Monthly Archives: January 2021

Best Friends Quiltalong

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For the past few weeks I have been participating in the Best Friends Quiltalong with the Fat Quarter Shop. It is a series of 6″ foundation paper pieced blocks that come together into a lovely quilt. I am sewing with my friend Haley of Happiness in the Making. We decided to make fraternal twin quilts out of blossom fabric and the coordinating confetti cottons solid. She is making hers in gray while I am making mine in navy.

We started with Log Cabin blocks for week 1.

Week 2 was Economy Blocks. If you haven’t made economy blocks by foundation paper piecing, you are missing out on a real treat. They come out perfectly!!

Week 3 was the Pineapple Block. I had never made this type of block before and I really enjoyed the process and the end result.

For this last week of the quiltalong, we are all making the courthouse steps blocks. While these are similar to the log cabin, they make a different end result.

For this week’s blocks and process, please visit the Jolly Jabber, Fat Quarter Shop’s blog. You can find all of the details for the quiltalong there as well as kits to make your own quilt.

Snowflake Quilt

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Each year I like to use the Kona Cotton Color of the Year as a background for a quilt. I have sadly fallen a few years behind and am working to get caught up. Ever since I saw Modern Handcraft’s Snowflake Quilt pattern, I knew this was the quilt for my 2019 COTY Splash.

I had been planning on using a plain white for the snowflake until I remembered I had previously cut some Zen Chic Modern Background Paper for a different project that I have since abandoned. (Can anyone else relate to this????) As luck would have it, the squares were the exact sizes I needed and I only had to trim down a few to make them work for this pattern! It was serendipitous.

I found the process of making this quilt incredibly therapeutic and enjoyable. Nicole is SO good at making thoughtful patterns and amazing diagrams. It was a real treat to make a quilt from such a wonderfully written pattern.

I decided to quilt this on my Bernina B 475QE in a 1 1/2″ grid. I do almost all of my quilting at home and very rarely send quilts out to be quilted. I love using my Bernina. The stitches are even, despite not having the Bernina Stitch Regulator. You cannot beat the stitch quality of a Bernina.

I bound the quilt using the same Kona Splash thinking it would be a good way to not distract from or add to the quilt. I am so pleased with how this quilt turned out. It is such a fun quilt that can bridge the gap between Christmas quilts and spring quilts.

Stitches From the Heart

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Happy New Year! I think we have all been anticipating the arrival of 2021 since…. March. While circumstances around the globe are not as we had all hoped, I am really hopeful things will take a turn for the better this year.

To start off the year on a happy and positive note, I am excited to share a free quilt pattern and cross stitch pattern from The Fat Quarter Shop called Stitches From the Heart.

You can access the quilt pattern here: https://www.fatquartershop.com/stitches-from-the-heart-quilt-free-pdf-pattern

You can access the cross stitch pattern here: https://www.fatquartershop.com/stitches-from-the-heart-cross-stitch-free-pdf-pattern

The quilt pattern comes in two sizes, one that finishes at 35″ x 35″ and another at 12″ x 12″. I chose to make the 12″ size along with 1″ half-square triangle (HST) triangles on a roll papers. I have a love for tiny pieces, but I know that not everybody understands that or has the same love. I used 5 different shades of V and Co Ombre and I love the fun effect it gave this mini.

The lovely folks at Fat Quarter Shop have put together a quilt kit for their Bella Solids version of the 35″ quilt. I love kits because they take the guess work out of making a quilt. It is really fun to just open it up and get going.

I hope your 2021 is off to a safe and healthy start and that we can all focus on things that bring us joy this year.