I'm so excited to announce that I will be teaching at the Garden of Quilts again this year!

This will be my fourth year teaching and I couldn't be more thrilled!

If you haven't been before, it's 4 full days of classes, quilts swaying in the breeze throughout 50-acres in the incredible Ashton Gardens, lectures, trunk shows, demos, and a quilty vendor marketplace - 

all located at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah.

The dates are September 10th - 13th.

They even have some special events such as afternoon tea, a "meet the maker" social and shopping event, special dinners, and (what is sure to be) an inspirational show by Lori Holt!  It's going to be so much fun, so be sure to grab some friends/loved ones (or even come by yourself!) and join us for a week full of inspiration and one heck of a good time!

  

I'll be teaching 4 classes...

Wednesday afternoon, I'll be teaching Pineapple Block Paper Piecing.  It's such a great technique to add to your quilting repertoire!  My "grab and go" method is great for all skill levels!

Friday afternoon, I'll be teaching one of my upcoming patterns, Checkered Spools

(which will be available in a few weeks!). It's a 2 1/2" strip-friendly pattern with 2 size options.

Saturday morning, I'll be teaching Big Baby - a great class for beginner quiltmakers!  We'll focus on using an accurate 1/4" seam allowance, "nesting" seams, the time-saving "web-piecing" technique, and making Flying-Geese.  A baby quilt is a great place to start in the world of quilting!

And finally, on Saturday afternoon, I'll be teaching a new(ish) pattern of mine called Feels Like Home.  We'll make 3 different blocks while we do a little bit of paper-piecing (for the roofs), learn a time-saving triangle piecing hack (for the hearts), and focus on using an accurate 1/4" seam allowance.

It's sure to be a good time so I hope you'll join me!  Please let me know (below) if you have any questions!  There are so many fun classes; I'm hoping I might have time to take one or two, myself!  

Winding Ways Quilt

Hi friends!  Today I want to share a quilt I finished earlier this year called Winding Ways.  I started this quilt in July of 2023.  Around that time, I had mentioned to some friends that I wanted to get better at curved piecing.  One of them happened to have an Accuquilt Die Cut machine + dies for the Winding Ways pattern.  She offered to let us all use it, and well, here we are!

This was my color palette.  I got all of my fabrics (including my backing and binding fabrics) at Harmony in Provo, Utah.  It's one of my favorite shops (and lucky for you, they have an online shop!)  They have tons of fun gift items, yarn, and apparel fabrics.  Their quilting cotton selection is a bit on the small side, but every fabric is beautiful and unique!  

In a moment of insanity, I decided to "go big".  Why?  Why did I decide to go big?  I hadn't even made a test block.  I just dove right in.  And to be completely honest, I regretted that decision every step of the way...until it was finished, haha.  Every step was tedious.  I didn't enjoy it.  But I persevered and now I'm really glad I did!  

 

There isn't a pattern per se, just the dye cuts.  So, unfortunately, I don't have any information about fabric requirements.  But I do know, I did a 10 x 12 block layout.  So 120 blocks with 12 curved pieces on each one.  I chained pieced everything, so every step took a long time!

The blocks finished at 8" x 8" each.  So the finished quilt size is 80" x 96".

Perfect for a queen-size bed!

When it came to the quilting, I knew I wanted something circular to complement the quilt pattern design.  I found some inspiration pictures, but they all seemed to be custom quilted using curved rulers.  I didn't want to pay custom quilting prices, so I took it to my awesome long arm quilter, Jen Ostler.  We found an edge to edge pantograph called Hippie Dippie that was really similar to my inspiration pictures.  Jen tweaked the pattern a bit to make the design overlap a little and it came out perfect!

As many of you know, Jen always quilts a little object into the quilting for a fun game of hide 'n seek.  This time it was a cute little butterfly which you can see above.

I bound it in this striped woven fabric.  And I'm a little obsessed with this beautiful floral fabric I used for the back.  It tied everything together perfectly, don't you think?!?

The label is from Ever Emblem. I've been getting labels from them for years!  I get the 2" cotton, fold-over, sew-in labels.  If you want to get some for yourself, you will just have to pick one of their basic cotton labels and customize it from there.  I machine stitch my binding down around it because it's hard to hand stitch through it (but then I usually hand stitch the rest of my binding down to the back of my quilt).

