Follow Your Heart: Tennessee Two Tone

Welcome to another week of the Follow Your Heart Quilt Along. This week we are making Tennessee Two Tone, and the directions are found on page 17 and18.
For this block it is essential that you choose two colors that have a lot of contrast. A good way to be sure if there is contrast is to take a photo of your fabrics, than look a the photo in black and white, this will show you whether or not the fabrics have a good contrast.
In the cutting the pattern again calls for you to cut a strip of fabric and than use the Easy Angle Ruler to cut triangles. Instead of doing this I cut 4" squares to make the Half Square Triangles.
To do this you still need to cut the 3 1/2" squares the pattern calls for, and in addition to that cut 3--4" squares of each print and 2--4" squares of your background.
Put 1 square of each print right sides together, draw a line on the diagonal and stitch a 1/4" on each side, cut apart, press and trim to 3 1/2" squares for a total of 4 Half Square Triangle Blocks as shown in the second column on page 18.
Repeat with each print combined with a background to make 2 of each color combination as shown again in the 2nd column on page 18.
If you wish to use one color for you background, rather than cutting the 3 different lengths as listed, just cut 2 strips 20 1/2" long.
When putting it together be sure to lay out all the pieces to double check that you have all the half square triangles facing the right direction to get the arrow effect.
Carrie did the mixed backgrounds and it looks really cool! 
 I can't wait to see your blocks for this week!
Do you have any special plans for New Years Eve?
Our family was going to attend a worship service at our Church this evening, and than watch a movie together. However I have a sick husband and 3 sick kids, so our plans have changed somewhat. We will probably still watch a movie, but the boys will be going to bed a lot earlier than we initially planned.
Happy New Year to you, thank you for following along with my blog this past year, and for supporting Chicken Feed Quilts. I have loved quilting along with you on our various projects, and sharing all the newest fabrics with you. I look forward to another year and have a few new things planned as well!
Kayla

Accuquilt Event: January 2020

Merry Christmas everyone! I have been having a great time celebrating with family, and having my kiddos and my hubby all home has been great. Sam and I have spent the last couple days working on finishing up our reno. I finished the painting of the new space last week and am now busy prepping the remainder of the main floor for a couple fresh coats. We are hoping to put the casing on tomorrow or Thursday and start setting up the furniture as soon as its done. I am so excited for it to all be finished. Needless to say there has not been a lot of quilting happening in my house in the past few weeks, but I hope to remedy that soon too.
With it being Christmas tomorrow, that means January is just 1 short week away, and in January we have an instructor from Accuquilt coming to do few presentations for us.
Pam Heller has been an Accuquilt Instructor for the past 5 years and travels internationally to teach quilters around the world to get the most out of the Accuquilt Cutting System. She will be in our shop on January 14 and 15 to teach you.
On January 14 at 2pm there will be a lecture called First Date with Bob. Pam will introduce to the BOB Dies, which stands for Block On Board. The BOB Dies give you the ability to cut an entire block on one die, and is great for beginners and advanced quilters. The class fee for this is $10.

Later that day at 6pm, there will be a presentation called GO! Beyond the Basics, where Pam will take you through the GO! Qube Companion Sets, the specialty dies, and some curved piecing as well. The tips and tricks she share will take your quilting to the next level! The class fee for this one is also $10.

On January 15 at 10 am there will be a final presentation, this one called There's a Die For That. This one will contain some special tricks to help you convert your rotary cut patterns to be Accuquilt GO friendly. The class fee for this presentation is $20.
For all of these presentations there is no need to bring any supplies, but we would love to see some projects or quilts that you have made using the Accuquilt System so if you have any feel free to bring them along.
For each presentation there will also be exclusive dies available only to those who attend the presentation.
Over the course of the two days there will be sales and giveaways as well.
If you are interested in the Accuquilt System or already have a GO Machine and some dies we would love to see you at the event.
You can sign up for any one of them or all three by clicking here.
Have a wonderful Christmas.
Kayla

