Sew Sampler Box February 2021

The February 2021 Sew Sampler Box from Fat Quarter Shop found its way to my mailbox this morning! It arrived a day before I was expecting to receive it, so it was a pleasant surprise.

This month's box is themed "Make a Splash," and it certainly does. The contents this month are colorful, fun, and happy. It's definitely nice to see so much color, especially as I'm looking out the window at far more snow than I'd like to be seeing. And it has reached the partially melted, gross, and dirty phase.

I wasn't super surprised with part of the box. The preview from Fat Quarter Shop gave it away a bit, but I'm glad because I was thinking about purchasing anyway. Let's get on with what's in the box!

This month's fabric is the My Favorite Color is Moda Quilt Kit. It is a collection of 12 fat eighths, and the My Favorite Color is Moda Quilt Panel.

So much fabric, you say? I am so excited that this month's pattern only requires about a yard and a half of additional fabric for borders and binding, and there's a pretty good chance many of us already have it in our stash since it's a basic. The pattern is the Color Factory Quilt Pattern. It highlights the My Favorite Color is Moda Panel and finishes at 48 1/2" x 54 1/2". It would look great hanging on the wall in my sewing area.

Clover Water Soluble Pencil Set - 3 colors of a classic water-soluble pencil, perfect for marking your fabric.

Teal Magnetic Spool Pin Holder - Not only is this cute, but it is also useful. This cute pin holder has a magnet, so if you knock it over, as I recently did with my pin container, you don't end up with pins all over the place. It'll definitely save me from another pause in sewing to crawl around on the floor picking up pins.

Spool of 50wt Aurafil - My preferred thread! I received color 2110, which is called light lemon.

I'm so excited about this box. It just makes me smile looking at it!

2021 Cupid Box from Fat Quarter Shop

While I don't need more fabric, whenever Fat Quarter Shop releases a special box, I go through an internal struggle debating whether or not I want to get it. I have purchased all of the previous Cupid Boxes, so I clicked purchase when this year's was announced.

Valentine's Day has never been one of my favorite holidays. I don't know why. Maybe because it always felt so stressful in elementary school passing out Valentine's to the class. I wouldn't want someone to read into the pre-printed, cheap valentine that I selected for them. I'm sure I am the only one who put that much fret into deciding who gets what valentine. Anyway, I suppose it seems silly to wait for a specific day to tell the people I love that I love them. Life is short. I don't want to wait around until February to tell someone I care about them.

Despite my feelings about Valentine's Day, I can get behind red and pink hearts and a stash of valentine's candy. I was a little disappointed when all of the Christmas candy was gone from the grocery store, but it didn't take long for the pink and red packages containing the same candies with different wrappers to appear on sale.

My Cupid Box arrived today, and I ran out to the mailbox as soon as the truck drove away. Life has been extra hard lately for many reasons, so it was nice to have something to look forward to. My box was a little mangled, so I was worried that something was missing, but everything was in the box when I opened it.

So, what was in the box?

The fabric included in the box is the From the Heart Fat Eight Bundle + Panel by Sandy Gervais for Riley Blake Designs. It has an adorable selection of red and white fabric plus a panel with various Valentine prints. (Link to the fat quarter bundle so you can get the general idea of the line.)

Stuck On You No-Slip Grip Hearts by The Gypsy Quilter. These grips for rulers, templates, and more fit the Valentine theme and are heart-shaped. I appreciate no-slip grips, especially for the few rulers I have that are not from Creative Grids. I get spoiled by how grippy they are, so when I switch to a ruler that isn't from them, it slips around if I'm not careful. (Here is the dot version.)

Pack of 8 Cute Heart Clips by Fat Quarter Shop. I love Wonder Clips for sewing. I've also used them to secure papers for work or personal use if I didn't have a binder clip handy. I can't wait to clip everything together with these clips. I was a little worried the clip part would be sharp on the inside, but the piece that does the clipping is nice and smooth.

Silber Tape Measure Heart Key Chain by Moda. This heart-shaped key chain has an easy clip on it, so I might end up using it as a zipper pull on one of my many project bags. I try not to use too many key chains on my actual keys since, at this point, both of the vehicles we have, you still have to insert the key into the ignition. Lol! No push-button starts for us!

