Follow Your Heart: Maui, Savannah Strings and Finishing

Happy Monday! How was your weekend, ours was quiet in a good way. Today I am going to share the last two blocks in the Follow Your Heart Quilt Along as well as the finishing instructions. It sounds like a lot but both blocks are not a lot of work, and once they are done we just have to put the whole quilt top together.
First Block: Maui. The instructions for the block begin on page 33. I did everything exactly as the pattern. Be sure to keep all the edges straight in Step A and B so you don't get wavy geese, and end up losing points. I used my Folded Corner Clipper Ruler for these steps and that kept mine nice and straight. Adding the background triangles in Step F is done the same way as in the Spaghetti Junction block, my photo at the right shows how the background fabric should line up on the triangle, both edges are aligned neatly. I trimmed the top edge of my block first to endure I had a nice 1/4" seam allowance  and than trimmed the sides and bottom. After sewing all 6 units together,  there are two little borders to add to the left and right side of the block to finish it off.







Savannah Strings on page 35 is a really quick one to make. Be sure to choose a fabric that has good contrast with you background fabric for the shaft of the arrow, as you don't want that skinny strip getting lost in the block. Follow the cutting instructions in Step B carefully to get the correct shapes, and don't miss the trimming in Step H. This one gets a bottom border to make it complete.
Now we get to put all our blocks together to finish our quilt top!  The nice thing on this one is there is very little extra pieces that need to be added in to finish out top. There is one strip that is added in Step C, (don't miss this little step, because your 2 segments will not fit together in Step I, ask me how I know) For the rest it is just putting the blocks together in order, and if you look at the pictures it will show you the orientation of each block. The pictures also show which way to press the seams, and most of them go to a "border" strip on each block so it presses really nice.
I love how this quilt came together and cannot wait to see yours finished! Thanks for quilting along with me. Mine is currently at the quilt shop waiting for me to choose backing and get it quilted, so as soon as it is all finished I will share a photo of it. 
 Kayla

Follow Your Heart: Snowbirds

Welcome to another week of Follow Your Heart. This week we are making the Snowbirds block which we can find on page 31 of your pattern book.
This block again uses the 45 and 90 degree ruler to cut triangles. If you do not have on of these I will give you some measurements to cut them from squares.
From your brights cut the strip and the first square as suggested. Than cut 2 -- 3 1/2 inch squares and cut diagonally once to get 2 triangles from each square for a total of 4. Cut one more square this time 3 3/4 inches and cut it diagonally twice to get 4 quarter squares triangles (2 from each square will be extra) If you have the 45 and 90 degree rulers you can cut the brights as instructed in the pattern. The whites and darks can be cut as instructed in the pattern.
I suggest making one block first and than making the remaining blocks.
Follow the instructions for the piecing. While I was putting my block together I totally missed step C and made all 8 of mine the same. I didn't realize until I was finished the block and at that point decided I liked my block just fine the way it was and didn't bother changing it. To trim each block to the correct size, trim down the top edge first to make sure you have a nice 1/4" seam allowance than trim the bottom and side edges. Add your borders and this Snowbird Block is complete.
After this we only have two blocks left to make, I know I am getting super excited to assemble this quilt, how about you?
Have a great week!
Kayla

Follow Your Heart: I Heart New York

How was everyone's weekend? We kept ours pretty quiet and just stayed home all day Saturday, attended worship services yesterday, and than had a family movie night on the couch. It was nice to spend some much needed time at home as a family, especially with our next 3 weekends looking pretty busy with 2 hockey tournaments, our school bazaar, and me working at the shop on Worldwide Quilting Day.
Today is another Follow Your Heart Block day and we are making the I Heart New York block this time. I did find it a little more time consuming than some of the previous blocks but not difficult. I also used more colors than they suggested which did not make things any easier.

The block instructions for this one are found starting on pg 29 of your pattern. Follow the cutting instructions as listed. When piecing the blocks I highly suggest labeling the components with the Step Letter to keep things straight. For example in  Step B it has you make a large number of various units. Keep these in neat stacks and label them B. Than carefully following the next steps, relabel the units once they are sewn into C-H this will hep a lot when assembling the block.