Follow Your Heart: Spaghetti Junction

Hi everyone, I apologize again for not posting last week! I was halfway to Calgary when I remembered that I was supposed to write up a blog post before I left for my trip.
My husband took me to San Diego for 3 days for a little get away and we had a fantastic time exploring the city, eating delicious food and sleeping in.
So the block that I missed last week I will share now. It is called Spaghetti Junction and is found on pages 15-17 of your book.
It uses just 2 prints and some background, you can use a couple as they did in the pattern, or just one like I did.
I happen to be using a Layer Cake for my project and didn't have strips 21" long but it turns out that we subcut that strip later into two sets, so a 10" and a 7" strip works just as well for the first cut under the prints section if you have no longer pieces.
For cutting the print triangle with the ruler, you are going to line up the long 5" edge on the 3 3/4" marking on your 60 degree ruler, and trim both angles off.
For cutting the background prints place two wrong sides together (if using two backgrounds make sure the two together are matching), than put your 60 degree ruler on top aligning the bottom edge and the angle should go right through the upper left corner of your rectangle, than you are going to discard the pieces of fabric that are under the ruler and keep the larger "triangles" to use in the block.
When sewing these background triangles to the print one, the first one should align on both sides with the print triangle, and the second one line up the point with the point of the dog ear from the first seam. 
For the rest follow the instructions, especially the pressing directions as this will allow your seams to nest nicely when assembling.
Don't forget to add the borders to finish off the block.

I am excited to see your blocks!
Kayla

Sew Hometown: November, December and Finishing

I don't know about you but I love having deadlines to get things finished. As promised I was able to finish my quilt top for the Sew Hometown QAL along this weekend, and it feels great to have this year long project finished!
The blocks for November are Fir Trees, and we are making 4 of them, each finishing at 12". There is a couple printing errors for this block. The first one is in the Background cutting, you want to cut that first square at 8" instead of 7". The second error is in step 3, you want to trim your blocks to 7.5" square not the 6.5" that is listed.
I did not go too scrappy with my blocks, I chose 4 fabrics and used each one in a different spot in each block. To do this I stacked all four and cut from them all the pieces listed under the green, yellow, dark green, and blue fabrics, than used one of each in each block. This saved a lot of time both in choosing fabrics and in cutting.
When trimming in step 5 be sure you have at least a 1/4" at the top of the block so you don't lose your point later on. I actually measured 1/4"  to the bottom from the bottom of each tree point (where your trunk fabric sits in between) and trimmed that piece first, I add a little more than a 1/4" at the top than but it did allow my trunk seams to line up nicely.
There is a video for this block, if you would like to watch just click below.
https://inspiring-stitches.com/2019/11/sew-hometown-fir-tree-block/

For December we are making 5 Geranium Blocks that each finish at 6". This is such a fun block to make for the last block of the quilt. The unit from step 2 is supposed to be bigger than  your strip set, so don't panic, just line up the centers of each and stitch together. Having a 4.5" square ruler to trim the block in step 3 is really helpful, as you can lay it on top and just cut around all four sides quickly and easily.
There is a video for this block as well: https://inspiring-stitches.com/2019/12/sew-hometown-geranium-block/

Finishing: Take all the blocks you have made and lay them out as pictured on the final page of your calendar pattern. You can switch out blocks or sections of the same size to help with color placement if needed. I was able to just lay mine out as shown in the pattern, and I found the color balance to be good for me. The sections are outline in black so complete each mini section then combine each section to complete the center of the quilt top. Add your borders as instructed and yay your quilt top is done.


I had so much fun pulling this project out each month and constructing a new set of blocks and though the colors I chose are completely out of my usual comfort zone, I am loving how it turned out.
Kayla

December

I cannot believe that we are already a few days into December. My sons are bringing home Secret Santa names from school, making lists at home and begging to set up the Christmas tree. However with the current state of my house I told them we would likely set up the outdoor lights this weekend, but we may have to pass on the indoor decor this year. We are partway through a renovation on our main floor to incorporate a new living room and add a dining room. These boys of mine just keep growing and needing more space.
I just realized that I never posted the blocks for the November Sew Hometown QAL, I hope to finish that quilt top this week so I will do a special post on Monday or Friday with November, December and Finishing, (now I have to finish it ;) )
We want to thank you for your continued support of our shop, and so we will be doing a 12 days of Customer Appreciation event. There will be a new Special or Promotion each day and it will all start this week Thursday.

