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Last week I got an email asking if I was interested in the Flower Favorites Blog Hop. Yes! I chose to work with Palm Springs  which is a fun, spring-y collection with some adorable tulips. The tutorial is available on the at the Bernatex blog here .  And keep an eye out for more tutorials over the next week as the blog hop continues. But until then, how about a giveaway?  Bernatex has kindly offered up a fat quarter bundle of the Palm Springs collection to one lucky winner.   photo from Missouri Star Quilt Co. For a chance to win a fat quarter bundle of Palm Springs, follow the Benartex blog (either by email or a blog reader) and leave a comment here saying that you're a follower. For a second entry, "like" Benartex on Facebook   and leave a comment saying that you do.  The giveaway will be open until May 6th.   Check out the other tutorials in the Flower Favorites Blog Hop: Day 1 - Debby Kravotil Quilts

March was my turn as quilter in the do. Good Stitches Wish Circle and I requested asterisks blocks (tutorial here ) sized up a little and made in turquoise, orange, red, and yellow with a black or dark gray asterisk. I am always so indecisive about choosing; I want something that won't be too time consuming but that will still be fun and that will make a nice quilt to donate to Project Linus.  It is really amazing how well these collaborative quilts come together. Last time I spoke with Project Linus they told me that our area has the most need for baby/young kid quilts so this one is a little on the smaller side.  The finished size is 36" x 45". The backing is from Erin McMorris' Astrid collection.  I love, love this collection.   The binding is Ann Kelle chevron.  I attached it by machine which, thank goodness, I have gotten a little better at.  Lately my carpal tunnel has been bothering me a little more and I have been machine binding to keep from aggra...

A few days ago I was apparently trying really hard not to be productive and was browsing the Quilty website. I noticed a video that had an image of a quilt that looked strangely familiar so I clicked and started watching. I was super surprised to find out that in the video they are making a block (it's an Ohio Star Block) like the quilt that I made that is going to be in the next issue of the magazine.  If you fast forward to about 1:50 in the video my name is even on the screen. Crazy.  The craziest thing is that I randomly found it since they didn't let me know that they were doing this.  Anyway, I will post a photo of the quilt when they send me a copy of the magazine. Today is my daughter Harper's 6th birthday which is exciting for her but also a big relief to me since we have been having a daily birthday countdown for the past three months.  She has been so excited and was very happy that we complied with her request for mostly clothes, accessories, and shoes f...

On Friday I decided I needed an Easter table runner.  Well, I will call it a Spring table runner so that I can get a little more use out of it.  I really need to stop making seasonal things at the last minute . This is made entirely of half square triangles and is a variation on the Formal Garden block from 500 Quilt Blocks .  This is the first time I have ever used solid white as a binding and I wish it was a more practical choice because I love it.   This time of year helps me to feel hopeful and grateful.  I am so grateful for all of you and the opportunity to share myself and the things that I have made.  Thank you and I hope you are all having a wonderful Easter.

A few days ago I saw on Instagram that Windham was hosting  this mini quilt challenge .  I saw their post right after it was made so I was able to comment quickly and was chosen to participate. They sent me a package of fabric with the agreement that I would make an 18" square mini quilt for their quilt market booth. The most exciting thing was that I had no idea what fabric they were going to send me.  I would be lying if I said that I wasn't hoping for the Far Far Away reprint, but when I opened the package I found prints from French Bull's collections  African Surf and Mosaica . I was a little nervous because they sent a pretty limited amount of fabric so there was no room for mistakes and I couldn't really change my mind if I didn't like my first attempt. I ended up using my own striped chevrons tutorial  but I changed the number of strips, the width and height, and the angle that I cut the strips, ha ha.  I have a hard time doing the same thing the sa...

