There is something so focused and calming about the symmetry of a design that radiates from the center. The Faceted quilt is formed off a central diamond, radiating out in rows of light and dark. But one of the things I love about it is the unexpected play of smaller triangles within the larger rows.

I imagine the way light glints through cut crystal or diamonds. That was my inspiration for this quilt, the way light dances within geometric facets and angles. It scatters out triangular light patterns in pretty lacy patterns. 

Sweet Pea & Lily fabrics fell nicely into two groups to create the light and dark rows. Every so often and accent color adds an additional pop of color or pattern. I liked the play of purples and grays in the overall quilt and decided to use green as my accent within the quilt. 

Moda kitted Faceted so be sure to check with your local quilt shop if you are interested in making it in this fabric combination. The kit gives you some extra fat quarters so you have room to play plus leftovers for other projects.

Enjoy a diamond today and the light facets within! The larger size of half square triangle blocks makes this quilt go together relatively quickly. The Faceted pattern is available in local quilt shops and at my etsy shop. Happy sewing!

Happy to see that Sweet Pea & Lily fabric precuts have been arriving in shops! I thought it was a perfect time to share some more quilts that showed with the line at Quilt Market this past fall.

This is the Dashingly Divided quilt. My reason for designing this quilt was to create panels that could show off other needlework. I sit in the carpool line, waiting for school to let out, wanting a small project that travels well and can be done in small bits. I started becoming more interested in embroidery since it fit the bill of easily transportable and a small fun format. I wanted to create a quilt pattern that could frame up the smaller projects of embroidery into a bigger quilt.

I thought it would be interesting to pull some of the floral motifs from a fabric line to highlight with the embroidery. For the Sweet Pea & Lily line I made a circular design and a corner grouping of lily of the valley buds. I worked with chain stitch, back stitch, stem stitch and french knots but this could look good with satin stitch or others.  

I designed the lap sized quilt to have 9 large squares that could be used for embroidery, or applique, or floating other quilt blocks within. The large focal squares are divided by dashed lines that use prints for pattern play and interest to set off the needlework. These dashes can be made with mini charms, charm packs, or fabric scraps. The quilt could have a more modern, minimalist and clean look with plain color squares and all the color play happening in the dividing lines. 

After finishing this quilt, I realized how much it had a vintage feel. I have my original baby quilt with little embroidered animals made in a combination of embroidery and cross stitch. This reminds me of the marriage of pretty needlework, lap quilts and quilted love.  It feels fresh with the purple solid color background balancing the linear florals.

The printed pattern for Dashingly Divided has a page with the two flower diagrams that can be traced onto fabric for needlework. Check the website or store to see if new diagrams have been released for future fabric lines with new flowers.

Check my website or etsy shop for Dashingly Divided! Happy sewing!!

Harlequin is a quilt pattern I designed that uses Half Rectangle Triangles and I get quite a few questions about which ruler I recommend for it. The pattern does come with a paper template so you can make your own plastic template for cutting out the shapes. However, it is easier with a specialty ruler!

I love this quilt because it symbolizes collaboration and community to me. I had it pieced by Terry Bowman because she is more accurate and more experienced than I am and before Quilt Market we have a LOT of sewing to do in a small amount of time. So luckily for me, Terry was willing to help me out. We met at the Quilt Emporium and Lisa, the owner, also came to the rescue by getting her Bernina out of her car so we could sew up some samples in the back classroom. Lisa saw us figuring out the rectangle size that would make sense and she brought over the solution...the Creative Grids Kaleidoscope Triangle Ruler. It was a great moment of brainstorming and solutions coming together and that is a lot of what is so exciting about sharing the experience of sewing and quilting with others! Quilters are often collaborators in creative ways.

The ruler is the actual height of the pieces you cut for this quilt so it really works with the pattern well. Thank you Penny Haren for designing this lovely tool! Just like other Creative Grids rulers it has some circles of texture on the back to help hold fabric without slipping too.

Any time you are making a block that is new to you or different in trimming, etc, I suggest you make a sample block first. Some of my first samples are with my Blushing Peonies left over scraps and I am hoping to go back and make a nice springy version with pinks and oranges in my "spare time." You know how that goes... I did make this block first and make mistakes on the trimming and had to start a new one. So I'm serious when I recommend making a sample and measuring your block size end result before progressing on a pattern. It can make a big difference! Half Rectangle Triangles need to be trimmed up in a particular way so you have correct seam allowance to maintain your triangle points. 

If you want to buy this ruler, please check with your local quilt shop to see if they have it. Support those local businesses! If they don't have one you can find them online through other sellers and amazon. I'm looking forward to designing some other quilts that use this ruler because I really like the proportions of these diamonds. Hope this info is helpful! Happy sewing!

Layers cakes and Half Square Triangles. Fun and lacy borders. Meet "Emilia"!

This quilt uses Layer Cake 10" squares to make large triangles and reflected small triangles on the opposite side with the same print. I've grouped them into color blocks. If you don't have a layer cake to use, you may want to make your cutting easier to start by using Creative Grids Perfect10 Ruler (CGRPERF10) to make those nice sized starting blocks!