Love Beyond Measure(ing) Tape by Fat Quarter Shop. Having started my "serious" craft life (I've done crafts for my entire life, but as a kid, I bounced around) as a knitter, I can never have enough tape measures. I like to have one in most project bags, even for cross stitch. I don't necessarily need it as much as I do when knitting, but you never know when you'll need one!

Cupid's Bow Quilt Pattern by Fat Quarter Shop. This pattern uses the included fabric and panel to create a cute 26 12" x 39 1/2" piece. I appreciate that the additional fabrics the pattern calls for are simple solids. I know from experience with the Sew Sampler Box that if you want to make the pattern exactly as shown, you have to grab the finishing fabrics right away since they're usually part of the collection. Still, now, I don't have to decide instantly to grab the fabric.

I do hope to complete this project sooner rather than later. I haven't finished the other two Cupid Boxes yet, but I'm SO CLOSE on the 2019 version. I just have to quilt and bind it! Maybe I'll get it done before Valentine's Day 2021.

Sew Sampler Box December 2020

2020 was a challenging year, and 2021 hasn't started much better, but getting the December 2020 Sew Sampler Box from Fat Quarter Shop feels like a bonus treat. I know that some people aren't thrilled with the idea of receiving two boxes in one month, though I understand that January will also be late. If the last almost year has taught us anything, we need to roll with the punches.

I was fortunate to receive all of the items I ordered online for Christmas before Christmas. Things I've ordered recently haven't been so speedy, but we're also dealing with a global pandemic, among other things, so if things come a little slower, so be it. I can still remember the days before Amazon, or even the internet, when I'd pick items from a catalog, my mom would order them, and it would feel like they would never arrive. And we didn't get email tracking as soon as it shipped either. I currently have one package that is coming from Brooklyn. It has taken a detour to Boston for several days. I hope it's having a good time. I know it stinks to have to wait for the items we want, but I don't blame the company I've ordered from. It does neither of us any good for me to get upset or complain to them until a decent amount of time has passed.

Anyway, after all of that, I received my Sew Sampler Box a day before I was expecting it. So, that was a nice treat today. Want to know what came inside the December 2020 box? Let's get into it.

The box is Lori Holt-themed with fabric, pattern, and an additional item designed by Lori. Her aesthetic is not always my aesthetic, and that's okay. I certainly appreciate her creative genius! And, this fabric line is definitely my favorite Lori Holt line yet.

The fabric included in this month's box is a Petite Flea Market 10" Stacker by Lori Holt for Riley Blake Designs. I do like this fabric a lot. I like the vibrant colors paired with the fabric design inspired by vintage linens, old wallpaper, and dinnerwear.

A new item included in the box is 6" Sparkle Star Quilt Block Foundation Paper by Lori Holt of Bee in my Bonnet from It's Sew Emma. It's Sew Emma has been knocking it out of the park with foundation papers lately, and this one looks fun. It's shown with the solid as the stars, but it might be fun to play with that and have a quilt with many tiny, colorful stars on a solid, neutral background.

Designed by Lori Holt, the exclusive pattern uses both the 10" Stacker and the 6" Sparkle Star Quilt Block Foundation Paper. It is called the Twinkle Toes Table Runner Pattern. It's a scrappy pattern that has a bright, fun look, and it would be great to use not only with Flea Market fabric but also stash!

Another new item that Sew Sampler subscribers received first is the Stay Sharp Navy Magnetic Needle Case. This feels like one of those things you didn't know you needed until you have it. I have A LOT of needles. Being a Sew Sampler subscriber, a quilter/sewer for many years, and a cross stitcher, I have many different needles hanging around, and sticking out of projects, spools of thread, and hanging in packages on my pegboard. I know what I'm going to use this one for. My favorite cross stitch needles are Pat's Favorite Needle, and they come in a tiny envelope. Every time I open the package to grab a new one, I'm afraid I'm going to re-enact the tire change scene from A Christmas Story, and needles will fly across the room. Since there is a magnet inside this case, I won't have to worry about the needles having a mind of their own.

