Today I'm excited to share this quilt made by Yuko. She used 20 Stepping Stones quilt blocks and then added sashing with cornerstones and a scrappy border to make this stunning quilt top. She sent me a photo by email. I LOVE it when people send me pictures of what they have made using my patterns! It was just a little over two years ago that I used this 10" block design to make a pair of baby quilts in a single colour - one in a positive setting and one in the negative setting and shared those finished quilts here.
In preparation for this past Christmas, I revisited this design when I made two table runners - one for my mom and one for my MIL. These were made using the multi-colour setting. One was made in prints and the other in solids.
You can find a free tutorial for the single colour Stepping Stones quilt block here. And the block pattern, which provides material requirements and cutting/piecing instructions for a single colour, two-colour and multi-colour setting, is for sale in my shop here.
Now... It's your turn for Show and Tell!!!
What have you been working on?
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It's beginning to look a lot MORE like... Christmas!
This is my third finish using the blocks in the free Have A Jolly Little Christmas quilt along. You can read all about that free quilt along here. This block is Christmas Poinsettia and the instructions are scheduled to be posted on February 25.
I really wish I could make all the projects I have in my head.... This is how the Christmas Poinsettia block would look as a quilt made using 9 of the blocks.
When it came time for quilting, I went with my usual organic wavy lines. I used Ghost White Magnifico thread by Superior Threads on top and plain white Guetermann in the bobbin. I used to do A LOT of quilting in white. And the beginning of this year will have a lot again.
The backing is Winter Garden by Susan Winget for Steele Creek Studio, which I found two years ago at Fabric.com. I fell in love with this print and bought it when it was on sale. I bought A LOT. So you'll be seeing more of this too. Sound familiar?
The striped binding is Winter Celebration by Sandy Lynam Clough for Red Rooster Fabrics and is a nice match to the reds in the backing. Those spots on the stripes are actually silver. And these fun stripes make me think of candy canes!
The "Christmas Poinsettia" quilted table runner finished at 16" x 42"
and was the 17th use of my 2nd edition of 100 labels
The first project I shared was a Have A Jolly Little Christmas sampler quilt made using a variety of blocks, which can be seen here. Last week I showed my second project here, made using a Holly & Berries block design in repeat.
And for those of you who can't get enough Christmas.... Those who are too excited to wait for the next block instructions.... Have a look at this Instagram post by my friend Karen of Run Sew Fun. She is not only talented... She is such a clever quilter! Karen has chosen to include blocks from my other free quilt along - Ugly Christmas Sweaters - as both quilt alongs use the same size blocks!!! Interested?!!! Check out the Ugly Christmas Sweaters quilt along here.
It is NOT necessary to purchase the pattern in order to participate in either of these Christmas themed quilt alongs, but if you would prefer the convenience of using a printable pdf pattern, the Have a Jolly Little Christmas Collection; which includes all 15 designs and the Ugly Christmas Sweaters patterns are both available for purchase in my pattern store here.
Yesterday's post was a bit of a teaser.... And I am not a big fan of secret sewing. Or waiting.... Don't want to leave a quilter hanging, so today I am taking you all for a trip to the BEACH!
I was struggling to come up with a fun idea for using 10" squares in a quilt design. After all the Christmas themed quilt blocks I've been working on, I guess my mind wanted to get as far away from winter as possible. Or it may just be that I've come down with a case of cabin fever.
It was an itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka-dot bikini. That she wore for the first time today.
Whatever the case may be, I was excited when I came up with something that I was really happy with and I couldn't get making this fast enough! I paired up the "Pie Making Day" stack of 10" squares with some solids from my Kona stash. Champagne, Putty, Ice Peach, Pink, Maize, Mocha, Coffee, and Brown were used for the flesh tones and Silver was chosen for the background.
To add to the simplicity of the piecing, there are no matching points to pin. As you can see, in the photos below, the background triangle pieces that have been added to the "waist" do not meet at the top when the "bra" portion of the block is added....
And when the "panty" portion of the block is add to the bottom of the "waist", the points will end up within the seam allowance....
This allows those of you who are a big fan of trimming your finished blocks, to trim to your heart's content. And when you add the sashing strip to the side, the "hip" will have a small portion overlapped by the sashing. I briefly considered "correcting" this to make the angles match the points, but I really liked the look of the block, just the way it is. And there is no pinning of points so this is a nice, relaxing, fun and fast block to make. I love it!
This next block is for my friend Anja of Anja Quilts. She is a BIG fan of orange. I don't know how she feels about bikinis though.
You don't have to use a Layer Cake or a stack of 10" squares to make this quilt. You simply require either a 10" square (or two pieces @ 5" x 10") of any piece from your stash per block. And a fat quarter of the flesh colour is enough to make three bodies. Speaking of flesh colour....
