Mark your calendars for the upcoming One Million Pillow Case Challenge Sew-a-Thon coming up on September 16th and 17th, 2016. For the third year, our friends at American Patchwork & Quilting are hosting this fun event, and inviting sewists from around the world to participate.

Make up some pretty pillowcases and donate them to your favourite local charity. It could be a children’s hospital, homeless shelters, hospice case centres, or any place that you wish. Register your completed pillowcases here, so that they can be counted in the challenge.

Some fun ideas for you to consider:

• Ask your local quilt/sewing shop to host an event, inviting fellow community sewists to attend and make pillowcases for your local favourite charities.
• Talk to your local community centre to see if they would be willing to allow you some space to host your own event.
• Invite some friends over for some sewing fun, make it pot-luck, so that everyone brings yummy goodies. Guaranteed to be an afternoon filled with much laughter.
• You decide ….

Free Pillowcase Patterns

American Patchwork & Quilting have 50+ free pillowcase patterns available on their site. Shown below are: Pattern #25 – Pillowcase with Bubbles Appliqué Band, Pattern #32 – Train Pillowcase, Pattern #42 – Hey, Cupcake!, and Pattern #55 – Yo-Yo Band.

My Free Pillowcase Pattern

Last month, I shared with you my FREE pillowcase tutorial, made envelope-style. I decided to use that tutorial to make a pillowcase for this challenge.

For the centre of my pillowcase, I used the 12″ block that I created for my FREE Quartered Star Block Tutorial. For my coordinating fabrics, I chose the hot pink with red and white and the yellow two-toned stars for the back and sides. In my original tutorial, I used two different fabrics for the back, but for this one, I just used the one fabric and cut it at 20″ by width of fabric.

Since I needed the centre to be 20″ unfinished, I added 4″ borders around the quartered star block. I love how the hot pink fabric works with this.

I followed the tutorial and attached the back pieces, hemmed the edges, then stitched up the two sides, exactly the same as I explain in the pillowcase tutorial. I’m loving it!! I hope the recipient will too.

Download my FREE Quartered Star Block Tutorial.

Let me know, will you be making some pillowcases for your favourite charity?

Blog Hop

Be sure to visit all of the other blogs that are helping to celebrate this event and check out their gorgeous pillowcases:

• American Patchwork & Quilting
• Celine Perkins
• Coats & Clark
• Fabri-Quilt / Paintbrush Studios
• FreeSpirit
• Handi Quilter
• How To Sew
• Jacquelynne Steves
• Make It Yourself
• Martingale
• Melissa Corry
• Moda Fabrics
• Pat Sloan
• Sarah Maxwell of Designs by Sarah J
• Sheila Sinclair Snyder of License to Quilt
• Timeless Treasures
• The Splendid Sampler

The Splendid Sampler – Free Pillowcase Block

I also finished The Splendid Sampler’s bonus pillowcase block, also from our friends at American Patchwork & Quilting. Download the free block here!

The post Sew-a-Thon: One Million Pillow Case Challenge first appeared on Quilting Gallery.

I hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend. It’s hard to believe that this is the last full week of August. There is a crispness in this morning’s air, just to remind us that Fall is around the corner.

Teal Mini Swap

I’m excited to share with you this fun event that is being hosted by my friend Beth from EvaPaige Quilts. For the 5th year, Beth is running a Teal Mini Swap to raise funds for Ovarian Cancer Research. The cause is really important to her as she lost her mom to this terrible disease.

Participants pay $15 (USD) or $18 (USD) for Canadians, to register and $10 of the registration fee is donated, by Beth, directly to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. The remainder of the fee goes toward the expenses involved in running the swap (e.g. printing, shipping, labels, email services, fabric cutting, etc.).

Participants are sent an 8″ square of Teal challenge fabric (shown below). Our good friends at Moda Fabrics are this year’s fabric sponsor. When you register, you’ll have a choice of making either a mini quilt (18″ square maximum) or a mug rug (10″ square maximum). The challenge fabric needs to be included somewhere in the mini quilt that you’ll make.

Beth will assign the partners for the swap, and you and your partner will become friends and communicate via email to discuss your preferences, likes, dislikes, and your stories too. Partners are assigned 1:1, which means the person you are sending to will also be the person you are receiving from.

