Bright Baby Quilt

We all make mistakes, right?  Well, this quilt is completely made from mistakes!  And the weird thing is, I don't hate it.

A couple of years ago I was at a retreat and had brought everything I needed to make a queen sized Hello Washi Quilt.  I was having a great time visiting with friends as I cut my blocks out and began chain piecing.

When it was time to put my first big block together I came to an awful realization.  I had messed up BIG TIME.  I had cut about 150 white strips too narrow.  By the time I realized it, I had already sewn each too-thin white strip to a print rectangle.  Ugh.  So now what??

My options at this point were to sit and unpick 150 seams and start completely over, OR  I could set aside the mistake blocks and move on.  After thinking about it (for maybe 10 seconds) I decided to save the mistakes for later and move on.  It wasn't a tough decision - I'm not a huge fan of my seam ripper!  So I put this quilt away and worked on something else for the rest of the retreat.

When I got home I stashed the mistake blocks away to work on another time.  I pulled them back out a month or so ago and put them all up on my design wall to see what I could make from them.

This baby quilt is the result - not bad, eh?  Talk about making lemonade out of lemons!

That's probably one of the worst mistakes I've ever made.  How about you?  What's the worst quilting mistake you've made?

Edited to add:  Want to make your own?  Find a link to the free PDF pattern here on this post. 

Quilt details:

48" x 48"

fabrics:  various prints from my stash

How Delightful!

So I gave myself a couple weeks off.  I slept in.  I read a lot.  I did sneak in a little pattern designing here and there.  We spent a lot of time as a family just hanging out and playing.  We celebrated Christmas and New Years and did so with all of our fun family traditions (except making gingerbread houses.  That one just did not happen this year.)  It has been delightful!  And now it’s time to get back to reality, right? 

Everyone heads back to school and work on Monday and we adopt some sort of schedule once again.  Confession time: I’m looking forward to it. 



In the past couple of weeks I’ve started a just-for-me project and I’m really excited about it.  I’ve been working on it slowly here and there.  It started with pulling this stack of fabrics from my stash.  That’s 49 different prints to be exact.  I was a little lacking on the red blenders but a quick trip to my local quilt shop fixed that.   



I’m pairing these rainbow prints with some low volume prints – each colored rectangle gets one little low vol square in each corner.  I love the bright colors/low volume combo!   
 


Alright I’m off to enjoy the last couple of days of our vacation (and fold laundry).  Someone has to do it, right?

Burlap Christmas Ornaments Tutorial

Alright – show of hands – who has their tree up and their house decorated for Christmas??

I’m hoping to get around to it today.  (Fingers crossed)  I had big plans of getting our tree decorated the day after Thanksgiving, but it just didn’t happen.  Then we took a 4-day trip to Disneyland and a part of me was hoping that some magical Christmas elf would come and decorate my house while I was gone.  That didn’t happen either.  Instead, we arrived home late last night to a broken thermostat (no heat – ugh!) and a dark and very non-Christmassy house. 

So today’s goal (after I do these last few loads of laundry) is to decorate the tree!  But first I wanted to let you know that over on the Therm O Web Blog today I’m sharing a tutorial for these easy, scrap-friendly burlap Christmas ornaments.

Each ornament is about 3.5” x 3.5” – a nice size for an ornament, but small enough that it could also be used as a gift tag!  I just wrote on the back of this one with a Micron pen, but I’m sure a fine point sharpie would work just fine too.

The tutorial has templates for each of these little ornaments – a wreath with berries…

a star…

a little bird…

and a tree.

And now for one more Christmas related bit of news.  Each year I get requests for Christmas Star Table Runner kits.  I just wanted to let you know that I have a few left in my Etsy shop.  Once these sell out I won’t be adding more until next year! 

The kits include the pattern and all of the fabric needed to make one 12” x 40” runner (binding, background, backing and stars.)   The kits are listed here, and if you’d just like the pattern (no kit) you can find that listed here for $4.00 (PDF instant download pattern)

Have a great weekend everyone! 

Scrappy Susannah quilt tops

Back at the beginning of September I had a tutorial here on my blog for a quilt block called the Scrappy Susannah.  I’ve recently gotten some questions and emails about what a full quilt would look like.  Well now that I’ve received all of the blocks from my Do. Good Stitches group, I can show you what it’s starting to look like!

First of all, here are all of the 12” blocks laid out randomly.  The group members could choose to use either navy, royal blue, green or yellow for their blocks. 

I’m still trying to decide if I want to add sashing between the blocks, which would look like this:

About mid-September, I pulled out all of my favorite navy blue prints and made this quilt top (it’s still waiting to be quilted).  With this version I think I’m really liking the no sashing look. 

And just to show you kind of a different look, here are the same Scrappy Susannah blocks but using the fabrics from Mirabelle (designed by Joanna Figueroa for Moda). 

And then the same quilt, but without sashing. 

And then here’s one more because I was curious what a Christmas version of Scrappy Susannah would look like!  This one is made using Solstice by Kate Spain.  And again, I think I prefer the no-sashing look.  What do you think?  Sashing or no sashing??

