Honey, Bunny, and Doll Updates {Patterns + Upcoming Sale}

Today I have a few "business items" to share!

First, I am very excited to share that the FREE one page pattern for the Ombre Everest mini quilt is now available!

If you make your own version of this quilt, make sure you share on social media with #OmbreEverest!

The complete pattern of Christine's Kitchen is now also available!

Finally, we are excited to share that we are a sponsor of the Magnolia Mystery QAL hosted by Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs! At the end of the quilt along, one quilt finisher will be able to chose a pre-cut or bundle of their choice from our Etsy shop!

Happy Friday!

Folk Art Fantasy Blog Hop {Bunny Patch Placemats Tutorial + Giveaway}

Update: the giveaway is now closed, winner noted below!

Happy Thursday! Today I am your host for the Folk Art Fantasy blog hop, showing off Amanda Murphy's latest fabric collection!

I have long been a fan of Amanda Murphy's fabric, and this collection is no exception! The prints are fun and unique!

This one might just be my favorite because it has bunnies in some of the prints! I decided to use this as my inspiration to make some reversible patchwork and applique bunny placemats!

You will need:
One 10x10 stacker of Folk Art Fantasy (or approximately 2 yards total of various fabrics)
2/3 yard of fabric of your choice for binding

Before we start cutting, we need to sort our 10 inch squares. You will not need all of them!
-- Pull out four (4) white or light colored 10 inch squares for our bunny applique sections
-- Choose twenty four (24) squares that will be your "featured" fabrics on the "front"

For clarity, I will call the side with our applique bunny the "front" and the scrappy patchwork side the "back".

For each of your twenty four (24) featured fabrics, cut the following pieces in order: cut a 10 x 3.5 inch strip first, then cut the remaining piece into a 6.5 inch square and a 6.5 x 3.5 inch rectangle. By cutting precisely and in order, you will be able to cut these three pieces from a single 10 inch square.

Set aside your 6.5 x 3.5 inch rectangles and your 10 x 3.5 inch rectangles. Using your twenty four (24) 6.5 inch squares, sew together in groups of six to create four "front" pieces for our placemats.

Trace the applique motif of your choice onto fusible web four times. Iron these onto your four white or light colored squares and trim along the edge of the design. Remove the backing paper and iron onto the center of each placemat "front". Machine applique as desired.

(And yes, that is the same bunny clip art used in the header of my blog!)

For each "backing", you will need six (6) 10 x 3.5 inch rectangles and three (3) 6.5 x 3.5 inch rectangles. (You will have twelve extra 6.5 x 3.5 inch rectangles.) First, sew your 10 x 3.5 inch rectangles in pairs of contrasting fabrics, and then sew a 6.5 x 3.5 inch rectangle to each pair, as shown in the first picture. Sew three of these units together for each backing, for a total of four backings.

Layer together the backing, batting, and fronts and quilt as desired. I love to use batting scraps for projects like these! Note: your front pieces and your backing pieces will be the EXACT same width. Make sure to align them when you're pinning!

I quilted my placemats with a simple meander in white. I used 2.5 inch binding and bound these completely by machine for strength and stability (because I know these will end up in the washing machine on a regular basis!)

If you're interested in winning a fat quarter bundle of Folk Art Fantasy:

1. For everyone: leave a comment telling me what sort of shape you'd applique in your version of these placemats! (one entry)
2. For followers/sharers: leave a comment telling me how you follow -OR- share this post on social media and tell me where you shared it (one entry)

The giveaway will be open until Monday morning!

Update: our winner is Emily C!

If you haven't already, check out the rest of the posts on this week's hop!

Tuesday: Mandy of Mandalei Quilts 

Wednesday: Benartex Blog Design Team 

Thursday: Alison of Little Bunny Quilts 

Friday: Amanda of Material Girls Quilts

Thanks to Amanda Murphy and Benartex for inviting me to share Folk Art Fantasy with you!

Sharing at Finish it up Friday!

Gathering Mystery {Quilt Top Construction}

I'm not quite done putting together my Cora's Quilts Gathering Mystery QAL top, but I figured I should give a quick update!

I finished putting all of my blocks together for Week 10, which required lots and lots of pins! I only had one that I partially took apart and fixed! I then quickly progressed into sewing the sashing pieces to my blocks, meaning even more pinning! Pinning made the matching nearly perfect and I think thus far I've only taken out part of one sashing + block combo.

