The Double Nickel Quilt Challenge

Honoring our veterans

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Sat, 25 May 2013 04:32:00 +0000

This Memorial Day weekend, join Craftsy in honoring the brave men and women who have served in the US Armed Forces.

For every class sold this weekend, Craftsy will donate a portion of the proceeds to benefit a veterans' organization.

Select classes will be on sale up to 60% off! Sale ends May 27th at midnight.

Have all the classes you want? Consider gifting a class to your favorite service member!

BlockBase Sew Along quilt block #1249 New Star

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:47:00 +0000

This is the last block in the BlockBase Sew Along by Electric Quilt. We got to choose our own block! Be sure you check out all the different quilt blocks this week. I can't wait to see what other people came up with!

BlockBase #1249 New Star

I chose block #1249 because I hadn't seen it before and I think it works very well with the rest of the blocks. It was a simple one to paper piece. It has just four identical sections. I've been working on a layout for a quilt using the blocks from the Sew Along but that's for another day.

Note-After seeing Jenny's idea for the layout, I think she must have been reading my mind!

BlockBase Sew Along quilt block #2088 Rolling Nine Patch

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 23:46:00 +0000

Rolling Nine Patch

Wow! The Rolling Nine Patch block is block #11 in the BlockBase Sew Along. Just 1 more block to go!

I made a 9" quilt block this week. I didn't color it the way it was in Block Base this time. I made "the background" all one fabric instead and combined 2 squares into a rectangle which made more sense to me since the 2 squares would have been the same fabric. See what I'm talking about here.

If you want to see more interpretations of this quilt block, go here.

Chevrony again!

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:29:00 +0000

Chevrons and zig zags seem to be everywhere these days so I made my Chevrony quilt pattern again! It's so easy and uses up a bunch of fat quarters which I seem to collect too many of! Each row uses one fat quarter. It can also be made using 5" charm squares. Either way, it's a great way to use some of that stash you have. The quilt finishes at 48" x 64". My new quilt is on the left and the original is on the right. I think it looks great in any color scheme!

If you are interested in making this quilt, a pattern is available as a download. You can get it here.

BlockBase Sew Along #1301 Lucky Star quilt block

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 02:11:00 +0000

Lucky Star quilt block

Here's my block #10 in Electric Quilt's BlockBase Sew Along. It's called Lucky Star and was published by Nancy Cabot as are the Broken Star, Prairie Flower, Pyramids and Independence Square blocks that were made previously in this Sew Along.

If you'd like to see more Nancy Cabot blocks, visit my blog called Moore About Nancy and check out the Nancy Cabot Sew Along. A new FREE block pattern is published each day.

I made this block 8" finished and used paper piecing to construct it.

Check out all of the other blocks here. You need to scroll down the page to see the blocks.

BlockBase Sew Along quilt block #2901.5 Broken Star

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 05:16:00 +0000

Broken Star quilt block

Here's my block #9 in Electric Quilt's BlockBase Sew Along. It's called Broken Star and was published by Nancy Cabot as are the Prairie Flower, Pyramids and Independence Square blocks that were made previously in this Sew Along.

If you'd like to see more Nancy Cabot blocks, check out my blog called Moore About Nancy and check out the Nancy Cabot Sew Along. A new block pattern is published each day.

I made this block 9" finished. I paper pieced it because I thought that was the fastest way for me to make it. It could certainly be cut and pieced easily also.

Check out all of the other blocks here.

BlockBase Sew Along #1401

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 06:12:00 +0000

It's week number 8 in Electric Quilt's BlockBase Sew Along!

This block is called Borrow and Lend and is block #1401 in BlockBase. Looks like four spools to me!

Anyway, it's super simple and can be made from 5" squares.

I chose to keep the background fabric the same and make each "spool" a different color. I just thought that worked better with the other blocks I have made so far.

To make a 9" finished block like mine, you just need a few basic parts-

1-5" X 2" strip for center
2-2" squares of background fabric
4-half square triangles of both fabrics-2" unfinished

I made my half square triangle units with Triangles on a Roll 1-1/2in Half Square triangles (finished size). I really love those things!

Make 4 of these units and sew together like the block above. Each section should be 5" unfinished.

You could vary the background fabric in each section for a different look!

To see all the other blocks made this week go here.

Seven Free block patterns

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:58:00 +0000

Wow! It's been a week already since I started the Nancy Cabot Sew Along. Here are the blocks that have been posted so far-

If you are interested in receiving the block patterns each day, you can sign up for a daily email on that blog.

You must verify your subscription in an email that is sent after you sign up. The response has been fantastic but a few people have not verified so I'm just sending out a reminder.

Nancy Cabot Sew Along starts today!

