The 2013 New Blogger Blog Hop

One of the highlights of my first year of blogging was hosting the 2012 New Blogger Blog Hop. I met so many wonderful blogging friends through this hop and I learned so much. And I'm so excited to announce the 2013 New Blogger Blog Hop.

Based on last year's hop, I've made some changes for 2013 - a few more rules/guidelines that I hope will make it an enjoyable event for everyone participating.  Are you interested?  If you are a new blogger with an active blog primarily about modern quilting, email me (address in sidebar or click here) for more information.  Please note, this year's hop will be significantly shorter and as such, slots will unfortunately be limited.

The hop starts soon -- hope you'll join us!

Easy Scrappy Patchwork Baby Quilt Tutorial

This baby quilt was made from both my scraps and my stash.  I tried to use mostly low-volume prints and the background solid is Kona Snow (I've been using the leftover solid from this quilt but I actually think I prefer Kona Oyster now which I used in this one.)  Note:  Use a scant 1/4" seam throughout this quilt.

1.  Choose 16 different fabrics and cut strips measuring 3" x 18".

2.   Sew together in groups of 4.

3.  Cut into 6 - 3" strips.  Keep the strips in individual piles.

4.  Take one strip from each pile and make 5 blocks (you'll have one strip leftover in each pile - set those aside for now.)  Trim to 10.5" square.

5.  Fussy cut 4 novelty prints.  You can use any size that makes sense for the print you are using but each fabric should be somewhere between 2.5" and 5" (square or rectangle.)

6.  Your goal is to end up with a 10.5" square block with the solid fabric framing the print.  Measure your print - for this example, let's say your print is 3" square and you want it off-center.  Take a strip of solid fabric that is also 3" wide and sew a 2.5" piece to the top of the print and a 5.5" piece to the bottom.  Since you are stitching together 3 pieces of fabric, you want it to measure 1" more than your finished size to account for the seam allowances where you stitch them together - basically you add 1/2" for every place where two fabrics are stitched together.

7.  Next, you want to calculate what you need to add on either side to end up with a 10.5" block.  Still using the 3" square print as an example, you would want to add a 10.5" x 5.25" piece on one side and a
10.5 x 2.5" piece to the other.  Hope this makes sense (and that my math is right!)  Trim block to 10.5" (your block might not need to be trimmed - mine usually do since I always use a bit more fabric to be sure that I don't end up with a too-small block.)

8.  Arrange your blocks in the order shown below.  Sew together in rows of 3 and then sew the 3 rows together.  Take the leftover strips from step #4.  Take one of the strips and unpick the seam so that you have only two squares remaining.  Cut a piece of solid fabric 3" x 5.5" and sew it to the two squares.  Choose two other strips and sew together one long line of squares and sew the strip to the top of the quilt as shown below.  Use the remaining strips for the quilt back or save for another project.

9.  Quilt it, bind it, and your done!

Linking to Sew Cute Tuesday and Finish it Up Friday.

Let's Get Acquainted Link Up

My scrap drawer was getting a bit overcrowded so I figured it was time to start putting those scraps to use (I guess I could have just organized them but . . .)

The Let's Get Acquainted Link Up is being hosted this week by the lovely Tessa from The Sewing Chick.  Click here to hear about Tessa's quilting journey and see her most recent quilt (it is beautiful!) AND to show us what you have been working on lately.

Blogger's Quilt Festival 2

One of my favorite finishes of all time is this quilt I made for when my littlest (19 months) moves into a bed.  I had intended for it to be a long term project since I started it almost a year in advance but at some point I got very motivated and finished it.

Before I began blogging (in February of 2012), I didn't have much of a fabric stash.  But once I started reading and writing about quilting/sewing and sewing more as a result, I began to spend a bit too much time fabric shopping.  For some reason, I bought lots of novelty prints and those accounted for the majority of my stash.  I've since balanced it out and only buy novelty prints that I absolutely love but since I had a good number of fun fabrics, I figured I'd highlight them in the quilt.

I started by fussy cutting the prints and then bordered each of them with Kona snow (and sometimes Kona oyster or similar.)  And then I did another border using a colorful print followed by another border of snow (by this time, I bought a few yards of Kona snow so I was able to stay consistent.)  Then taking the leftover strips of the prints and more of the solid, I improv pieced it together.

I did a loopy FMQ and put together a bright and colorful back as well as a scrappy binding and finished it with several months to spare.

To see the other quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival, click here.