Additionally, swap members can join the Teal Mini Swap Facebook Group, where you can share photos of your minis, as well as, personal stories about ovarian cancer. Hint: from my own personal history of doing swaps, it’s fun to tease your swap partner, but uploading sneak peek photos as you make your mini.

Schedule:

• July 25 – August 29, 2016: Swap registration is open – Register Here! OR until Beth runs out of fabric… as of my writing, she only has room for 49 more participants.
• August 15 – September 2: Behind the scenes envelope stuffing and mailing of packets to swap participants.
• September 2 – September 30: Celebrate Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month by creating your mini for your swap partner and mail it by the October 2, 2016 deadline.

Join the Swap:

I hope you’re excited to join the swap, click the button below to register:

Register for the Swap

If you have any questions, join the Teal Mini Swap Facebook Group or send Beth an email from her EvaPaige Quilts web site.

HURRY! According to Beth this morning, there are only 49 spots left for the swap.

The post Teal Mini Swap for Ovarian Cancer Research first appeared on Quilting Gallery.

Happy Friday everyone!!

Last week, I was in Syracuse, NY to meet up with a few quilting friends, meet some wonderful Splenderettes and attend the AQS Syracuse quilt show. For The Splendid Sampler Meet Up in the Middle, we met at Calico Gals, a lovely quilt shop not too far from our hotel downtown.

Pictured above, are The Splendid Sampler Designers that were in attendance, Debby Brown (Splendid Quilter), Victoria Findlay Wolfe (Block 72), Joan Ford (Block 84), Me (Block 24 Inspector Sidekick), Flat Pat and Jacquelynne Steves (Block #76). Pat had an emergency come up at the last minute, and was unable to join us in person.

It was so much fun to meet everyone, and see all of their gorgeous blocks. I didn’t end up taking many photos, just too busy chatting and having fun. Below are a few that I did take.

We’ve Reached the Top

Yesterday marked the release of Block 50, Flights of Fancy, for The Splendid Sampler. This block was designed by Joanna Figueroa.

Additionally, on Wednesday, Pat released a bonus block to celebrate reaching the Top of the Hill.

Many of the designers are also helping to celebrate this milestone, with blog give-aways or freebies on their sites. Here are today’s designers:

• Melissa Corry
• Joan Ford
• Kathy Schmitz
• Sara Lawson
• Lynette Anderson
• Jacquelynne Steves
• April Rosenthal
• Amy Udall Smart
• Aurifil

Give-Aways

I have two different give-aways for you all. First up, five free quilt blocks for you to download. Instructions for these blocks include both 6″ and 12″ finished blocks. Download them here!

For my second give-away, two lucky winners, who leave a comment below, will win memberships to my Pieced Mini Quilt Club.

To enter the give-away, leave a comment below telling me what your plans are for this weekend. Two winners will be chosen randomly to win on Monday, August 8th.

My Blocks

I’ve been able to sneak a few blocks into my schedule this week. If you’re like me and behind, don’t worry, we’ll all be making these blocks far into the future. I have a couple of other blocks cut out and ready for stitching. I’ll be doing them as I work on other projects too.

The post The Splendid Sampler: We’ve Reached the Top first appeared on Quilting Gallery.

Good morning everyone! I’m excited to participate in the Acorn Valley Blog Tour featuring these gorgeous flannels designed by Patty Young for Riley Blake.

I love, love, love flannel pillowcases. I use them all year round. I also detest when my pillow falls out of its case, so my tutorial here shows you how to make an envelope-style pillowcase.

First step, measure your pillow. I have queen-sized pillows that measure 19″ tall x 24″ wide. Add some seam allowance, I like to use 1/2″ seams for this type of project. So, my height measurement becomes 20″. I wanted to feature the fox print on the front, with the coordinating fabric on the side and back. That meant to my 24″ wide, I added 6″ for overlap, 6″ for the sides of the front and 1″ for the seam allowance. That came out to 38″, since fabric is generally 40″ wide, I just cut my strips by width of fabric.

Here are the exact measurements for my queen-sized pillow:

20″ square of focus fabric (foxes)
2 strips at 7.5″ by width of fabric (red butterflies)
1 strip at 6.5″ by width of fabric (blue flowers)

Shown below are my cut pieces to make two matching pillowcases.

I used my serger for this project. If you don’t have a serger, you can use a regular sewing machine, and then use pinking shears or a zigzag stitch to finish your exposed seams. Remember, 1/2″ seam allowance used throughout.