One of the distiguishing characteristics of Emilia is the borders. The half square triangles continue out into the side borders, using the sashing color, to make a lovely triangular lacy edge. It makes the whole quilt almost sparkle! Wouldn't this pink version be pretty in a girl's room? I focused on pink, green and lighter purple shades for this one. I used a chartreuse green for the sashings but a minty green would be pretty too.

Emilia is written for two sizes, a larger, 76" square or smaller, 55" square lap size. You can easily adapt the pattern to add more rows of blocks if wider sizes are needed. 

Emilia was designed to show with the Sweet Pea & Lily collection, which is shipping in March 2019 to quilt shops. But since I have Dandi Annie here...and its in stores now, I thought it would be fun to take a look at how Emilia might look in some summer Dandelions! These computer renders are some color play to look at the pieced blocks and how the quilt changes looks with the sashing and border colors. 

I think I am partial to this darker gray border. I would use Moda Bella Solids Graphite 202  for this. I think the Moda Bella Solids Gray 83 would be nice for the sashings and border triangles.

This makes me think of a sunny summer farmhouse day! Moda Bella Solids Baby Yellow 31 and Maize 273 work nicely together with this line.

And back to grays with a lighter version of border. I like having a slight difference to white so the inner triangles pop and sparkle more. Moda's Bella Feather is a lovely very very pale gray, close to white.

Emilia will be shipping to local quilt shops soon! If its not at your local shop it can also be found in my etsy shop. I hope you have some fun with half square triangle love and border play with this one! Happy sewing!

Jelly Roll-friendly and quick to piece, this Showering Stars quilt is full of drama!

I knew with the Sweet Pea & Lily collection for Moda Fabrics (ships in Feb/March 2019) I wanted a quilt that used deep purple to enhance the theatrical nature of the purples in the prints. One thing I enjoy with this group is the purples are in both cool and warm purples. I needed to find the right deep purple to show off their splendor.

I have now fallen in love with Moda Bella Solid PRUNE 238. Its rich and vibrant and LUSCIOUS! Its the glorious deep purple/plum color as the background. Did I mention I bought a bolt of it? Not sure what I'm doing with the rest but I can't wait to use it as an accent to other prints.

But what would Showering Stars look like reversed, with a light background? I haven't made it this way (yet) but thought I'd give some computer inspiration for other colorways.  I used a soft gray in the star points and dashes to let the colors in the star trails feel more colorful and sparkly.

And going all-out color with this turquoise background and light green star points. Completely different look but all of these are using the same Sweet Pea & Lily prints in the star trails.

This quilt was my main booth image at the Houston Quilt Market this past fall. It was fun to have such a different color play with this collection! One part I like is the greens and grays still transition through from previous collections. 

Check your local quilt shop for the Showering Stars pattern, along with Sweet Pea & Lily fabrics! Patterns are also available at my etsy shop if your local shop is not carrying it. 

Find a falling star and make a wish! And check back for more Sweet Pea & Lily quilts!

Gibby by Laurie Simpson and Rolling Stone by Jo Morton. I love how fast and easily Gibby went together. Since the pieces were 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" I had plenty of leftovers from other blocks to use!  Rolling Stone was also fast due to the smaller size and easy piecing.

With Dreamy by Sherri McConnell I knew I could use more leftovers and go really scrappy...or take some shortcuts on making my blocks by sewing some strips and subdividing them. 

First I gathered some 2 1/2" strips and combined them in groups of three and joined them.

Then by lining up my Creative Grids ruler on the 2 1/2" line I could sub-cut these. Then 3 rows became my 9-patch squares. I am a big fan of Creative Grids due to that extra 1/2" side for easy lining up and measuring for cutting with seam allowances (or flip to the other side to measure from a solid inch). When making multiple blocks some steps like this can really save some time.

Are you sewing along with Moda Blockheads too? Join the facebook group and sew along!

I've been busy doing more catch up on the Moda Blockheads 2 project! When the week calls for an applique block, Corey Yoder does an alternate block that is pieced. Due to my time constraints, I went for the pieced block. Applique just takes me longer and I have a few hand sewing projects in progress now, so pieced it is!

This Happy Scrappy Baskets pattern was so fun to make. I love simple patchwork blocks and enjoyed making it into this charming basket. Corey also has a pattern for a whole quilt with this one and it looks delightful! You can check it out here! The fabrics I used for this one were a combination of Poppy Mae, Blushing Peonies and Dandi Annie.

This 18 inch block "Mountain Climbing" was a block pattern from Lynne Hagmeier of Kansas Troubles Quilters. More details on her blog. It did take me awhile to make all the half square triangles and I tried doing a group of 4 or 8 each night. When I have lots of triangles to trim, I use a rotating mat and that really helps to streamline the trimming. The light spotted fabric here is from Dear Mum and I liked adding some solid white triangles too for a little additional pop of lightness.