Be sure to follow the pictures in C-H so that you get the correct placement of background and print.
Add the borders on page 31, and ta da a very large block finished and ready to assemble into the final quilt!

We are getting pretty close to the end of this QAL, we only have 3 more blocks left to make, I can't wait to see everyone's blocks all assembled.

On page 41 of your pattern book there is instructions to make this block into a baby quilt. Esther made this one and it turned out super cute!

Have a great week. Thursday is the Art Gallery: Feel The Difference Presentation in the shop, and on the blog I hope to do a Designer Spotlight featuring another one of Art Gallery's talented designers.

Kayla

Follow Your Heart: Santa Fe

Happy Monday, our family is safely home from a vacation in Florida. We had a jam packed 10 days spent with half of my family water skiing, checking out Legoland, going to Oilers/Lightning hockey game, attending church where my cousin is pastor, go karting, shopping, and spending all free time by the lake and pool. It was so refreshing to relax with my family and not worry about homework, schedules, bedtimes, or work. And now we all feel recharged and ready to get back to our normal routines.
Do you love the recharged feeling you get after spending time away on a vacation?
This week we are making the Santa Fe Block for our Follow Your Heart Quilt Along. Even though this block is meant to inspire the southwest, it totally gives off a Nordic vibe to me! In fact I may even make a mini for myself in cool blues and greens to display on my computer desk next winter. I love having a little seasonal block in our family's computer area to bring some color and joy.
Anyways this block is simple enough to construct and utilizes strip piecing to make the initial units, and than follows a log cabin type construction to complete each unit. When pressing those strip units be careful not to stretch or distort the units, and press in the direction indicated by the arrows on each photo. This block has no borders, so once it is all sewn together trim it to the correct size and set aside until we are ready to assemble the top. We only have 4 more blocks to make, so we are getting close to the final construction, yay!
Have a great week everyone!

Follow Your Heart: San Francisco

Happy Monday, anyone else ready to kick off a new week with some fresh goals?
This week we are working on the block: San Francisco for the quilt along. This block is a sweet little pixel heart block, and would be super cute as a mini for Valentine's Day, if you think so too, make two, one for your quilt and one for your home décor!
The block itself is very straightforward, and with strip piecing goes together nice and quick. I did not change a single thing in this block, just followed the instructions start to finish, which can be found on page 23.
You will want to be sure that you have an accurate 1/4 inch seam allowance on this block, to test yours again follow the tutorial on page 7.
 I also decided to take a photo of my blocks in the correct layout as shown on page 39 to get a feel for how it was going to look at the end, and if I need to use more of a certain color and less of another. So far I am quite pleased with how it is looking.
How are your blocks coming along?
Have a great week.
There will be no blog posts until February 24, which also happens to be the next Follow Your Heart Day.
Kayla

Follow Your Heart: Hampton Roads + Silicon Hills

Welcome to a new week! This is the final week of January already, I seen a post on Instagram earlier this week about how fast this year is going and I have to agree!
We are working on two blocks this week for the Follow Your Heart Quilt Along. I was able to finish both of them in a couple hours so don't worry about it taking forever.
The blocks are Hampton Roads on page 20 and Silicon Hills on page 26. These are the only two applique blocks in the quilt. If you haven't done any applique recently it is a good idea to take out some scraps, and go through steps G-J on page 21 and 22 before doing the applique on your quilt blocks. It will give you a chance to adjust your stitches until you are happy with them, as well as get the feel of turning your fabrics, where the foot should sit on your fabric to get a nice edge stitch. Make a note of which stitch you like and the width and length, so you don't forget and can use the same one on both blocks.
I did find the Silicon Hills block easier for the applique even though it has a little more, the circles are larger, and the arrows are all straight lines, so if you are nervous start with that block. I did all the applique in a light grey thread, rather than trying to match each color of my fabrics.