I'm really happy with the way this quilt turned out!  I love the colors and the quilting.  But I kind of wish I had picked colors that went better in my house.  I don't know where I'm going to put this quilt!

I'm so thankful to my friend for letting me use her die-cut machine to cut all the pieces for this quilt!  So generous of her!  The dies cut out every piece accurately with little notches to show you where to line things up!  I can't imagine doing this project without the die-cutter!

I hope you enjoyed seeing this fun project using the Accuquilt Winding Ways Dies!  I'm glad I was able to get some serious practice with curved piecing.  Tell me, what's one quilting technique that you want to work on?

Thanks for stopping by today!

Half-Square Triangle Baby Quilts

Hi friends!  Today, I have two more really simple baby quilts that I want to share with you!  Last week I shared a simple patchwork quilt.  And this week, I have two Half-Square Triangle quilts that I recently gifted to two new mommas in my neighborhood.  Both had baby girls!  It's such a joy to spread the {quilty} love!

(Sidenote: I finished all 3 of these quilts a few months ago and I'm just now getting around to blogging about them.  Just wanted you to know that I didn't whip all of them up this past week or two. :))

First up is this super simple gingham quilt.  I had some leftover HST's from another project that I didn't end up using, and decided to put them to good use and make a baby quilt with them!  Since it was so simple on the front, I decided to jazz things up a bit with a fun floral on the back.  This quilt was wider than your standard 40" - 42" wide fabric, so I tried to find a wide-back fabric that matched.  Do you know it's really hard to find a cute wide-back!?!  I finally landed on this teal and taupe floral by Lori Holt for Riley Blake Designs.  It was perfect for the look I was going for!

My blocks finished at 6" and I did an 8 x 9 layout, so it finished at about 48" x 54".

Jen Ostler in Highland, Utah, quilted it with the Cartwheel panto, 

which I think added some nice movement to this quilt.

I added one of my usual labels from Ever Emblem that has my name, city, and year on it, plus a fun floral tag that I got from Sarah Hearts.  It looks like she's out of that particular label, but she has so many other cute options, including this one that's pretty similar.  They're all so cute and I think they add a little whimsy to every quilt!

This pattern would be perfect for anyone who loves a simple, cottagey aesthetic!

Or, if you did it in solid fabrics, it would give it a simple, modern aesthetic!

[ I love wrapping gifts with beautiful ribbons that match!]

The second HST quilt I made was this one, which is a bit more colorful!

Again, I used some cutoffs from another project to make these HST's.  They have a more earthy color palette but there's plenty of florals in there to make it somewhat girly.

Do you think the days of girly = pink are gone?  I think moms these days are going

a little more modern and thinking outside the box.  Anything goes!

These blocks finish at 3" and I did a 12 x 15 layout.

Then I added a 3" finished border so it finishes at about 42" x 51".

Jen Ostler quilted this one too (she pretty much does all my quilting unless I need custom quilting).

The panto she used is called Golden Curls and I love it!

I think it has a modern, organic vibe, just like my fabrics.

Again, I used a label from Ever Emblem.  They're so handy!

I finished this quilt at the end of last year but didn't get pictures of it until today.

I can't remember what the backing fabric is called but it has a little texture, which I think is fun.

I washed this one before I gifted it.  I don't usually prewash my fabrics but this was a high-contrast quilt so I wanted to make sure the colors didn't bleed.  I threw about 4 Shout Color Catchers

into the wash and had no bleeding!  Yay!

I dropped it off at my neighbor's today.  The mom couldn't talk long (new baby she had to attend to).  But as I was walking back to my house, she called to me from her porch - so shocked that it was a quilt inside the bag.  She thought it was just diapers or something!  I love surprising people with handmade quilts!  Don't you?!?

I hope you found a little inspiration here today!  Use what you have and keep it simple if you want!

Quilts don't have to be intricate.  Cute fabrics and a simple pattern is all you need!  Oh, and be sure to check out my tutorial on how to square up HST's if you're new to quilting!  This will give you perfect points every time!

Happy quilting!

Simple Blue and White Patchwork Quilt

Who said a quilt has to be intricate or time-consuming to make!?

Not me!  I love simple patchwork!

I had some blues leftover from a few projects recently

so I decided to cut them into 3 1/2" squares for a simple lap-size quilt. 

