: Favorite Mini Quilts

Happy Friday everyone!  For this week's installment of Five Friday Favorites, I'm sharing my current favorite Mini Quilt Patterns!

Mini Quilts are a fun way to add color to walls, they make great gifts, and they're (usually) quicker to finish than a regular sized quilt.  Here are my current top 5 favorite minis.

#1:  Arabesque

photo credit: Allison Jensen (Woodberry Way blog)

One thing I love about mini quilts is that it takes such a small amount of fabric.  It's  a great way to use up the last little scraps of your most favorite fabrics.  This mini uses only 8 charms (5" squares) and 1/3 yard of background fabric.  Arabesque was designed by Allison  Jensen a.k.a. Woodberry Way, and it's a free tutorial on Allison's blog.  And if you love this mini, then you'll probably also love the full size version of the quilt which is available as a free tutorial over on the Moda Bakeshop blog.  (link here)

#2:  Dresden Mini

photo credit:  Fort Worth Fabric Studio blog

I've been wanting to try my hand at a dresden block or two for awhile now.  But honestly I don't see myself making a whole quilt of them.  A mini is a great way to try a new technique, or to try a more challenging block without committing to a larger project.  I've made a few minis this way - just make one quilt block and bind it - voila!  You have a mini quilt!  

This Dresden Mini is a free downloadable PDF from the Fort Worth Fabric Studio blog.  I think it's so sweet made in the 1930's prints

#3:  Mini Scrap Quilt

photo credit:  Amy Smart, tutorial found on Flamingo Toes blog

Like I said above, a mini quilt is a great way to try out a new-to-you technique.  This mini, designed by Amy Smart uses foundation paper piecing to create each block.  I love this mini because it's a fun way to use up those "strings" that are in your scrap bin - the strips of fabric that you love but are too thin to do much with.  I know we all have them!  I actually took a class from Amy where she taught this technique.  This scrappy selvages pillow is what I made from the class!  

You can find the free tutorial for this mini quilt here on the Flamingo Toes blog.

#4:  Mini Patchwork Pineapple

photo credit:  Sassafras Lane Designs

I've had a good friend give me a couple of pineapple mini quilts and I just love them - they're so stinkin' cute!  This mini is designed by Sassafras Lane Designs and is a free tutorial available on their blog.  And don't feel limited to just using your yellow scraps!  I've seen some really cute pink, aqua and orange pineapples too.  

#5:  Mini Spools

photo credit:  Camille Roskelley (Thimbleblossoms pattern shop)

I mean, come on.  How cute is this?  It's just MEANT to hang on a sewing room wall.  Mini Spools is just one of the many adorable mini quilts designed by Camille Roskelley (Thimbleblossoms).  You can see the others here in her pattern shop, and see pics of her wall of mini quilts here in this blog post.  Out of all of her mini quilts, the Mini Spools quilt is my favorite.  By FAR! 

Want to see some of my other favorites (many are on my want-to-make list!)  Check out my mini quilt board on Pinterest.  And for more mini quilt inspiration, check out #miniquilt on Instagram.  As always, thanks for following along and I hope you have a great weekend!  

Five Friday Favorites: Patriotic Quilts

It's that time of year!  I'm getting the itch to pull out my red, white and blue scraps and create something fun!  These are my current five favorite quilt ideas with a patriotic feel to them.  

#1:  Scrap Jar Stars quilt

Photo credit:  www.alittlebitbiased.blogspot.com

This pattern is designed by Amber Johnson (Gigi's Thimble) and looks great with any colors but I particularly love this red/white/blue version Amber made back in 2012.  You can find the tutorial for these cute Scrap Jar Stars here on Amber's blog.  

#2:  Patriotic Scrappy Trip Quilt

photo credit www.sarcasticquilter.blogspot.com

  

I've been wanting to make a Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt for a couple of years now, but can never decide on what colors I want to use.  I've seen a couple versions like this one, with red, navy, aqua and white and I love them all.  (Check out this one!)  This one in the photo above was made by the Sarcastic Quilter as a Quilts of Valor quilt.  You can see more here on her blog.  I'm not sure I'll get around to making this quilt anytime soon, but at least now I have a color scheme I want to use!  

#3:  Red & White Herringbone Quilt

photo credit: www.craftyblossom.blogspot.com.au

I love the idea of taking a "regular" quilt and creating it in patriotic colors.  The simple red and white solids on the front of this quilt are made even more spectacular with the perfect backing she chose.  This lovely quilt is made by Erica (a.k.a. Crafty Blossom) and you can read more about it here on her blog.  (Another great idea is to make a regular ol' churn dash quilt, but use red/white/blue prints like this quilt here.)

#4:  Patriotic Parade table runner

Photo credit:  www.abrightcorner.com

No time to make a whole quilt, but you want to add some red, white and blue decor to your home?  This Patriotic Parade table runner would be quick to whip up!  You can find the PDF patterns for this table runner here for $5)

#5:  Stars & Stripes Quilt

photo credit:  www. thimbleblossoms.bigcartel.com

Last but not least, this Stars and Stripes quilt pattern recently released by Camille Roskelley (a.k.a. Thimbleblossoms) is super cute and I hear it sews up fast.  I just bought the pattern and I'm hoping to get my scrappy version done in the next couple of weeks!  (You can see more versions of the Stars and Stripes quilt on Instagram #starsandstripesquilt, and purchase the pattern here.)

Thanks for following along on this week's Five Friday Favorites.  Have a great weekend!