Hampton Roads: For the cutting I did change up a couple things. Under the dark print it says to cut a 4.5"x21" strip and cut triangles using rulers. Instead I cut one 4.5"x8.5" rectangle and two 4.5" squares. I did the same for the assorted whites. Than in step E I made my flying geese following the stitch and flip method, just like in step A of the Circle Pines block.
Also because I am using just one background fabric I cut 2 strips the size mentioned at the end of Step A rather than piecing the three smaller lengths together.
If you are worried about your fabric shrinking some during the applique, you could always cut that rectangle larger as well, do the applique, trim it to the correct size and than piece the block together.
There is a template for the circle on page 22, so you don't have to freehand one, I was flipping through the book looking for it, and all I had to do was turn the page. If you have an Accuquilt GO machine and a circle die you could definitely use that to cut your circles instead, just be sure to fuse some trans web or steam a seam to the wrong side of the fabric before cutting, so that the glue will go all the way to the outside edge of your circle.
Don't forget to add the borders as listed on page 22 to finish off the block.

Silicon Hills: This one I did as per instructions. My fabric doesn't have a huge color scale difference, so I mostly just made sure I had a lot of contrast between the circle fabric and the arrow that went on top of it. The templates for tracing are on page 28. Once again don't forget to add the borders. When we go to assemble all the blocks in a couple months you will be glad they all have borders, otherwise you will searching through the book trying to find out where you went wrong.

Have fun making these blocks!
Kayla

Follow Your Heart: Circle Pines

It is time again for another block in our Follow Your Heart Quilt Along. This week we are making Circle Pines, which can be found on page 19 and 20 of your Book.
I loved making this block! It looks like a bunch of work at first glance but mine came together so quickly.
I followed all the cutting instructions, but used one background fabric instead of multiple in my block. Carrie used a different background for each of the four "tree" units and than 2 more for the borders.
I highly advise the Folded Corner Clipper from Creative Grids for this block. It makes those stitch and flip blocks go really quickly, and in Step B the ruler markings line up with the bottom rectangle so you know you are cutting in the right place.
Last time I asked in the Facebook Group if anyone wanted to move to 2 blocks per blog post or if we should stick to one. The answer was split pretty much down the middle, so I thought that if a block was fairly simple and quick I would combine it with another quick and simple one.
Next time we will be doing some applique and as there is only one other applique block, I am thinking we will be making both of them at once.
Tomorrow and Wednesday we have the Accuquilt Events at our shop, and we are also meeting with Rob our Moda Rep this week. Thursday evening I hope to share some photos of new fabric that has come in, and maybe a sneak peek of what we will have ordered from Rob. 
Stay warm, maybe sit under a quilt to do some binding or wrap yourself up in one and watch a good movie.
Kayla

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

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

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

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

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

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

Follow Your Heart: Fabric Requirements

Well September is now behind us, and in its wake left mountains of snow across Southern Alberta. My husband and I were at a retreat just outside of Pincher Creek over the weekend, my In-laws were there as well and my mother in law was quite worried about being snowed in, turns out she had just cause, we woke up Saturday morning to a couple feet of snow on top and all around our vehicles, thankfully we were all able to make it home safely before the snow started up here, and I was happy to be snowed in at home on Monday with my family rather than away from them.
Today I am sharing the materials list for the Follow Your Heart Quilt Along that will be starting in two weeks. There are a total of 15 blocks in this sampler quilt and it will finish at about 62" x 73"
For this quilt you will need the book Follow Your Heart by Terry Atkinson, we have copies available in our shop if you still need one.
For fabric you will need at least 14 fat quarters, if you wish to go scrappier than that you can also use 28 fat eighths, or even use scraps from your stash at home. You will want to have a variety of colors and values in your selection. In the instructions for each block it will tell you to cut this from your darks, this from your brights and that from your lights, so if you wish you could definitely sort your fabric into these three categories.
The backgrounds in the pattern are scrappy and call for 10 half meter cuts or 20 fat quarters. If you have never done a scrappy background on a quilt I encourage you to give it a try, the first couple blocks can be difficult but after that it gets to be really fun. If you wish to do it in one color you will need 4.5 meters of fabric, which is equal to 5 yards. If you have never gone outside the typical white for your background I encourage you to switch it up, try a dark grey, or even a color like light blue or pink if it works with your fabrics.
You will also need some fusible web. I suggest either trans web or steam a seam lite. Trans web you will 0.75meter. It does not stick in place until heat is applied. Steam a seam lite you will need 0.3meter as it is wider. It does have some tackiness to it that will allow you to stick it in place and re position it until heat is applied. I have used both and like using both of them. You will also want thread to match your fabrics. I use Aurifil thread for all my projects and absolutely love it!
For rulers you will need your basic sizes. I like my 8.5"x12.5" for the bigger cutting and my 4.5"x8.5" for smaller trimming. Many of these blocks some out as rectangles not squares but I do suggest a larger ruler to square these up, as it is more accurate than using the lines on your cutting mat.
We will also be using a 60 degree ruler for a few of the blocks. There is one block that calls for the Easy Angle Ruler and Easy Angle Companion Ruler so if you have them great, if not I will give instructions on how to do the block without. I also highly suggest the 4 in 1 half square triangle ruler from Creative Grids as well as the Folded Corner Clipper also from Creative Grids.
I am planning to use a collection by Lella Boutique called Lollipop Garden for my quilt, and will be using just one fabric for my background, a dark not quite black melange, (melange is the name of one of the blender collections in our shop and is by Stof, if you haven't checked them out you totally should)

