144 Blocks

Finally something quilt related! I finished making the hollow block squares for my solid colors quilt today.

That's 144 blocks made out of 36 different colors! I got kind of bored and tired of making these blocks, so I did some highly scientific number crunching and completely redesigned the quilt!

(Don't worry, I normally draw much better than this!) I'm going to alternate two rows of hollow blocks with three rows of these color strips and have a strip of Kona natural in between.

It's kind of hard to describe, but it makes sense in my head. I'll probably cut the strips into 12 inch long pieces. I'm going to piece together the leftover scraps and use them in the back of the quilt along with a pretty solid color (maybe like aqua blue).

Time to start piecing the blocks together!

Embroidery Finished

I finished my little embroidery project. It took a lot longer than I thought. I'm probably going to incorporate it into a little zippy pouch. I used a pattern from Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray. It's a very cute book and all of the designs come on a CD so you can make them whatever size you want and print as many as you want.

Pretties

I did a little shopping today...

I love this fabric more than any other fabric I've ever seen! That includes all of the fancy schmancy designer fabric out there! I want to sleep in this fabric and wear it and decorate with it... I think this is what I'm going to use to make one of the bags from the patterns I bought the other day. That way I can look at it every day :) The reason I went there in the first place was to buy some thread...

Pretty, colorful thread to go with the little zippy pouches I'm going to make with these...

Handbag zippers I ordered online that came in yesterday! I like the longer zipper pulls on these. So many pretty supplies :) I've been working on my color blocks quilt and some embroidery that I'm hoping to finish soon so I can actually put a picture of something I've made! Oh ok, here is a WIP picture...

Not crafty related, but I also ordered this shower curtain from Anthropologie to use in my apartment I'm going to get after I finish nursing school. It's so beautiful, it makes me want to cry...

Free Paper Piecing Patterns

I spend a lot of time making these patterns, so I thought I would offer them for others to benefit from and use. If you do use them, I'd love to see what you make! Click each picture, then right click to save...

This is the one used in this quilt.

These were used in this quilt.

I haven't had time to use these yet!

Let me know if you have any questions! It seems like Flickr won't let you download the original size unless I upgrade to Pro. I'm not ready to do this yet, but if people are interested in my patterns, I would consider upgrading. Save the large size, paste it in Word, Powerpoint, Photoshop, etc., then change the size to the appropriate original size. I also use legal sized paper and print two per page to save paper.

I found this excellent Youtube video that explains how to do paper piecing.

Vintage Sheets

I've been wanting to start collecting vintage sheets to use in quilts. Today I went to Goodwill and got these two sheets - the blue one for $2.99 and the pink one for $1.99.

I don't know how to tell if they are actually vintage, but the patterns fit with what I'm looking for. I'm going to research this online. Here is what the tags look like. The blue one says Penneys on the back in an old looking font. I love how soft they are! I plan to keep looking for more.

$0.99 Patterns

I posted about the Weekender bag last week. I found a Simplicity pattern for a cute duffel bag online, and I thought that may be a better place to start experimenting with patterns. "Who sells patterns?," I wondered. Hobby Lobby probably, so I checked their weekly ad, and I couldn't believe it said that Simplicity patterns were on sale for 99 cents! So off I went to Hobby Lobby this morning and picked up 3 sets of patterns. That's 15 different projects for only $3. They actually had all 3 that I picked out on their website to get. It probably helps that I went on Monday morning. I imagine these will get picked through quite a bit. I didn't know how much these cost regularly, but the price code on two one of them was $15.95 and one was $16.95!

One of them looks strikingly similar to my current purse of choice. I don't think that's a coincidence. Can't wait to try making this bag in fabric of my choice!

Ruffles

I love, love, love this quilt from Urban Outfitters!

Not the color so much as the ruffles. I must learn how to make ruffles and incorporate them into a quilt! Maybe my pajama quilt? It's going to have rows like this, so it may be perfect.

Another Gathered Clutch

I had one zipper left, so I made one more gathered clutch. I love making these because they are so fast, and the possibilities are endless! This one went even smoother than the last one. The yellow band with brown borders was inspired by this tutorial for faux piped binding. I can't wait to try out this technique on a quilt!

Do I keep it for myself or give it away?

Color Blocks Update

I'm up to 10 colors! I'm trying to decide if I want to sew some little flowers or something in the middle of each block. I've got some rainbow variegated thread that I've been saving which I think would be perfect for this project. I just have to figure out how and where to use it.

Weekender Bag

So, I definitely have Amy Butler's Weekender Bag on my mind. I think this is so cute! Everyone says how difficult it is, but I think I'd still like to try to make it. And no better time than the summer, right? :)


You have to use heavyweight home decor fabric. I've been looking at options, and I think I'd like to use this as the main fabric...

And this as the accent fabric...

They are from Amy Butler's Love home decor fabric line. I'm hesitant though because that's a lot of money to spend if it's just going to turn out to be a disaster.

Gathered Clutch

Today, I made a gathered clutch using this tutorial by Noodlehead. I love the way it turned out! Notice the top corners this time. I followed her directions, and they turned out perfectly! I also made the seam allowance a little bigger on the liner, and it lays much nicer inside the bag too. The tutorial says to cut a 13"x5.5" piece for the front. I wasn't sure what to expect, so I actually cut a 15"x6.5" piece so that I could square it up after doing the gathering. I think if I wouldn't have done this, the finished piece wouldn't have been big enough because I only had to trim about 1/4" off each side. I think I would do this again in the future. Something else I would do would be to make the lining a little bit bigger, and then trim it after sewing the zipper on and making that top stitch. Mine shifted a little bit in the process. I used quilt batting instead of interfacing. I can't wait to make more of these in different colors!

Zippered Bag

Today I ventured into the world of zippers to make this cute little bag. I used this tutorial by Flossie Teacakes except I used little mini quilts for the outside. It was really pretty easy. The hardest part was decided which fabrics to use. I just love the diamond quilting I did on the sides. I drew the design on the backside (which you can't see once finished) and followed the lines. I think I'm going to try making another that is a little wider to try to debulk the top corners some and make it lay a little flatter.

Pajama Quilt

This is a little side project I'm working on. I've been cutting up old pajama pants and shorts to make into a quilt. I think it will be soft and snuggly when it's finished. I'm cutting them into 5 inch strips. I'm planning on just doing a simple brick pattern where they are all the same height but are varying widths. It is a little tedious cutting the strips, but I think it will go fast sewing them together. I can't decide whether I want to incorporate the pockets into it.

Gutermann seems to be the thread of choice for many bloggers out there. I went to our local Hancock Fabric store last night to pick up some zippers for another project and I was suprised to see Gutermann threads sitting right there across from the zippers! I bought one to match my Kona natural fabric in my color blocks quilt, so I'll see how it works out. I'm pretty impressed that it is 800 yards long too. That means it should last a while.

Rainbow Jelly Rolls

I got some fat quarter bundles and jelly rolls for Christmas, but I hadn't really had time to do anything with them.

I was admiring this quilt the other day, and inspiration struck in the middle of the night! What I love about the quilt is the bright, rainbow of colors. So I thought this would be a good way to display my rainbow jelly rolls. It is based off of this free pattern. I'm going to go with 5 inch squares, and I made my own pattern to paper piece the blocks because I'm still not confident in my ability to sew a straight line ;-) I can get 4 squares out of each color with a little 1 inch strip left over. I'm thinking I can use the scraps to make some kind of border or in the binding. I've done 3 colors so far. The background is Kona Natural.

Jessica