The final product included in the box is a duo of small 50wt Aurafil spools. The colors are 2220 and 2134, and they coordinate well with Flea Market. I'm never going to turn my nose up at Aurafil thread. It is my preferred brand. My aunt introduced Aurafil to me when I was trying to finish my first quilt back in 2011, and the sewing machine I had then died. She is a fantastic quilter and has several machines and kindly allowed me to borrow hers. I can't remember the model, but it was a Janome. It helped me solidify my decision to go with Janome when I replaced the no-name machine I was working with.

Overall, this is a nice, bright box that is very welcome here in January in New England. We're not quite utterly devoid of color since the foot of snow we received in mid-December was washed away by rain at Christmas, but I'm already ready for spring!

Sewcialites: Block 7

What a week, huh? I've been pretty off and on this week crafting with everything going on, but I did take some time today to work on block 7 of Sewcialites. Named Kindred, it is designed by Bonnie Olaveson and is considered intermediate. I think that if I hadn't watched Kimberly's Livestream demonstration of this one, I would've been a little lost. Kimberly detailed how to make the pieces a little larger than called for and then trimming down. This was a lifesaver for me.

With all of the tips from the Livestream, this intermediate block came out beautifully for me. The size is just about dead-on, the points are looking good, and it's a pleasing design. Since I've been working on the Journey 2 Nebula, I have a lot of experience with the bias edges, but I was a bit anxious to work on this block even with that.

Overall, I'm happy with this block. I don't think I would have been able to figure out on my own how to increase the size and then trim, so I'm glad Kimberly showed how to do that. Now that I've worked through it with this block, I might have the skills to figure it out for another similar block.

Sewcialites: Block 1

The day finally came! The Fat Quarter Shop released Block 1 of the Sewcialites Quilt Along this morning. I had all of my fabric starched and folded nicely, just waiting to be used.

I printed out the pattern and took a look at what I would need to know. It is designed by Lissa Alexander, and rated as an intermediate sew. It contains HSTs and hourglass blocks. Neither of those blocks is my forte, even using Triangle Paper from It's Sew Emma, but I'm looking at this whole project as a skill-building exercise and trying very hard not to get too stuck on perfection - a problem for me in my daily life.

As I reviewed the pattern, I used a tip that I've learned over the years while knitting sweaters and designs with multiple sizes. The sizes are usually listed in parentheses, and it's easy to get lost while you're knitting and knit to the wrong measurements. To prevent later aggravation, highlight or underline the size you're using throughout the pattern, so your eye is drawn to it. I went through the printed pattern and put a box around the measurements I would need to pay attention to.

After that, I went digging in my bin of Triangle Paper. Since I'm sewing the 6" blocks, I needed 1" Finished Triangle Paper, or a size close to it that I could trim down. I had 1" in my stash, so I unrolled it and peeled off what I needed for the HSTs in this pattern. I figured out what size of rectangle I would need in place of the cuts listed in the pattern for traditional HSTs. I went with 2.5" x 8". I cut out the rest of my pieces and labeled them with the Alphabities.

Earlier in the day, I watched Kimberly's Livestream, where she sewed the block and collected some tips. I was particularly interested in the final block assembly recommendations because I didn't want to lose my points or end up with a wonky-shaped block.

The tips worked! I haven't lost any of my points. As for squaring up my block, it's a HAIR larger than the 6.5" that it's supposed to be, but when I sew the whole quilt together, I shouldn't lose any of my points either. Hopefully...we'll find out in June. ;)

Sew Sampler Box September 2020

Guess what came in the mail today? If you saw the title, you already know. It's the September 2020 Sew Sampler Box from Fat Quarter Shop!

This month's box was slightly different from the usual box since the project is a bag instead of a quilt. It's a lovely little tote that would be perfect for carrying around my cross stitch projects. Bags aren't usually my thing, and I've never had much luck sewing them, but I'm drawn to this one and might try it out.

