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: 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

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

Sew Hometown: October

This month we are making 5 Finch Blocks for our Sew Hometown Quilt. These blocks finish at 6 inches and are quite fun to construct. The tutorial from the gals at Inspiring Stitches has not been posted yet, but if you check their website over the next few days, they should post their little video soon. 

They tried to fit a lot of instructions for this little bird on one page so some of it may be a little confusing but it all comes together in the end. 

As usual we start with choosing fabrics and cutting them out according to the list. I went opposite the pattern and did dark for the body and light for the wing and beak portions of the bird. (Even though I switched the dark and lights I will still write this post as if I did not, so that it is the same as the pattern.) 

I cut all 5 of my Finches at one time to make it quicker. 

Making the beak unit is up first. I used a piece of chalk to mark the two positioning points on the background fabric than placed my beak fabric on top of that, sewed 1/4" from the edge and trimmed accordingly. After pressing it, I trimmed it to the size mentioned in step 1 of the pattern.

Step 2 in the pattern is for assembling the body. The pattern doesn't tell you which pieces to use, just tells you to look at the picture. We are going to use our largest background rectangle, the 6.5" light pink rectangle, the 6.5" dark pink rectangle and the 5.5" rectangle. Sew these all together, press the seams and trim into the rectangle. I had a 3.5" ruler handy so I used that to trim, with the 4.5" marking as the left corner. 

Step 3 has a typo in my pattern, there is no 3.5" light pink rectangle, so use your 4.5" one here instead. 

Finally we need to assemble the block, the picture in my pattern seems to have a couple extra pieces in it, so here are photos of my block in the various stages. 

I again put all my blocks on to the design wall to see how its looking, and I am loving how the colors just seem to pop off the chocolate background fabric. 

There is only two months left in this Block of the Month, and a total of 9 blocks yet to make, than we get to actually assemble the whole quilt top. 

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.

Sew Hometown: August

Another month, another set of blocks. This month we are making the Butterfly Blocks in the quilt. These blocks finish at 9" and we need to make 6 of them.
Once again there is some Improvisational Piecing involved. This type of piecing is perfect for using up scraps of all shapes. I didn't have many scraps left so I ended up cutting some 2" strips off my Fat Quarters and using them to do my improv on three of the blocks. The other three I decided to use just one piece of fabric rather than doing the improv.
Once you have the wing centers pieced the blocks assemble quite quickly. We just need to add the squares to all four corners of each wing, put the body between two and add the top border.
As with previous blocks, I used my folded corner clipper ruler from Creative Grids to trim the squares before sewing rather than drawing the lines.
If you wish to watch a video tutorial for this block, head over to the Inspiring Stitches website.
Here are all my blocks so far, only four more sets of blocks to go.

As a reminder the Fall Class and Club reveal is tomorrow evening, Wednesday, August 14 from 7pm-9pm, I hope to see you there.
Kayla

Sew Hometown: July

Last week I spent some time in Montana doing some camping with my husband and our four boys, my husband's parents and some family friends.  Now that we are back, and the laundry is finished and the trailer cleaned and ready for the next trip it is time to get back to quilting. 

Last night I made my July blocks for the Sew Hometown Quilt. These Improv Star Blocks were fun to make and introduce a new technique that we haven't done yet in this quilt along, Improvisational  Piecing.

Prior to this block I had done very little Improv Piecing, and it took a few pieces to get accustomed to the fact that the strips don't need to fit together, but once I started playing I really enjoyed it.  The great part is that you can use up some of those odd scraps that you have laying around. I first pulled out all the scraps that I had from this quilt already, than I chose one of my larger triangles to start with and added strips and triangles on to it, trimming sections off and adding more as needed to get to the required size. 

For the star points I decided to go scrappy as well and cut one square from all my fabrics. I used the Creative Grids Folded Corner Clipper to trim before sewing to avoid drawing the lines on the back of each square. 

The general guidelines for the improv piecing are at the beginning of the calendar and if you click here you can see a quick video on the construction start to finish. 

If you don't want to do the Improv center, you can always substitute a solid piece of fabric into the center. 

I am thrilled with how this quilt is coming along, and I am in love with the dark background, the colors really pop off of it. 

Now I need to go catch up on my Moda Bakeshop Summer Camp quilt, I fell behind while on holidays. What are your sewing plans for the week?

