With Project Jelly Roll approaching, I decided to take a look at my Jelly Roll-friendly patterns to figure out what I am going to work on and perhaps share some ideas. One of my Jelly Roll patterns is Definite Plus.

My original Definite Plus quilt is made in Thatched basics. I loved playing with the color families and having a "ghost block" image in the center of just sashings and background. And I made this in both the large size on cream and the small size (using a Honey Bun or 1 1/2" strips) on Heather.

I wanted to see what this would look like made up in a Jelly Roll of print fabrics from a collection. I decided to make one that had no outer borders and no ghost block for the center. Full quarter log cabin blocks without an accent. If you make the large size without the outer border, it goes from being an 82" square quilt to 69 x 69", which makes a lovely large lap or can fit on a twin bed as a nice extra quilt.

How does this impact yardage and cutting? I have only made it this way in the Large size, so I don't have the specifications for the Small at this point. For Large quilt with no outer border and no ghosted center block or accent rectangles:
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Sashing:  1 2/3 Yards for sashing instead of 2 1/8 Yards. When you are cutting, you will cut a total of (56) WOF strips. 
(4) of those will be cut to 34 3/4" and joined end to end to make the long sashings horizontally between the rows. 
Instead of (44) 6 1/2 x 1" pieces, you will need (36).

Background: You need 1 1/4 Yards for background instead of 3 Yards. You will only be cutting the centers of the Quarter Log Cabin blocks and need (36) of them. 

For my print version, I decided to use Abby Rose for my strips. I made all my centers with Zen Chic Modern Paper for a pretty, romantic feel. My sashings are Moda Bella Off White 200. I still kept my groupings of 4 that make a plus sign in color families. 

I like seeing the contrast of prints vs a more solid look for this quilt. I am very excited to try it again with upcoming lines and try other versions of background and sashing colors.

And just one more idea, since I'm playing around with it...what if the placement of colors were more improvisational and the background squares also had some pops of color? I decided to take a look in the suggestion of my Hygge Happy color theme direction (with Washed Linen, Toast, Cocoa, Sugar Rose, etc). What do you think? Playful or too random?

Looking for more Jelly Roll-friendly quilt patterns? Hop on over to my shop and check out Showering Stars, Ring Around the Posies, Equalizer, and Blockstep. And please join in the fun on September 18th 2021 as we sew those Jelly Rolls!

I had a great Labor Day, choosing my labor of love to be sewing on my Sampler Spree quilt. I got it all joined and boy am I happy about that!

Here are the last blocks that went into those last few weeks before making my rows. Week 8 with more butterflies making their fancy flight across the blocks.

Week 9 I think my favorite was the angled one at the bottom of my line up of my new 10 blocks. It is block #60, Market Square.

And to the finish line on week 10! So much playing every week with light and dark, balancing of pattern vs solids (in my case Thatched) and having fun with the little butterflies. This was a whirlwind journey of block making.

The laying out of blocks with my trusty companion, Roxy. I needed to do a little rearranging from my original plan to get my lights and darks balanced. 

It took me a week (in between other things) to make the double sashings. And then on Labor Day weekend I got it fully joined and ironed.

Next up will be longarming but I have a few other things to do first. Hopefully I'll be sharing the end result with quilting and binding soon! 
Many thanks to Susan Ache for her lovely book, wonderful instructions, and engaging project that has made this summer busy and fun!

I've compiled blocks into groups to share the updates of blocks 11-30 for the Kinship Fusion Sampler on the 100 Days 100 Blocks sewalong with GnomeAngel. My palette is the Hygge Happy Dance colorway of Thatched fabrics. Missed the post? Check it out here: Kinship in Thatched palettes. 

I've had so much fun finding the little photo props to go with my blocks for this project! They remind me of so many special people in my life. My husband gave me those lovely mugs and I think he hit that surprise gift out of the park! And the lovely girl ceramic planter face...I also got one for my mom. She just makes me smile! I'm showing Smoked Paprika, Pink Grapefruit, Green Curry as the warm and spicy color here.

