Summer Solstice {Half square triangles}

The most recent "assignment" for the Summer Solstice QAL with Melissa at Happy Quilting is to put all of our half-square triangles together. I am making a four block version of the quilt in the baby size, so I needed to make 96 HSTs! I worked on them a little at a time and finally finished them up Friday night while watching baseball.

My version of the quilt will be similar to Melissa's original diagrams with three colors + background, so I only needed two different colors of HSTs.

For fun, I decided to lay out all of the pieces that I had made thus far and see how my blocks are going to look!

I LOVE how this is looking so far! The sections that are "blank" are the sections that we haven't made yet which will be the drunkard's path blocks. I haven't done any drunkard's path blocks before (but I have done a decent amount of curved piecing!) so this is a fun new adventure for me -- especially with their finished size being 3.5 inches!

Sharing at Happy Quilting -- check out everyone's progress!

Pink Lemonade {RSC July 2016}

It's the end of July! This month has gone by SO fast and I just finished up my last July Farmer's Wife block this morning! I've been busy with two different tutorial posts and if you haven't seen them yet you can check out Candy Shop here and Sparkle Tree Skirt here!

On to those pink Farmer's Wife blocks!

#75 - Rosebud, #76 - Sawtooth

#77 - Seasons

In continuing with the previous blocks I made this month, these were also pretty simple to put together. The Rosebud block only has four paper piecing sections! Despite pink being my favorite color, my pick scraps were not terribly extensive and I am ready to move onto another color for August. 

Here are all of my July blocks together:

I think that there are a good variety of pinks represented here and these will blend well with my orange blocks from a few months back and my red blocks when we finally get to our red month. I only have 34 blocks to go! Hooray!

Sharing at Scrap Happy Saturday!

Christmas in July Blog Hop and Sparkle Fat Quarter Bundle Giveaway!

The giveaway is now closed and the winner will be announced soon!

Today I am over at Benartex's blog Sew In Love With Fabric sharing a super fun tutorial for a simple modern tree skirt that you could whip up in a weekend to dress up your tree this year or to give as a gift!

This project uses 2 yards of background fabric, a few fat quarters, backing, and a half yard for binding to create a fun tree skirt from Amanda Murphy's Sparkle line. Check out all of the fun prints in this line!

You will need:

2 yards of a background fabric
Various print fabrics (I used parts of fat quarters, but you could use scraps!)
2.5 yards backing fabric
0.5 yards for binding

It is also helpful to have a larger 30 degree ruler. I own and used this ruler, which I highly recommend (NOT an affiliate link!).

From your background cut:

Twelve (12) 30 degree wedges 13 inches long

Three (3) 12 inch squares -- cut each in half diagonally twice for twelve (12) triangles
Twenty four (24) 3 inch by 6.5 inch rectangles
Forty Eight (48) 2.5 inch squares
Twelve (12) 3.5 inch squares

From your print fabrics cut:

Twelve (12) 2.5 inch squares total (can be all different fabrics!)
Thirty six (36) 3.5 inch squares total -- you will need twelve pairs of matching squares (see below)

Making your Ohio Star blocks (Make 12 Ohio star blocks)

For each star you will need:
Four (4) 2.5 inch background squares
One (1) 3.5 inch background square
Two (2) matching 3.5 inch print squares
One (1) contrasting 3.5 inch print square
One (1) 2.5 inch print square

Draw a diagonal line on each of your matching 3.5 inch squares.

Pair one with a background fabric square, pair the other with your contrasting 3.5 inch square. Sew on each side of the line, cut apart on the line, and press towards your matching square fabric.

Cut each HST unit in half diagonally perpendicular to the seam you just sewed.

Pair half units together so that each QST unit has two matching side triangle, one background triangle, and one contrasting triangle. Trim each unit to 2.5 inch squares.

Lay out your star as shown below, sew into an Ohio star block -- make sure that your points are all pointing in the correct directions.

Making your wedges

Now that your stars are completed, sew the following to each star:
-- sew a 3 x 6.5 inch rectangle to the right and left of the star block
-- sew a 30 degree wedge piece to the top of the star block
-- sew a 12 inch triangle piece to the bottom of the star block

Using the lines of your 30 degree wedge piece, trim the sides of your wedge unit so that the entire unit is a large 30 degree wedge with a point at the outer edge as shown below.

