Freshly Pieced

No WIP Wednesday

2013-05-22T08:17:00.001-05:00

Oops—no WIP Wednesday today, sorry! That's because a) I forgot and b) I don't have anything to show anyway, after being gone most of the week.

But come back next week for the usual link-up. I've decided that this is going to be the Summer of No Commitments. I'm just going to spend time with the girls and sew exactly what I want to sew. I've got a few last things to finish up this week, and then the Summer of No Commitments begins. So I should have lots to show in WIP Wednesday for the next few months at least!

Have a wonderful week.

WIP Wednesday: Off to Portland

2013-05-15T01:55:00.002-05:00

I spent this week working on a project that I can't show you yet, plus I'm leaving later today for Quilt Market, so I've been busting my butt getting my family ready for my absence. Which all adds up to ... a photo-free WIP Wednesday. Sorry, guys. It really was one of those weeks!

But I promise I'll Instagram some good stuff from Portland to make up for it. And you should link up your projects anyway. : )

Here are the rules:
1. Link up any post from the past week that features at least one unfinished work-in-progress (WIP).
2. Somewhere in your post, you must link back here to my blog. (Or grab the WIP Wednesday button for your sidebar.)
3. Comment on at least a few of the other WIP Wednesday links.

Have a great week!

P.S. If you're at Market, come see me at Martingale's Schoolhouse session for Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe, Thursday at 3:10 p.m.

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Bloom Bloom Pow: Show Off Your Finished Quilt!

2013-05-09T06:06:00.000-05:00

It's time! Time to finish your Bloom Bloom Pow quilt and show it off! : )

I'm so pleased with how this quilt turned out! It really did come out exactly how I pictured it. That doesn't happen all that often. : )

And I want to thank everyone who quilted along with me! It made it even more fun than it would have been.

And I am SO very impressed with the Bloom Bloom Pow quilts you guys have come up with! Here are just a few of the gorgeous quilts that have popped up in my Flickr group recently:

By no hats

By Ms. Midge

By Laurelar

By Molli Sparkles

By Kelly Vetch

By KathieW28

By Peggerss

As always, I love seeing how a pattern of mine served as a jumping off point for others' creativity. : )

But of course, these aren't the only cool BBP quilts out there! Link up your own Bloom Bloom Pow quilt using the linky below. This way, we can all enjoy each others' creations! The linky will remain open indefinitely, so no worries about hurrying to finish. And your quilt doesn't even need to be completely finished in order to link up—I'll leave it up to you when in the process you link up. All I ask is that you link up ONLY ONE TIME. And yes, you can link to a Flickr photo if you don't have a blog!

Thank you again for making this quilt-along so much fun. Enjoy your Bloom Bloom Pow quilts!

Bloom Bloom Pow Quilt-Along schedule

March 21 - Introduction

March 28 - Design strategy

April 4 - Cutting your fabric

April 11 - Strip-piecing instructions

April 18 - Cutting the triangles

April 25 - Piecing the triangles to complete the top

May 2 - Quilting and finishing

May 9 - Wrap-up and link-up

WIP Wednesday: Still Plugging Away

2013-05-08T00:23:00.000-05:00

I feel like a broken record lately, since I seem to be working on the same projects, week after week.

But I'm nearing the finish line on two of them:

I settled on this soft neutral Pearl Bracelet print for the binding on Bloom Bloom Pow, and am busy hand-stitching away right now! Bloom Bloom Pow is headed for Spring Quilt Market in Portland and needs to be shipped tomorrow, so I've got to wrap it up!

And I'm still slowly chipping away at the quilting on my Diamond Tread quilt. I finished the angled lines going in one direction and marked the lines going in the opposite direction with painter's tape. I'm hoping the end result will be kind of a plaid look. Can't wait to get back to this when Bloom Bloom Pow is finished.

And I whipped up a couple of flags for Boston, which I'll post about in the next few days. I was so thrilled to read that these flags will be displayed at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts! What an amazing display that will be.

What are you working on this week? Share your WIPs! Here are the linky rules:
1. Link up any post from the past week that features at least one unfinished work-in-progress (WIP).
2. Somewhere in your post, you must link back here to my blog. (Or grab the WIP Wednesday button for your sidebar.)
3. Comment on at least a few of the other WIP Wednesday links.

Have a great week!

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Bloom Bloom Pow: Almost There!

2013-05-02T17:28:00.004-05:00

I can't believe we're already on the last step of the BBP quilt-along. It went crazy fast, didn't it? But that means it's time to quilt! You'll have a finished BBP in no time!

The first step is trimming the excess from the edges in order to square up the top.

To do this, I took my longest ruler (24") and lined it up along the edge of each block. I just made sure the edge of the ruler intersected with the narrowest point of each block along the edge of the quilt, while the bottom raw edge of the quilt top remained perpendicular to the edge I was trimming (as shown). If your piecing was accurate, this method should give you a nice square quilt top, but you will probably want to square up again after quilting either way.

Once the top is trimmed, it's time to make your quilt back. This is a great opportunity to use some of the scraps from your Bloom Bloom Pow bundle! (Although I think the Pearl Bracelet prints are great scrappy additions to other projects as well, so they might be worth saving and stashing for future use.)

You could also incorporate into the back any extra blocks you may have made, or maybe even the zig-zaggy waste scraps that were created when you cut out your triangles (shown above). They would probably have to be appliqued onto the back, but it is an option for the really ambitious. : )

Now you're ready to baste and quilt.

When it comes to quilting a top made up entirely of triangles, I don't think anything can beat the look of straight-line quilting that follows the angles created by the triangle seams. And with the busyness of the piecing in this design, I thought simpler would be best. So I quilted straight lines about a quarter-inch out from each side of the triangle seams—just like I did with my triangle baby quilt a few months back.

For straight-line quilting, you'll want a walking foot, and I think the quilting gloves normally used for free-motion quilting are very helpful for straight lines as well. Straight lines also require a good grasp on the quilt, and the gloves make that a lot more comfortable!

I started by quilting along the horizontal seams created when the rows were joined. Roll each side of your quilt up toward the center, so that you can start quilting in the center and work your way out toward each edge.

Once you're done with those horizontal rows, quilting from the center out isn't quite as important, since you already have evenly distributed quilting that holds all the layers in place. So when quilting the angled seams, roll the quilt from one corner, following the angle you'll be sewing. Re-roll the quilt each time you start a new seam.

From the back, this quilting makes a very cool hexagon/honeycomb pattern.

If you like a more densely-quilted look, another option can be found today on Lady Harvatine's blog. She's currently running her own Log Pyramid quilt-along and is showing another great way to echo the triangle piecing, which would work just as well for Bloom Bloom Pow as it does for her Log Pyramid design. Check it out!

The final step, of course, is to bind. I haven't made it that far yet, but I'm currently trying to decide between a scrappy binding (made up of my Pearl Bracelet leftovers), or white to match the background.

Next week I'm going to do one final round-up post, featuring a few pictures of some finished Bloom Bloom Pows from the quilt-along, and a linky so that you can explore all of each others' creations! That will be next week, Thursday, May 9—and no, you don't have to have a finished quilt to link up. Feel free to link up whatever stage of completion you've reached by then. Or wait and link up later, whenever your quilt is done. Whatevs, it's your call! And hopefully I'll have better, completely finished shots of my quilt by that time. It's another windy, gray day around here today, not at all conducive to quilt photo shoots, but maybe springtime will make it's return by linky day. : )

And thank you, everyone, for quilting along with me, it's been so much fun! Can't wait to see all of your finished (or almost finished) quilts next week!

Bloom Bloom Pow Quilt-Along schedule

March 21 - Introduction

March 28 - Design strategy

April 4 - Cutting your fabric

April 11 - Strip-piecing instructions

April 18 - Cutting the triangles

April 25 - Piecing the triangles to complete the top

May 2 - Quilting and finishing

May 9 - Wrap-up and link-up

WIP Wednesday: In Bloom

2013-05-01T00:01:00.000-05:00

It's finally spring around here (well, it has been for the last few days, at least). So this week I've been doing a lot of this:

Running outside instead of on a treadmill, doing yard work, and enjoying the sunshine with the girls.