Here's what's in the box:
Petite Balboa Fat Quarter Bundle - Six fat quarters of the new Balboa by Sherri & Chelsi for Moda. I've been checking out the fat quarter bundle of this line for at least a month now, so I'm excited to have this mini version. Even if I don't use it for the included project, I appreciate it when the included fabric is fat quarters. So many possibilities!

Sewing Life Tea Towel by Gingiber - This cute tea towel has teal sewing accessories printed on it. Who doesn't need tea towels?

7" x 7" Silicone Appli-Fuse Mat by The Gypsy Quilter - I haven't done much applique, but this is designed to protect your iron from messy fusible!

Sew Mate Quilt Clips - These help manage your quilt sandwich when quilting on a domestic machine. We've already covered my woes of the tiny throat space on my machine, so I'm excited to try these.

Pack and Go Project Bag Pattern - Designed by Sherri McConnell, this bag uses some ByAnnie supplies to create a cute zippered pouch.

I like that there were some different products from what's usually in there this month. And, it's always fun getting quilty mail!

Sewcialites: Planning & Prep

For the last couple of weeks, I have been starting at my stack of fat quarters for the Sewcialites Quilt Along, wondering how I would decide which fabric to use for which block. Fat Quarter Shop released a coloring page, but these are prints, which changes the look, so I didn't think I would get an accurate representation.

I don't have fancy quilt design programs, but I remembered that I have Photoshop as I was staring at my computer. After work, I did some quick Googling and figured out how to create fill patterns and use those with the paint bucket tool. Then, after a little bit of trial and error, I was able to make my layout!

I have the same number of HSTs in the same layout as the original layout, but I did change the orientation of a few of them. I think messing around with those took me the longest out of the entire layout. I kept changing colors, color combinations and even had them all solid background for a bit. For the solid colors, I pulled a screenshot of the fabric I was going to use (I looked up the Confetti Cotton coordinates that went with the fabric line I'm using), used the color selector tool, then filled the HSTs with the color.

It wasn't without its hiccups. Once I filled with the pattern, it was difficult to change to another fabric on some of them because of the way the paint bucket tool works, but I used the polygon lasso tool to select the area I needed and then filled it. It doesn't look as perfect, but it's still good enough for me to get an idea of which fabric I'm using.

After I filled in all of the patterns and colors, I watched the Fat Quarter Shop Livestream, where Kimberly went through each of the blocks, matched them to their number, and then filled in the square at the top, so I have a second reference point. I'm giving myself a little pat on the back for this, and I'm excited to start Sewcialites.

Off to starch my fabric!

FFO: Mistletoe Lane

I have an actual finished object! It's not just a stitched project that I folded up and put into a bin. With inspiration from Priscilla and Chelsea from Stitching with the Housewives/Real Housewives of Cross Stitch, I took glue gun to fabric and made a thing!

I don't have much of a collection of finishing products, but I have slowly tried to add to my stash. I decided to go a little simple with this one since it's my first time finishing a cross stitch project that wasn't just putting it in a frame.

I got the frame from Amazon. It was one of the clip-style. I wasn't sure how they would be attached, but I was happy when it came in, and I unpackaged it and saw they were just held on by small screws. My trusty screwdriver took care of those in no time.

Then, the frame sat for several days while I mustered up the courage to do some gluing. A week or so ago, I purchased several 1/2 yard cuts from Fat Quarter Shop for finishing various cross stitch projects (most that aren't yet stitched). For this, I decided on Swell Christmas Pink and Red Plaid Yardage (now out of stock). I thought it would pull the red, pink, and green in this project together.

I watched one of the videos Priscilla and Chelsea made when they visited Fat Quarter Shop a few times to build up my confidence. Once I felt like I had absorbed all the knowledge I was going to, I started working out what size I wanted each of the parts. I cut my mat board for the fabric to 10.5," and my sticky board for my finished piece to 9", mostly because the Sticky Board I had on hand was 9" x 12".

I used a small piece of It's Sew Emma Cross Stitch Finishing Tape to secure the Swell Christmas fabric to the mat board before I started in with the glue gun so it wouldn't shift. Now, I hadn't touched a glue gun since sometime in the 1990s when I was a kid, and my mom was making a few decorative wreaths for the house that was all the rage back then. Actually, now that I think about it, I think my middle school replica of Mount Vernon was the last time I used a glue gun. I kind of when overboard on that project. If I had a picture, I'd show you. It was GINORMOUS.