Esther is using a variety of Color Master boxes from Art Gallery, which are fat quarters bundle the company has made in various color ways from all the fabrics they have produced. She is using Raise The Volume for her background which is a collection of 10 background fabrics by Art Gallery. Using a collection like this is a great way to go scrappy without having to choose the fabrics yourself, they are already chosen for and are meant to coordinate but give the scrappy vibes.
Another great collection of Background fabrics if you want to go scrappy but are not sure how to start is the Modern Backgrounds by Zen Chic.
 This quilt along will run the same as the previous QALs I have done on this blog.
I will post a new block every two weeks with some tips or suggestions. There will be a Facebook group that you can join to share your progress with others that are quilting along.
I am excited to get started on this quilt and em eager to see all your fabric selections.
Kayla

Sew Hometown: September + A New Quilt Along + Reveal Date for Gypsy Wife

This month for the Sew Hometown Quilt we are making Starburst Blocks. These blocks finish at 9" and we need to make 4 of them.
They go together quite quickly, I made all 4 of mine in under an hour, from choosing fabrics, to cutting, sewing, pressing and trimming.
I chose to do a lighter color for the contrast part of the block, because I find my quilt is needing a little lights mixed in, otherwise when I put it together I fear it will be really busy. I also did my centers a printed dark fabric, and my outer corners are the same as the background in my other blocks. I used the printed dark in one other set of blocks, and needed to add it in again so those blocks don't stick out, now that I used it in a total of 9 blocks they should blend throughout the whole quilt nicely.


I used my Creative Grids 4-in-1 Half Square Triangle Ruler to trim all the Half Square Triangles to the correct size. I seriously love this ruler, it has 4 different ways to make and trim HST units, and you can do multiple sizes easily with the one tool.
Can you believe we only have three more months of block left? I counted the total number left and we are down to 14 blocks, so close to the finish line.

Which brings me to the next quilt along. Terry Atkinson of Atkinson Designs has released a new book called Follow Your Heart. In the book is all the instructions needed to make a really fun Road Trip inspired Sampler quilt as well as the patterns for 9 bonus projects using the blocks which include quilts, runners, bags and more.
I would like to do the Sampler Quilt as the Quilt Along here on the blog. It will run the same as the last two QALs I have done, a new block every other week and a Facebook Group to share our progress.
I will post the Fabric Requirements and the link to the Group on October 1, and we will begin sewing blocks on October 15.

For those of you that joined in on the Gypsy Wife Quilt Along, I am hosting the reveal party at the shop on Monday, October 7 at 7pm. Bring your finished or unfinished quilt to share with the group.
Kayla
 PS if you take a closer look at the picture of my blocks so far, you will see my little helper in the corner of the picture, he loves to shake my design wall so that all those blocks rain down on top of him. I must say I have a lot of quilt layout pictures on my phone, because I now take a photo every time I put blocks up just in case he comes walking by.