But I've also been quite productive as well—yesterday while Miss C was at preschool I basted two quilts, including Bloom Bloom Pow! And I'm about halfway through quilting my Diamond Tread quilt. All in all, a very good week. : )

What did you accomplish this week? Share your WIPs! Here are the linky rules:
1. Link up any post from the past week that features at least one unfinished work-in-progress (WIP). 2. Somewhere in your post, you must link back here to my blog. (Or grab the WIP Wednesday button for your sidebar.)
3. Comment on at least a few of the other WIP Wednesday links.

And let's all have another sunshiny, productive week!

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Bloom Bloom Pow: Finishing the Top

2013-04-25T05:06:00.000-05:00

Welcome back to the Bloom Bloom Pow Quilt-Along! Today's an exciting day, because we're going to take all those triangles we cut last time and sew them together into a finished quilt top! You'll finally get to see some results after all this work, which is always a good moment. : )

The very first thing we're going to do is sew like-colored triangles together into groups of three. We're going to do this before we worry about our layout, which is unusual, of course. But like colors will be together in the final quilt layout anyway, so by piecing them into groups of three first, we'll have fewer pieces to worry about when we put the quilt up on the design board (or down on the design floor, in my case).

Piecing equilateral triangles really isn't hard once you get the hang of it, and if you know a few tricks, which fortunately I'm about to share with you today. : ) So grab a group of three same-colored triangles and let's jump right in.

Piecing the half-hexagons:

1. Arrange the three triangles so that the darker "petals" radiate out like spokes, as shown.

2. Working from left to right, pair up the triangle on the far left with the middle triangle, right sides together, as shown. Just line up these first two triangles neatly, corners matched.

Any time you're matching up a pointed corner with a notched corner, it should look like the picture above. The sides of the pieces should still line up—the pointed corner should just look like a continuation of the notched corner.

3. Sew a 1/4" seam along the right-hand side of the matched-up triangles, as shown.

4. Press seam allowances open. Now it should look like this. You've sewn your first two triangles together!

Hey, see these little triangles that are sticking out, now that you've sewn the first seam? They're called dog ears. Don't trim them off! I know it's tempting, but you're going to use them as a guide when you add the next triangle.

5. Next, add the third triangle by laying it on top of the middle triangle, right sides together, as shown. You're going to line up the bottom corner of this triangle with that lower dog ear.

6. Sew a 1/4" seam along that right-hand side, just like we did for the first seam. If everything was cut and aligned correctly, your 1/4" seam should go right through the intersection where the dog ear meets the straight edge of the first triangle, as shown above. See that? If your seam hits right at that sweet spot, your triangles will line up perfectly. (If your seam didn't quite make it to that spot, no worries. This is actually a pretty forgiving block, since there are so few seams that actually need to line up. Close enough is good enough!)

7. You should now have a half-hexagon that looks very much like this. These half-hexagons will be sewn together in straight horizontal rows to make up the quilt top. So whatever you do, do not piece these triangles together into full hexagon groups of 6! You'll make things a whole lot harder on yourself if you do—half-hexagons allow you to piece the top together in rows, while making full hexagons would require Y seams. Nobody wants that. LOL.

8. So just keep sewing those triangles together into groups of three until all the triangles have been turned into half-hexagons. Once you've done that, it's time to actually lay out your quilt top!

Piecing the rows:

This is the fun part! You're going to take all those half-hexagons and come up with a final layout. This part is really up to you—if you're using Pearl Bracelets, you can follow my color scheme above, or you can do your own thing. It's up to you! Whatever you do, here are a few guidelines for deciding on a layout:

- There's no wrong answer! Much like the light and dark value/color pairings that you decided on earlier in the quilt-along, this part of the quilt-along is entirely personal preference. The ideal layout is the one that you like. : )
- I tried to distribute light/dark values and warm/cool colors as evenly as possible across the quilt. I also tried to keep like colors from touching each other. That's not always possible, but I tried my best!
- Take a picture and convert it to black and white to check value placement—much like we did in the design strategy post when we were deciding on our light/dark value pairings. Darker and lighter blocks should be scattered evenly across the quilt top.

1. Once you're satisfied with your layout, it's time to sew the top together! (You might want to snap a picture of your layout before you start, just in case the layout gets mixed up, your dog walks across it, etc.) You're going to work your way across the quilt, piecing straight horizontal rows.

2. To piece two half-hexagons together horizontally, it works very much the same way as piecing the triangles did earlier. Grab your first two half-hexies from the top row.

3. Lay them out, right sides together, along the seam to be sewn, as shown. Again, align the corners of the triangles and sew a 1/4" seam along the raw edges (where the pins are in the photo above).

Again, your seam should hit right where the straight triangle edge meets the dog ear. Sometimes, if you're dealing with a notched triangle edge (as is the case in the photo above), there won't be two dog ears to line up, but it still should be fairly obvious where the dog ear would have been if it weren't for that notch. That spot is where the seam should go through.

4. The pair of pieced half-hexagons should look something like this when you're done. Keep on piecing those half-hexagons together to create the horizontal rows.

Putting the rows together

Now that your rows are pieced, all you have to do is put the horizontal rows together to create the top.

1. Put two rows together, raw edges aligned, right sides together. When the two rows are neatly lined up, I pull back the top layer just a bit at each place where seams come together in a point, as shown above. I do this to make sure points are matched up, as shown above. Ideally, you want your points to touch, and when you sew the seam, your seam should go right through the point. Pin right through the points when everything is lined up the way you want it.

2. I highly recommend using a walking foot or dual-feed foot to sew your rows together. There are two reasons for this. One is that you'll find there is a lot of seam bulk in certain spots along the rows, so a walking foot or dual-feed foot will help you get over that bulk. The other reason is that a walking foot doesn't push the fabric as you sew, which makes it easier to force seams to line up in certain places along a long seam like this. I have the quarter-inch dual-feed foot for my Janome 7700 and use it for piecing in situations like this all the time. Another hint is to leave the pins in place as you are sewing, taking them out at the last minute (or don't take them out at all—I sew right over pins and have never had a problem with it).

And that's it! Keep sewing those rows together until you have a completed top. Next week, I'll show you how to trim the top so that it has straight edges, and we'll talk about different quilting, finishing, and binding options. And that's it for this QA! I can hardly believe we're already almost done already!

It's been so much fun quilting along with you lovely people, and I can't wait to see all of your finished creations. In fact, I'm planning to feature some of your projects here on my blog—I may run photos of finished tops and quilts, or I'll host a linky so that people can show off their work and check out others'. I haven't decided exactly how to do it just yet, so if you have any thoughts, please share! In the meantime, enjoy piecing your triangles, and I can't wait to see you all back here next week for the final QA post! : )

P.S. For all those who asked, yes, the Bloom Bloom Pow Quilt-Along instructions will continue to be available online indefinitely! So if you didn't have time to do the quilt-along with all of us, you can still come back and do it later, any time you're ready!

Bloom Bloom Pow Quilt-Along schedule

March 21 - Introduction

March 28 - Design strategy

April 4 - Cutting your fabric

April 11 - Strip-piecing instructions

April 18 - Cutting the triangles

April 25 - Piecing the triangles to complete the top

May 2 - Quilting and finishing

May 9 - Wrap-up and link-up

WIP Wednesday: My Colorful Week

2013-04-24T00:01:00.000-05:00

What I've been working on this week:

Still lots of triangles to cut in time for tomorrow's Bloom Bloom Pow QA post.

Doing a little straight-line quilting on my Diamond Tread quilt.

And I'm thinking this fabric pull will need to become something very soon.

Is there something you would like to share with the rest of the class? Here's how:
1. Link up any post from the past week that features at least one unfinished work-in-progress (WIP). 2. Somewhere in your post, you must link back here to my blog. (Or grab the WIP Wednesday button for your sidebar.)
3. Comment on at least a few of the other WIP Wednesday links.