And of course then you pair your blocks...

And then you pair your pairs and finish off the row!

Now all four of my block rows are completed! I also completed my horizontal sashing rows. These were much quicker to put together since there wasn't any matching! 

Last night I was able to pin each block row to a sashing row. These are ready to be sewn (and look like almost no easing will be required!) as soon as I can sit down at my machine!

Have a happy Monday! For once, it's not oppressively hot and humid in MD so I am wishing I could be outside!

Sharing at Monday Making, Linky Tuesday, and Let's Bee Social!

Kelly Parkway and Goldenrod Terrace {RSC May and June}

I have finally caught up for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for May and June! May was our month for green and June is our month for yellow.

I made three blocks in each color:

One of the slightly difficult things with my green May blocks is that I had to make sure that the grass green in each block had enough contrast from the green of the house. I think I accomplished that well and only had to switch out the grass on one block.

As of right now, I have 30 blocks (hidden somewhere in my stash!) I might need to locate some additional brown for the roof fabric. I should have enough sky blue fabrics for at least two to three months' worth of blocks. My goal is to have 42 blocks for a 6x7 block arrangement, so I only have 12 more blocks to make over the next 5 months!

Sharing at Scrap Happy Saturday and Oh Scrap!

Marigold Mini {Finished}

I think I finally understand why mini quilts are so addicting, guys. Also, I really love how easy they are to quilt. :)

My June IBA project is now complete -- and ready to hang up!

As I planned, I quilted with peach thread in the flowers, green thread in the leaves, and off-white thread in the background. I quilted feathers in the leaves, meanders in the flowers, and loops in the background.

The backing is also from the new Bonsai collection from Island Batik. I used two of the "rainbow" floral prints and since I had two half yard cuts, I had to piece the back. The binding is the lighter green fabric that I used in the leaves.

(PS. it is not as wobbly as a couple of these pictures suggest, the grass hill, while beautiful and green, is not exactly flat!)

Now to hang this on my wall!

Quilt Stats:
Pattern: Adapted from Pen and Paper Patterns' Marigold quilt
Size: 22 inches square
Techniques: curved piecing with templates, machine applique, free motion quilting
Quilting: various FMQ patterns
Binding: double fold, straight grain binding

Sharing at Let's Bee Social, Free Motion Mavericks, and Finish It Up Friday!

In a Spiral {Quilting My Alison Glass Sampler}

After sitting on my shelf for over a year, getting moved in January, and then sitting on the shelf for another 4 months, I have finally started quilting my original QCQAL sampler quilt. This was my second quilt along all the way back in 2014. I finished the top in 2015, and am just now getting to quilt this quilt. Here's a picture from when I put the top together originally:

The background is Kona Champagne and the fabrics originally came from a fat quarter of Clover Sunshine that I won from a now-defunct blog.

My plan for quilting this quilt was to quilt 25 spirals -- one centered in each block -- instead of one gigantic spiral so that I would be able to FMQ all of the spirals instead of having to use my walking foot (I hate my walking foot -- but that is a conversation for another day.)

Instead of pinning the whole quilt, I started off only quilting the center block and one block on either side. I always run into issues when FMQ-ing with my backing shifting, so I decided to not even fight it this time around, and just deal with pinning each section as I move through the quilt.

As of now, I have 7 of my 25 spirals completed. Here are pictures of the first four spirals that I did:

Side note: because the background is champagne but my backing fabric is white, I'm using a very light tan thread on the front and white thread in the bobbin. I have had to be kind of neurotic about making sure that I use the right thread in both places!

I'm almost done with the center nine blocks which means the hardest part of this process is nearly over! Even just moving from the center block to the inner ring was a huge improvement as far as bulk and quilt movement goes!

Cheers to pushing things ever so slightly closer to the finish line!

Sharing at NTT!

Curvalicious {Pieced Marigold Mini}

Thank you for all of the kind words about my Rainbow sampler! It's truly an honor to be temporarily "quilt famous" and have my work recognized in this way. :)

I've been working on piecing my Marigold Mini Quilt this week and now the top is ready to be quilted! As I noted in my intro post, I bought the templates to go along with this project, and it was a very good investment. While it would be nice to have the alignment notches that the Accuquilt cutters add, I didn't find pinning and aligning terribly difficult. I've done a fair amount of curved piecing in the past (mainly in my NY Beauty quilt). Here are all of my arcs sewn before and after trimming:

These blocks were very easy to sew together and align! I cut my orange fabric so that all of the stripes would go in the same direction for the flower.