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 16:24:00 +0000

The Nancy Cabot Sew Along at Moore About Nancy officially starts today, eighty years after Nancy Cabot started publishing quilt blocks for the Chicago Tribune in 1933. Today the blog tells a little history about Nancy and her newspaper column but starting tomorrow, a block will be posted each day on the day that it was published by her. It won't just be a drawing of the block which is what she provided, I'll tell you how I think it should be made with the resources that we have available today so start looking through your scraps and be ready to sew!

I'm planning on making a sampler quilt of 6" blocks but I already know that some of the quilt blocks are much too complicated to make at that size. However, there are a lot to choose from since she wrote the column well into the 1940's!

Cactus Basket quilt block

The first quilt block she published, she called Cactus Basket. It is made differently than what I find most commonly pops up when I "google" Cactus Basket quilt blocks however. Check back tomorrow to start sewing along. You may sign up for an email subscription on the Moore About Nancy blog. You will receive a link in an email back to you that you must click on to verify that you really want to sign up.

BlockBase Sew Along #1774 Thunder and Lightning

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:28:00 +0000

Thunder and Lightning quilt block

Here is block #7 in the BlockBase Sew Along hosted by Electric Quilt. It is called Thunder and Lightning and is block #1774 in BlockBase. I made this block 9" finished and used Triangles on a Roll to make the small half square triangle blocks. Very fast and easy. Lucky for me my quilting buddy had a roll and was willing to share!

The flying geese units were made using Quilt in a Day's Small Flying Geese ruler. A great little tool if you read and follow the directions.

Check here to see all the blocks made this week.

This block is attributed to Nancy Cabot as are the Prairie Flower, Pyramids and Independence Square blocks that were made previously in this Sew Along. Seeing Nancy Cabot's name so often made me want to find out more about her. I searched BlockBase and it came up with 749 blocks attributed to her! I decided that I would like to make a sampler quilt from just her patterns and starting making blocks. Here's what I've made so far-

With more research, I discovered that Nancy Cabot wrote and sold patterns for the Chicago Tribune in the 1930's. I found those old newspaper articles and decided to try to make the blocks in the order that they were published. If you think you might like to sew some blocks too, I will be hosting the Nancy Cabot Sew Along starting January 22, 2013, exactly 80 years after Nancy Cabot started publishing in the Chicago Tribune.

Join me on Tuesday at my new blog, Moore About Nancy, and learn a little about Nancy Cabot and a lot about the history of quilting t1hrough her eyes and mine. Each day a new block pattern will be introduced so check back often

FREE Block of the Month class for 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 01:05:00 +0000

The Block of the Month course is back at Craftsy! It's a free course with a new block released each month. Sign up and you can watch any time! You can start late or miss a month because your access never expires! Work at your own pace and by year end, you will have a beautiful sampler quilt! You'll learn a new quilt technique each month,too. Whether you're a beginner or an expert quilter, you should join the largest online quilt-a-long with Craftsy.com!

The class is taught by Laura Nownes, author of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! Her block for January is the Offset Log Cabin and 140+ quilters have posted their finished blocks already! It's always fun to see what fabrics and colors other quilters choose.

Craftsy has a variety of classes to choose from including knitting, crocheting, sewing, jewelry, weaving, cake decorating and more in addition to quilting. Other features of the site are patterns, fabric, workshops, blog and much more. Go check it out!

BlockBase Sew Along #2354 Crazy Pieces block

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 16:07:00 +0000

BlockBase #2354 Crazy Pieces quilt block

Here is block #6 in the BlockBase Sew Along by Electric Quilt. It is called Crazy Pieces and is block #2354 in BlockBase. I made this block 8" finished and used paper piecing to construct it. It is very easy to sew with just four identical sections.

This is the halfway point in the Sew Along. If you haven't started yet, you can still catch up. If you submit a block, you are entered to win a prize for that week. You have until December 26th at noon to link up this week's block. The next block will be posted January 7, 2013. Go here to see all the blocks quilters have made so far. Happy Holidays!

Block Base Sew Along #1755 Prairie Flower block

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 14:34:00 +0000

BlockBase #1755 Prairie Flower quilt block-9"

Here is block 5 in the BlockBase Sew Along hosted by Electric Quilt. It is called Prairie Flower and is attributed to Nancy Cabot. I love this block! It goes together easily using the stitch and flip method for the corners of each block. I used 3 1/2" squares to make this a 9" finished size block. I then used 2 1/2" squares to make a 6" block from much different fabrics! Check out other versions of this block here.

BlockBase #1755 Prairie Flower quilt block-6"

BlockBase Sew Along Block #2049 Independence Square

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 01:40:00 +0000

#2049 Independence Square block

Here's my block #4 for Electric Quilt's BlockBase Sew Along. It is block #2049 called Independence Square and was published by Nancy Cabot in 1938.

I decided not to make it an 8" block like I have the rest of the blocks in this sew along. The pieces in the center nine patch would have been tiny. I used 1 1/2" strips and ended up with a 9" block.