And have a fabulous week!

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Owl Mini Quilt

2013-04-19T05:15:00.000-05:00

So remember that owl with the teeny tiny paper piecing?

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while might recall that I adore my daughters' preschool. It's a nature-focused preschool in a nature center on the shores of Lake Michigan, staffed by wonderful teachers who willingly take entire groups of 3- and 4-year-olds for hikes in the woods every day, rain, snow, or shine. They encourage the kids to stomp in mud puddles, climb on tree trunks and rocks, look for bugs and worms and other creatures, and explore the world around them. Every day for the past two weeks, my 3-year-old has come home coated in mud, but she sure does love that place! And I'm constantly amazed at the curiosity and motivation to learn that they inspire in these kids.

This year, sadly, the nature center is dealing with the devastation of the Emerald Ash Borer, an invasive insect species from Asia that is steadily killing off ash trees all over the midwest and northeast U.S. Trees can be given a preventative treatment (we're treating three trees in my own backyard), but it's expensive and must be given yearly, so that's obviously not a possibility in a nature center with hundreds—maybe thousands—of ash trees. So the ashes are now being cut down all over the property and are being replaced with other tree varieties.

But in the meantime, one of the preschool teachers had a clever idea for a fundraiser called "Ash to Art." Preschool families and local artists were invited to create art using ash tree "cookies" from the felled trees. The art will be auctioned off—what a great way to recycle, raise money for the preschool, and raise awareness of Emerald Ash Borer all at the same time.

I was invited to contribute as one of the "fine artists" whose work would be auctioned off at the event. Umm, I can't tell you how nervous I am about this! I consider myself more of a designer than an artist. And there's the small problem of me somehow incorporating a tree cookie into my ... quilting?

At any rate, this little owl is my contribution to the fundraiser. I think he turned out quite nicely. : )

I wanted to make an owl because that's part of the nature center's logo, and—well, it's an owl. Who doesn't love an owl? But the tree cookie itself was only about 6" wide, so I knew that owl was going to have to be small. I looked at a lot of owl paper-piecing patterns online—I didn't want anything too cartoonish or babyish or cutesy. Eventually I settled on this pattern of Hedwig from a Harry Potter quilt and shrunk it down about 60%.

I was as surprised as anybody that this paper-piecing actually turned out okay! I guess that's the beauty of paper-piecing—you can do things this tiny and it's really not that different from normal paper-piecing. As long as your eyesight is decent. : )

The hardest part of it for me was dealing with all the seam allowances on the back, which in most cases were larger than the piece itself. It was so difficult to figure out where I could trim excess fabric and where I couldn't!

Once I was done with the owl, I added a wonky star, and my teeny little block (around 5.5" square) was done. But then I had to decide what to do with this little block and how to attach it to the tree cookie. I eventually decided to do a full-fledged teensy mini-quilt—quilted and bound and everything—and I attached it to the tree cookie with a simple band and some velcro. My quilting was my attempt at Angela Walters' wood-grain quilting design (of course!).

But I'm still nervous about this, mainly because I just don't know how somebody is supposed to actually use this thing. It's way outside of my comfort zone as far as the finished product—I never even really got on board with the mug rug craze a while back, and I'm certainly no art quilter! But I figure someone can hang it up on the wall just as it is, as a rustic piece of art, or they could always take it off the tree cookie and hang it that way, or even use it as a mug rug or a coaster. It goes up for auction tonight, so I'll put in a decent opening bid on it and if somebody else bids it up, great. Otherwise I get to bring this little owl back home with me. Nothing wrong with that. : )

But if you're in the Milwaukee area and want to come bid on this little guy (or any of the other amazing artwork that will be there), the Ash to Art event is open to the public. It takes place tonight (Friday) from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center. To check out some of the other amazing art pieces that will be available, check out the Ash to Art photostream on Flickr.

Bloom Bloom Pow: Cutting the Triangles

2013-04-18T05:00:00.000-05:00

Aaaand we're back to the Bloom Bloom Pow quilt-along—it's time to cut your triangles!

This is the fun part (I think). : )

First, you will need either a 60-degree equilateral triangle ruler or this template. I highly recommend investing in a ruler—any 60-degree triangle ruler with finished triangles up to 7" and a vertical center line will work (but I love this one right here). You'll be cutting a lot of these triangles, so if you use the template, edges may get shaved off as you cut, eventually distorting the triangle shape. And I promise you will use a triangle ruler for plenty of other things, not just this quilt-along! Triangle quilts are very popular right now, after all. So think about picking up a ruler before you start.

If you are going to use the template, click here to download the template. Download it to your computer from Google Docs before you print it. Open the file in Adobe Acrobat and print out the template with no scaling. (Make sure "Actual size" is checked or "Fit to Page" is unchecked, or set scaling to 100%—and don't print the PDF directly from Google Docs, as the size may not print accurately). Cut out the printed template and adhere it to cardboard, or trace it onto template plastic and cut out the template plastic. (One advantage of template plastic—and, of course, a ruler—is that it is transparent, which will come into play in just a moment when we start cutting.)

Okay, now we're ready to start cutting! Get out one of your pieced blocks.

Place your ruler or template on the far right side of the block, as shown above.
• The 7" mark of your ruler (or the bottom edge of your template) should be aligned with the bottom raw edge of the block.
• The center vertical line that goes down the middle of the triangle ruler or template should be aligned with the vertical seam in the block—a colored background piece should be to the left of that center line, and a white piece should be to the right of the line. (This is where a transparent template, such as a ruler or template plastic, becomes very helpful!)
• As you can see from the photo above, the tip of your triangle ruler or template does not need to touch the darker petal strip at the top of the block.

Now take a deep breath and cut around your ruler or template. : ) Yes, it's an awkward angle for cutting, but there's really no way around that. You can always turn the whole thing (both the pieced block and your ruler or template) in whatever direction works best for you.

When you're done cutting that first triangle, simply turn your ruler or template upside down and move it to the left, to the next vertical seam over. Place the ruler or template on the fabric, this time aligning the 7" mark on your triangle ruler with the top raw edge of the block, and the center vertical line on the ruler or template with the vertical seam.

And turn your ruler/template over again to cut the third triangle. Continue in this way, working your way across the strip-pieced block, from right to left. From a full pieced block (made from 25" strips), you should be able to cut 6 triangles (which together will make one full Bloom Bloom Pow block).

One thing to note—see that little notch cut out of the lower right corner of the triangle behind the ruler? You will get that as you cut these triangles—but don't worry, that little notch is completely fine. As long as it's not much bigger than what you see in the photo above, the notch will be caught in your seam allowances later and you'll never even know that it's there. It's similar to the tip of the triangle being cut off on the ruler. No worries!

But this is something to worry about. As you're cutting your triangles, do NOT continue the cut straight across the block and off the other edge. Go completely around the ruler or template with no excess cuts, as I did in the orange blocks above. I didn't do that in the picture of the blue block here, and you can see that the results are problematic! If you cut them that way, when you turn the ruler around and try to cut the next triangle, you will end up with a big chunk missing from a lower corner of the triangle (as shown in the photo above). Which means you won't get enough triangles out of your block sets.

If you have the shorter fat-quarter-friendly pieced blocks, the cutting works the same way, except that you will only get three triangles from each pieced block instead of 6. As you can see, once again you'll get a bit of a notch cut out of the lower left corners of some of the triangles you're cutting. This is fine—the notch will be caught in the seam allowances later.

