Getting Inspired

Have you ever been in a rut when quilting? Where you don't feel inspired or don't feel like quilting? I think it happens to everyone, but how do you overcome it? I have a couple things that I do when I feel this way. 

One thing I have found that always helps is visiting the Quilt Shop. It is hard to walk in and not feel inspired and want to create something new and I often end up walking out with a new project to work on. 

Another thing that works for me is to make something start to finish that is really quick, for example a new mini for my wall, a table runner or a quick simple patchwork quilt. Sometimes just making something quick start to finish gives me the itch to continue working on other projects to finish them as well. 

Sewing with friends is always a great way to get out of a rut too. It may be a little more difficult to do right now, but if you can't get together physically, there are a few different ways to do this virtually. We actually have Open Sew Days twice a month virtually at the shop. Just send me an email, and I will send out the link to join in. We had our first one last Friday and it went really well. It was nice to see other people and what they were working on!

One last thing I do is clean my sewing room. My sewing space is rarely a mess, but when it is I find it hard to work on a project. Just cleaning it up and getting organized makes me want to jump in and sew again!

Do you have any tips to get out of a sewing rut? 

Kayla

What we are working on

 Happy Monday, can you believe we are already in the last week of February!

Today I want to share with you some projects that Esther, Carrie and I are working on. 

Esther has several different projects on the go at the moment. 

She is preparing for our first Bag Club Session and is almost finished with her Double Flip Shoulder Bag. 

Tabletastic starts next week and her sample for that one is ready to be quilted. 

She has a few Quilt Alongs that she is participating in: 

The Bonnie and Camille Quilt Bee that I am hosting through our blog, Esther has one of the kits using the Shine On Collection by Bonnie and Camille, there is one or two left in the shop if you want to jump in on this. (click here to purchase)

Stitch Pink which we are starting on our Chicken Feed Quilts Facebook Live next month

And a Mystery Quilt Along on the Creative Grid Girls Facebook Group

She also has this fun sample ready for the longarm, it uses Snow Day by Mr. Domestic for Art Gallery and we will have some kits made up when her quilt is finished. 

Carrie has several on the go too. 

Her quilt using Maureen Cracknells collection Homebody is nearly finished, the pattern is called Trinkets and we have kits available (click here for a link to the kit and yardage)

Her Garden Sampler BOM also through this blog is going well, it's not to late to join in on this one and we have kits available here. The kit is availble with either a soft yellow background like Carrie is doing or White background

Tuesday is Carrie's day off and she hopes to get a long ways on this quilt tomorrow

I have been working on finishing off several projects, but I have several more planned. 

The Maggie Quilt using Kaikoura is nearly finished, just a small outer border and than quilting. Kits will be available soon. 

This Infinite Hearts Quilt should be finished this week, I have just a little bit of binding left. As soon as the patterns arrive we will have two kits available (thats all the fabric that was left) to purchase.

Next up on the binding pile is this Half Hexie Quilt using Hello Sunshine by Abi Hall, kits will be available for this one too, with all the half hexies precut. 

And I hope to start this one next, Joyful Stars using Ombre Fairy Dust

I hope you are getting some quilting time in, even if it just a few minutes a day 

Kayla

Favorite Products: February

 Hello again. It has been several months since I have done a favorite products post, so I thought I would do one today. Some of these items may have been mentioned in previous Favorite Products posts, but that just confirms that they really are essential in our sewing space. 

Esther has been making a lot of Table Toppers as gifts and in preparation for our Tabletastic Club that starts next month. She has been loving our little 2.5"x6.5" ruler and the 4-in-1 Half Square Triangle Ruler for making these smaller projects. The Acorn Pressing Solution, our Chicken Feed Mister Bottle and the wool mat have also been favorites of hers while making these table toppers.

 

Carrie has been loving her Purple LDH Scissors, they are sharp, cut nicely, and they are purple which makes her smile!

One of my favorite products which I don't think I have mentioned in a post before is Aurifil Thread. I love the wide range of colors for top stitching, the quality is incredible, and my machine loves it too!