I added sashing strips between the flowers and on the sides so that the mini will end up about 22 inches square. I used a purple variegated thread from Superior Threads for the machine applique accents.

Now this little cutie is ready to quilt! My plan is to quilt the orange section with peach thread, the green leaves with a green thread, and the background with cream. I am planning to use some additional fabric from the Bonsai line for the backing fabric!

Have a wonderful weekend! And just for fun, here's a picture of my husband and I from the wedding we attended last weekend:

Sharing at Linky Tuesday!

Rainbow Sampler in Modern By The Yard {Cover Girl}

I am so excited to share that I have a quilt in the latest issue of Benartex's Modern By The Yard -- and it just happens to be the cover quilt for this issue!

If you're not familiar with MBTY, it's Benartex's free e-zine that is published quarterly! I was working on this quilt like a mad woman back in April and it is so exciting to see it be published! I don't have a ton of in progress pictures of this quilt, but here is a picture of the quilt top once it was finished:

My inspiration for this quilt was to make a modern, pixelated rainbow made up of quilt blocks rather than simply squares. Each color of the rainbow uses a different block - red pinwheels, orange churn dashes, yellow flying geese, green sawtooth stars, blue bowties, and purple bear paws. Using the quilt blocks rather than colored squares gives it a slightly more abstract and modern feel. I picked out some of my favorite traditional quilt blocks to use for this quilt with the idea that a confident beginner could make this quilt.

The quilt uses the Glass House Fabric line by Rose Ann Cook. This line is a fun grouping of tonal-type prints with somewhat unique patterns - including water droplets and cut glass. The very rich colors stand out from my white background!

For the quilting, I used a motif of swirls and loops that mimic flowers without being overly feminine. The backing is a the grey facets print (third print in the third row above) and the binding is the sample purple fabric that I used for the purple bear paw blocks.

It's a wonderful feeling to be able to finally share this quilt with all of you because I enjoyed designing it and working on it so much! Hop on over to see the full issue!

Sharing at Let's Bee Social, TGIFF, and Finish it up Friday! Don't forget to enter my June Island Batik Giveaway!

Curvalicious {June Island Batik Project + Giveaway}

Update: Giveaway is closed and winner is noted below!

It's June! It's my birthday month! It's time to share the June Island Batik Ambassador theme and have a giveaway!

Curves, curves, curves! And like last month I've already picked out my project for this month -- I'm planning to make a two block mini quilt from Pen & Paper Patterns' Marigold pattern. I actually bought this pattern last year during May is for Makers!

Because I plan to use this pattern to make a larger sized quilt for myself or as a gift in the near future, I went ahead and ordered the recommended laser-cut templates from Burntwood and Acrylic on Etsy.

Here's my fabric pull for this project:

The orange and purple are from the stash builder rolls, but the two green prints are from the new Bonsai line from Island Batik! You'll be able to find this in stores later this summer!

My plan is to make two full flowers for my mini, but have them side by side rather than offset. The orange will be the flower fabric, and the purple will be the teardrop accents.

I was able to get all of the pieces cut quite quickly with the templates! For the teardrop accents, I traced the shapes onto the fusible web, ironed the fusible web onto the fabric, and then cut the shapes out.

Next, I'll be working on sewing all of the curves!

Onto the giveaway!

The giveaway this month will be your choice: Island Batik Fat Quarters in colors of MY choice -OR- cuts of any size in colors of YOUR choice -- it's a pick your poison kind of giveaway! Giveaway will close on Friday, June 16th.

To enter:
1. Let me know which you'd pick -- surprise fat quarters or fabrics in your favorite colors.
2. Anyone who shares this giveaway post (on your own blog, Pinterest, FB page, Twitter, etc.) gets one additional entry. Share this post and tell me in a second comment how you shared.

Our winner is Pamela!

Happy Monday to you! I am recovering from a whirlwind wedding weekend in Wisconsin (say that three times fast!) so I am in need of a good nap! Sharing at Linky Tuesday!