I think that's it! From each full block set, cut 6 triangles, and from each shorter block set, cut three triangles. Be sure to keep your triangle sets together and organized, since they'll be sewn together into blocks next week. So exciting! Be back here same time next week. : )

And don't forget, you can post pictures of your progress and check out everybody else's Bloom Bloom Pow quilts in my Flickr group! It's a big part of the fun of a quilt-along, so get over there! : )

WIP Wednesday: Making a Mess

2013-04-17T00:01:00.002-05:00

I spent the week knee-deep in manuscript revisions for Vintage Quilt Revival, so I don't have much to show you today! I actually remade 9 of the blocks from the book as part of my review/double-checking process (yes, I'm paranoid), but I don't think I can show you those just yet. So instead you'll have to just admire a tiny portion of the resulting scraps and mess. : )

Your turn! Show off what you've been working on—here's how:
1. Link up any post from the past week that features at least one unfinished work-in-progress (WIP). 2. Somewhere in your post, you must link back here to my blog. (Or grab the WIP Wednesday button for your sidebar.)
3. Comment on at least a few of the other WIP Wednesday links. This is the best part! Check in on your sewing and blogging friends for an update on their projects, and find new friends to follow! Don’t forget to leave some encouragement for others, blog comments make everyone’s day better!

Have a great week!

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Bloom Bloom Pow: Let's Start Piecing!

2013-04-11T05:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome back to the Bloom Bloom Pow Quilt-Along! Are you all ready to do some piecing? This week we're going to be piecing large rectangular-ish sections. Next week, we'll be cutting triangles from these large sections.

This week is going to be sooooo easy, you'll have plenty time on your hands to work on your other WIPs! So let's get started—I'm going to give two sets of instructions here. One set of instructions is for when you are making full blocks from 25" long petal strips. The other set of instructions is for when you're using 18" strips, or if you're making a half-block from 25" strips.

I recommend doing your piecing block-by-block, just like you did with the cutting, rather than assembly-line style, so you don't get confused about color placement or anything.

Piecing full blocks with 25" strips

1. Start with three 4.5" x 5.5" background pieces, two 4.5" x 5.5" white pieces, and two 3.25" x 5.5" white pieces. Lay out your pieces in the following order, as shown in the photo. The order of the pieces is very important! Don't mix them up!

2. Sew these pieces together with 1/4" seams, in order, to create one long strip that measures about 26" long. Press seams open.

3. Now grab one of the two 25" long strips that will make the petals. Lay the petal strip out along the pieced background strip as shown, right sides together, with the petal strip aligned with the top edge and offset about 1.5" to the left. (This offset is important in order to get enough triangles out of the completed block. And the top strip must always be offset to the left and bottom strip must always be offset to the right!)

4. Sew with a 1/4" seam, pressing open.

5. Lay the other 25" petal strip out along the bottom edge of the pieced background strip. Again, these should be right sides together and offset about 1.5" to the right.

6. Sew with a 1/4" seam, pressing open. I know, it looks crazy, but this is exactly what you want—don't trim or square up! Keep it just like this!

That's it! You now have the basis for one Bloom Bloom Pow block. In the next step, you'll be cutting 6 triangles out of this one block, and those 6 triangles will form one Bloom Bloom Pow hexagon.

So keep going—piece one of these units for each full block in the quilt. You'll need 14 of these units for the baby size quilt, 25 of them for the throw size. (If you weren't able to cut enough 25" strips for all your full blocks, follow the instructions below to make two half blocks, which equals one full block.)

Piecing with 18" strips (full or half-blocks)

If you are using 18" strips, you'll use these instructions to make sections from which you can cut 3 triangles. A full Bloom Bloom Pow hexagon block requires 6 triangles. So if you're making a full hexagon, you'll need to piece two identical sections from the instructions below in order to cut 6 triangles. If you're making a hexagon half-block, you'll only need one of the pieced sections from the instructions below, because you'll only need three triangles. Clear as mud? : )

1. Start with two 4.5" x 5.5" background pieces, one 4.5" x 5.5" white piece, and one 3.25" x 5.5" white piece. Lay out your pieces in the following order, as shown in the photo. (The order is very important, so don't mix it up! All of your pieced sections must start with a colored background piece and end with a narrower white piece!)

2. Sew these pieces together with 1/4" seams, in order, to create one long strip that measures about 15" long. Press seams open.

3. Now grab one of the two 18" long strips that will make the petals. Lay one 18" petal strip out along the bottom edge of the pieced background strip as shown, right sides together. Align the petal strip with the left side of the pieced strip, but you should have at least 1" of overhang on the right side (maybe more).

4. Sew with a 1/4" seam, pressing open.

5. Take another 18" petal strip and cut it in half, so that you have two strips about 9" long. Set one of those 9" strips aside for the other half of the block (assuming you're making a full block). Lay out the 9" strip long the top of the pieced background strip, again with right sides together. This time, the 9" strip should be centered above the two middle background pieces, as shown in the photo.

6. Sew with a 1/4" seam, pressing open. This one looks really crazy and wrong, doesn't it? It's not, it's perfect!

7. If you're making a full block, repeat the instructions above so that you have two identical pieced sections. You will cut 3 triangles out of each of these pieced sections.

Piecing half-blocks with 25" strips
Follow the 18" instructions above, but cut your 25" strips into two pieces—16" long and 9" long. Use the 16" strip in place of the 18" strip (16" will be long enough—I used a 16" strip in the photos above). One pieced section from the instructions above will yield 3 triangles.

Cutting instructions update
One final note, there was an error in last week's cutting instructions post—for the throw size, I asked people to cut 8 strips 4.5" wide and 8 strips 3.25" wide from the white fabric, but that should actually have been 7 strips 4.5" wide and 7 strips 3.25" wide, not 8. You should be able to get eight 5.5" pieces from each strip (without much room for error, so be careful cutting off the selvage), which equals 56 pieces of each size (one extra, since you need only 55 pieces of each size). The error is now corrected on the cutting instructions page. I apologize for that mistake!

As always, don't forget to post pictures of your progress in my Flickr group! You can join the Bloom Bloom Pow group on Threadbias as well, for another place to discuss the QA and post pictures. Next week is the really fun part—cutting the triangles! See you back here for that next week.

WIP Wednesday:

2013-04-10T00:01:00.000-05:00

Here's what's happening in my world this week.

If you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen lots of pictures of this project, in which I attempted to answer the question of "How tiny is too tiny?" when it comes to paper-piecing.

The answer: This is actually not too tiny! Surprised me too. : ) Yet another reason why paper-piecing is a beautiful thing. : ) I'll be blogging about this very special project—which measures just 5 1/2" square finished—in the next couple of days.

And let's not forget Bloom Bloom Pow! Tomorrow I'll be posting the instructions for strip-piecing your blocks. These blocks are a lot of fun, so I can't wait to show you how to start putting them together.

Let's see what you're working on! Here's how:
1. Link up any post from the past week that features at least one unfinished work-in-progress (WIP). 2. Somewhere in your post, you must link back here to my blog. (Or grab the WIP Wednesday button for your sidebar.)
3. Comment on at least a few of the other WIP Wednesday links. This is the best part! Check in on your sewing and blogging friends for an update on their projects, and find new friends to follow! Don’t forget to leave some encouragement for others, blog comments make everyone’s day better!

Have a great week!

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Girl Friday Sews Blog Hop: Cork Board Makeover

2013-04-05T05:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my stop on the Girl Friday Sews Blog Hop! Thank you, Heidi, for having me on the hop!

My office/studio is a cluttered mess. There. I said it. I've more or less given up on significant improvements any time soon, but if I can tackle just one messy area at a time and make it look a tiny bit prettier, then at least I feel like I'm doing something.

So this week's project was this sad, boring, institutional-looking cork board.

I love everything that's on this cork board: There are postcards and notes from sewing friends near and far, lanyards from events I've attended, of course my QuiltCon ribbons, and let's not forget pictures of my sweet girls. But it's still kind of a cluttered chaotic mess. Surely there must be a way to make a display like this look a little neater and more refined?

Silly rabbit, it just needed some fabric. Of course. : )

So today I'm going to show you how to use a plain, unattractive cork board to make something more luxurious and worthy of your own mementos. I also added a pocket along the bottom to hold those pesky items that you can't stick a pin through.

You will need:
- a cork board (obviously)
- about 1 yard of fabric (depending on the size of your cork board)
- 2.5" strips of contrasting fabric for the trim
- a piece of batting about the size of the cork board
- heavy-duty stapler and staples

1. Start by cutting a piece of fabric that is about 2" larger than the cork board on all four sides. My board was 17" x 23," so I cut my fabric to 21" x 27".

