Welcome to my stop on the Acreage Blog Tour! Ever since I was a little girl, I dreamed of living on a farm. Images of rolling hills, cattle in the pasture, horses by the stall, chickens … lots of chickens, and a pond. Sigh. All of these make my heart sing. When we moved from the suburbs of California to the rural foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, I thought for sure my dream was going to come true. We tossed around the idea, even looked at a few properties, but it just wasn’t the right time for us. We did, however, find a beautiful home on some acreage … about 1.5 acres to be exact. It’s not quite what my little girl mind had envisioned, but right now, for us, its perfect. My heart still longs, though, for a day when we can find those acres and maybe an old farmhouse that needs some TLC … a new project for our retirement years. 

When Shannon put the call out for participants in her Acreage Blog Tour, I jumped on it. The fabric is gorgeous, and with a name that evokes so much emotion for me, I knew I couldn’t go wrong. I immediately knew I wanted to make a quilt. One that would be perfect for picnics on the farm, or covering up on a cool Fall night at the firepit.

This weekend I gathered the grands and headed out to the farm … our friends farm … 15 glorious acres of horses, chickens, gorgeous oak trees, a pond, and best of all, a beautiful red barn. We had a great time visiting and introducing the farm animals to the kids. They loved them! Our little guy stood and watched the chickens for quite some time. I’m pretty sure he would’ve loved to be in there with them.

The fabrics in the collection remind me of so many elements of country living, from the gorgeous flowers, to the vines, the graphic elements that remind me of gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, the gingham prints taking me back to church picnics, the clothespins … memories of sheets drying on the line, and the bikes filled with floral bouquets. It’s the perfect collaboration of everything you’d find in the country.

I’m pretty sure my word for 2017 is going to be “Acreage” … lots and lots of Acreage … both in fabric and in land. 

“Acreage” will be in shops starting in September. In the meantime, take a few moments to visit these other bloggers that have created amazing projects from Shannon’s new fabric line.

Monday July 4th Sally Keller of Sally’s Angelworks
Monday July 11th Anna Marks of Crazy8Farms
Monday  July 18 Brooke Sellmann of  Silly Mama Quilts
Monday July 25th Melissa Shields of Quilting Room with Mel
Monday August 1 Michelle of Island Life Quilts
Monday August 8 Jayme Christensen of Finding Sweetland
Monday August 15 Briawna Hugh of Purple Poppy Quilts
Monday August 22 Peta Peace of She Quilts a Lot
YOU ARE HERE! Lani Padilla of Simply Fresh Vintage
Monday September 5  Loryn Litchty of  Sweet Sassy Strong
Monday September 12 Jemima Flendt of  Tied With a Ribbon
Monday September 19 Anna Boundy of Said with Love
Monday September 26 Staci Barrett of A Vintage Fairytale
Monday October 3rd Blog Tour wrap up by Shannon Gillman Orr of Eva Blake’s Makery

As an avid quilter for over 30 years, I have come to learn that when it comes to quilting tools and supplies, always get the best!

I’ve also learned that some tools make life much easier, like having a wrist pin cushion. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stepped on a pin because it fell off my cutting table or I laid it beside the machine and it ended up on the floor. Ouch! … and some notions are just plain fun to use, like the cute and colorful Wonder Clips, perfect for binding your quilts.

I’ve put together some gift ideas for quilters …
  – some functional like rotary cutters, needles, and an out-of-this-world iron
  – and some enjoyable, like new quilting books and an adorable calendar.

I use all of these products regularly, so these all come with my highest recommendation. You may have noticed that all of my notions and tools are brightly colored! I love working with color! My quilting passion wouldn’t be where it is today without these tools (and so many, many more)!

So without further adieu, here are my top gift ideas for quilters! 

Wrist Pin Cushion

Blue Olfa Splash Rotary Cutter 
Purple Olfa Splash Rotary Cutter

Clover Wonder Clips

Pink Embroidery Scissors

Clover Mini-Iron Set

Fiskars 14″ x 14″ Self-Healing Rotary Cutting Mat

Tulip Needles 6-Piece Gift Set

Craftsy Class Gift Certificate

Farm Girl Vintage Quilt Book by Lori Holt 
The Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt by Laurie Aaron Hird

Aurifil Thread Sets

Oliso Smart Iron

Before you leave, I’d love to know …
* What’s your favorite notion or tool?
* Do you have a favorite fabric designer?
* What’s one thing you can’t live without in your quilt studio?
Leave me a comment! I’ll be sure to reply back!