Generally I don't gravitate toward sweet, pretty fabrics, but I am smitten with this Palos Verde print .  It is amazing.  Since I have a friend who is about to have a baby girl after having two superhero-loving boys, I thought this sweet, pretty print would be perfect. The pattern is Rachel's Penny Patch pattern which is so quick and easy and sweet and would be great for a beginner and still a satisfying project for a non-beginner. Since these colors are a little out of my comfort zone I was afraid that I wouldn't have much to coordinate, but thank goodness for Pearl Bracelets  and Kona cotton.  But working with unfamiliar colors was hard! The Palos Verde print is voile and this is this the first time I have used voile in a quilt with regular quilting cottons, but I didn't have any problems and it is nice and soft. I almost splurged on another Palos Verde print for the back, but then I found this Hello Pilgrim print in my hoard stash.  The binding is the gorg...

I can see why a lot of people burn out on the Farmer's Wife blocks at this point.  Though I really to keep going, I'm feeling a little burned out.  Part of it is that I am trying to use scraps and it takes entirely too long to dig through my scraps to find fabrics each time so I may start cutting more from yardage. All of these came from scraps except the girl doing the handstand. This month for do. Good Stitches Kirsten asked us to make courthouse steps blocks using this tutorial  in spring colors.  This was my first time making these blocks and they were fun.  And now I really want to start a project using some of these colors.

I spent the weekend finishing this one up and delivered it to my friend yesterday evening.  They are big BYU fans and seemed really excited about the quilt, which is always a satisfying feeling.  I am also a BYU alum (class of 2006, BS in biology) so I may have to shrink the blocks down a little and make myself a wall hanging version at some point. I kept the binding and quilting really simple and used this fun Summersville print for the backing.  Originally I rummaged through my stash to try to find a blue print for the back, but when I didn't find one I realized that I liked this print for the backing even better. A few people commented that they were interested in making their own version so I thought I'd give a very quick, simple, pictureless tutorial. For the layout I found  this cross stitch pattern .  I got the idea from  Svetlana's gorgeous Pinkie Pie quilt  and a quick Google search saved me the trouble of figuring it out myself. There are 39 ...

When I first started quilting I made a big, giant quilt and backed it with (what I thought was) warm, snuggly flannel.  I had pre-washed the fabric, but after a couple more runs through the washing machine the flannel became much less snuggly and more scratchy. Since then I have used flannel to back a few quilts (see here and here ) with wonderful results, but I am always nervous.  A few weeks ago I contacted every fabric manufacturer that I could think of and asked if they would send me some flannel so that I could test and compare the results. I also purchased a yard of Joann's flannel in order to compare quality with inexpensive flannel. I received fabric from the following manufacturers. In order to compare the fabrics I first cut 2 pieces of each print and then washed and dried the flannel and measured the shrinkage.  I then cut two 10" squares from each print and sewed them together to enclose the raw edges so that I could test how the fabric held up to repeated wa...

I spent yesterday playing catch-up with my Farmer's Wife blocks.  In the book the diagrams are colored and there is a picture of a sample block and I have noticed that I have a tendency to make my blocks the same color as the sample without even thinking about it. That happened with the block in the bottom left this time around and the block doesn't really fit in with the others so hopefully it will blend in once all the blocks are finished. Everything was made from scraps except the bunnies. Working with the templates has gotten easier and less annoying since I have gotten better at cutting efficiently and cutting multiple shapes at a time.  This was definitely the quickest I have put a set together, even with all of those teeny tiny little triangles in the middle block. Previous Farmer's Wife Blocks: Blocks 1-10 Blocks 11-15 Blocks 16-20 Blocks 21-25

It has been a while since I made a WIP Wednesday post.  Or mopped my floors.  Or got my car cleaned.  Instead I have been continuing my reading binge.  Just a couple days ago I was telling my husband that I have always read and read and read until I got to a book that made me really angry or upset and then I had to take a break.  I found that book yesterday: Allegiant .  Worst. Series. Ending. Ever.  There were lots of angry tears. I did find some time to make some blocks for Alison's Soy Amado project.  If you have not heard about it, you can find out more info here .  She is asking for quilt-as-you-go blocks to make quilts for a children's home in Mexico City.  So these blocks will be making the journey from my house (40 minutes from the Mexico border) to Alison in the Channel Islands where they will be made into a quilt and then shipped to Netherlands where they will be sent back to Mexico.  It will be quite the journey! Original...