Dec 5, Day 1: Kits buy 1 and get the 2nd half price (2nd must be of equal or lesser value)

Dec 6, Day 2: 2 free Cutloose Patterns with your purchase

Dec 7, Day 3: 30% off all Shannon Cuddle

Dec 9, Day 4: 4 meters for $40 (mix and match 1meter cuts)

Dec 10, Day 5: Take 50% off one item (limit 1 use per person)

Dec 11, Day 6: Buy 5 spools of thread get the 6th free (6th must be of equal or lesser value)

Dec 12, Day 7: 35% off all Christmas yardage

Dec 13, Day 8: $8 off the ruler of your choice

Dec 14, Day 9: Receive 1 Drink Coupon to the Chrysalis Cafe with your purchase

Dec 16, Day 10: $10 gift card with every $25 spent (maximum of 5 gift cards)

Dec 17, Day 11: Buy 2 patterns get the 3rd for free (3rd must be of equal or lesser value)

Dec 18, Day 12: Choose a gift from under our tree

Thank you to everyone who sewed pillowcases for our Challenge last month, we reached a total of 556! These will all be donated to the Coaldale Food Bank and The Chinook Regional Hospital. 

Next week Tuesday is the next block in our Follow Your Heart QAL, the blocks made by everyone so far are looking great!
Have a great week, and be sure to carve out a little time for quilting, I know it helps my mood immensely to sit by my machine even for 20 minute.

 Kayla

Follow Your Heart: Springfield

Hey everyone, how is your week going? We have been dealing with the flu and renos in our house for the last little while. Our flu session started at the beginning of the month and is slowly making its way through each of us one by one. The renos began last week as we remove a wall on our main floor to make it a more open and family friendly place to be, the reno is going quickly and smoothly so far, now if only the flu would hurry up and exit.
This week for our Follow Your Heart Quilt we are working on the block called Springfield, which is on pages 14 and 15 of your book.
 This block came together quite quick for me, even though I did have to start over halfway through step D because I cut my little squares an inch to big, leaving me with some very skinny arrows, whoops!
The pressing is quite important in this block. If you press how the instructions tell you to, the block will go together with nice nesting seams, if not you will have some bulk on each of those points, which can cause your fabric to slip or bunch and leave you with not so nice points.
Don't forget to add the border strips as mentioned on page 15, adding these now will ensure your block is ready to go when we assemble the quilt. The borders are a little oversized so be sure to trim when you are finished adding them.

I chose to go with 5 different colors of fabrics for my block, and stuck with the same dark grey for my background.

Carrie also did hers in 5 colors, and chose to lay them out with an ombre effect from dark red to white. She also used an assortment of background fabrics.
Have fun making this weeks block!
As a heads up, for the next block you will need a 60 degree triangle ruler.
Kayla

New Fabric

It has been quite awhile since I have shared some of the new fabrics that have come into our shop.
We have had several new Moda collections come in over the past few weeks.
I am so in love with Harvest Road by Lella Boutique, this collection is made up of blues, greens, browns and creams. I
have made a quilt for my sister out of it already, but I am thinking I may need to make one more yet as I feel I haven't played with it enough yet. There is also a throw size panel available with this collection, that would be great simply quilted and bound, or add some borders and make it larger.

Sugar Creek by Corey Yoder also is here. It is so fresh and airy looking and has me longing for warmer days full of sunshine.

Gingiber's latest collection Bramble has also arrived, and she once again has put together a great collection with some super cute forest critters, and prints in red, white, black and grey. I have a quilt made up, and as soon as I get the pattern written, kits will be available.

If you like the ombre fabrics you will need to check out the latest from VandCo, this time around she has a full set of colors that go dark to light and back to dark again and there is little blooms printed on the fabric for some added fun.