Did you know that Robert Kaufman, maker of Kona Cotton Solids, recently renamed two of their colours. One of them was named "Flesh" and is now called "Bellini". Coincidentally, did you notice how close that is to Bikini!!!???? Well it rhymes, anyhow. The other one was named "Pale Flesh" and is now called "Shell". I became aware of this change through reading a post where Yvonne of Quilting JetGirl was sharing her beautiful Oh Happy Day quilt she made for the MQG as November's Quilt of the Month. You can see that quilt here. AND if you are a relatively new quilting blogger, I highly recommend you check out her post calling on New Quilt Bloggers to sign up for the New Blogger Hop here. I took part in this event a number of years ago and it was the most fun! Such an informative learning experience and it helped me to get involved with the quilting community and grow my blog. I also must give a quilter credit where credit is due. I have NO doubt that this post on Instagram by Melissa Teeters Bonier must have had a huge influence in the renaming of these shades....
A photo posted by Melissa Teeters Bonier (@melissabonier) on
Bravo to you Melissa! And thank you to the Kaufmann crew for acknowledging this was a problem and for acting on it to quickly rectify this issue! This was handled in an appropriate way with everyone behaving as they should - as adults. This makes me that much more proud to be a part of the quilting community - a community that is inclusive! Speaking of promoting inclusiveness... Also seen in my Instagram feed was this post by my friend Lori of SewPsyched!
A photo posted by Lori Landenburger (@sewpsychd) on
This post really shocked me because of the timing. I had just that same day shared a photo of this new pattern with my daughter to make sure it was easy to recognise that these were indeed gals in bikinis. This type of design is not typical of what you would see coming from me. Most of my designs are of animals, not people. Granted these people have no heads, arms or legs.... But.... They are people.
Lori's use of the hashtag #differentmelanin caught my eye. Turns out there is some designer named Isaac West out there doing a project using all these models with different skin tones. I'm not a fashionista.... So I can't really explain what his project is. But I think the intent is obvious enough....
We are all beautiful. It has nothing to do with skin colour. Or even how you spell colour.
This new pattern is called Teenie Weenie Bikini and you can find it listed here in my shop.
4 block mini quilt finishes at 25.5" x 30.5"
Each block finishes at 9.5" wide by 12" tall. Using 2" sashing and 2" borders:
Single block mini quilt finishes at 14" x 16.5"
4 block mini quilt finishes at 25.5" x 30.5"
9 block baby quilt finishes at 37" x 44.5"
16 block lap quilt finishes at 48.5" x 58.5"
20 block beach blanket finishes at 48.5" x 72.5"
25 block single bed quilt finishes at 60" x 72.5"
16 block lap quilt finishes at 48.5" x 58.5"
25 block single bed quilt finishes at 60" x 72.5"
Single block mini quilt finishes at 14" x 16.5"
Are YOU a fan of Layer Cakes and stacks of 10" squares?
If you missed my Giveaway post, I strongly encourage you to give it a read.
Welcome to the Let's Bee Social and thank you so much for making this party such a success! It warms my heart and makes me smile to see you all participating in this event each week. When I click on your photos and come for a visit, I love seeing that you are BEEing social and have been visiting and leaving kind comments on each other's blog posts. Everyone needs a little sweet word of encouragement now and then. Thank you also for all the lovely comments left on these link up posts each week! You make me so happy!!!! I know this place has been overrun with all kinds of Christmas lately. Excuse me..... But where did January go????
So for my next trick.... I'm taking my Maple Cake of "Pie Making Day" and magically turning it into a quilt. For those of you who are wondering, "What is a Maple Cake?", a Maple Cake is a stack of 10" squares. There are 40 to 42 pieces in a stack. And a Maple Cake is the same thing as a Layer Cake except that Moda "owns" the name Layer Cake. So the clever folks at RJR Fabrics came up with their own name for this and gave it a Canadian twist! Last week I told you about how I consider myself to be "print challenged" and how I spent most of last year working on overcoming that. Well it's confession time again.... I am additionally "precut challenged". Or maybe it's not just me....
It was three years ago that I got my first stack of 10" squares. They were from the "Meadow Friends" line by Moda. I designed the KYSS Me By The Garden Wall pattern and made this quilt, that you can read about here. KYSS stands for Keep Your Sewing Simple.
When I seen this Maple Cake of "Pie Making Day" for sale, I bought two. Because I love it so much. I used my first stack to remake the KYSS pattern, and you can see that one here.
I did like this quilt better because of the prints. But the pattern is very simple. For the KYSS pattern you cut the 10" squares in half and add sashing. Definitely lives up to the Keep Your Sewing Simple motto. This time I wanted to make something a little more fun to piece. So for this second stack of "Pie Making Day".... I am heading to the BEACH!
Like me, are you a sucker for those gorgeous bundles? Those luscious layer cakes? Those delectable jelly rolls? Do those bite sized charm packs and chip packs call you by name? What do you do with yours? Are you a curator of these things? Or do you use them to actually make quilts?
Now... It's your turn for Show and Tell!!!
What have you been working on?
Click on at least a few of the others who have linked up.
In your blog post, please include a link back to my blog.
Grab the "Let's Bee Social!" button from above and put it on your sidebar. This way others who visit your blog that week can join in the fun! Share the news of this new linky and Let's Bee Social!
Following Sew Fresh Quilts is not required. But it sure would BEE nice!
