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I am really loving stars lately, especially simple star shapes and I have wanted to make some Lemoyne Star blocks for a while.  I'm sure there are tutorials out there, but this block is just made out of half square triangles.  The colors evolved from scraps that were still on my cutting mat from my Sundown Quilt . I wanted to make a baby quilt that wasn't too baby-ish.  I love baby quilts, but it's nice to have something that will work for older kids too. Or grown ups. The quilting is a 2" grid which I have been doing a lot lately.  It is my favorite. The binding is actually a Peppered Cottons shot cotton. To account for any extra fraying I zig-zagged the edges and sewed it on with a slightly larger seam allowance.  I also machine bound this quilt and it went well!  Hooray! The backing is Chicopee corduroy; I loved using it on this quilt and I think it works great for a baby quilt since it is very soft and has a subtle corduroy texture.  So snuggly. The only problem w

I am still working on my Farmer's Wife Blocks, though to stay on schedule I need to make 5 more blocks by the end of the month (may not happen).  It has been very gloomy here.  I know that I shouldn't complain about the weather since it is perfect in San Diego almost all of the time, but when it rains all I want to do is stay in bed and read.  This has not been a productive week. All of these came from scraps except for the pigs and the strawberries.  It has been a fun challenge to dig through my scrap bins and use up some tiny pieces. Also, I wanted to mention that I guest posted over at The Sassy Quilter about making Triangle Quilts .  She is hosting a Triangle Quilt Along and is going to be including lots of tips and tricks about sewing triangles.   You can find my previous Farmer's Wife Blocks Blocks 1-10 Blocks 11-15 Blocks 16-20

A few weeks ago I got an email from Clothworks Fabric asking if I would be interested in playing around with some fabric.  Of course I would!  They didn't tell me what they were sending, so I was extremely pleased and excited when this pretty bundle showed up in the mail.  Yay!  And they are really lovely, plus they are sourced and made in the United States. I wasn't sure what I was going to make, but I started cutting 2.5" squares from the fat quarters and then moving them around in different shapes until I ended up with this: I have been wanting to make something with a pixelated heart since seeing Jolene's beautiful quilt and these fabrics seemed perfect. The fabrics are wonderful to work with and are very soft.  I really like how saturated and bright the colors are and that coral-y, dark orange is completely amazing and more of it will definitely be making its way into my stash. I debated turning this into a quilt since it is pretty big for a table runner (approxi

Almost a year ago I made this quilt for a magazine so I was excited when yesterday I finally received a copy of the magazine in the mail. The quilt was made with Heather Ross' Briar Rose collection and I just love how sweet the colors are, especially the purple floral print which I used for the binding. The quilt is included in the Summer 2014 of Easy Quilts which should be available in stores soon. You can read more about my California Dreamin quilt which was included in the Spring 2014 issue of Easy Quilts here and here .  

After making this pillow to match our new living room furniture, I had trouble deciding on what to do for the second pillow.  When I saw this tutorial for the super size castle block  I thought this would be a good option since, while I think the block is amazing, I am probably not going to want to make an entire quilt of these. So I cut out the pieces and they sat on my counter for three weeks.  Last week I picked the project back up and pieced them together and the project went fairly quickly and was not difficult (but don't expect to be seeing an  entire quilt of y-seams  from me again any time soon). The colors are definitely a little more muted than what I normally sew with, but they match the room. The back of the pillow is Robert Kaufman Chambray (leftover from this quilt ) and it is really lovely.  I will definitely be using it in more projects in the future. The finished size is a little bigger than 20x20".

The Southern Fabric $25 gift certificate giveaway.  The winner is . . . Congratulations Anita and thanks everyone for entering!

If you have been reading my blog for the last couple months you might remember that I am on a quest to lighten my scrap bin this year and am going to be making quilts for my Mom (that one is done) and 3 of my sisters.  Despite using a zillion scraps in my Mom's quilt I still have lots and lots and lots. The inspiration for this quilt came from Lu Summer's book  Scrap Improv .  I know I have mentioned my love for this book several times, but it is really a beautiful book.  Improv-iness doesn't come naturally to me and this really made me excited about trying out some new things. When I started working on this quilt I knew it was going to be for my youngest sister Kelly.  A different sister, Carly, is currently visiting me and was kind enough to hold up the quilt for me.  If I had known that Carly would be spending her Spring Break with me I would have made her quilt first.  Oops. The background fabric came from yardage in my stash and is gray Robert Kaufman chambray.  The r

Today I am excited to have a giveaway for a $25 gift certificate to Southern Fabric . I think I would use that towards . . . A Color Me Happy layer cake or Some beautiful Girlfriends fabric or Some great stash building dots So what would you pick?  Visit Southern Fabric and take a look around, then leave a comment letting me know what you would buy with the $25 gift certificate and I will pick a winner on Tuesday evening. The giveaway is now closed. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

I did actually finish these during February (my goal is to finish 10 blocks per month) but it has been very rainy so photos had to wait.  Just pretend like I actually took the time to hang the blocks up straight and remove all of the strings.  Oops. Every time I do another batch of blocks I am using more and more scraps, almost all of the fabrics in these blocks were from the scrap bin, so I think my finished quilt will probably be quite scrappy.  The only fabrics that I am cutting from my stash are the ones that I am fussy cutting and even some of those are coming from scraps. I also made my March blocks for the Wish Circle of  do. Good Stitches.  It is my month to be the quilter so I wanted to give the blocks a test run.  I chose asterisk blocks , only scaled up to a 9.5" finished block. A few people asked for a tutorial for the triangle quilt in my last post .  I am not going to post a tutorial but I will be sharing some tips for working with triangles over on the Sassy Quilter

When I saw the info about the 2014 Pantone Quilt Challenge at Adrianne's blog I knew that I needed to participate.  Purple is my favorite color and it seems like I don't use it nearly enough so this was the perfect excuse. I started with a stack of purple prints and shot cottons and added some pinks, corals, yellows and grays. These are pretty much all of my favorite colors and several of my favorite prints.  It was a very fun and happy project to work on.  I don't have many (any?) fabrics that are the exact radiant orchid shade but I did my best. After reading Jess's post the other day about using doubled up batting I decided to give it a try.  It definitely makes the quilt a little more cushion-y which is nice for a baby quilt, but I don't know if I would do it again.  It made the quilt a little stiff and I think I prefer a single layer.  It definitely makes the quilting looks more defined. I used Alison Glass Sunprint for the backing and a Lizzy House print fo

This past week a friend went into labor.  After her labor had progressed for a while the doctors realized that the baby was in distress and they rushed her in for a c-section.  Unfortunately they were not fast enough; baby Elias had the cord wrapped around his neck three times and he passed away during childbirth. The efforts that the doctors took to save Elias' life has left his parents with high hospital bills in addition to the unexpected cost of his funeral.  My heart is just broken for them. A fund has been set up to help support the family and you can find more information as well as a link to the Paypal fund here . The Etsy listing for the Stacked Squares quilt is here .   SOLD