Division–a new quilt pattern

Happy, happy Friday!  Is anyone else celebrating the fact that it’s Friday, or is it just me?  Good heavens this was a long week!  First of all I just want to remind everyone to enter the Cascade fat quarter stack giveaway if you haven't yet.  You have until Monday to enter!

So today I have something exciting to share!  I’d like to introduce you to Division – one of my newest quilt patterns!  (Wow - I’ve only written 7 sentences and I’ve already used 5 exclamation points.  I’m super enthusiastic today, aren’t I?)

Division is a jelly roll friendly quilt pattern, but doesn’t require you to have jelly rolls.  The fabric requirements are also given in yardage for those of you that prefer to choose fabrics that way.  And with the largest width of fabric required being just 2.5”, this makes it a great pattern to use up those fabric scraps!

Division has instructions for four different sizes – baby, throw, twin & queen.

The quilt that I made for the pattern cover (in the image above) is the throw size and is made using some of my favorite fabrics from my stash. 

As I’m designing each pattern I like to go in to EQ7 and create a few different versions.  This one below is also a throw size, but using fabrics from Color Theory (a yet to be released line from Vanessa of V and Co.)

and this version is the baby size with fabrics from a line called Moxi by Studio M for Moda.

Printed patterns and PDF (instant download) patterns are available from my pattern shop here, and on Etsy here. 

If you are a quilt shop and are interested in a wholesale order of this or any of my other patterns, please email me abrightcorner@gmail.com.

As always, thanks for stopping by!  I thoroughly enjoy reading your sweet comments and emails.  Enjoy your Friday!

Quilt Block Tutorial–The Scrappy Susannah

Today I'm sharing with you a fun, scrappy block called Scrappy Susannah.  This block is a fantastic way to use up some scraps since all of the needed squares are either 3.5” or 4.25”.  Here’s the tutorial!

**edited to add:  A printable version of these instructions is now available here as a PDF!**

For one (12.5") block you’ll need:

• 8 (3.5”) print squares
• 4 (3.5”) white or background squares
• 2 (4.25”) print squares
• 2 (4.25”) white or background squares

1.  On the two (4.25”) white squares, draw a diagonal line or fold in half and finger press.

2.  Place each 4.25” white square right sides together with a 4.25” print square.  

Sew about 1/4” on both sides of the drawn line.

3.  Cut along the drawn line to make two half square triangles (HST).

4.  Open HSTs, press and trim each HST to be 3.5”

5.  Layout squares as shown.

6.  Using a 1/4” seam, sew squares into rows.  Press each row.

(I prefer to press seams open at this point)

7.  Sew rows together, matching seams, and press block.

Block should measure 12.5”

And there you have it!  Pretty easy, right?  

If you'd like to print out this tutorial for easy reference later, you can find a free downloadable PDF here.

If you make a Scrappy Susannah block I'd love to see it!  Tag me on Instagram (@abrightcorner) or Facebook.  Be sure to use the hashtag #scrappysusannahblock so we can all see what you've created!

The Leftover Conundrum

 Leftovers are just a part of life, right?  Every once in a while, after finishing a quilt I’ll find I have enough leftovers to possibly make another whole quilt – a small one, but still a whole quilt!  And I’m always torn.  Should I just add the fabrics to my stash (which is arranged by color) and let it go?  Or just keep going and make that second quilt.

What do you do?

Flirty charms was made with leftovers, as was Honey Honey, Hometown Healing, and Sweet Baby Boy.



And now I have another to add to the list.  I had some 3” strips leftover from this quilt and with the addition of a bit more Kona Snow, I knew I could make a small throw sized quilt.  So I got to work.

With the combination of strip piecing and chain piecing it was a fast project.  In about an hour I had a stack of blocks:



And not long after that I had a quilt top (I did have to make a trip to my local shop to get a bit more Kona Snow).  The quilt top measures about 52” x 60” and I'm hoping to get the quilting done on it this weekend.  Hooray for leftovers!  

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday with Crazy Mom Quilts

Sun and Surf Quilt - all done!

I gave a sneak peek the other day of the finished Sun and Surf quilt - but here's the full quilt!  It's chock full of scrappy yumminess.  My most favorite part is the fact that it was made by 9 creative women and their lovely stashes.

I've mentioned it before, but in case you're new around here, I'm a member of the Imagine group of Do. Good Stitches.  [Read more about Do. Good Stitches here]  Honestly, being a quilter for a Do. Good Stitches group is one of the most fulfilling parts of my year.

Back in March I asked each group member to make two blocks using scrappy mint and coral, with scrappy low volume backgrounds.  And boy did they!  It's always such a treat to open my mailbox and find two lovely blocks there waiting for me!

[By the way, the free block tutorial can be found here]

Once I had received all of the blocks I dug through my low volume scraps for the sashing and borders.  I used some scrappy coral bits for the posts and again for the binding.  Don't you just love a scrappy binding??  