First stitch the three coordinating pieces right sides together, red, blue, red, in my case. If you are using a directional fabric, like I am, be mindful to have the pieces orientated in the same direction.

These will measure 20″ x ~40″ width of fabric.

Press the seams flat towards the outside fabric, i.e. the red butterflies. Next fold the long pieces in half on the short edge, and remove the selvages.

Unfold the strip and refold in half on the length. Find the centre and cut the strips in half. Mine measured approximately 20″ tall by 21″ wide. Layout your two pieces on each side of your focus print, making sure that if you have directional prints, the units are in the correct orientation. (Sorry for the blurry photo!)

Stitch the side pieces to the centre square. Next, hem the two ends. First fold over a 1″ hem, then fold that again. Stitch two lines to secure in place.

Yeah, we’re almost done. To finish up, lay your piece on your table right side up. Since my pillows are 24″ wide, I used my 24″ ruler, to centre the fox print in the middle (super easy). If your measurements are different, you’ll just want to determine what the measurement should be, and centre the middle print, with an equal amount of coordinating fabric shown on both sides.

I then used a larger ruler to help keep everything straight and folded the edges over, so that the fabric is right sides together and overlapping.

Pin the layers together, and serge the final two edges. Turn your pillowcase right sides out, and give it a press. Stuff your pillow inside.

Milo approved!

Let me know if you have any questions. If you make some pillowcases, please share in my Facebook Group, I’d love to see them. Plus, be sure to download my 5 Free Quilt Block Tutorials over on my pattern site.

Blog Tour

Visit the other Acorn Valley Blog tour participants to see what lovely projects they made:

Giveaway and Coupon Code

Patty is giving away a box of 1 yard cuts of Acorn Valley flannels.

Enter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Plus use coupon code AcornValley2016 to get 25% off your entire purchase in the Modkid Etsy Store. Valid July 11th through July 22nd at midnight EST.

The post FREE Pillowcase Tutorial, With Flannel Fabric, PLUS a Give-Away first appeared on Quilting Gallery.

I’m excited to share with you Jacquelynne Steves FREE Block of the Month, Maggie’s First Dance. The appliqué layout version is shown below; however, you can choose to do fusible machine appliqué or embroidery for your blocks.

July is block 2 of this BOM. Here’s my embroidered version:

I used one less print, in favour of using more of the colourful dots fabric. The fabrics I’ve pulled for this project are shown below. I need a table runner for a gift later this year, so I’m thinking these pretty blocks will be perfect to use for that.

I’ve also finished the embroidery for the first block. It was a first time trying hand embroidery, and I really love the process. There’s nothing better than sitting outside on the porch stitching the summer evenings away.

Milo loves our outside office:

Yes, I made my first embroidery Oops when stitching block 2 last week. Oh well, it was quick to unstitch and redo.

Give-Away

To help celebrate Maggie’s First Dance BOM, I’ve giving away four copies of my Starlight Templates and Table Runner pattern.

To enter the give-away, just leave a comment below telling me how you spent your weekend. I’ll randomly choose four winners on Friday, July 8th. Winners will be notified via email.

Also, don’t forget to sign up for Maggie’s First Dance BOM to receive the two designs already released and get the future ones when they become available.

The post A Free BOM: Maggie’s First Dance and a Give-Away first appeared on Quilting Gallery.

The Splendid Sampler

My block is called Inspector Sidekick and honours all of my furry family members. Animals, both dogs and cats, have been a part of my family since I was a young child.

In my early twenties, I enrolled in dressmaking classes at the local community college. At this time, Pal lived with me, and I was spending a lot of my spare time completing the homework assignments. This meant spending a lot of time at the sewing and serging machines.

Pal was not at all impressed that he couldn’t be on my lap while I was stitching. Being a mischievous kitty, he found his revenge, by biting through all of my serger threads when I was sleeping or at work. This was 25 years ago, and let me tell you, those old sergers were a bear to thread.

My second baby was Daniel. He spent many hours with his head hanging over the back of the couch watching what I was working on at the cutting/sewing machine.

Now my best buddy and quilting inspector is Milo. He’s 4 1/2 years old now, and hangs out with me in my office/sewing studio all day long. He drags his bed around the room, depending on where I’m working.

I’d love to hear about your own quilting inspectors. Leave a comment below or jump over to my Facebook Community to share a picture.

My Block – Inspector Sidekick

Download my free Splendid Sampler block here: Inspector Sidekick.