The Aurifil Color Masters Club is a great way to build up a stash in 12 different colors. January and February's boxes are available now and you can still sign up to get the remainder of the boxes for the year. 

Kayla

Bag Club - Spring 2021

 In one month we are starting a new Bag Club. 

This Club will run via Zoom Video Meetings. 

We will meet on the second Friday of the month in March, April and May, from 10am-4pm. 

Each time we will be making a different bag. 

The patterns we have chosen to do are the Double Flip Shoulder Bag by Emmaline in March

The Roxy or Rozy Wallet by Serial Bag Makers in April

The Classic Market Tote by Andrie Designs in May. 

The fee for this club is $25. This fee will give you access to all 3 Zoom Meetings in which we will walk you through the pattern. You must own the patterns to participate. The patterns and supplies are not included in the price.

The patterns and hardware needed are available to purchase in our shop. We have sold out of the Double Flip Shoulder Bag patterns, but more are on order and they should be back in stock early next week. 

We can put Hardware Packs together, and assist in Fabric Choices if needed. 

You can sign up for the club by clicking here 

Have a great weekend. There will be no blog post on Monday as it is a holiday. 

Kayla

The Bonnie and Camille Quilt Bee: Month 1

 Welcome to the first month our Bonnie and Camille Quilt Bee Sew Along. 

The fabric I have decided to use is Figs and Shirtings by Fig Tree. This is stepping out of my comfort zone and Carrie and Esther were both pretty surprised by my choice, but I am really excited for it.

I am using a fat quarter bundle for the blocks and I have 5 and a half meters of Bella Bleached White Solid for my background. The pattern is not written for fat quarters, but I think I can make it work, and we have yardage available of in the shop if I do run stuck. 

I posted a photo of my fabric on Facebook last week, and if you are joining in I would love to see a photo of your fabrics, post a picture in the comments section of my post from last week or send them in an email to me at the email address at the bottom of this post. 

Alright this month we are making 3 blocks, The Beehive Block on page 78, the Bee's Knees Block on page 79 and the Bliss Block on page 83. 

If you want to test out your seam allowance for this quilt, I suggest starting with the Bliss Block on page 83. It is a nice easy one to get in the swing of things and by the second seam you will know if you need to adgust your seam allowance for this quilt at all. (I don't know about you but I find some pattern designers use a scant quarter inch in their blocks while others are fairly generous)

The Bliss Block itself is quite simple to construct. Follow the black arrows in the diagrams for pressing directions and your seams will all nest really nicely. 

Going back to the Beehive Block on page 78 now. First step is to make those half square triangles. My tip here is don't skip the trimming! Sometimes it can seem tedious especially if you are only trimming a sliver off, but it is definitely worth it in the end. I like to use the Creative Grids 4-in-1 half square triangle ruler to trim my blocks. If you find your Half Square Triangles are too small to trim to the correct size, try stitching just a touch closer to your drawn line. 

The rest of the block is not hard to assemble, just follow the diagrams for color placement and press open to cut down on some bulk. 

The Bee's Knees Block. This block is a little more intense. It has a lot of pieces and some of them are pretty small. However labelling the pieces as you cut and going through step by step will make it a lot easier. One thing when cutting is to not cut G and H until the block is finished, than if your block is a little small you can get it up to the right size by making the block borders just a touch wider. 

I used Alphabitties to label my pieces as I cut them.  

The antennae unit it made up of most of the small pieces, if these intimidate you, you could always cut them a little larger, than sew together and trim down to the correct size after they are pieced and pressed. I cut them as instructed an pressed to the large square rather than pressing open. 

When making the wings, be sure to make one opposite the other so you have a left and a right and don't end up with 2 of the same. 

Piece A is a pretty large piece on the bias, so a couple pins will help to prevent stretching on this. 

When your block center is complete, measure it, if it thee size mentioned in the pattern cut your borders as instru

cted. If it is a wee bit small cut your borders wider than instructed to compensate for this. 