The calmness of the creams and tans has been lovely to sew with. Washed Linen, Toast, Cream and Cocoa. Little squares of cocoa make wonderful pops of contrast.

And pink, pretty pink in soft light shades (Early Dawn) or vibrant energy (Fucshia). These are the moments of girl power and contrast of both bold and soft.

We are a third of the way...keep sewing and enjoy the kinship!

More butterflies and blues as the weeks progress with Sampler Spree quiltalong/sewalong. You know how sometimes one block just seems to act up? Well, I kept sewing my Sun Rays points on the wrong way! I know that is usually the time I should walk away and come back to the sewing later. But I felt stubborn with this one and ripped out and redid and ripped out and redid till it was done. I like to flip Thatched fabrics to the backside to get the lighter shades and I kept confusing myself with that on this one too. Yes, if you use that trick you do need to pay attention to how you are placing your fabrics together right/wrong sides. 

Seven blocks were sewn that week with others to follow later in catch-up sewing! 
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Week 6 had that adorable sailboat block! I had to slip a little green in for the sea and let it spill over to another block. The donuts block is so fun and even in blues, made me hungry for donuts! The last block, Goblets, makes me think of paddles to go with the boat. There were lots of new blocks I've not made before in this group. That is one of the things I'm really enjoying about this sewalong...all the new blocks to me!

It took a good Saturday sewing break to catch up on my last blocks for weeks 5 and 6. 

One of my favorite blocks for week 7 is this Snails Trail block. It is the first time I've done one and I love the spinning look of it with those little squares in the middle. 

I'm also a big fan of thin sashings and love the Lattice block for that reason. It reminds me a little of my Backslash quilt with the sashings and angles.

​I love seeing the little butterflies show up in the blocks.  I'm thinking my Sampler Spree might be named "Butterfly Cottage" since I'm using my Cottage Bleu fabrics and those butterflies seem to just flutter over the quilt.

Three more weeks of blocks then the joining! Lots of sashing with this one and I'm excited to start grouping my blocks into light and dark sections and making sub-groups. 
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Many thanks to Moda Fabrics and Martingale for sponsoring this sewalong and thanks to Susan Ache for writing such an enjoyable sampler book!

July has been a busy sewing month! The other sew along I am participating in is the #100days100blocks with Gnome Angel using the Kinship Fusion Sampler pattern. My hygge happy dance color palette is enjoyable to sew with. I'm usually not a brown color kind of quilt person but I love the light Washed Linen color and find the colors feel calming to sew with.  These blocks celebrate a modern, natural and simple style and I have had so much fun finding things around my space to photograph with the blocks.

Pinks add some lively pops of color in Early Dawn light pink and Fuchsia vibrant pink. More warm colors of Smoked Paprika, Pink Grapefruit, Green Curry and Olive add spicy color flavor.

Ellie the elephant is another treat from my daughter and the rounded wood cutting board is from my son. They know me well.

Here is the Pink Grapefruit mixed in. Yummy!

These little friends remind me of my dear Roxy and our visitor friend Stevie the cat. She does like to sleep a lot so the expression is fitting. 

First 10. Even if it is 100 degrees outside, these make me feel like a cup of cocoa and a snuggle with my dog. Next week I'll share the group of the next 10 or you can watch every day on instagram. Check out the hashtag #100days100blocks to see the great fussy cutting and fun fabric choices others are making. 
​Cheers!

Week 2 for Sampler Spree had a prompt for yellow. Since I am making my quilt in mostly blue, I will not be following the suggested colors each week, BUT I did think it would be fun to make some extra blocks here and there in the weekly color and maybe use those for an accent pillow at the end. I made an additional block 76 in yellows with a blue butterfly that flutters in the center in blue and teal. 