There’s one thing you need to know about me, if you haven’t figured it out already.
I LOVE QUILTING … everything about it, every single part of the process. From designing the quilt pattern, to picking the fabric, cutting it out, marking pieces if needed, assembling the blocks, and yes, I even love attaching and hand-stitching the binding. Seeing a finished handmade quilt on the back of my couch gives me warm fuzzies. Seeing my hubby or one of my kids snuggled under one of my handmade treasures makes my heart melt, even more so when they’ve picked a common favorite and argue over who gets to use it.

I have especially enjoyed dabbling with designing my own patterns and today I have a brand new quilt pattern to introduce … Sophie’s Triple Treat.

If you’ve been following along on Instagram lately, you know that I’ve been working on a very special quilt pattern.

Earlier this year our daughter and her family moved from California here to Virginia. It has been so much fun having them close by, especially since they are the parents of our only two grandchildren. The oldest has popped in for visits to the blog here and there as my special little helper. Today you get to meet the youngest, now 8 months old. We are completely loving every moment watching him learn to roll over, sit up, crawl, put everything in his mouth that he isn’t supposed to, etc. A couple of months ago, we were all very surprised to find out that grand-blessing number 3 will be joining us late January.  It’s a completely new season for us and we are embracing it and loving every single moment of it. 

Of course, this also means that new quilts are needed! My daughter picked up one of my layer cakes one evening, sat down with a sketching tablet and began to draw out a quilt pattern. It was a very simple pattern and as I started working with it, I realized that there was enough left over from the original pattern to make a second quilt and a mini. I decided to put it all together into a pattern.

I love how the simplicity of the quilt pattern brings out the wonderful colors and designs in the individual fabric pieces.

This is a great pattern for beginners and these projects all go together very quickly. All three projects are made with one layer cake (42 – 10″ squares) and 2 yards of background fabric (white/cream), plus batting, backing, and binding.

I’ve given several alternative layouts for the half-square triangle quilt and the mini. I’ve also included diagrams for how I machine-quilted my projects. You can easily finish one of the lap quilts in a day. 

As a special treat for my quilting friends, I’ve set a special introductory price for the pattern. This special pricing is only available through the end of August. The downloadable PDF pattern is available on both Craftsy and Etsy. 

I would love to see the projects that you make with this pattern. You can send pictures to me at lani (at) simplyfreshvintage (dot) com.

I can’t wait to see your creations!

How to screen your porch with this DIY step-by-step tutorial.

One of the many blessings of our house are the porches … not one, not two, but three. It quickly became apparent that our most used porch would be the side porch … the one off the kitchen. I’ve shared how we prepped and stained the posts and deck, and how we screened the porch. After about a week of dining on the porch, we noticed that “others” were joining our activities … “others” being those of the 6 and 8-legged variety, even some with wings. Yikes! This would NOT do. NO, NO, NO! 

Were we surprised? Not really. The porch is raised above ground level, and the decking is not a solid surface. We knew it would just be a matter of time before our southern critters would move in. And move in they did … stink bugs, wasps, spiders … EWWWWW!!!!!

We went back to the drawing board and began researching various ways to keep these bugs outside. Should we cover the decking with 4’x8′ hardwood? How about plywood and tile? Or better yet … brick pavers! (I was all for the brick pavers.) Ultimately it is our dream to turn this porch into a sun room with finished walls and windows. Keeping that goal in mind, we didn’t want to put out a lot of cash on something that may end up having to be removed in a few years. So after a bit of hemming and hawing, we chose to do an under porch screen installation. It was the least time-consuming, most cost-effective option.

Visual Inspection & Cleaning

The first thing to do is scoot under the porch and inspect it. You’ll want to wear safety glasses and gloves … just in case. This is a great time to make sure that everything is sound, there is no dry rot, and most of all, that none of the guests that you are evicting have set up sleeping quarters under there. Brush away all the cobwebs and remove any nests.

Measure Twice, Cut Once

While you are under the porch, measure how far apart your support beams are. They should be an even measurement … 14″ (on center), 16″, 18″, etc. Also measure the length. Screen rolls come in various widths and lengths. When purchasing your rolls, if you can’t get the exact width that matches your measurements, then go to the next higher width. For the length, try to purchase rolls that will allow each strip to be one continuous strip.