Anyway, I carefully loaded my new glue gun, plugged it in, and waited for it to heat up. Once that was ready, I took glue to fabric and board and held my breath. I did use one layer of batting on top of the Sticky Board. I tried to center things as best I could while also trying not to burn my fingers. I pretty much succeeded!

They aren't colors that I usually decorate with, but I thought it might look nice with a multicolored light glass tree I have, so I'll definitely be using it in my house this Christmas. I'm so tickled with the final product!

Details
Pattern: Mistletoe Lane from Fat Quarter Shop
Floss: Weeks Dye Works in called for colors
Fabric: 28 Count Lugana by Zweigart in Light Ash
Total Hours Spent on Project: 70 hours, 16 minutes (which seems like a lot, but I was easily distracted during this one)

Sewcialites Quilt Along with Fat Quarter Shop

Last week, Fat Quarter Shop announced their nine-month quilt along, Sewcialites. You get to choose between 3" blocks, 6" blocks, or 9" blocks with a final setting of 27 1/2" square, 54 1/2" square, or 81 1/2" square.

I wanted to purchase NEW FABRIC for it so badly, but I have plenty of stash that needs using, so I went digging around in my various drawers and boxes. What I found, other than a lot of fabric, was a stack of fat quarters, background, backing, and binding I had purchased in April of 2017 and had intended to use for another project. I have absolutely no interest in that project anymore, as happens when you have big plans, and then everything else is more appealing.

This is Ava Rose from Riley Blake back from 2017. With all of the fat quarters and yardage, I have enough to make the 6" blocks, so that made my decision. There will likely be a couple of blocks that aren’t very high-contrast because I don’t have enough of the colorful ones, but I think I’m okay with that. I may pick up a couple of coordinating solids at the end for the HSTs, but luckily that is a decision I don’t have to make right now. I'm excited that I'm going to be able to participate, even if I don't get the joy of playing with new fabric, and it's another way to work down my stash, so win-win, right?

Sew Sampler Box August 2020

My August 2020 Sew Sampler Box from Fat Quarter Shop arrived today, two whole days before I was expecting it. It's been a tough week, so the minute the USPS truck drove to the next house, I ran outside to the mailbox, ran back in, sliced through the tape, and dug around in the box!

I like to check out the hints and guesses from other recipients when FQS posts it on their blog. I didn't have any ideas for this month's Rise & Shine theme.

I certainly wasn't expecting to be so excited about what I found in the package! Check it out!

Backyard Blooms by Allison Harris for Windham Fabrics Charm Packs - TWO of them! Chickens aren't really my thing, but I love the colors in this line, so bright and happy, and we could all use a little of that lately.

Kimberly Cuts 5 1/2" Square Rotating Cutting Mat, a Fat Quarter Shop Exclusive. I have a rotating cutting mat that's a bit larger, and I love the smaller size of this one. It looks like this one will also be available in a 12 1/2" size!

Lori Holt 5" Crazy Paper! I'm super excited about this. I've wanted to give Lori's Crazy Paper a try since I saw the first version on an FQS Livestream, so I'm happy to be able to give it a go!

Dritz Quilting Betweens Needles - can't have enough needles, can you? :)

Crazy Daisy Quilt Pattern. The star units use the Crazy Paper! I love the way the fabric line pops in this pattern. I'm currently trying not to purchase ALL the fabric, so I probably won't be buying the materials I need to do this project. BUT, I am considering turning the pattern into a table runner. I think that would be a fun sew and a good compromise for my wallet.

Jelly Snowflake Mystery Quilt Finishing

I finished assembling the top of the Jelly Snowflake Mystery Quilt on July 31, so I finished the assembly before July was over, and I’m super excited about it. It’s not often I manage to keep myself caught up, especially this time of year, when I’m spending time outside on the boat. I thought about making it a little bigger, but in the end, I’m good with the pattern size.