From Primitive Gatherings we have a collection called Urban Farmhouse Gatherings. This group is made up of greys, whites and blacks, and there is also a book of patterns to accompany the collection, and it has some really nice patterns in it.






We have two new collections of Batiks in as well.

Oasis by McKenna Ryan is pretty amazing and has 20 prints that all coordinate beautifully.
We also have a collection of Christmas Batiks called Northwoods, some of these bolts are already empty or getting quite low, so if you like it you better come in soon to get some.








We also have a really cool Cat Fabric Line in, and I am referring to the heavy machinery not the animal. It comes with 2 panels (a Dump Truck, and an Excavator) as well as coordinating prints. This collection has been quite popular already too!

One last collection that I just adore is this one called Bear Hug. It is made up of black, white, pink, lavender and mint. I took it home today to make up a sample.


 Come in store to see what else is new. This week Friday (November 22) we will be open until 7pm, Christmas Yardage will be 20% off, and we will have felt ornament making from 4:30 until 7pm in our classroom.


Have a great week,
 Kayla

Follow Your Heart: London Roads

How was the long weekend for everyone? I was at the hockey rink for most of it, and yesterday I spent some time working on a new quilt.
This week we are working on the third block in our Follow Your Heart QAL. It is called London Roads and after the border is added will be 12.5" by 14" unfinished. The instructions are on pages 12 and 13 of your book.
Now for the cutting it says to use the Companion Angle Ruler and the Easy Angle ruler. If you don't have these there are a couple options.
I used the Non-Slip Multi Size 6" Flying Geese & 45/90 Degree Triangle Ruler, that is one ruler it just has a very long name, and is oddly shaped, but is cuts 45 degree triangles and 90 degree triangles which is what we need. I followed the cutting instructions as in the book, just used this ruler instead.

Carrie's way is probably the easiest.
From the dark and the bright prints she cut a 5.5" square and made Half Square Triangles. Than she cut a 5" square of her background print and layered it right sides together with the one of the previous HST and sewed another half square triangle set (make sure you sew across the previous stitch line). This leaves you with some extra half square triangle blocks but is probably the easiest method, and involves the fewest bias edges.

Whichever method you choose you will want to be sure to make sure the dark print is always on the same side or your arrows will not follow each other.
For the cutting and piecing of the rectangle strip I followed the books instructions.
Don't forget to add the border strip on the bottom, so that when we got to assemble it will all fit together properly.

I used the same dark background as the previous blocks, one coral print for the bright fabric, and 4 assorted greens for the darks.


Carrie used assorted blacks for her background, a white print for her bright fabric and 4 different taupes for the dark.
I can't wait to see all your blocks!
Kayla

Sew Sweet Treat Nights

Hey everyone, this is Jenn and I’m taking over Chicken Feed Quilts blog tonight to share with you a new quilt a row-along. I’m SO excited about this, and I hope you are too! I’ve been wanting to make up one of Lori Holts quilts for awhile now, we’ve had some Lori Holt Fabrics in our fabric vault downstairs just waiting for me to get my hands on, so when I saw this pattern book I knew immediately it was the quilt I wanted to make! I asked Esther if this sew a row-along would be a good idea, and she decided to participate too! (or I volunteered her-I can’t remember HA!). I am sewing up this quilt in Lori Holt’s fabrics, and Esther is sewing up the same version in Kansas Trouble fabrics – I think both versions are going to turn out beautifully and we want you to join along! I am making up kits (in both fabric ways) – I’m doing all the quilty math for you in these kits, so you are getting the fabric requirements and aren’t stuck with a bunch of fabric at the end. To make it even better, I’ve decided that the kit for the month will be ready on the 3rd Thursday of each month-come in the evening (drop in between 7-8:30pm), take a look at the row, ask questions, or I might show you a product that will help you construct these rows with ease, pick up your row kit & have a dessert! That’s right, you get a yummy dessert as well! It will be such a fun evening out. We decided to call this sew along ‘Sew Sweet Treats Night’.