Putting it all together

Lay out your twelve wedges in the order that you desire them. Sew wedges together in sets of 3 to begin. You now have four "quadrants" to easily sew into pairs, and then finally sew two halves together.

NOTE: You do not need to worry about all of your points lining up in the center since we will be cutting a hole in this area! Whew!

Once your top is all together, quilt as desired. I quilted mine with loops in each wedge. At this point, you can choose to trim your tree skirt into a circle as I have or you can choose to leave your wedges with points. Trace around a circular object (I used a can of vegetables) to define your inner circle opening for your tree trunk. Choose one of your wedge seams and cut up the length of the seam to your drawn circle and cut the circle out. If trimming into a circle, make marks 20 inches from your center around the edge of your quilt and cut along those marks.

Now you are ready to bind and add your choice of ribbons, buttons, or hooks-and-eyes to keep the opening of your tree skirt shut during the Christmas season!

Before you head over to Sew In Love With Fabric to check out the full tutorial, enter to win a set of Sparkle fat quarters for yourself!

Two possible entries to win:

-- For everyone: Leave a comment with what your Christmas tree skirt looks like -- mine is brown satin with brown velvet trim -- yes, I have a store bought tree skirt AND stockings. *blushes* (If Christmas isn't your winter holiday of choice, share a favorite winter tradition!)

-- For followers old and new: Leave a comment with how you follow and your favorite Christmas fabric line.

Thanks for visiting and check out the other stops this week on the Christmas in July hop!

Monday: Chris from made by ChrissieD, featuring Jolly Penguin and Friends

Tuesday: Debby from Debby Kratovil Quilts, featuring My Little Chickadee

Wednesday: Alison from Little Bunny Quilts, featuring Sparkle

Thursday: Cynthia from Quilting is more fun than Housework, featuring Holiday Cheer

Friday: Benartex blog design team featuring Joyful

Traveling Quilt Bee: Month #1

A few months back I signed up to be a part of the Traveling Quilt Bee on Instagram -- last month I showed off my center block and this month is the first month of working on a quilt for someone else!

This month I am working on Rheannon's quilt -- she is looking for a whimsical garden quilt. Here's the medallion she sent me:

Isn't this just so fun and gorgeous?!?! I thought the best thing to do would be to add on things you might find in a farm or garden.

Here are my finished sections added to her center section:

On the right side, I added a peach tree and an apple tree. These are paper piecing patterns from an old issue of Quiltmaker magazine. On the left side, I added some root veggies, patterns also from Quiltmaker, and two modern butterflies.

I am excited to see where this goes! Here's what Lee will be adding to my quilt:

She made a variety of fun blocks in two different sizes and it is exactly what I am looking for!

Sharing at Linky Tuesday, Fabric Tuesday, Let's Bee Social!

Candy Shop -- new pattern at Moda Bake Shop!

I'm excited to share my newest pattern for Moda Bake Shop -- Candy Shop!

This quilt uses one jelly roll and solid yardage for a sweet treat of a quilt! If you are looking for a fun option for a little sweetheart in your life, this is the perfect quilt!

This is probably best suited for intermediate to advanced quilters -- it involves lots of partial seams, strip piecing, and stitch and flip corners. But this is a great pattern if you only want to use one jelly roll (and have a few strips left over!

I quilted this quilt with a directional layered meander, which is the same pattern I used to quilt Amanda's Multifaceted quilt a few months back.

This quilt uses the Wing and Leaf line from Moda and it is an absolutely gorgeous set of prints. Some of the smaller prints would be great stash builders and the bright burnt orange used in the line is such a great color! I'm a firm believer that orange is an under-used and under-appreciated color, and this shade is just so lovely! That's why I picked the orange feather print for my backing. :)

This quilt turns out 68 by 78. If you wanted to put a border on it, it would be perfect on a twin sized bed. I can't wait to see some versions of this quilt in some other fabrics! Please share your versions of this quilt (and any other quilt that you've made from my patterns) with me as I love to share them on the blog from time to time!

Quilt Stats

Name: Candy Shop

Fabric: Wing and Leaf Jelly Roll, Moda Bella Frost Solid

Size 68x78 inches

Quilting: layered directional meander in white thread

Ps. Don't forget to pick up your copy of Bear Tracks for $5!!!!

Sharing at Sew Cute Tuesday, Fabric Tuesday, Let's Bee Social