2. Measure about 6" in from each side (short) edge of your fabric and make a cut, as shown.

3. Piece 2.5" wide strips of your contrasting fabric into the cuts you just made. Press seams open.

4. Now measure about 5" down from the top (long) edge of the fabric and make another cut.

5. Piece another 2.5" strip of contrasting trim into this cut.

6. To make the pocket, cut another piece of fabric that is double the height of what you want your finished pocket to be, plus 2." This piece should have the same width as the first piece you cut, in step 1. I wanted my finished pocket to be 6" high, so I cut my pocket piece to 14" (6" x 2 + 2") by 27."

7. Repeat steps 2-6 to add the contrasting trim on the pocket piece. Measure 6" in from each side edge, cut, and piece in the contrasting fabric.

8. Measure up 4" from the bottom (long) edge, make another cut, and piece in the contrasting fabric.

9. Fold the pocket piece in half lengthwise, so that the contrasting trim strip stays about 4" from the bottom unfolded edge, as shown. Press.

10. I added some decorative top stitching along the top folded edge of the pocket piece, as well as along the edges of the contrasting trim pieces, on both the pocket and the piece for the main board.

11. Lay the finished pocket piece on top of the main board cover, wrong side of the pocket facing the right side of the board cover. You don't need to worry too much about the pocket lining up with the main board piece—my primary concern was lining up the contrasting trim pieces. I used my Wonder Clips to attach the pocket to the main board cover.

12. Sew around all three edges of the pocket piece to attach it to the main board cover. Stitch about 1/4" to 1/2" from the edges. Don't worry about what these seams look like—they'll be hidden when you wrap the fabric around the edges of the board in the final step. All you're doing here is just attaching the pocket to the main board cover.

13. Now you're ready to attach the fabric to the board. To give it a bit more of an upholstered look, I laid a piece of scrap batting on the cork board, attaching it with a bit of spray baste.

14. Then I spread the fabric board cover over the top of the cork board and batting, carefully centering the trim pieces.

15. Flip the board over, draw the fabric around the edges of the board, and staple it into place on the back of the board.

At the corners, fold the fabric in toward the board in order to create nicely mitered corners.

That's it! You've now got a much prettier memo board for all your collections, reminders, or whatnot. The pocket is handy for bulky items like my Michael Miller Cotton Couture Color Card. And this one small change really has made a big difference in the look of my office. I should have done it a long time ago—thank you, Heidi, for motivating me to tackle it at last!

Keep following the Girl Friday Sews Blog Hop for more ways to spiff up your workplace. Have a wonderful weekend!

Bloom Bloom Pow Quilt-Along: Cutting Your Fabric

2013-04-04T05:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to post #3 of the Bloom Bloom Pow Quilt-Along! Are you guys ready to cut into some fabric? Let's dive right in!

Note: If you're using fat-quarters, look for the note about cutting fat-quarters at the bottom of this post.

First, remember those value stacks that we made in last week's post? Take all your dark-value and medium-value prints and cut the width of fabric into two sections, a 25" wide section and an 18" wide section (see diagrams below). Light-value prints can stay whole for now.

Done with that? Great! Now, before we do anything else, we need to start thinking about how to pair up the colors for each block. If you cut first and then think about color pairings, you might waste fabric. So here's the method I recommend following for each block:

1. Start by choosing a dark- or medium-value print for the "petals." Once you've decided on a petal color, take the 25" wide section of that print and cut 2 strips 2.75" x 25" (for a full block), or 1 strip 2.75" x 25" (for a half-block).

2. Select a background color that looks good with the petal color chosen in step 1. If you selected a dark-value print in step 1, choose a medium or light value for the background. If you chose a medium-value print in step 1, stick with a light value for the background.

3. Once you've selected your background color, cut 3 pieces 4.5" x 5.5" (for a full block) or 2 pieces 4.5" x 5.5" (for a half-block). If you're cutting from a medium-value print, be sure to cut these pieces from the 18" wide section! Reserve the 25" wide section for cutting the long strips for the petals.

4. Keep the petal strips and background pieces for each block grouped together, so that you're all ready for piecing next week. One way to stay organized is to safety-pin the pieces together, or keep them in ziploc bags.

Repeat this process until you've cut pieces for all the blocks in the quilt. Block totals are as follows:

Baby size - you will need:
• 14 full blocks
• 4 half-blocks

Throw size - you will need:
• 25 full blocks
• 5 half-blocks

If you run out of 2.75" x 25" strips for petals: You can cut your remaining petal strips from the 18" wide sections of dark- or medium-value prints (although I recommend sticking with the dark-value prints, so that the medium values will still be available for cutting background pieces). You will need 3 strips 2.75" x 18" for each full block, 2 strips for each half-block.

Now that you have your colored fabric cut, you can move on to the solid white.

Cutting the solid white fabric:
Start by folding the width of your white fabric in half, bringing the side selvage edges together. The folded size should now be 22" x 36" (baby size) or 22" x 54" (throw size).

Next, cut strips perpendicular to the folded edge (so after cutting, the strips will be 22" long while still folded, 44" long when unfolded).

For the baby-size quilt, cut:
• 4 strips 4.5" wide, then sub-cut 32 pieces 4.5" x 5.5"
• 4 strips 3.25" wide, then sub-cut 32 pieces 3.25" x 5.5"

For the throw-size quilt, cut:
• 7 strips 4.5" wide, then sub-cut 55 pieces 4.5" x 5.5"
• 7 strips 3.25" wide, then sub-cut 55 pieces 3.25" x 5.5"

Note about using fat quarters:
Yes, you can use fat quarters to make this quilt! Follow the same process outlined above for cutting out each block, but of course, you will not be able to cut 25" long strips for the petals. Instead, cut your strips 2.75" x 18". You will need 3 strips for each full flower block, and 2 strips for each half-block.

For the background pieces, you will need 4 pieces 4.5" x 5.5" to make a full block, and 2 pieces 4.5" x 5.5" to make a half-block.

Well, that's it! You're now officially done with cutting. Next week we'll start piecing. You won't believe how fast these blocks come together, and how much fun they are. : )

Thanks again to all you wonderful people for quilting along with me! If you're still interested in joining in, it's not too late! You can still order bundles from Westwood Acres—the baby-size bundle can be found here, and the throw-size bundle is here. Amanda is great about shipping super quickly, so you'll have your fabric in hand before you know it!

Don't forget to post pictures of your progress in my Flickr group. If you have any questions about the QA, you can post here in the comments or in the discussion forum on Flickr. Have a wonderful week!

Bloom Bloom Pow Quilt-Along Schedule

March 21 - Introduction

March 28 - Design strategy

April 4 - Cutting your fabric

April 11 - Strip-piecing instructions

April 18 - Cutting the triangles and deciding on a layout

April 25 - Piecing the triangles to complete the top

May 2 - Quilting and finishing

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WIP Wednesday: Guest Hosted by Natalie from Greenleaf Goods

2013-04-03T00:01:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! I’m Natalie from Greenleaf Goods, and I am so excited to be guest hosting WIP Wednesday on Freshly Pieced today! Lee’s blog was one of the first that I started reading regularly, and I loved the idea of a weekly check-in to keep all of my projects in order. It’s amazing to see how it has grown, and I have “met” some of my favorite bloggers (and now friends!) through the WIP Wednesday link-up.

I’m sorely in need of a project check-in, as I have some WIP’s that have been languishing for quite a while! It’s very motivating to make a concrete list of ALL projects in progress, it helps keep me motivated to see things through to completion. Plus, I’m often surprised at how many things I have going on at once! Here’s my current rundown:

1. Single Girl Quilt: I started my single girl quilt 2 years ago! This is definitely my longest-term project to date, but also one of my most special quilts.

After finishing the quilt top up this past summer, I decided to hand quilt the entire queen sized thing. Crazy? Maybe! But I really love the process, and I’m close to being done! Hoping to finish this one in the next month or so!