Now I’m guessing you’d like some details. You will need the ‘Sew By Row’ Lori Holt book. These are $25.00 and are available at the shop, and then EACH kit will cost $25.00 per month. We will be running this Sew Sweet Treats Night for 7 months starting in just a couple weeks on November 21st ,and then December 19th, January 16th, February 20th, March 19th, April 16th, May 21st. (The last months kit will include a finishing kit that will include all your sashing, borders & binding). 
You can sign up here or in store, sign up is free, and than there will be a monthly fee of $25 for the kits.
Who’s looking forward to this fun Sweet Treats Night? We can’t wait to see you all on November 21st!

 Here is a sneak peek at this months kit!
Jenn

Follow Your Heart: Red Arrow Highway

Welcome to block 2 of our Quilt Along. This week we are making the block named Red Arrow Highway, it will end up being 9" finished. The instructions for this block are found on page 11 and 12 of your pattern book. I am loving the little anecdotes that are in the book with each block, it makes me want to go explore all these different places.
This block is not too difficult to make, and is fairly quick as well which is a great bonus. You can choose to do scrappy backgrounds as they did in the book, which Carrie decided to do, or go with one background color which I did. Than choose a print to go with and Voila ready to cut and sew. Carrie went with a red and white print for her block and I chose a yellow tone on tone print.
The instructions are great for this block and Terry has a great pressing tip on pg 12 for when working with those bias edges.
When trimming the block in Step C, I placed my 4.5" square ruler on the block, with the diagonal line right on top of the larger seam we just made, and trimmed it down that way.

 Here are my two blocks together, I can't wait to see yours.

 If you are just joining in you can find the information for the 1st block here
and the introduction here


Do you have any big plans for this week or is it just a normal week for you?
I will be "teaching" the Percival Laptop Bag in our Bag Club this week, and my oldest turns 8 on Friday, so we have a birthday dinner that evening and a party with a few friends on Saturday.
 Kayla

Upcoming Events: November is looking busy!

It is time again to share the events that are coming up in our Shop in the next few weeks.

This Friday is already the last Friday of the month, which means it is also Fat Quarter Friday, we will have a basket of assorted fat quarters, and each one in the basket will be $2.50, or pick 12 from the basket for only $25! If you like to make little Christmas Gifts, there are a lot of patterns out there that use Fat Quarters and to get them for only $2.50 each is a great deal. Remember the deal only applies to the basket, and goes from 10am-5pm Friday, October 25.

Friday, October 25 is also the first session of PhD Club. This club is great in that you get to come to our classroom and work for a full day on whatever project you choose. At the end of the day you set a homework goal for the next month, and if you finish your homework you get $10 of your commitment fee back, if not you forfeit the cash. It is a great motivator to finish some projects and without the distractions of housework, laundry and cooking you can accomplish a lot. You can sign up for this fun relaxed club here.
Esther leaves soon for Florida and will be gone the full month of November. For the full month of November any purchases over $25 will receive a bonus gift of a mini charm pack, while supplies last.

Also in November we are going to be doing our Pillowcase Challenge again. We did this last year and it was a great success and we donated over 300 pillowcases the the Pediatrics Ward of the Chinook Regional Hospital. This year we would like your help to sew 500 pillowcases, which we will than donate to the Coaldale Food Bank for their Christmas Food Hampers and again to the Hospital.
So how does this Challenge work? We are busy cutting kits for the pillowcases and we ask that you sew them for us. Their is no charge to participate, we will just record your name, phone number and how many kits you have signed out. When you return the finished pillowcase(s) we will make note of that as well, any kits not returned by Saturday, November 30 will be getting a phone call on Monday December 2. There are a number of tutorials to sew the pillowcases, and we do not mind which method you use, as long as they are neatly finished. The kits all contain a Main Fabric, a cuff and a little zinger piece as we like to call it, that goes between the cuff and the main fabric. Some of the fabrics may need to be squared off before sewing. You can sign out as many as you like as long as you get them finished. We encourage you to challenge your friends and or guilds to join as well.
This Challenge will start on November 1 and we ask that all pillowcases be returned by November 30. We want this to remain a 1 month challenge so no kits will be handed out before November 1. Let's see if we can hit our goal of 500!