Finishing involved a center block and border pieces. The top came together fairly quickly, especially when I was able to match seams. It’s not my first time matching/nesting seams, but every time I do it, I get just a little bit of a thrill. I always anxiously peek at the intersection points and often make the slightest squeal of delight when everything matches up the way it’s supposed to. Sometimes I wonder if I’m going to stop doing that, but to be honest, I hope I don’t.

The next step is, of course, the quilting. As I’ve mentioned, I don’t have a very large throat space on my machine, so I often find free motion quilting, or really any quilting, to be troublesome. I also always want to be better than I am, and I know that’s more a function of not practicing than my actual ability. I understand that a new machine wouldn’t solve all of my problems, but I do imagine it would be helpful to be able to shove more quilt through the machine. I have an idea of what I want to do for the quilting. I’ve drawn it out on paper, we’ll see if I can actually accomplish it.

Jelly Snowflake Mystery Quilt Block 4

I managed to get myself caught up on the blocks for the Jelly Snowflake Mystery Quilt Sew Along! Block 4 was a relatively easy block, though it is a long rectangle, which I worry about a little because sometimes they have a tendency to get a little wobbly.

It was a pretty easy block to put together. Once I had the pieces cut (which also didn’t take long with the Stripology XL ruler), I was able to assemble each block in about half an hour. That includes pressing and trimming. Considering I’m not the speediest sewer, I’m pretty pleased with that time.

I’m excited to put together the final layout. I couldn’t wait, so I laid it out and I’m letting the layout sit for a day or so. I generally like to do that will all of the quilts I make. I like to make sure that I’m don’t have two of the same fabrics next to each other, or two of the same color. I’ll usually lay it out, take a picture (or two) with my phone and stare at it, squint my eyes, and scroll back and forth from the image so I can get an overall picture.

Jelly Snowflake Mystery Quilt Block 3

So, I’m actually not as far behind as I said I was. I completed block 3 of the Jelly Snowflake Mystery Quilt in just over an hour this weekend. Compared to block 2, this one was a breeze. It helps that there weren’t any flying geese in this one!

I used my pretend design board to keep my pieces organized and it was so helpful. I messed up block 1 a couple of times when going back and forth between pressing and sewing together, so placing everything back on the board helped keep track of where everything should be.

I did utilize chain piecing throughout and that seemed to help cut down on time. I did the two sections of the 4 patch and the square + green rectangle all at once, pressed and then completed the chain block. For the red pieces, I chain pieced the angled pieces, then pressed and added the squares. I’m really pleased with how this block finished, and super pleased with how quickly the four blocks came together.

Jelly Snowflake Mystery Quilt Block 2

What a shock, I’m behind! Block 2 of the Jelly Snowflake Mystery Quilt was a tough one for me. I’m not good at flying geese. It doesn’t matter what I do, how I cut, how I draw a line, how I sew, I inevitably end up with blocks that are off somehow.

I’ve been using my cheap-and-not-at-all-a-design-board piece of cardboard and that has helped me organize my blocks, along with the Alphabitties. I know I could easily MAKE a design board. Lori Holt just posted a video on it this weekend, but at the moment it’s spend time making a design board or sewing, and sewing has currently won. (If you haven’t checked out the video yet, I recommend it. The organization Lori has for her blocks is enviable!)

Someday, hopefully soon I’ll work on making my own design boards. I could also purchase them, but since I have the ability to make them, why wouldn’t I go the more affordable route? I DO need a glue gun anyway, so this is a good excuse, right? :)

Anyway, back to those flying geese. I don’t know why I have such a hard time with them. I’d like to blame my machine, but I’m pretty sure it’s more me trying to go too quickly and get things done and making a mess of things. I know that people are going to look at them and say “those look great, what are you talking about?” but if they’re not perfect, they’re wrong. (That’s a me thing though, I wouldn’t say that to anyone else!)

I did avoid trying to catch up on this block because of my fear of flying geese. And because I was going so slow, this block did take me a lot longer than I wanted it to, but they are done and I’m pretty pleased with them. I’m not sure I’ll be happy with using the lighter color on them, but using the lighter color also has the advantage of the mistakes blending in just a little bit better!