The upper right in the next group shows my block 76 that will be in the quilt body. I played with a gradation of blues in the background, going from cream to light blue. The middle sides are using the same Thatched light blue (Mist 146) but flipped to the back side for a lighter shade. Block 58 took me the longest but I am really happy with how this block looks. It is so interesting with that little patchwork center that the angled pieces point to.

Here is the whole group of 10 blocks for the week plus the additional yellow one. 

On to week 3 and the color was teal/aqua/turquoise/seafoam. I've lucked out with my accent colors within Cottage Bleu that those greens are right in line with the teal/seafoam family.

My extra block this week is the lower left, block 82. I tried this with a gradation of a light small corner building out to darker rows wit a butterfly accent. I also really liked making the fun ship this week! And I love the pinwheel blades on block 67.

The upper right is my actual block 82 for the quilt top. I must admit, I prefer the teal/seafoam one I made.

For the last blocks of the week, I made block 96 and the blues and whites look cheery with red for the 4th of July. The backdrop is red toweling from Pieces to Treasure/Jenelle Kent with Moda Fabrics. 

Each week I like to see the blocks all together and it feels like so much accomplishment!

Week 4 and my trusty Rilakuma sewing assistant looked on with approval. 

The pear block is the very first one I made, before the sewing officially began. I thought it was the cutest block and it was a sweet week with the tree and basket added as well. For my tree, I was thinking of the white and blue striped lower band as being an icy snowy ground. 

This summer, I'm sewing along with the Sampler Spree, using the book from Susan Ache. The other sew along I'm doing is Kinship Fusion Sampler for #100days100blocks and I'll share those next! I'm enjoying using two very different color schemes and plans for the two projects. I hope you are sewing something fun this summer or are joining in one of the numerous sew alongs happening. Next week we will be about half way through this one. Summer sure is moving quickly!
​Happy sewing.

It's almost here...the 2021 Kinship sew along with Gnome Angel and I thought I'd share a bit of past projects and my plans for this year's quilt! Make sure you scroll down to see the new color combinations!!

I originally did the #100days100blocks in 2017 when we were using Tula Pink's 100 Modern Blocks book. That was lots of fun. I was really excited to see Ange release her own 100 blocks quilt "Kinship Fusion Sampler" for the 2019 sew along and I knew I had to do it! My Thatched basics fabrics were coming out with Moda and it was a great opportunity to play with them. If you are not familiar with Thatched, it can function like a solid or a blender with subtle drawn, nubby lines. It gives the colors a nice rich feel and a little more depth to the look than a plain solid.

My goal was fairly simple- use a limited color palette of white and 3 grays and add in pops of color with pairs of orange, green and teal/turquoise. I really enjoyed making my blocks because the cutting schemes were so logical and efficient and I knew that if I cut a width of fabric strip in a 4.5" size, I'd be using that whole strip in the variety of blocks we were making. 2.5, 4.5, 6.5, 1.5"...it was consistent with a nice amount of play and experimentation. A block a day. I can do that when they are no too hard yet have the right mix of variation. I bought my pattern directly from gnomeangel.com as a download but shops also have a printed pattern. I just saw them at Cozy Creative in San Diego this last week! Links to Ange's shop are at the end of this post. 

I used Ange's Kitchen Sink version of laying out the blocks with 1" finished sashing in between the blocks (1.5" cut width). I decided to "frame" my quilt top by adding a thin strip of scraps of the colors I had used (1" cut width for 1/2" finished size) and surround that with a 3" cut border.

I really like the balance of white and color and clean modern look of this quilt.

Even though I pieced the top in 2019, I didn't get around to quilting it till mid way through 2020. I purchased a used longarm Bernina Q24 and had some pandemic self-training using YouTube videos to figure out what I was doing. That is a whole other blog post...but it was tremendously gratifying to get this quilted and bound! The pantograph is Swirl Out Jr by Mike Fountain, purchased from IntelligentQuilting.com. 