I did a 17 x 21 block layout, so this quilt finished at 51" x 63".
I think it would be perfect for a little boy.

Jen Ostler in Highland, UT. quilted it for me with this panto called Ripple.  I've used that panto before and think it adds some nice movement to a very "square" quilt.  I like that it's a play off the blues/water, too!  Do you see the little star (below) that Jen quilted into it?  Such a fun, signature move that she does on all of her quilts.  Makes for a fun game of hide and seek.

The label is from Ever Emblem. I've been getting labels from them for years!  I get the 2" cotton, fold-over, sew-in labels.  If you want to get some for yourself, you will just have to pick one of their basic cotton labels and customize it from there.  I machine stitch my binding down around it because it's hard to hand stitch through it (but then I usually hand stitch the rest of my binding down to the back of my quilt).

I had a partial bolt of this cream and navy plaid fabric in my stash.  It felt good to use some of it in the patchwork and for the back of the quilt.  I don't think I've used a plaid for an alternate/background fabric before, but I thought it was kind of fun in this particular project.  Since everything is going the same direction (as in, there aren't any triangles that would cause the plaid to be on-point in some places) it was definitely a good project for that!  I had someone ask me if it was hard to get all of the lines straight and I honestly didn't even pay attention to that.  I just cut it like I normally would.  It's generally pretty straight but I think a little imperfection adds some charm!  Would it bug you if the plaid wasn't perfectly straight?

I hope this inspires you to go simple and not worry about perfection!

Happy quilting friends!

Homemade Ironing Board Cover

 Hi there!  Today, I want to share a quick project that I think every quilter and sewist will find useful!  

When your ironing board cover becomes worn and scorched you can replace it with a fresh, homemade cover with stuff you just might have on hand!  And it won't take long to make!

My friend Eva Garlick (who I used to work with at a quilt shop many moons ago) wrote

THIS TUTORIAL on how to make your own ironing board cover.  I have used it many times over the years and wanted to share it again.  It doesn't take long to make and I love that you can make it in any fabric - to match your space.

I happened to have all the supplies on hand for this cover so it didn't cost me anything (is that "girl math" LOL?)  The best part was using some leftover binding I had (from previous projects) for the elastic casing, so it came together really fast!

I knew I wanted to use the cheater print from my last fabric collection (Feels Like Home) with Riley Blake Designs for this project.  It features 6" pineapple blocks and matches the sewing machine mat/organizer I posted about a couple of weeks ago.  You can check out that project HERE.

For those of you that don't know, a cheater print is a fabric that has a quilt block or entire quilt printed on it.  So you can get the look of a patchwork quilt without all of the work!  This cheater print is so happy and would be perfect in any sewing/craft room but of course, you can make your ironing board cover in whatever fabric you'd like!  It doesn't have to be a cheater print.

It took just an hour or so to make my cover.  I love a quick, instant satisfaction project like this!

Have you ever made your own ironing board cover?

I hope this post inspires you to make one!

If you would like to make one just like mine, I have a few listings in my Etsy shop for just the fabric you would need (a 21" x 72" piece of the cheater print).  Click HERE to check it out.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Sewing Machine Mat and Organizer Tutorial

 Hi friends!  Today I want to share a fun project I made for the Riley Blake Designs YouTube channel!  It's for a sewing machine mat that will keep your notions close by and organized during any sewing session, whether you're at home or away.

You've probably seen tutorials for these mats before but this one uses my Pineapple Block Cheater Print which is part of my Feels Like Home fabric collection with Riley Blake Designs.  Any cheater print would be cute for this project but you know I love Pineapple Blocks! This print features little 6" Pineapple Blocks so it has a big "wow" factor and would be cute in any sewing space.

Mine just so happens to match an ironing board cover that I made a few months ago. 

You can check that project out HERE!  It includes a link to the tutorial I use.  

The sewing mat has a large pocket on one side that is meant to hang off your sewing table.  You can customize the size of each compartment to hold all of your favorite notions. I especially love taking my mat to quilt retreats so that all of my notions stay in my own sewing space.  There's usually a lot going on at retreats and it's easy for things to get misplaced.

It also has ric rac on the side so you can roll it up for easy transport.

You could use some beautiful ribbon instead if you prefer.

Check out the YouTube video HERE for all the details.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Happy quilting!