Mistletoe Lane Stitch Along Week 1

I haven’t been shy about sharing my love for Fat Quarter Shop. My wallet may not appreciate them, but I certainly do. I so enjoy all of the content they share with their customers, and the few times I’ve had to contact Customer Service, it has been an incredibly pleasant experience.

I was into cross stitch before Fat Quarter Shop really started to be part of bringing it back, but I have a serious backlog now, in part, because of the great projects I’ve discovered through them. The project that’s been consuming my time lately has been the Mistletoe Lane Stitch Along for Jolly July.

Week one took me significantly longer than I expected. Isn’t that always the way? I feel like every time I plan to do something, it takes twice as long as I think it’s going to. I did stitch the white letters before the red banner just to help prevent the white catching any of the white.

I am using the called for Weeks Dye Works colors, but I’m not using the fabric that Fat Quarter Shop suggested. They suggest a 25ct Lugana, but I prefer at least a 28ct fabric, and while I may not prefer stitching on it, I love they way 32ct looks. I’m using 28ct Lugana in Light Ash. I prefer the tone of this shade to the recommended. I also feel like the slight difference goes a bit better with my general decor.

I’m moving on to Week 2. Maybe I can finish it before the next part is released?

Jelly Snowflake Mystery Quilt Block 1

Once again, I am behind on a quiltalong. I think I am destined to just not be able to keep up. That’s okay though, it’s still fun!

This week, I finished block 1 of the Jelly Snowflake Mystery Quilt. This was a fun block. I used my Stripology XL ruler to do all of the cutting and it went pretty quickly.

I did trim my jelly roll pieces to exactly 2.5” as Kimberly demonstrated in her video for the block. I need all the help I can get for getting precise blocks! You can see that I also used my Ruler Stickers from GE Designs on the ruler. Good thinking, right? Well…it’s good thinking when you actually pay attention and cut where the stickers are. If your brain thinks it knows better and cuts wherever it wants, you need to do some surgery on one block to make it a 2.5” square.

The good news is, I don’t think it’s very noticeable at all when you’re looking at the whole block, or when I don’t say “Can you see the mistake? It’s right here? See it?? See it…here!!??”

Overall, I’m super happy with the way the blocks came out and the process for making them. I did them over two separate days and the first two blocks took over 15 minutes longer to complete than the second pair of blocks I made. I’m sure that’s because I had gotten the hang of what they were supposed to look like.

You can’t see the mistake, right? ;-)

Eight Carat Quilt Along Part 2 - Where the planning pays off

As I shared in my last post on the Eight Carat Quilt from Fat Quarter Shop I made some pretty big plans for my project, and then I had to pivot. When I was first planning this project I wanted to use my V & Co Ombre Confetti Metallic that I had in my stash. I remembered it being fat quarters. It turns out, they were 5” x width of fabric cuts. This was NOT going to work for my plan, so into the stash I dove. I came up with the Tula Pink Spirit Animal fat quarters from a previous Fat Quarter Shop Sew Sampler. I figured I could modify the plan I had already painstakingly created and use this fabric collection instead.

What was so painstaking about my planning? Well, you see, I couldn’t just put my half square triangles willy-nilly. No, I had a vision of an exploding gradient, of sorts. So, I set out with my colored pens and a ruler. Would this have been WAY easier with graph paper? Yup, it sure would have, but I didn’t have time to create that. Instead I figured out how I could sketch it out, including how to sketch the difference between the 4” finished squares section in the middle Sapphire block and the 3” finished squares of the Jade block. Again, it probably would’ve been much easier with graph paper, but I’ve never been known to make things easier on myself. Here’s my sketch:

As you can see, I ended up counting how many half square triangles I would need in each color. Looking at the graph, I have no clue what the 10s I put in the corners meant, but apparently it meant something to me at the time.

So, I set out with my 3” finished It’s So Emma Triangles on a Roll and got to stacking, sewing, and cutting. Overall, I’m really very pleased with how my half square triangles turned out. I’ve done it the “regular” way without the paper a number of times and it works just fine, but the paper adds just that little bit of help that means you can speed through the sewing just a touch faster. When you don’t have a ton of time to work on your hobbies because work and life take up more time that you want them to, it’s nice to be able to shave a few seconds here and there.