And more on the catch up list- Blocks 13- Patchwork Flower designed by Corey Yoder, Block 25 Oshkosh Star by Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings, and Block 22 Economy Path by Laurie Simpson. Big flowers, tiny stars and delightful plus signs...each block has been so enjoyable to make each week. The catch up continues and I only have two more blocks to go and I will be completely caught up! 

​Want to join along? Visit the facebook page to get started!

Imagine light coming in through the windows of the farmhouse, dancing between the panes, glowing with the warmth of the sun and soft colors of growing things.

Simple one lane roads intersecting among golden fields and the colors of morning dawn.

The dandelions in Dandi Annie celebrate the simple pleasures, joined with prints of seeds blowing in the wind, sketchy plaid, and painted leaves. Growth and warmth.

I love the way the thin sashing plays from light to dark and extends into the borders. The gray borders add a calm grounding to the bright colors.

There is something so satisfying about making stacks of half square triangles and getting them ready to arrange in balanced symmetry. This quilt is arranged in four colorways of yellow, coral/pink, green and gray. Each color group surrounds an intersection of thin sashing. 

For the backing I used Moda Bella Solids in Pesto. What a great green! I'm excited to get my bolts of Dandi Annie fabrics and I'll be kitting a limited number of these quilts in this fabric. But the pattern itself is available now on my etsy shop and would be fun to make with other fabrics too.

Dandi Annie is shipping from Moda now (December 2018).
​Happy sewing and farmhouse dreaming! Check out my other Dandi Annie patterns too!

Because there is not much going on in December, right? Time to add in daily blogging? Yup!

Cheryl Sleboda is running her 4th year of this blogging challenge. She really struck me when she wrote this: “Why December, Cheryl?  That’s our busiest time!” Well, that’s the point.  If you can blog every day in December, then you can do it at any time during the year.  We are all busy.  This is to show that you can do it in one of the busiest times of the year and start off the new year with a bang!

I might have missed the first day of December, but I'm here on the 2nd! And today I happily turned over the page of my wall calendar for Sellers Publishing to the December grid. A new month, fresh and full of potential, as well as full of celebrating and holiday cheer. I think its a good time to practice a new daily habit. If you want to join the challenge from Cheryl Sleboda (www.muppin.com) too, visit  muppin.com/wordpress/index.php/the-2018-31-day-blog-writing-challenge/ 

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Yet another cute block for this week's Moda Blockheads! This block, Interstellar, was designed by Vanessa Goertzen of Lella Boutique. I was excited when I saw it because I recently became more comfortable with sewing circles AND I decided to use my Circle Savvy Ruler from Creative Grids to make a nice smooth arc.

My first step was to print out the paper template that Vanessa included with her pattern. I make sure my printout is the correct size by checking the 1 inch box for reference.

Next I line up the circle template on the lower corner (bottom and right side) of my printout shape to include seam allowance. I can then look at where my circle template cut line for the arc lines up with the printed sheet for the curve. I have highlighted the section in yellow so you can see the parts I've lined up. I can see my inside piece will be cut to the 10 1/2" circle measurement. 

When I put my fabric under the template I again line up my lower right corner to the the lines that will include seam allowance. I cut an arc through the 10 1/2" template. This curve is large enough that I can use a normal rotary cutter but on tighter circles I prefer to use a small blade rotary cutter.

I repeat the same process for the top/outside piece by first lining up the bottom seam allowance line from my printout with the template and looking for the arc that fits. For the outside piece the 9 1/2" circle is the one I want to use.

Line up to seam allowance at the lower right corner and cut the outside piece using the 9 1/2" circle template line.

After cutting my pieces I lay them on the paper template to check them. I MAY have flipped my measurements at some point in the past and learned to double check my pieces! (that's why we buy a little extra fabric, isn't it??)

In order to help me line up the inside and outside parts of the curve for pinning and sewing, I next fold my pieces in half, matching bottom side to right side and make a little crease at the fold. 

I fold again so there is an additional crease mark between the middle and edges on both the inside and outside pieces. I will line up these creases when pinning my pieces right sides together.

I pin, starting with the two outer edges, then pinning the middle, then the mid points between the middle and sides.

I'm ready to sew! With curves I slow down and take my time. Sometimes it helps to increase your stitch length too. With a curve of this size I didn't need to make that adjustment. I press my seam outwards and there is a nice graceful curve for my star to live in!

Since I've been doing a little catch-up on my blocks I also did the Corey Yoder version of the star block number 21 (pieced vs applique and you can find it on Corey's blog at ​http://corianderquilts.com/2018/09/blockheads-wednesday/) so I'm feeling the stars today! For both of these blocks I used Dear Mum fabric and yellows from Dandi Annie by Moda.

Hope this helps if you are using the Creative Grids ruler! I love it and used it for my pattern "Towards the Sun." The pattern has a paper template but I like to use a ruler. You can check your local quilt shop for it and if they don't carry it, you can also find it on amazon or other online sellers. 

Happy curved sewing!