I won a bag of scraps in the BlockBase giveaway for linking up my Week 3 block. Here's what I got!

Check out all the Week 4 blocks by clicking here or link up your own block for a chance to win your own bag of scraps. Block #5 will be posted on Monday.

Hurricane Sandy Quilt Block Drive

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 15:48:00 +0000

Wonky Scrappy Log Cabin blocks for Sandy Quilt Block Drive

The Quilting Gallery is hosting the Sandy Quilt Block Drive for victims of Hurricane Sandy. Michelle is looking for volunteers to make blocks or be team leaders to assemble the blocks into a quilt. I signed up to make 20 blocks and my friend Linda helped me make the blocks shown above. The block is called Wonky Scrappy Log Cabin and there is a tutorial provided to make the blocks. It's a great block to make to use up your scraps! Please consider donating to this worthy cause.

BlockBase #2448 Pyramids block

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 18:46:00 +0000

BlockBase #2448 Pyramid Block

Here's my third block for the BlockBase Sew Along! It is block #2448 and is called the Pyramid block. I used 9 different fabrics like the sample block shows. I decided to paper piece this block because of the large number of pieces and their small size since I'm making 8" blocks. The block was easily made from my pre-cut scraps of 5" squares, 2 1/2" squares and 2 1/2" X 5" pieces. See more blocks by clicking here.

BlockBase #2741 Gem Star block

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 01:04:00 +0000

Here is Block #2 in the BlockBase Sew Along. It is block #2741 and is named Gem Star or Golda. I love the look of this block but it is not an easy one. I didn't find a way to use 5" squares in it's construction so decided to make the block 8" finished to match the size of Block #1. The Electric Quilt blog suggests constructing the block in wedge sections. I did not want to cut the tiny pieces or make "y" seams so I decided to paper piece the block instead. I did have to open it in in my Electric Quilt software to be able to print the paper piece pattern however. You can download a pdf of the pattern I used here. It is for an 8" block. You can see how others made the block by clicking here.

Block #3 is posted today!

Block Base #1336 Seesaw block using a jelly roll or charm pack

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 16:09:00 +0000

I have my first block done for the BlockBase Sew Along at Electric Quilt!! Here it is, block #1336, the Seesaw block. Today is the day you can link up your finished blocks. Go to the blog to see everyone's finished blocks! There's quite a variety of fabric choices.

I have decided to use scraps of my bright fabrics and make a sampler quilt with the blocks. There will be 12 blocks total. A new one will be posted every two weeks. You can make them whatever size you like but I decided to use my scraps which means 5", 2 1/2" and 2 1/2" x 5" pieces of fabric, of course, going along with my whole "nickel" theme. Making this block an 8" finished block works perfectly!

Here's a very quick, basic tutorial for creating an 8" Seesaw block using scraps from a jellyroll or charm pack-

All of the squares are 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" and the rectangle pieces are 2 1/2" x 4 1/2". You need all the pieces shown above.

Just sew squares across the corners of the rectangles using the stitch and flip technique as shown above. You need 2 sets of each of these units in different fabrics like shown below.

Sew your parts together into 4 sections like shown above and then sew them all together like shown below.
Super fast and easy!! If I were going to make this block any other size, I would use the paper piecing templates. The rotary cutting templates have you cut to the 7/8" which I don't care to do.

My friend Linda decided to join the fun and made the same block look very different!

Check back next week to see if I can create the next block from 5" squares!

Ghostly Treats pattern

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 05:00:00 +0000

Today's my day to post a pattern to the Halloween Paper Pieced Blog Hop at Whims and Fancies. If you haven't done so already, check out the great free patterns that are being posted daily. If you make a block and post it, you have a chance to win a prize too. Go here for all the details!

Ghostly Treats

My Ghostly Treats block pattern finishes at 10" square as do all of the blocks on the hop. I used a marker to draw the features on the ghost's face and the Trick or Treat pumpkin bag but they could also be embroidered. A piece of small black ribbon is inserted before the top two rows are sewn together to create a dimensional handle for the bag, You can get the paper pieced pattern here.

October quilting

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 01:47:00 +0000

October is starting out to be a busy quilting month! The AQS quilt show in Des Moines starts this week. My friends and I always go on Friday of the show. Can't wait! If you are heading there, be sure to check out Rainbows and Calico Things Quilt Shop's booth. They will have a great selection of brights and novelty fabrics in fat quarter, half yard and one yard lengths. Don't miss The Woolen Needle's booth either. They will have tons of wool.

Another exciting event for October is the Halloween Paper Pieced Blog Hop 2012 hosted by Whims and Fancies. Each day of October, a designer will post a free Halloween themed paper pieced quilt block that they created. I will post mine on the 10th. Be sure to visit the blogs and get your free patterns!