I ended up with a lovely stack of triangles to tear the paper from. This did not take quite as long as I thought it would, which was nice. I sat down in front of the tv and got to work. The cat joined me, but she was more interested in the contained I was tossing the paper scraps into than the actual triangles. There were a couple that I probably tugged a little too hard on and the edge stitches came undone, but it wasn’t anything that a quick stitch or two on the machine couldn’t solve.

When I started piecing, I did one block at at time until the entire unit was finished. This felt like it took forever, so I took a page from Kimberly Jolly of the Fat Quarter Shop (Have I said how much I love them yet? Because it’s my favorite online shop!) and did all of the pieces that I could in groups. This seemed to move things along a bit faster, and again, when I can save a few seconds here and there, it makes me happy. I sewed my blocks together anxious to see what it would look like when I laid the pieces out.

Since I wasn’t following my original plan, I was a little afraid it wasn’t going to work out, but as I laid out the pieces last night I realized my planning paid off and I was pretty darn thrilled with what I have. I’m looking forward to moving on to part 3!

Here We Go! Eight Carat Quilt Along Part 1

When it comes to shopping for quilting supplies, I don’t have a lot of option locally, so I have to do my shopping online, and have had to since I started exploring quilting about 9 years ago. One place I’ve been ordering from consistently is the Fat Quarter Shop. Not only am I a Sew Sampler Box member (and have been since the first box), but I give them major props for the way they work to connect with their customers. They have great blog content, fantastic tutorials and live videos, and having spoken to their customer service on the phone (and I dread having to use the phone), they are top notch. They recently released the Triangles on a Roll Quilts Book to go along with their Triangle Paper by It’s Sew Emma. Since my half square triangle skills are decidedly lacking, I decided to give their Eight Carat Quilt Along a go. The quilt along uses their triangle paper in 3” and 4” finished sizes and two patterns from the Triangles on Roll Quilts Book.

I had big plans for using some fabric from my stash, but when I got ready to starch the fabric, I realized that the fabric I thought was fat quarters were very much not. Plan B came in the form of fat quarters that were in the October 2017 (yikes!) Sew Sampler Box, Tula Pink’s Spirit Animal. Usually if I want to create the project that comes in the box, I’ll purchase the rest of the fabric. For this one, I didn’t purchase the fabric, so this collection was just open stash. I made a plan, which I’ll share more about in a future post, chose my fabrics, starched, and got to work.

I’m a fan of foundation paper piecing. I have a tendency to be a bit of a lazy quilter/sewer sometimes. More of a 90-percenter, if you will (plus a little Angela Walters “finished is better than perfect” thrown in for good measure), so when I have something that gives me seemingly perfect blocks. So, I set out to stock my fabric and pin the paper on top.

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Next, I took it over to my sewing machine, my trusty Janome DC2011 that doesn’t have a fancy name other than “my sewing machine” and started stitching. Using the recommended 1.5 stitch length I followed the arrows along the dotted lines. Easy peasy!

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Once that was complete, I cut the pieces on the solid line and ended up with 32 perfect half square triangle in two colorways. I will admit that peeling the paper always makes me nervous. I’m afraid that I’m just going to yank out the stitches, so I’m extra careful when doing that.

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The directions suggest trimming off the “ears,” so I did. I tried it two ways, the first was lining up a ruler and using my rotary cutter, and the second was just taking my fabric scissors to the tiny triangles. I decided that the scissors was the better option for me, plus I could step away from the sewing room to finish that part of the project.

I laid out the block, which is quite sizable, and it mostly fit on my table, and set out to sew the individual blocks together followed by the rows. My seam ripper and I did make friends a couple of times, but it mostly went quite well. As the block started coming together, I will admit, I was getting pretty giddy about how nicely it was coming out. I finished the final seam and gave it a nice press (all of the seams are pressed open in this block). There are a couple of places where everything doesn’t match up quite as nicely as I would hope for, but overall, I’m incredibly happy with this giant block! What do you think?

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