This is sized to be a twin quilt but with the sashing and border, I can put it across the bed and cover my king bed! I started this sew along again last year, doing a scrappy version of blocks, and started making 2 of each block to made a king quilt. Now I'm rethinking that plan since I probably don't need two of all the blocks if I add sashing. I got busy with other projects so might rejoin with some of those scrappy blocks this year as well (or save them for 2022?)

That brings me to THIS YEAR and what my plans are. I like the layout, the idea of a limited palette with some accents, the distribution of accent colors, and the border additions. So I'm calling this Kitchen Sink Renovation (Ange's layout with a little reno). And since some NEW Thatched colors launched at the beginning of this year, I'm keen to try it with some of those.

This is Hygge Happy Dance because I think of that Danish soothing comfort vibe with these soft neutral warm colors and a little coral to red to pink warmth. This is the version I am making this year. I am currently very smitten with the new background color, Washed Linen, Thatched 158. Since I'm making this color combination, I'm gathering the fabrics to get ready for July 1st. The other colors in this quilt will be 62 Fuchsia, 122 Early Dawn, 185 Olive, 177 Green Curry, 156 Toast, 72 Cocoa, 183 Smoked Paprika, 181 Pink Grapefruit and 36 Cream.

This next mockup is called Midnight Jazz and you could make it with a dark blue Thatched, like Midnight (which is in the new Cottage Bleu line) or Dark Wash Indigo. But Pam at Serendipity Woods, and I decided a Nautical Blue Bella Solid was a great background fabric for this. The Thatched colors are 173 Bluebell, 144 Ocean, 125 Seafoam, 124 Greenery, 103 Apricot, 82 Tangerine, Cream 36, Washed Linen 158 and Toast 156.

Changing the background to White (Bella 200) brings a light and sparkly look to this same color combination in Morning Blues.

And my original, which I'm calling "Winter Turns to Spring" is Bella 200 Off White pared with Grays of 117 Shadow, 24 Pebble, 85 Gray, oranges 103 Apricot, 82 Tangerine, and greens of Chartreuse 75, Sprig 14, Peacock 77 and Turquoise 101.

If you are looking for these kitted and ready to go, then check out SerendipityWoods.com for some kits of each of these color ways. I believe Pam will be sewing along with us. I'll also be meeting with Quilt Emporium in Woodland Hills CA to go over the colors and they usually have all the Thatched colors! I'm happy to share any information of shops with Kinship/Thatched kits so let me know.

I hope you are joining in the #100days100blocks sew along with GnomeAngel using her Kinship quilt pattern. See you posting in July!

Visit Gnome Angel's website/blog  for more info on the sew along and answers to questions you might have at  https://www.gnomeangel.com/100days100blocks-event-information/ or purchase a pattern in her shop https://shopau.gnomeangel.com/collections/books-patterns/products/pattern-kinship-100-block-fusion-sampler

My dear Roxy has decided she likes this quilt. It's her colors. She must be touching it and making sure it is hers...at all times. 

Week one of Sampler Spree is ON! Whew! I kept up and got 10 blocks made.

With block 42, I used a bigger mix of fabrics than the block in the book. I still made strip sets to subcut but just not as long. I'm happy with how that block turned out. With the top left light block, I used Mist Thatched and flipped it to the backside to get a lighter blue shade. 

Block 99 in the lower left is another favorite since I like how those white triangles sparkle in the corners. For this block I used a 4 1/2" rectangle that I added stitch and flip corners to, instead of the rectangle with half square triangles attached. I thought I would simplify by taking that seam out since I wasn't changing the background color.

The last two for the week are 86 and 80. I meant to put the butterfly fabric into the little squares in the middle of the block on the right and realized I used dark blue instead after sewing that part together. So guess what, it stayed! Getting to the last block of the week was an accomplishment and I wasn't going to undo that.

It is fun to look at them all together!