Also starting today is the BlockBase Sew Along by Electric Quilt. I have owned BlockBase for years and hope this Sew Along will help me use it. BlockBase is the CD-ROM version of Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns with over 4300 block patterns. Electric Quilt recently published it again but the product is the same. Every two weeks, a block will be featured to sew and there will be a link up so everyone can show a photo of their finished block. The first block is posted so I better get started!

Time to sew

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 17:35:00 +0000

I've been gone awhile with moving, remodeling, downsizing and changing jobs but

we are finally settled in-at least enough to do some sewing. Yay!

The house is coming along but is not "decorated" yet. I had hoped to show progress pictures but got too burned out to completely finish a single room and my type A personality won't let me show you a room until it is "done."

So, here are a some photos of areas in my sewing room that are done-

My cutting mats are hung on the back of the door using a skirt hanger and a Command hook and my rulers are hung on pegboard attached to the wall behind the door and

I have an 8' by 8' design wall to left of the door and right next to my sewing machine. This by far the best set-up I have ever had for sewing. I love it!

The blocks on the wall are from a Buggy Barn pattern called Spring Fever. I don't know if they will all go in the same quilt or not. I have made 48 of these blocks so far in an attempt to decrease my fat quarter stash. I have five nieces and I may make each one of them a quilt using this pattern.

Twister receiving blanket quilts finished

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 14:00:00 +0000

If you have been following me for awhile, you know that my daughter has me make quilts for her children from the receiving blankets they used as babies. One particular set of blankets (Lainey Jane's) had colors that didn't really look right together and it took me a long time to figure out how to use them in the same quilt. I ended up making a larger version of a Twister quilt which I posted about here and this is the finished quilt.

Lainey's Big Twister quilt

Here's a closeup of the quilting and the polka dot binding. Linda of L&R Designs did the custom quilting.

The backing is made from two polka dot fabrics from my stash.

I liked the Twister idea so well that I made Lylie's blankets into a Twister quilt also. This time I just used the tool and 10" squares instead of making it oversized.

Lylie's Twister quilt

A closeup of the quilting by Linda of L&R Designs

and the back. I purchased flannel for the back of this quilt and used the leftovers for the binding.

I cut the rest of the receiving blankets into squares and made Lylie a smaller quilt and a quilt for her dollies.

The backings for these quilts were from my stash which doesn't appear to be getting any smaller!

I am caught up on making quilts from receiving blankets because Kinsey is still using hers! I overheard my daughter telling her grandmother who is also a quilter, "Grandma, I can have babies faster than you can make quilts." Isn't that the truth for many of us quilters!

Great Granny Along blocks

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 13:33:00 +0000

I ran across the Great Granny Along quilt along and decided I needed to take a break from working on our house and make a block even if my sewing room is still a mess. I talked Linda of L&R Designs into sewing one with me. Here's our untrimmed blocks-

my great granny block

Linda's great granny block

Funny how we ended up using very similar colors in the same arrangement! It wasn't planned. We weren't really paying much attention to what fabrics the other was using.

What I love about this block is that it fits perfectly with my nickel theme. You need one 5" square of fabric for the first round, two 5" squares for the second round and three 5" squares for the third round! But you can also use 2 1/2" strips or squares. It just fits in perfectly with how I cut up my scraps already. Check out Linda's blog to read more about how we made them. You can find the tutorial to make your own great granny blocks here (scroll down).

Twister receiving blanket quilt

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 00:59:00 +0000

The only time I've had to sew since we moved has been at retreats. I made this Twister quilt at a weekend quilting retreat at the end of June. It's made from my granddaughter Lylie's receiving blankets. I used the original Twister tool that's made for 10" squares. Off to my long arm quilter it goes!

If you have never tried a Twister ruler, you should. It's addicting and is a great way to use scraps. As part of our retreat activities, we all brought 5" squares to exchange and made Lil' Twister quilts. We all used the same fabric squares but we each used a different fabric for our outer border.

my Twister quilt

retreat Twister quilts

You can see an even larger Twister quilt that I made using 12 1/2" squares here and a smaller one here using the Itty Bitty Twister tool and 2 1/2" squares.

Since starting this post, I actually made a block in my new sewing room! The room is far from being done but it's good enough to sew in. I'll show you what I started next time.

Better late than never!

noreply@blogger.com (Candace) — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:25:00 +0000

This is the last day to enter the Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side. With moving and all, I almost missed it. That's why I say, "Better late than never." Click on the link to see all the wonderful quilts that have been posted and to find some new blogs to follow.

I am entering my Jumbled quilt in the festival. I love all the Kaffe Fassett fabrics I used and it makes me happy to look at it with all the bright colors and patterns. The pattern is a variation I came up with of the disappearing nine patch block and is made entirely from 5" squares. This quilt now belongs to our granddaughter Samantha. I hope it makes her happy too.