Blogger's Quilt Festival 1

How do people decide which of their quilts to "display" in the Blogger's Quilt Festival?  When thinking about what to enter this year, I immediately figured I would just choose this and this.  However, then I decided to read my post from last year's festival.  That was just a few months after I started blogging and I had only made a handful of quilts at the time.  In the post, I wrote about how my littlest (7 months at the time) had spent many hours on that quilt and how it was in so many photos of her but that she was getting mobile and the quilt was not being used much anymore but that I hoped she would find it at some later point and love it as an older child.

Well, that quilt ended up in the pile that my older daughters' use for various things but I recently made this new baby quilt.  And, I don't know what it is about this quilt but she LOVES it.  When we are in the house, she carries it around and is constantly cuddling with it.  And when we go out, she makes sure to have me drape it over the side of her crib so that she'll know right where it is when we get home (at least that is my interpretation of why she insists I put it there.)  

Like I said, I really have no idea what it is about this quilt that she finds so special.  It is certainly not the first quilt I've made for her and there are several quilt in the same size around my house that she could have taken for her own but this is the first one for which she has shown affection.

So while this might not be the most complicated or unique quilt I've made, this is the one that is special for me today as I'm choosing which quilts to feature for the Quilt Festival.  If you want more information about the quilt, here is the original post.   

To see the other posts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival, click here.

Let's Get Acquainted Link Up Plus. . .

My friends Nicole and Krista have been hosting a Liberty sew-along that I've followed along with both on their blogs and on Instagram.  Since I had just used my Liberty fabric for this project, I hadn't planned on joining in but then I remembered that I had a few left over squares so I cut those up, paired them with some Essex linen, and made the pillow cover shown above. There is only one day left to link up but if you have a project to share, you can find the link up on Nicole's blog here.

In other news, I wanted to thank everyone for all the great book recommendations!  I'm so excited to have added so many books to my reading list.  And if you liked the fabric bundle, I have good news for you - Tactile Fabrics is now listing an identical fat quarter bundle for $27.50 (not including shipping.)  It is called the Plum and June FQ bundle and you can find it here.  I had so much fun putting this bundle together - I think it would work well in a project on its own or as a good stash builder.  And this is one of my favorite color palettes right now (as evidenced here and here.)

The Let's Get Acquainted Link Up is being hosted by Alyce at Blossom Heart Quilts this week.  Click here to see what Alyce has been up to living in Japan this past year and to add your link so we can see what you have been sewing.

Fabric Giveaway

Hi there!  If you are visiting from the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day, welcome!  This is my space where I share my quilting and sewing projects - as well as some occasional crochet, knitting, and cross-stitch.  Here are some of my favorite finishes:

Today's giveaway is from Tactile Fabrics, one of my blog's sponsors and one of my most favorite fabric shops.  The owner, Jennifer, stocks the most wonderful selection of fabrics including some new lines like Glimma and Bike.  And she provides fantastic service and fast shipping.

For the giveaway, Tactile Fabrics is offering the opportunity for one lucky person to win the gorgeous fat quarter bundle of pinks, yellows, and grays pictured below.  There are so many fabrics I love in this bundle including prints from Comma, Field Study, Architextures, and Glimma.

You have 3 chances to win****!

1. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post. Any comment will do but if you'd like a topic, how about recommending a good book - an exciting novel you just couldn't put down, a fun book for kids, a quilting book, or even a cookbook? (one entry)

Bonus Entries
2. Plum and June followers - old and new - get a second entry. Leave a comment indicating how you are following. (one entry)

3. Tactile Fabrics followers - old and new - get a third entry. You can follow them on Facebook here or Twitter here. And if you are not on (or active on) Facebook or Twitter, you can get this third entry by visiting Tactile Fabrics and coming back here to leave a comment about your favorite thing from their shop. Leave a comment indicating which one of these you did and/or your favorite thing from Tactile Fabrics. (one entry)

So you can enter up to 3 times! This giveaway will remain open until May 10, 2012 at 5pm PST and a winner will be picked at random and will be notified by email by May 12, 2012.

****This giveaway is open for U.S. shipping only.****

****And unless you are sure that you are NOT a no-reply comment, please leave your email address in your comment.****

****Tactile Fabrics is offering a coupon code for all readers good for 15% off - use code PLUMJUNE15****

And be sure to stop by Sew Mama Sew for links to the rest of the giveaways.

The giveaway is now closed.  The winner is #18 Marci Girl.  Congrats Marci - I have just sent you an email.  And thanks everyone who entered - I enjoyed reading all your book suggestions!