Susan Ache is sewing with different color groups each week and I'm doing BLUE each week so hope you don't get tired of seeing my blocks. I have to say, I am really happy to be doing this project in Cottage Bleu since I have not made many mostly blue quilts until I designed this fabric line. I think having a sampler in all blues with a little yellow and green will be really calming and serene.

I think I'll try to tuck in another block here and there, trying out the other colors, and those could make blocks for a nice accent pillow!

In case you were wondering if I am planning on doing color studies on the individual blocks...at this point I have not planned on it and the sewing is at a faster clip than blockheads...so I think I'm going to adopt a summer vacation break from color studies, at least for awhile...we'll see. Also, Sewcialites just ended and I need to still join my blocks and make the quilt top! AND...ANOTHER sewalong is starting in July that I am going to play with. I'll post about that too but it will be an all-Thatched project so very different feeling than this one.

​Happy summer sewing!!

If you've been to the blog before you probably know I enjoy doing sewalongs for quilt samplers. I love the community and seeing the different interpretations of the same block. Plus I find my motivation to "get 'er done" is higher when I have other people to sew along with. So why not add some summer fun with a sewalong?! Yup, I'm happy to jump back into the weekly community with the Facebook group from Moda Blockheads to do Sampler Spree by Susan Ache.

Sampler Spree is published by Martingale and is the book to get if you are sewing along. Susan has done a number of books- as a contributor as well as authoring them fully herself. I was first enchanted by her work in her lovely instagram feed (@yardgrl60) and enjoy seeing the beautiful quilts she creates. For this quilt, Susan is sewing in color groups but I'm keeping my colors a bit more uniform...more on that in a bit. Some of the things I really like about this project: I enjoy the little pops of fun things I see like a pear, some baskets, an evergreen tree and some boats, combined with other blocks that are purely geometric play. And I like making 6" blocks which feel so doable and cute.

Cottage Bleu fabric was a little delayed in arriving to shops. The perfect thing about that is that it is freshly in the quilt shops now and just in time for this sewalong! I'm making my whole quilt from Cottage Bleu, focusing heavily on the blues and using the greens and yellows as smaller accents. I will be following the sashing and layout that is shown in the book, although the squares where the sashing meets will be 4 smaller patchwork squares. And I'll be rotating between blue background colors.

My overall theme of the colors will go from darker blues on the perimeter, medium blues next and white to the middle. Think of light radiating out from the middle block. I mocked it up on the computer to play around with the idea and this was the one I was most satisfied with. It might look a little rough, messy, "off" to you but that is how I sometimes play quickly on the computer, with shapes I draw quickly and not so perfectly aligned and matched. 

I'm pretty excited! I haven't made many all blue or mostly blue quilts (except for my Gypsy Wife quilt with blues and grays and that was also in a sewalong) and I am just so happy to have my fabrics and see those big blue hydrangeas and yellow fluttering butterflies. The Thatched colors in Cottage Bleu that I am using for the borders are Midnight 148 (the darkest), Cornflower 147 and Mist 146 (the lightest). For the middle ring of light/medium blues, I'm planning on using Mist for all and flipping to the lighter back side for the every-other sashing to get that lightest blue shade. 

I know one of the next questions would be "how much yardage is this for each color?" and this is a computer generated mockup and not an actual yardage based file in EQ8. This is done in Adobe Illustrator and is a rough idea.
Moda so kindly put these yardage suggestions from the book page 8 on their blog:Page 8.  All yardage is based on 42" wide fabric. 