I can't wait to see your blocks. I will post mine to our Facebook Page, and you can put a photo of yours in the comments of that photo or email them to me. My email address is below. 

Month 2 blocks will be posted on March 8.

Have a great week,

Kayla

my email address is kayla@chickenfeedquilts.com

Garden Sampler: Month 2 - Fennel Block

 It is time to pull out your block of the month kits again. I used to really dislike Block of the Month projects. I usually like projects where I can get it all done, it doesn't take too much time, I can sit down and see the whole project finished fairly quick. 

As I've been working on my last two block of the months I've learned to really like them. It is fun to pull out a totally different project once a month, have some continuation through the year, and slowly watch the blocks grow into something amazing and unique. And it is nice to just make one block which may challenge your skills, and only have to do one block so it is not so daunting. Have you ever participated in a Block of the Month program? What did you think? If you haven't and are interested look into the ones we have running through our shop here. 

This month for the Garden Sampler we are making the Fennel Block.

As I read through the pattern for this block, I noticed I needed to make 4 flying geese that were all the same, for this I immediately reached for my Creative Grids Ultimate Flying Geese Trim Tool and saw that the size I needed to make was included in my ruler. I made the necessary adjustments to my cutting, which is why the pile with the B Alphabettie looks funny with the 2 different sized squares. 

I then used the heart method to make my 4 flying geese. This method is really fast, and really fun. It is a quick, easy way to make 4 perfect flying geese. By using this method I know they will come out to the right size, and that I will have 1/4in seam, so I will not lose the point on my geese. 

For the petals I again used my Folded Corner Clipper for the stitch and flip blocks. you guys are gonna start to realize that I grab this ruler for just about everything. 

After this the assembly is fairly simple, it is all just strips and squares once the components are made.

I love how this block turned out. I am so happy with the yellow background that I chose, it is so happy and cheerful.  

Fennel Block

Are you sewing along? How is it going? 

New Fabric

Happy Monday! 

Today I want to share with you some of the newest fabric collections that we have available in the shop. 

It has been a month full of shipments and we are in love with each and every new collection. It may be a good thing we had to cancel our trips to Florida because now we have a whole month of extra sewing time!

We have several new collections from Moda

Cider from Basic Grey has arrived, we are waiting on a couple of the coordinating grunges to finish off the precuts, but all the prints in the collection are available for purchase. 

Hello Sunshine by Abi Hall is so cheerful and I have a simple half hexagon quilt planned for it, the strips are cut already we just need to run them through the Accuquilt Go and than we will have kits available. 

Moody Blooms by Create Joy Project is in the shop and selling very quickly. There is also a large panel that goes with this collection that is really pretty!

  

True North 2 by Kate and Birdie is also available. This one is designed specifically for Canada and features, Canadian Geese, Maple Leaves, camping trailers and forest prints. This one is available in store, and we are working on getting it added to the website. 

From Art Gallery we have 

Luna and Laurel, two of the bolts are still on their way but the others are here and are selling pretty quick. 

Kismet came in just a couple weeks ago and several of the bolts are nearly empty already!

Aquarelle is a more colorful collection with deep rich colors. 

Snow Day by Mister Domestic is a collection of wintery blues and teals and really fun prints!

Homebody has arrived to our shop, but it still in the shipping boxes, it should be available by the end of the week. 

We have a Northcott line called Shimmer - Eclipse that is also available in our shop and on our website. There is a blue colorway called Iceberg and a Black/Brown colorway called Black Earth

Carrie will have the second month of her Garden Sampler BOM, and our Bonnie and Camille Quilt Bee starts Monday, I have decided to use a fat quarter bundle of Figs and Shirtings by Fig Tree for my quilt and will add a photo of my fabrics to our Facebook Page tomorrow, I can't wait to see your fabric choices, send me an email 

kayla@chickenfeedquilts.com or share a photo of your fabric pull in the comments of my post tomorrow for everyone to see. 

Kayla