 Kayla

Gypsy Wife: Assembly

We have reached strip cutting and assembly! Although it seems like we are nearing the end, this final part of the quilt is actually quite time consuming. (Sorry for the buzz kill attitude)
Initially I was going to do this in two posts, but even though it is a lot of work I don't think that I need to post two weeks of instructions. Once you get going it is straightforward.
There are a couple ways to tackle this section of the quilt, you can cut all the strips for the whole quilt all at once and than begin assembly, work through it in order of the sections or work your way across the quilt.
I decided to work my way across the quilt from right to left, its backwards from the way my brain usually works, but that is how the sections in the quilt go, it did mean working on several sections at one time, but I kept my blocks organized and it worked well for me, and that way I was able to get the same fabric running all the way from top to bottom and didn't need to worry about running out of it before I got to the remainder of the line several sections later.
For the most part whichever method of assembly you choose it is all about staying organized.

Before starting assembly I went through and made a chart. The chart lists the strip number, the length of the strip, and what section the strip goes in. That way it was easy to follow along where I was and which strips to cut next. Once that was done, I laid all my strip fabrics on the table and cut them into 1.5" strips. (When cutting the strips, if you plan to have the same fabric run top to bottom for each individual strip there are a few that need quite long cuts, specifically the ones in section 10 and a few in 6 and 7. I recommend cutting these first and setting them aside so that you don't run out of that fabric.) Than following my chart I would cut strips in sets of 10, as I found that an easy number to work with, and I had alphabitties through those numbers to label each set. I would grab blocks from the necessary bags, and sew them with the strips following the diagrams on pages 26-31. When a section was complete I would set it aside until I had all 10 done.
There are quite a few partial seams in the assembly, they are marked with little stars and arrows for which side to start sewing on. I only sewed about halfway down those strips, definitely not going all the way to a 1/4".  I had a few spots where I needed to do a partial seam and it doesn't have it listed in the pattern, but I forgot to write down which strips they were, most of them were in section 7.


When all the sections were complete, I put them together as pictured on page 32. For that I did section 1 to 2, added 3, put 4 on with a partial seam, than 5, number 6 next and than 7 (to the sides of 4 and 6) than finished up the partial seam from 4 and completed the right side of the quilt. Section 8 went on to number 9, 10 got added to this, and than I joined the left and right sides to finish the top!
I quilted my quilt with a simple meander a little tighter than I normally do and bound it in a blue stripe. My backing is an ivory cuddle, because I will not put anything but cuddle and fireside on the back of my quilts. 



For the reveal/show and share party I am thinking we get together in September, that gives everyone a few months to get their quilts finished up, and I know for a lot of people quilting in the summer is usually put on the back burner.


Thank you so much for quilting along with me. I had a blast, and I am so thrilled that I finally made this quilt after much procrastination. I hope you had fun as well.

If you have any questions during assembly or on any of the blocks that you need to make yet, please let me know, either on the Facebook Group page or through email.

I am willing to share the chart I made with you, but since it has all the measurements on it, I don't want to post it directly here. I just want to avoid copy-write issues by putting up on internet all the measurements needed for every strip. 
If you send me an email, I will send the document to you. If I haven't noticed any blocks from you, I may ask that you send me a picture of your book, just as proof of ownership, again a copy-write thing. 

My email is kayla@chickenfeedquilts.com

Kayla

At The Seashore Quilt Along

If you are looking for a fun summer quilt along to participate in, Moda Bakeshop is running a new one called At The Seashore. It is the fourth year for the "Summer Camp" Sew Along and this year it will follow an Ocean Theme. It is free to join in and you will be able to print the patterns from the Moda Bakeshop website.
The fabric requirements and introduction for this quilt along were just posted this past Monday, and on Wednesday a checklist was made available, and now they are sharing the various layout options. Throughout the summer the Chef's will post new block designs every few days. The blocks will range in difficulty and there will be traditionally pieced blocks, some with a few curves, and some applique.
The initial fabric requirements call for a fat quarter bundle but it doesn't specify a size, this is because all the layouts will require a various number of blocks. Moda fat quarter bundles usually range from about 25-42 prints so that is a good base, you can go scrappier and use smaller pieces or go less scrappy and use larger cuts of fabric.
There will be four different layout options to choose from, each is a different size, with varying numbers of blocks, sashing, background and filler blocks. Each layout will have additional fabric requirements, which will assist you in choosing fabrics.
Once you have chosen your setting you can begin to fill in your checklist sheet with how many blocks you need to make and what fabrics you will be using.
We have lots of fun Moda Fabrics in store for you to choose from, lots of others too but for this Quilt Along the designers prefer you to use Moda as it is a free pattern they are offering to you.
You can find more information by clicking this link here. It will lead you to the landing page for the quilt along, where the posts for the settings and fabric requirements all listed.
Will you be joining in on this fun Quilt Along, it is a great way to make a fun summer quilt and expand your horizons by using a different color scheme than you are accustomed to or by trying out some new techniques.
Kayla