2. Next up: A new project I recently began that is inspired by a vintage quilt top I saw on pinterest. I’ve been hoarding a gorgeous bundle of fabric from Purl that I received as a wedding gift 2 years ago, and it has finally found its calling. I pulled out a ridiculously large stack of fabric to accompany the bundle (some of which are pictured below), and I’ve been working on freezer-paper templates for the piecing.

Lately I’ve been feeling very inspired by vintage quilt tops—perhaps a good sign that I’ll love Lee’s new book!

3. Little Folks Quilt Top: In the dead of winter I whipped up this bright voile quilt top. I’m thinking this will be my next hand-quilting venture, once I finish the single girl. I love the softness of hand quilted quilts, and stitching through voile is like stitching a cloud!

4. Pow-Wow Quilt: I began my pow-wow quilt last spring, but put it on the back burner when we moved in the fall. These bright colors would be perfect for a spring finish!

5. Holiday Quilts: This past year I also decided it would be fun to have some special occasion quilts, both of which need finishing! My 4th of July-inspired quilt is basted and ready to quilt.

My Halloween quilt needs quite a few more spiderweb blocks to be complete.

6. Last up: I’m sprucing up the bathroom in our house with some Chicopee patchwork! I have to finish a few hoops, and I’m planning to embellish a white shower curtain with some patchwork squares. The Chicopee just looks so good with black and white vintage tile in our bathroom.

Phew! That’s quite a list! Now it’s time for you to share what you’re working on!

Here’s how it works:

1. Link up any post from the past week that features at least one unfinished work-in-progress (WIP). 2. Somewhere in your post, you must link back here to my blog. (Or grab the WIP Wednesday button for your sidebar.)
3. Comment on at least a few of the other WIP Wednesday links. This is the best part! Check in on your sewing and blogging friends for an update on their projects, and find new friends to follow! Don’t forget to leave some encouragement for others, blog comments make everyone’s day better!

Happy Sewing!
Natalie

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Silent Auction Quilt Finish

2013-04-01T05:12:00.000-05:00

So, remember the Spoonflower fabric I made with self-portraits of the kids in my daughter's kindergarten class? Remember how I said I needed to use that fabric to make something for a silent auction, but I didn't want to make a quilt?

Well, of course, I made a quilt.

I considered a lot of other options, including pillowcases, a big pillow for a reading nook, a tote bag, etc. The problem was I had to make one large item that would entice people to bid high. Somehow, pillowcases or a tote bag just didn't sound like something people would be willing to pay a lot for, even if it was plastered with their kid's face! In the end, my husband was the unlikely one who talked me into a quilt. He said, "As much as I jokingly complain about all the quilts we have in this house, I do think people like them—I mean, who can't use a nice quilt?" Thanks, honey. : )

Of course, I spent so long trying to decide what to make, by the time I bit the bullet and committed myself to a quilt, I had exactly two days to make the thing, from start to finish. Ah, why do I do these things to myself??

But anyway, this is what I ended up with. I think it turned out really cute, in spite of being extremely rushed.

Since I was working under such a tight time frame, I knew I wanted a simple design and a nice easy pattern to follow, so that I wouldn't have to think. : ) Faith's Lemon Squares pattern was perfect! It allowed me to feature some nice big squares of the kids' fabric. I supplemented the kids' print with some colorful fabric from my stash that coordinated with the little artists' palettes.

On the back, I used a nice big piece of the print, to show off all those great drawings. (FYI, some of these pictures were taken before the quilt was bound.)

The quilt ended up selling for $250, which I think is wonderful considering that it was a class project and therefore had a limited pool of bidders—only the parents of the other 20 kids in my daughter's class would be interested in it, after all! I doubt a pair of pillowcases would have gotten even close to that much. And it fetched the highest price of all of the classroom projects (every class had its own). So I'm proud and happy that I could help raise some cash for the school, and I saw the high bidder walking out with it at the end of night, practically hugging it, she was so happy to have won it. That warmed my heart. : )

P.S. Just wanted to note that Heidi of Fabric Mutt has a blog hop starting today called "Girl Friday Sews"—all tutorials designed to freshen up your work space. I love stuff like that! Plus there will be giveaways, of course. : ) So head over there to follow along, and come back on Friday for my tutorial for a fabric-covered memo board!

Threadbias Design Tool Giveaway Winner

2013-03-29T19:58:00.004-05:00

Thank you everyone for your great comments on the Threadbias Quilt Design Tool! I hope you will all check out this user-friendly and very accessible way to design your own quilts!

My winner of the one-month subscription to the design tool is comment #55, by halfstitched. Congrats, half. : ) Enjoy designing lots of fab quilts with the tool.

And don't worry, there are lots more opportunities to win! The blog tour continues all next week (and many of those who have already had their stop still have open giveaways), so keep following along!

Monday, March 25 - Freshly Pieced

Tuesday, March 26 - Don't Call Me Betsy

Wednesday, March 27 - Generation Q Magazine

Thursday, March 28 - The Sometimes Crafter

Friday, March 29 - Diary of a Quilter

Monday, April 1 - Swim, Bike, Quilt

Tuesday, April 2 - Fresh Lemons

Wednesday, April 3 - West Coast Crafty

Thursday, April 4 - Sew, Mama, Sew!

Friday, April 5 - Alison Glass

Saturday, April 6 - Pink Castle Fabrics

Sunday, April 7 - Ellison Lane Quilts

Bloom Bloom Pow Quilt-Along: Planning Your Design

2013-03-28T05:30:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the first post of the Bloom Bloom Pow Quilt-Along! I'm so excited to get started! (More information about this quilt-along can be found in the Introductory post.)

One of my favorite things about quilt-alongs is not that you don't just learn how to cut up your fabric and piece it back together again—you can also learn about design. And design, of course, really happens in the planning stages. So that's what we're going to discuss today—how to plan our your quilt and combine fabrics to make the most of this particular design. Really fun stuff for design nerds like me. : )

(I know many of you purchased a Bloom Bloom Pow fabric bundle, which means you have exactly the same fabric as me. If you're planning to mimic my quilt and color placement, this design-planning post probably isn't crucial for you. But if you want to make any changes to my design, such as the colors used, prints used, or color placement within the quilt, this post will give you a framework for doing just that!)

Probably the single most important element to think about in this quilt is value. (Just in case you don't know, value refers to how light or dark a fabric is.) In this quilt, value makes the "flower petals" (the spoke-like things) pop out at the viewer, while the shaded background recedes and gives the flowers a bit of depth. So, regardless of whether you're using Pearl Bracelets or any other line of fabric, it's crucial that you get a handle on the value of the fabrics you're using.

Let's start by looking at this lovely photo of my Bloom Bloom Pow quilt bundle, available from Westwood Acres. (Photo courtesy of Amanda.)

I think it makes sense to group the fabric as follows: Dark, Medium, or Light. With the subtler print of the Pearl Bracelets line, I think it's fairly clear which Pearl Bracelet colors fall into which value categories. But a trick I often use to make value easier to spot is to look at a black-and-white picture of fabric or a quilt layout. So here's the same photo of the Bloom Bloom Pow bundle in black and white. The dark and light values are much more obvious now, aren't they?

From there I separated the Pearl Bracelet prints into the following groups:

Dark colors

Cosmonaut, Grape Jelly, Persimmon, Watermelon, Swiss Chard, Meyer Lemon, Basil (7 prints).

Medium colors:

Verbena, Frosting, Juniper, Lilac, Pond (5 prints).

Light colors:

Citron, Glacier, Ice Skate, Peach, Cotton Candy (5 prints).

Obviously, value is all a matter of degree. I was on the fence about some of these—Meyer Lemon and Basil could easily have been in the "Medium" category, while Verbena and Frosting could possibly have been "Dark." Just because I separated mine this way doesn't mean you have to, so if you're using Pearl Bracelets but would like to make some changes to your value stacks, I say go for it. : ) And you don't need to have the same number of prints in each of your groups that I do (7/5/5), although I don't recommend straying too far from that ratio.