Under Porch Screen Installation

Materials …
Staple gun and staples
Sharp scissors
Screen
Safety glasses

This screen installation is much easier than the exterior wall panels. Beginning on one end of the porch, staple the screen to the outer support beam. Making sure that the screen runs evenly along the support beams, continue stapling until you reach the other side. Staple along all support beams and cross beams … basically wherever the screen is touching wood, staple. You can’t have too many staples!

When you get to the corner posts and posts in between, you’ll want to trim the screen accordingly. You may need to go back and add small sections of screen underneath the strips so that you have some way of securing and stabilizing the screen at the posts. You might have to get creative!

After you’ve finished running all of your screen strips and wrapped your posts, go back and make sure that everything is secure, adding extra staples as needed. Remember, you don’t want any chance of critters finding their way in. Trim away any excess screen material as needed.

And that’s it!
Not the most glamorous of projects, I’ll admit, but if it keeps my porch bug free, then it’s definitely worth it. Our porch is 12′ x 20′. and it took a couple of hours one Saturday morning to install the screen under the porch.

Now that we’ve completed all the staining and screening, it’s time for some new furnishings and decorations. I can’t wait!

Are you a porch lover? How do you use your porch?

Are you getting your home ready for the 4th of July holiday? I love pulling out my red, white and blue decorations each year. Inside and out, my home is getting ready to celebrate America’s birthday. This year I’m adding a few new touches to our porch. These new additions include a couple of DIY Patriotic Dish Towel Pillows.

If you are like me, a trip to Target would not be complete without a quick stroll through the Dollar Spot. I’m usually on the hunt for office supplies and seasonal decor treats. A couple of weeks ago I found a lonely pair of patriotic dish towels, begging me to bring them home. How could I say no! They jumped for joy and quickly hopped in my cart. I brought them home and placed them on my cutting table in the studio. They were happy to be in a quiet place, away from all the kids that were throwing them to and fro. But their rest only lasted for a short time. I had a plan to transform them and I even had a couple of little hands to help me.

Dish Towel Pillows … the Tutorial

The transformation of these dish towel pillows is very simple. For this tutorial you will need the following items:

• Dish Towel
• Light Weight Fusible Interfacing (one-side fusible)
• Coordinating Thread
• Polyfil Stuffing

Tools:

• Seam Ripper
• Scissors
• Rotary Blade, Mat and Ruler (not required but definitely helpful)
• Straight Pins
• Needle
• Sewing Ruler
• Sewing Machine
• Iron

I’ve included links to the actual tools that I use and recommend. (affiliate links)

These are the dish towels I purchased … $3.00 for both. They have a nice waffle texture and the blue towel has a nice embroidered USA monogram.

The first thing you’ll want to do is remove the seams from all four sides. If the towels you are working with have a waffle texture, be careful not to pull the threads from the towel itself.

Press the edges open so that you have a flat dish towel.

The waffle texture gives the towel a lot of extra stretch. To control this, I chose to apply a light-weight fusible interfacing to the back of each dish towel.

Once the interfacing is applied, you’ll want to “square up” your towel. Trim the edges so that the corners of the towel are straight right angles.

Decide which shape you want your pillow to be. I chose more of a square shape for the blue dish towel, and a long rectangle bolster for the white dish towel. 

Fold your dish towel in half, right sides together and pin your raw edges. Begin sewing on the bottom of your pillow, leaving a 3-4″ opening for turning and stuffing. back-stitch when you start and end. Sew a 3/8″ – 1/2″ seam all the way around the pillow, stopping early to leave the opening.

Before you turn inside out, trim the corners on the diagonal. This will decrease the bulk in the corners to give you a nice point. 

Turn the pillow case right side out, using a pencil or pen cap to bring the corners to a point. 

Enlist your favorite Captain America Jr. Cadet to help fill the pillow cases with PolyFil stuffing.

Once the dish towel pillows are stuffed, pin the opening closed and whip-stitch closed using a needle and coordinating thread.

That’s all there is to it! These two dish towel pillows took less than an hour to finish, and that included stopping to take a ton of pictures. And the best part, they cost less than $10 to make ($3 for the dish towels and about $6 for the stuffing.) Put your new pillows on the couch or add them to the rocker or bench on the porch. Your new dish towel pillows will bring you many years of festive decor.

Did you enjoy this tutorial? I have an extra special treat for you. Just wait until you see these fabulous DIY Patriotic craft and decor projects, and best of all, some outstanding recipes. Your home will be the envy of the neighborhood with all of these great ideas!

Have a safe and happy 4th of July celebration!

Enjoy hopping around!