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!

United Quilt in Solids

Hi there!  I'm popping on really quick to share a quilt I said I would share.  
This is my United quilt pattern and I finished this particular version in 2021.

I have two other versions that you can see HERE and HERE.   

I decided to make this bright and happy version because I had a lot of solids in my stash that I wanted to use up.  I also think it's fun to try out different color palettes to see how different a pattern can look.  I had fun putting together different color combinations for the flags and I especially loved making the heart block!  Each star is a different blue or green color.

I had my long-arm quilter do wavy lines 

(which is one of my favorite pantos to do on a flag or patriotic quilt).  

It adds some movement to an otherwise "angular" quilt.

I love a fun quilt back and fell in love with this old Juice Carton fabric the minute I saw it.

It had a lot of my flag colors in it so I thought it tied everything together with a bit of whimsy.

The United pattern is pretty big (it finishes at 78" x 87").

So I decided to leave off the 2 borders on this one to make it a little smaller.  

I just wanted to document this version of United.

I can't believe I never posted about it before!  Better late than never!  

If you'd like to snag a copy of my United pattern you can get the paper pattern HERE

and the PDF pattern HERE.  It's a beginner-friendly pattern.

Thank you for stopping by today and happy quilting!

Finished Uneven 9-Patch Quilt

 Hello friends! On November 30th, I shared a free pattern (on my blog) for an Uneven 9-patch quilt and today, I want to share my finished quilt! (Click HERE for my original post about starting this project.)

I wanted to make a 2-color quilt for my king-size bed using these two fabrics I designed.  The cream fabric is called Seeing Stars for the Hush Hush 4 low-volume collection for Riley Blake Designs.  And the green fabric is called Sketchy Leaves for my Feels Like Home collection with RBD.

I worked on the quilt top throughout December 2024 and finished it right after Christmas.  It was fun working on something kind of festive in December but I love that the fabrics aren't Christmasy so they'll be great in my bedroom all year round!

It's a big quilt!  It finishes at 112" x 102".

I found this beautiful fabric for the back.  It's so classy and matched the green well.

My cute mom stopped by my house one day and helped me line up the backing pieces so the print matched up.  So glad we took the time to do that!  She is a really good seamstress so she showed me some good tricks!

Pretty darn good, right?!?  Thanks mom!!!

I had my quilter, Jen Ostler (in Highland, UT.) quilt it with a 1" grid pattern.  Grid quilting is always a favorite of mine; it's so timeless!  Jen did her signature move and quilted an extra little object into the quilting (in this case - a quilty star) which makes for a fun game of I-Spy!  Do you see the star below?

After I bound the quilt in the same green Sketchy Leaves fabric, I found some coordinating pillows to tie everything together.  I already had the artwork above my bed so I just pulled light green, natural, and gold colors from those prints to use as my pillow colors!  I got all of the pillows that you see here from a wonderful local shop called Layers Bedding.  It's at Gardner Village in West Jordan, Utah.  They add the perfect finishing touch and make my bed feel so cozy and inviting!

I love how the different sizes, colors, textures, shapes, and prints of the pillow fabrics add a lot of warmth to the room.  It took a lot of time to find the perfect combination but it was fun. The process was similar to doing a fabric pull for a quilt and I love that part of quilt-making!

If you want to make a quilt like this, you can download the free pattern HERE.

It includes instructions for 5 quilt-size options and would be cute in any colorway!

Have you ever made a 2-color quilt?  They're so classic; I just love them.

Tell me, what colors would you use if you made a quilt like this?

The Original United Quilt

Introducing...my United quilt!  This is one of the most special quilts I own!  Many hands went into making it.  It was completed in 2020 so this blog post is long overdue! Keep reading to hear the story behind this quilt...

I am sure you would all agree that 2020 was a rough year for humanity.  At the beginning of the year, people started to realize we had a terrifying worldwide Covid-19 pandemic on our hands.  Then, a few months later George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis, MN. police officer.  Riots ensued and cities across the country burned. All of this happened during a major U.S. presidential campaign.  Things got ugly.  It wasn't our best moment as Americans.  My heart was in turmoil.  So what does a quilter do when things get rough?

They create.  They use the hum of a sewing machine to blur the chaos of the world.

So, I made a little flag block and then another.  They were so fun and easy to make.  I quickly realized what would make them even better though - if some of my Instagram friends joined me.  So I put a request out there for anyone who desired - to please send me a flag block for my special project.

My request was for just one block in soft red, white, and blue fabrics.  Of course, many quilters could not resist sending more than one because they are that simple to make!  Just 2 seams!  It takes more time to pick out the fabrics than it does to make the block!  They're kind of addicting to make.

I received so many blocks!  Most came with sweet notes, a few with extra fabric they thought I would enjoy.  Everyone was so kind; it was so fun to open each package.  After I received all of the flags, I started piecing together my quilt top which included 50 flags (to represent the 50 states), plus 5 stars and 1 heart.  Thus, my United pattern was born!  And there really wasn't a question about what I would call it, "United" was meant to be.  It really was such a heartfelt project, from beginning to end.

I smile when I see the back of my quilt because it represents the generosity of my Instagram friends!  I didn't know any of them personally, but I received so many blocks that I had to put some on the back!  It's a reminder of how good, kind, and thoughtful people really are.  Despite all of the different religious, political, economic, and cultural backgrounds we have (there was even a flag from Australia!), we are all humans, and I believe, children of God.  And that is the greatest uniter.  We have more in common than we think and sometimes we need to be reminded of that.

I enjoyed putting the quilt together and then I took it to my quilter, Jen Ostler, who quilted it using the Diagonal Plaid panto.  It's a great general panto that looks good on everything!

I think the light blues and reds look great on the navy background.  But I've also made two other United quilts!  One with a low-volume background that you can check out HERE.  It's extra scrappy.  And one with just solid fabrics that you can check out HERE.  I would love to hear which one is your favorite!

This quilt will always have a special place in my heart.  I want to thank everyone who sent me a block.  They mean so much!  I even had several pattern testers for United so be sure to check out the #unitedquilt hashtag on Instagram to see lots more inspiration.  They really knocked it out of the park.  People have even hosted block swaps for United (which I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing!) 

This quilt finishes at 78" x 87". So it's big!  Someone told me the other day that they gave their United quilt to a friend in her "Military Mom Era".  That made me so happy!

If you'd like to make a United quilt you can grab the 

paper pattern HERE or the PDF pattern HERE.

Have a great day!