Once you have your fabrics sorted by value, we'll be using those groups to decide which colors go where in the quilt design. The "darks" will always be flower petals/spokes in the Bloom Bloom Pow design, and "lights" will always be the shaded background in the block. "Mediums" can be used in either spot. Some flower petals/spokes will be medium, and some shaded backgrounds will be medium, depending on what they are paired with.

So the next step is to think about fabric pairings. Each hexagon-shaped flower block is made up of six triangles. Each block has one color for the flower petals (Persimmon in the example above), one color for the shaded background (Peach in the example above), and white. The important thing here is that your flower petals are darker than the shaded background. So, dark flower petals can be combined with a medium or light shaded background, while medium flower petals can be combined only with a light shaded background.

My advice is to try out pairings from your selected fabrics/value groups and see what looks good together. Let's take Watermelon, for example.

Watermelon looks great paired with Peach ...

... or with Cotton Candy.

And as you can see, Cotton Candy looks great with a lot of things—Frosting, Lilac, and Watermelon.

But even when choosing from the correct value groupings, not all pairings may work. For example, Watermelon (dark) paired with Frosting (medium). It sounds yummy enough, but I didn't think there was enough contrast in that pairing for it to work. (That's probably because Frosting was one of those borderline colors that could have been either Dark or Medium.)

So that's it for this week! Check out the fabric you're planning to use for this quilt, separate it into value stacks, and decide which color pairings do and do not work. Once you do that you'll be ready to cut your fabric next week! And don't forget, bundles are still available from Westwood Acres if you want to quilt along with us—the Throw-Size bundle is here, and the Baby-Size bundle is here.

Bloom Bloom Pow Quilt-Along Schedule

March 21 - Introduction

March 28 - Design strategy

April 4 - Cutting your fabric

April 11 - Strip-piecing instructions

April 18 - Cutting the triangles and deciding on a layout

April 25 - Piecing the triangles to complete the top

May 2 - Quilting and finishing

If you would like to grab the Quilt-Along button for your blog, please do. And don't forget to post photos of what your quilt-along progress in my Flickr group—and yes, fabric stacks count as progress! : ) See you next week!

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WIP Wednesday: HSTs Everywhere

2013-03-27T00:10:00.001-05:00

What I'm working on this week ....

HSTs for the quilt I designed with the Threadbias Quilt Design Tool. I used Thangles to churn these babies out. And speaking of the Quilt Design Tool, my giveaway of a free one-month pass to use the tool is still open!

And I'm working ahead a bit on my Bloom Bloom Pow quilt-along. Tomorrow we'll be talking about design strategy, but we still have another whole week until we start cutting fabric! That means there's plenty of time left to pick up a Bloom Bloom Pow throw-size or baby-size bundle from Westwood Acres and quilt along with the rest of us. Come on, you know you want those Pearl Bracelets. : )

What have you been working on? Link up your works-in-progress. Here are the rules:

1. Link up any post from the past week that features at least one unfinished work-in-progress (WIP).

2. Somewhere in your post, you must link back here to my blog. (Or grab my WIP Wednesday button for your sidebar.)

3. Comment on at least a few of the other WIP Wednesday links. Because what fun is a linky party without comments?

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The Threadbias Quilt Design Tool: Blog Hop and Giveaway!

2013-03-25T06:00:00.000-05:00

Good morning! I'm excited to be kicking off the Threadbias Quilt Design Tool Blog Hop today! I've been waiting for a quilt design program that was Mac-accessible and more modern-fabric-friendly. The Threadbias tool is it!

Until now, I've used Adobe Illustrator to design my quilts. Illustrator is a design powerhouse that I've relied on for more than 12 years professionally, but using it to design quilts is like using a sledgehammer on a thumbtack. What I wanted for quilting was a program that would easily create quilt-specific shapes, efficiently fill those shapes with fabric swatches, provide a better grid to work from, and would calculate fabric requirements for me. Being on a Mac, Electric Quilt wasn't an option for me, nor does EQ come with many pre-loaded modern fabric swatches.

Enter the Threadbias Quilt Design Tool. It's a web-based program that has all the features I've been wanting and it's 100% accessible to me and my Mac. Even better, you pay a monthly subscription price to access the tool, so there's no big up-front investment. I couldn't sign up fast enough.

So now that it's been rolled out, what do I think of it? I've played around with it quite a bit now, and it pretty much does exactly what I want it to do. There is no question that I can design blocks and quilts exponentially faster than I do with Illustrator. It took me all of 10 minutes to design this block:

And another 15 minutes to come up with the resulting quilt design and export it as a JPG. (I like this design so much, I've already started cutting the fabric to make it!)

One more click and I had my fabric requirements. No more quilty math? I think that's worth the Design Tool's subscription fee right there. : )

Some other features I love:
• You can "color swap"—for example, you can make every green section purple instead, in just one click.
• You can export simple shapes to use as cutting templates.
• You can automatically make "composed shapes", such as half-square triangles, quarter-square triangles, or hexagons made up of equilateral triangles.

So I love the Threadbias Quilt Design Tool! Here are some tips for getting the most out of it:

• Watch the tutorial videos. I admit, I'm one of those people who likes to skip the instructions and just jump right into something like this. I can't tell you the number of times that attitude has tripped me up (usually while assembling Ikea furniture). It didn't work out any better for me with the Quilt Design Tool. So after fumbling around for a bit, I spent 7 minutes watching the introductory video on the design tool's main page. That was time very well-spent! Seven minutes was was all it took, and suddenly the user interface made perfect sense to me. You can also find a YouTube playlist with 20 short videos that explore the tool in more depth.

• Your web browser matters. Apparently the tool is slower when used in Firefox, because of the way Firefox processes javascript. But I've had no problems at all running the tool in Chrome—everything has moved smoothly and quickly, with no locking up.

• Don't hit the delete key! I kept selecting shapes and hitting "delete" on the keyboard. That's how you delete something in Illustrator, so it was habit. But when you're in a web browser, that just results in closing your browser window. That caused some swearing the first few times I did it. But by the time I finished designing my second project with the tool, I was already in the habit of using the "eraser" button to the left of the workspace to delete things. (Edited to add: Apparently Threadbias has already fixed this—you can now use the delete key to delete things. Just one example of how responsive they've been about making changes based on user feedback!)

As long as you follow those three tips, I think you'll have a great experience with the Design Tool and you'll be as in love with it as I am. : ) Click here to sign up for the design tool—subscriptions are $10 per month. (That's less than the price of a yard of fabric!)

To convince you to try it out, Threadbias is offering a free one-month pass to the Design Tool, or a one-month credit on your existing subscription. Just leave any comment on this post to enter the giveaway. Be sure to leave your email address if you're a no-reply blogger, so I can contact you if you win. And please note that if you do win, you must sign up for a free account on Threadbias in order to use the design tool.

Don't forget to follow along with the rest of the blog hop for more chances to win. And thank you, Threadbias, for giving me a better quilt-designing option!

Monday, March 25 - Freshly Pieced

Tuesday, March 26 - Don't Call Me Betsy

Wednesday, March 27 - Generation Q Magazine

Thursday, March 28 - The Sometimes Crafter

Friday, March 29 - Diary of a Quilter

Monday, April 1 - Swim, Bike, Quilt

Tuesday, April 2 - Fresh Lemons

Wednesday, April 3 - West Coast Crafty

Thursday, April 4 - Sew, Mama, Sew!

Friday, April 5 - Alison Glass

Saturday, April 6 - Pink Castle Fabrics

Sunday, April 7 - Ellison Lane Quilts

Talking About "Modern"

2013-03-22T13:11:00.001-05:00

Something happened yesterday that I think is worth pointing out: The national Modern Quilt Guild changed its "official" definition of modern quilting.

The new definition, as stated on the MQG website, is as follows: "Modern quilts are primarily functional and inspired by modern design. Modern quilters work in different styles and define modern quilting in different ways, but several characteristics often appear which may help identify a modern quilt. These include, but are not limited to: the use of bold colors and prints, high contrast and graphic areas of solid color, improvisational piecing, minimalism, expansive negative space, and alternate grid work. 'Modern traditionalism' or the updating of classic quilt designs is also often seen in modern quilting."