My block has lots of little pieces, so take some extra time to cut as accurate as you can. I found it helpful to label the pieces after I cut them, so I didn’t get mixed up.

I used Aurifil 2325 in 50 weight for piecing. This is a great neutral thread colour and worked perfectly with my fabrics.

Bonus tip: Don’t forget to square-up and trim your half-square triangles before assembling them into blocks. This trimming step will really help with the overall accuracy of your block.

Finally, thank you for visiting! I hope you have fun making my block and I’ll be watching for the photos in The Splendid Sampler Facebook group.

Bonus Blocks

Head over to my pattern site, Aiming for Accuracy to download my free Block Library tutorials.

The post My Splendid Sampler Block: Inspector Sidekick first appeared on Quilting Gallery.

Honey Bunny

Bunny Face Bag

Folk Art Birds

Felt Easter Basket

Easter Egg Cosy Chicks

Felt Bunny

Easter Butterfly Eggs

Easter Egg Place Mat

Patchwork Bunny

Bunny Pencil Topper or Pin

Easter Bunny

Easter Chick

DIY Felt Bunny

Hen Easter Egg Warmer

Ruffled Fabric Basket

Bunny Easter Basket

Easter Egg Felt Ornaments

Sweet Floppy Bunny

Spring Chick Plushie

The post 20 Adorably FREE Easter Sewing Projects first appeared on Quilting Gallery.

Earlier this month, my swap participants kept the mail carriers around the world busy delivering their Cobblestone Mat table runners.

Here are the three variations that I created of this pattern:

For the quilting, I used Aurifil 12wt thread to add dimension to my diagonal cross-hatching design:

Below is a large selection of the photos from the swap participants. I just love how each person took my pattern, and made it their own, to give to their new quilting friend.

Purchase: Cobblestone Mat

As you can see by the lovely examples shown above, this pattern is super versatile. It sews together very quickly and would be great as gifts for your loved ones.

Purchase Cobblestone Mat

The post Beginner-Friendly Quilting Pattern: Cobblestone Mats first appeared on Quilting Gallery.

Here’s a photo from 2012 of Milo. At just one-year-old, he was still learning all of his manners and tricks. He certainly learned that cuddling on top of the quilts was super comfy.

Here’s Milo at two years old. This was the year, that I started to cut his hair/fur. Since he’s a Yorkie ShiuTzu mix mainly, his hair grows really fast. Now, he gets at least three hair cuts a year.

He’s overdue for a haircut now, but it will be Winter soon, and I’ll mainly be focussing on his private areas, and around his face and head. His neck hair grows the fastest. As Winter is approaching, I’ll leave his body hair alone.

Here’s Milo at three years old. He loves to cuddle with my quilts or with the Afghan my mom made me. Soft and comfortable for him!

Here’s Milo at four years old. At the end of 2014, we moved to a new home. Milo adjusted very well to his new surroundings. In this photo, Milo had lost his ball underneath the TV cabinet and wanted me to get it for him.

While I had to come up with some new rules for him in our new home, with respect to the stairs leading to the basement, where the bedroom is, he quickly learned that he has to wait until I’m either down or up the stairs. The first few times, he came very close to tripping me on the stairs.

In our new home, we have street access, so Milo has been able to meet our neighbours and other dogs that walk by. He just loves being outside, any chance he can get. Occasionally, he will bark at the noises outside, but generally, when he gets to meet the people causing the noise, he’s perfectly happy.

While Canada celebrates Remembrance Day and our American friends celebrate Veterans’ Day, I also remember the day I picked up sweet Milo. He has changed my life in so many ways!

The post Celebrating Our Fifth Year Together first appeared on Quilting Gallery.

While, I will share some photos in the near future on this blog, of my own quilt-along progress, today, is all about my quilt-along participants. I am thrilled to share their photos below. I’ll do a second post of participants’ blocks in the near future too.

Do you see WHY I’m so proud of my students? Each and every quilt is absolutely unique and gorgeous. Everyone should be very pleased with their results.

While the quilt-along wraps up this month, you can still join the quilt-along and work at your own pace, sharing your progress in our Facebook Group.

At the beginning of December, my A4AII pattern price will increase. Save now, and join the quilt-along. You will also get the final, published pattern, when it’s available December 7th.

Purchase the Quilt-Along

The post A4AII: Participants’ Quilt Tops first appeared on Quilting Gallery.