I used a solid minty blue on the backing and used an all-over swirl quilting design.  I wanted to give the quilt a lot of motion.  It already had a lot because of the block design, but the swirls add even more!

So with one more DGS quilt completed, it's about time to start another!  September is my month to choose a block so I'm currently on the hunt for a fun block idea.  If you'd like to see more of the finished quilts made by all of the DGS groups, you can see them all here in this flickr group.

Sun and Surf Quilt Top

Waaay back in March it was my turn to choose a block for our Do. Good Stitches group.  The women in our group sent me some fun blocks and I've finally put them together into the quilt top.

I kept with the low volume look for the sashing and I used more of the coral color in the posts.  I love the way the color plays off of the low vol prints.  This quilt is next in line to be quilted.  I'm thinking about doing either waves or swirls as part of the quilting.  Any other ideas?  

You can find the free tutorial for this block pattern here.

Thinking of Snowflakes

I’ve been thinking about snowflakes lately.  It doesn’t help that we have a decent sized snow storm headed our way in the next couple of days.  It’s just that I get these ideas in my head and I let them rattle around for a few days as I try to come up with the easiest way to do it. 

This afternoon I pulled out a stack of snowflakeyish (what? That’s not a real word??)  looking fabrics to play with-

Out of this stack this one is hands down my favorite:

This is “Dotted Swirl” – a lovely silver metallic print.  It’s from the Hip Holiday line from Blend (designed by Josephine Kimberling).  I’m on the fence about some of the metallic fabrics out there but this one caught my eye immediately.  It just hits the spot I think.  Those silvery swirls are just perfect!  Aaaaaaand I think I should have bought more of it. 

Happy Sewing everyone!


edited to add:  After I had my stack of fabrics pulled I saw Ali’s blog post about this month’s Stash Flash.  Her theme this month is “Winter.”  My stack certainly fits the category doesn’t it?  You can join in the Stash Flash too – she gives you two ways to participate (love the IG option!)  It will be fun to see what everyone’s interpretation of the theme will be!

Stashing Low Volume Fabrics

 I like to keep a nice variety of low volume fabrics in my stash.  I don’t keep a large stash of them – but just a small cut of many different prints. 

Most of them are 1/4 yard or less, many of them are fat quarters. 

How do I find them?  Oh, here and there.  No really! 

I’ve only purchased one low volume bundle (which IS a great way to gather low vol fabrics!) and the rest were bought a piece at a time as I find them in shops.  Usually as I’m looking for fabric for other projects I’ll take a moment to look through the sale stacks or the bin of fat quarters. 

Buying a low volume stack or bundle is a great way to beef up your LV stash, or start one for that matter.  Amanda from Westwood Acres usually has a few low volume bundles in her shop.  You can also find some here, here and here, and here.

Swapping is also a great way to get a nice variety of fabrics.  I know there have been some low vol swaps in the past – does anyone know of a low volume swap currently taking sign ups?  Maybe we should start one of our own, eh?

As far as storing my LV stash goes, I’ve tried two ways.  When I first started really focusing on collecting low volume fabrics I would just add each to the color stack I felt it belonged with – although most of them fell in with the grays and blacks. 

The downside to that is that when I needed to do an entire project that used many low volume prints I had to go through each stack to pull out what I needed.  Ugh!  So after that I just started a new stack on the end of my shelf that was dedicated to just low volume.  That storage method works much better for me. 

So what exactly ARE low volume fabrics and how are they used?  This blog article by Sherri McConnell is a great place to start.

How about some low volume inspiration?  There are so many fantastic quilts and pillows out there that effectively use low vol fabrics.  Here are just some of my favorites!

1. Modern Maples Quilt Top Complete!, 2. My low volume version of V&Co's Reverse Hopscotch Quilt, 3. Low Volume Pixelated Heart Baby Quilt, 4. Low volume quilt, 5. Low volume plus quilt, 6. Finished HST Low Volume Quilt (125), 7. FLiQS Quilt Received from Donna, 8. plain spoken low volume quilt, 9. Low Volume Single Girl Quilt, 10. Banderitas, 11. Outer Border Quilting - Marcelle Medallion, 12. Springtime Riot {do. Good Stitches August Quilt}, 13. Friends with Additions Starter Block, 14. mod pop, 15. low volume quilt- full front, 16. Goose Creek for do. Good Stitches

Fabric Stack Friday

I realized the other day that I haven’t done a Fabric Stack Friday in awhile.  To make up for it, I have two for you today! 

First is a stack of half yard cuts from Art Gallery Fabrics.  I added in a few Kona solids so I’d have enough for a throw size quilt top.  (The solids are cactus, iron, and caribbean).  I’ll be working on this quilt this weekend at the Sewing Summit.  The line is called Urban Mod and you can find bundles here and here.

My second stack is a bundle of fat eighth cuts of Florence by Denyse Schmidt.  I had a “love at first sight” moment when I first saw this line at spring market.  I got this bundle from a new friend of mine.  Amanda’s shop is Westwood Acres and she always has the most lovely bundles of fabric.

Hope you have a great weekend!