I've been surprised by all the talk on blogs recently about the MQG's definition of modern quilting being too narrow, or excluding certain types of quilters. I don't think that was ever the intent of anyone on the MQG board. I believe that the previous definition, as stated on the MQG's website, was never meant to be exhaustive. After all, the previous definition did not mention Modern Traditionalism (my favorite area of modern quilting), but QuiltCon had an entire category devoted to Modern Traditionalist quilts. In fact, the Best In Show winner was a double-wedding-ring design that came from that very category. I was in Austin and saw the wide variety of quilts that were shown at QuiltCon. So while I think the previous definition needed work, I don't for one minute think it was intentionally exclusive.

But I'm very glad that the MQG has now made the effort to clarify their definition. I think the change more accurately reflects what is happening in modern quilting, and the fact that the leadership was willing to make the change shows that they're trying to be responsive to members' concerns. Are there some people out there who don't consider the type of quilts I make (and love) to be modern? Of course (and I'm fine with that). Do I agree with all of the judges' decisions and critiques from QuiltCon? Nope. One of my quilts placed, but I got critiques on my other two quilts that I did not agree with at all. But that doesn't change the fact that I have always found the Modern Quilt Guild to be 100% welcoming, both to me—a primarily "modern traditionalist" quilter—and to many other types of quilters. That includes events with my local chapter and the nationally sponsored QuiltCon. In fact, many of the ladies in my local guild don't even exclusively make modern quilts—they are just as likely to dabble in traditional quilting or many other types of sewing. Every local guild is different, but to assume that the MQG in general is only interested in a few types of modern quilting or is trying to exclude certain quilters baffles me. Why jump to negative conclusions?

The only reason I am posting this at all is because I don't think this particular viewpoint has gotten much play in the blog world. I would hate to see all this talk of narrow definitions and exclusivity dissuade anyone from checking out their local Modern Quilt Guild chapter.

In the end, it's really up to all of us to collectively define modern quilting—and I think the MQG is showing that it understands that and is willing to listen to what we're saying. I'm closing comments on this post because I'm not interested in furthering any more controversy or inviting negative comments. I just wanted to put my side out there. But if you have specific questions or feedback about this post, please feel free to email me. And thank you for listening!

Bloom Bloom Pow! A Springtime Quilt-Along

2013-03-21T06:00:00.000-05:00

It's 18 degrees here as I type this, and winter doesn't seem to be letting up, so who wants to help me hurry spring along with a flowery, sunshiney quilt?

Yes, I've decided it's time for another quilt-along! I've got a yummy stack of Lizzy House's Pearl Bracelets line by Andover, and I'm ready to bring on spring, even if it doesn't feel like it outside.

So this is the design we'll be making. I'm calling it "Bloom Bloom Pow." (My apologies if you end up with a certain song stuck in your head!) This looks hard, right? I promise you it isn't! No paper-piecing here, no templates required—the design uses a really simple strip-piecing technique to make the flower shapes. The most difficult thing you'll do during this QAL is sew together equilateral triangles, which really isn't that hard either, and I'll show you all my tips and tricks for lining up your triangles nicely.

All the fun kicks off with our first post a week from today, March 28. There will be two size options: Baby/Crib and Throw. Fabric requirements for each are below.

And hey, look! The lovely Amanda of A Crafty Fox and Westwood Acres has made up some Pearl Bracelet bundles especially for the QA! The bundles include everything you need to make either the Baby or Throw-size top and are now available in her shop—how easy is that? : )

Baby/Crib

Finished size: 37.5" x 50"

Fabric requirements to make the top:

• 1/4 yard each of 17 colors of Pearl Bracelet prints by Andover (straight quarter-yard cuts are ideal because of the strip-piecing, but you can also use fat quarters)

• 1 yard solid white

Bloom Bloom Pow Baby-Size bundle can be purchased here (this bundle has straight quarter-yard cuts)

Throw

Finished size: 52.5" x 69"

Fabric requirements to make the top:

• 3/8 yard each of 17 colors of Pearl Bracelet prints by Andover

• 1 1/2 yards solid white

Bloom Bloom Pow Throw-Size bundle can be purchased here

Fabric Selections

I think Pearl Bracelets is perfect for this design, with its bright colors, its subtle but fun print, and the varying values within the line (my design relies a lot on the darker flower "petals" paired with lighter secondary elements). But there are plenty of other prints that would look great in this quilt. Because of the strip-piecing, it would be difficult to make it scrappy, but using stash prints or another fabric lines would be very cool too. I'm looking forward to seeing what you talented people do with this!

Cutting Equilateral Triangles

For both sizes, we will be cutting 7" equilateral triangles. I'll be providing a downloadable template that you can use to cut your triangles, but if you want to make life easier for yourself, use a 60-degree equilateral triangle ruler. If you don't have one already, consider buying one—it's a versatile ruler that you'll almost certainly use for many other projects. I love the Creative Grids rulers, so this triangle ruler would be a perfect choice, but any 60-degree equilateral triangle ruler that cuts up to 7" finished sizes will work.

Quilt-Along Schedule

March 28 - Design strategy (we'll just be talking about the big picture here, so you won't need your fabric yet for this post)

April 4 - Cutting your fabric

April 11 - Strip-piecing instructions

April 18 - Cutting the triangles and deciding on a layout

April 25 - Piecing the triangles to complete the top

May 2 - Quilting and finishing

It's important to note that this will be a very laid-back, do-it-whenever-you-want kind of quilt-along. Because if the weather does improve, we might all want to go outside, after all. : ) So follow along at your own pace—the posts will be available indefinitely. I hope you'll all join in—you can grab the quilt-along button below for your own blogs if you would like.

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See you next Thursday when we'll talk design! I can't wait! And don't forget to join the Freshly Pieced Sewing group on Flickr and post your progress photos there!

WIP Wednesday: Traveling (Kind Of)

2013-03-20T00:39:00.000-05:00

Here's what's happening in my world this week ....

Look at all the pretty Pearl Bracelets, just waiting to be made into something fun and colorful and springtimey and sunshiney. Don't we all need that right now? In fact, let's make it a quilt-along! I'm announcing it tomorrow, so come back for details on design, fabric requirements, all that good stuff.

Faith's been working on an Arkansas Traveler quilt, which got me thinking about these beauties, made for me last year by the Stash Trad bee. A plan is starting to form.

And of course, I made a few more of these with my Modern Sampler students. Including another Arkansas Traveler. Can't have too much of a good thing, right?

What have you been working on? Link up your works-in-progress. Here are the rules:

1. Link up any post from the past week that features at least one unfinished work-in-progress (WIP).

2. Somewhere in your post, you must link back here to my blog. (Or grab my WIP Wednesday button for your sidebar.)

3. Comment on at least a few of the other WIP Wednesday links. Because what fun is a linky party without comments?

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Thank You!

2013-03-15T21:06:00.001-05:00

First of all, I want to thank you all for the wonderful response to our book announcement! Katie, Faith, and I were super excited to spill about this, so for you guys to be looking forward to the book too is beyond amazing. In fact, we were blown away to discover that Vintage Quilt Revival was #2 on Amazon's "Quilts and Quilting" best-seller list on Thursday night! That's not bad for a book that won't be out for another 8 months, and for which you have only seen the cover. : ) Thank you!

But right now, I owe you not one but two giveaway winners!

The winner of the copy of Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe (from my giveaway on Feb. 25) is commenter #53, Joyce.

And the winner of a fat-quarter bundle of Carnaby Street by Art Gallery Fabrics is commenter #42, allierae.

And just a reminder that if you are a "no-reply blogger," you MUST leave your email address in your comment or I have no way to contact you. I had to re-draw for the book once and the FQ bundle three times to get commenters that I could email! Click here and here to learn how to fix your no-reply status ... or just leave your email address in comments on giveaways.

Enjoy, ladies!