• 1 yard total of assorted cream prints for large blocks
• 3 yards total of assorted light scraps for blocks - or approx. 3 yards for a single background.
• 3.875 yards total of assorted medium and dark scraps for blocks - referred to collectively as "dark".
• 1.25 yards of white solid for sashing
• 2.375 yards of peach solid for sashing

​My best estimates based on my sashing plan is to have:
1.5 yards (one and a half) of each of Midnight, Cornflower and Mist for sashings. 
.5 yard (a half yard, in case you can't see the . decimal) of  each Midnight, Cornflower and Mist for making blocks background
.5 (a half yard) of Broken Lines from Cottage Bleu in Midnight 48694-18 if you like that on the outer sashing
1 fat quarter bundle of Cottage Bleu (and this is really a guess...you may want more of a particular print or a little extra of yardage on the hydrangeas)

So its not exact and is an estimate/best guess. The great thing about this sampler quilt is that it will look great being scrappy and having more fabric friends join in!

I couldn't resist. I had to make one and get started. Hydrangea pear anyone? 
Hope you are joining us over on the Facebook Moda Blockheads group, starting next Wednesday, June 16th.
​See ya there!

​Just a note about the giveaway I was doing with the Martingale book...I have drawn a winner and congratulations to Karen Cole! Thanks to everyone for such nice comments!!

In May, virtually we started showing the lines that would have been at a spring Quilt Market. I am happy to share my Carolina Lilies that will be shipping in November. This line started as I was thinking about my mom who loves day lilies and I know she has been waiting so patiently for me to do some with warm happy colors. She always had a mix of yellow, orange and red day lilies in her garden and I particualarly liked the ones with spots. When I saw the Carolina Lilies and their dramatic colors and big speckled petals and curved back cap shapes, I knew they were the ones!

The curve of the petals, and the hanging stamen remind me of twirling dancers with their elegant legs and ballet slippers. I've added graceful ferns, lacy leaves and a painted paisley to accompany the spotted florals. 

The colors for this line are Ruby, Peach, Grass and Aqua, with a few pops of Teal. It is a similar palette to the Painted Meadow Coneflower palette. The teals, greens and aqua especially correlate strongly with Painted Meadow.

The selvage quote is from Dolly Parton and says "Wildflowers don't care where they grow." Dolly Parton has given so much to research and vaccine development for Coronavirus. She is a fabulous example of a beautiful, creative and strong presence with the spirit of giving to others. Thank you Dolly!

With Carolina Lilies, we have five new Thatched colors to complement the collection. I am especially smitten with the deep red of the Ruby color. I'm happy to say that with wideback Thatched fabrics, the Seafoam, Cream, and Pine are wonderful compliments to a Carolina Lily quilt top.

I had a great time playing around with some existing patterns with these new fabrics. I used Emilia and love how the half square triangles and border look in both Thatched Soft Washed Black and the tone on tone cream of little vines and leaves from Carolina Lilies, as well as in the Ruby Thatched border with Toast Thatched triangles. 

I've also redone Blockstep in this new line and use Thatched seafoam, soft black, washed linen, pebble and greenery as some of the accent colors for the light and dark versions.

A new pattern for this group is Mod Flower Box. I'm showing this in both Carolina Lilies and in all Thatched. The Thatched version uses Fat Eights of fabric. The Carolina Lilies version uses yardage for the background with a single charm pack. The pattern has a template for making the quarter circle blocks but I usually use the Creative Grids Circle Savvy Ruler for cutting my curves. This is a wall or lap quilt and if you want to leave the outer border off, it can work on smaller wall surfaces or as a table topper. This unit can also be grouped with four units to make a bed sized quilt. On the Thatched version, I've used the darker Soft Black for the background and pared it with the Chalkboard Scribbles fabric for the bigger background. I like how this emphasizes the corners on the circles. 

Carolina Lilies should be shipping to shops in November. Due to the world events with the pandemic and the shortage of shipping containers, there have been delays in the past year for deliveries. Every effort is made to get things shipped on time but things happen and there are only so many resources and containers. Just know that we are all trying as hard as we can to make it happen. Your patience is appreciated so much!!

Now, back to summer and graduations and designing new lines and working with new arrivals. Happy summer. Stay safe. Stay calm. Enjoy each day.