Just as Jelly Roll Day occurred in September, we will be doing a Charm Pack day in November. This will take place on Saturday, November 16. During the week leading up to it, I will post inspiration photos on Instagram and Facebook. On November 16, Moda Charm Packs will be 25% off for the day, we will have a couple different free patterns available in store, as well as purchase patterns.

On December 4 at 7pm we will be hosting a Christmas Party. There is a $5 registration fee to attend which will be donated to the Coaldale and District Emergency Services. We will have snacks and drinks, and we ask that everyone brings a $10 gift to exchange, it can be quilty themed or not. You can sign up for this party here. Please note there will be no shopping available that evening, it is just a party, and Carrie, Esther and I will be joining in as well. There is limited spots available so sign up soon.
Have a Great Week, next Tuesday the second block for the Follow Your Heart QAL will be posted.
Kayla

Zipper Pouches

Zipper Pouches, I love them for so many reasons. They are quick and cheap to make and they are great for gifts especially at Christmas time. I love them to organize all my things everywhere.

I made a few NoodleHead pencil pouches the other night as Teacher Gifts for Christmas this year. I added the Teacher's initial to each one to make it a little more personal, and will get some chocolates to fill it, and Voila a super great, quick gift. You can find the tutorial here. 

Another great pouch pattern is this one by Minki Kim. It too goes together really quick and with the boxed bottom you get a great sized pouch the stands up nicely. It is great for wrangling all those little items in your purse that you always need handy but seem to get lost, like Kleenex, Lipstick, and hand lotion. This pouch filled with some of these items would be a great gift for a friend, and the handmade pouch adds a little love to the gift in my opinion.

I have four little boys and they always seem to be dragging something around with them to Grandma's, school, the quilt shop, or all those dentist and doctor appointments. Zipper pouches are a great way to keep all those little cars, crayons, legos, gameboys, and animals organized and easy to carry. They love getting a new pouch filled with goodies!
There are so many tutorials and purchase patterns available for zipper pouches, and they come in all shapes and sizes. The pouches generally take a fat quarter or less for the outside and one for the inside so they are quite cheap to make as well. Do you like to make zipper pouches? Whats your favorite pattern to use?
Due to the craziness in my house with kids in school, homework, hockey season starting up again and general life, I have decided to go down to one blog post a week. So from now on I will just post on Tuesday evenings.
Kayla

Follow Your Heart: Crosstown

Today is the first day of our Follow Your Heart Quilt Along! I am so excited to get started on this with all of you. If you have not yet bought the book and picked out your fabrics it is definitely not too late to do so. We have several books in stock and we always have fabric available to purchase in our shop. Click on the "follow your heart: tag at the bottom of the post and the fabric requirements post should pop up for you with all that information. 

Just a couple little notes before I get into this weeks block. Test your seam allowance before starting, as per instructions on page 3. If you do need to make any changes in your needle placement I suggest you make note of it in your book, or on a slip of paper that you can keep in your book. Also when I am doing quilts that will not be finished for quite some time, like Block of the Months or Quilt Alongs, I tend to shorten my stitch length while sewing to prevent any unravelling of stitches in the blocks. I usually shorten to about a 2.0 length on my Bernina. 

The first block we are making is called Crosstown and is on page 10 in your book. The block is simple to piece and the instructions are well written and easy to follow.  To construct the block you will need a dark print, a light print and some background fabric. You will want a good contrast between the light and dark prints so that the pattern doesn't blend together. 

To trim the block I used a square ruler and put the diagonal line down the center of the dark strip, trimmed, rotated the block and did it again. 

For my block I used a light and a dark purple.

Carrie is also quilting along and she is using the new Sweetwater Collecton Printshop, and is pulling out the black prints to use as her assorted backgrounds, For this block she decided to use two different colors instead of a dark and light and I think it looks really good. 

Have fun making your blocks and remember to post a picture to our Facebook Group so we can all see your blocks.  Kayla