Woodland Wonderland: Month 6

We are now on Month 6 of our Woodland Wonderland Quilt. This month is fun with lots of different blocks. We get to make more trees, stars, the hedgehog, and a branch for owl to perch on, and we get to assemble another row!

For the Snow Tree Blocks I went back and looked at the ones we made in Chapter 3 and made sure I chose different greens than I had already used, for the rest they go together the same as in Chapter 3 so nothing new. 

Same with the Sawtooth Star block we need to make. One thing here, my book has a typo and it says use Chapter 3 to make another block, but we actually made them in Chapter 1 so flip back to the first chapter for all the instructions. I actually made 2 this time, as I had two from earlier with the same center, and I decided I would rather have all 4 be different. 

Than we get to assemble the Snow Tree Blocks and the Sawtooth Stars into one row, I love putting rows together, it feels like I am accomplishing something and getting near the end!

The Twinkle Star block is fun, and was a different construction than I normally use for this type of block so that was neat. It came together really nicely, just follow the diagram to assemble the block in the right order, starting with A in the center. 

The Hedgehog is next! I love this block so much. It is so cute and though it has lots of pieces goes together really nicely. Just be sure to keep each piece straight by labelling or neat piles as you don't want to put them into the block wrong. Also when putting k and p onto f the diagram shows them with space in between, I did not have this space, but when I sewed it into the block there was a space because of the seam allowance. So my final piece looks the same just not the initial diagram. 

One more thing to make yet this month, the branch for our Owl, this is quick to make and adds a special touch to the owl, making it even cuter.

Next month we have a lot of work ahead of us with blocks to make, filler rows to piece and the final assembly!

Have fun sewing up your month 6 blocks!

Kayla

Woodland Wonderland: Month 5

 Welcome to November, my son turned 9 this weekend so we had a busy weekend of celebrating! 

This month we are working on chapter 5 of our Woodland Wonderland Block of The Month. This month there is quite a few different blocks to make. We are going to add some more leaves, and piece them into rows with a winter bloom block. We are going to add another super cute large mushroom block and make the gnome which is so adorable!

With the instructions for some of these blocks being in early chapters we are going to be flipping around in the book a bit. 

The instructions begin on page 24. 

After cutting we are going to start with more leaves. We did this back in month 2, so we will just repeat that to make a few more with some new greens. Since we need to pull some of our old greens as well, I suggest taking out the previous leaf blocks and seeing which prints you want to add more of before cutting them all. 

Than we get to connect them to make our leaf and stem blocks. There is a lot of seams when connecting all the leaves so make sure your seam allowance is accurate or it will not measure the same as your stem. 

The winter bloom block is straight forward. Be sure when adding the e and d fabrics to a, that you are sewing corner, if you are off your little unit will be a little wonky. I used the diagonal seam tape from Cluck Cluck Sew to sew mine and avoid drawing the lines. And don't get going and forget that your fourth corner is a different fabric.

The mushroom block goes together the same as back in chapter 1. But you have more variety to choose from for the top. I went with the chevron looking red print for mine. 

The Gnome is really fun to make and turns out so cute! 

When making the hat make sure you press the h fabric out and trim from the wrong side before cutting back the underlying fabrics. Otherwise it may be a little more difficult to get it trimmed to the correct size. So sew on the marked line, press the h fabric, flip it over and trim all 3 layers to match the red, than flip it right side up again, fold the h down again, than trim the excess, and press the h back again. 

That is it for this month. This stack of blocks gets cuter each month! 

Have a good week. 

Kayla

Woodland Wonderland: Month 4

 Welcome to October, here in Southern Alberta we are actually experiencing fall for a change and it is so nice! For the past few years it has snowed a lot on the first weekend of October so it nice to be having some temperatures in the 20s and getting to actually see the fall leaves before they are covered in snow.

With it being October it means it is time for another set of blocks in our Woodland Wonderland Block of The Month. I am loving pulling this out each month and making a few blocks, and the set of all the finished ones is starting to look really fun!

We are on Chapter 4 of our little pattern booklet already. All the instructions start on page 20.

Although the pattern says that your red solid is added as yardage, when I made up the kits I put it in as a fat quarter, so keep that in mind under the cutting instructions you will need to cut 2 strips, rather than 1 they call for, as you piece is half of the wof. 

Also rather than cutting the strips of green 1, ivory 1, red print and chambray at 3/8ths or 7/8ths  I moved it up to the next increments so 1/2 inch and a full inch and it gave me a little room to trim later on when constructing. 

I used the same colors as the swatches on the bottom of page 20, and in the same order as well. 

The piecing for each block is straightforward. It may help you to lay the pieces all out on your table or a design board to keep them straight, and make sure all the triangles and wreath sections stay pointed in the right direction. 

When making the Pinecone Block, if you cut the full inch as well rather than 7/8ths you can trim the first step 2 section so that there is  a 1/4" seam allowance at the intersection, than sew on piece B press and trim to the size stated.

 

For the Snow Crystal Block, I stacked the ivory and chambray strips right sides together than cut the squares of each together, this way they were stacked nicely when I went to sew them and I didn't need to line up those little pieces. I also drew a line down the center of a, c, e, and f and sewed a 1/4" on each side of the line than cut them apart, rather than cutting into triangles prior to sewing. Pressing open as suggested will remove a lot of bulk, and make sure you trim those Half Square Triangles before you assemble your block, it may seem tedious but it is so worth it in the end. 

Have fun sewing your blocks,

Kayla

Midnight Clear Block of the Month: Block 1

Today is the first day of the Midnight Clear Block of the Month, so Carrie is here to share her block 1's, and her tips and tricks for making them easier. 

For this week we are making 2 block 1's. When I first opened my book to block 1 I was a bit intimidated by the look of the block, but the pattern is broken down really well. and you just have to make 3 components and then piece them together as a 9 patch. 

First for color placement. I followed the color placement exactly as they have it in the pattern. I just think that this gave the block a really cool effect, you could easily switch them up if you wanted to though. 

For cutting. Anytime there is an 1/8th measurement I round up, and trim later. That is what I did here as well. I cut 3" instead of 2 7/8"s so that after I piece the half square triangles I have more room to square them up. For the rest of the pieces I cut as the pattern said and then labeled them with my Alphabitties to keep them straight. 

Now for making the half square triangles. I don't know about you, but whenever I mark a line down the center I have a tendency to sew on the line instead of on either side. With my Creative Grids Marking Tool I can easily draw 1/4" on either side of the center and then sew on the line. If you haven't already noticed I am a fan of tools, so to square my half square triangles, I used my Creative Grids 4-in-1 Half Square Triangle Trim Tool. All markings on this tool are in finished sizes, so I put the 2" line on my seam and squared them up. Then you simply make the 4-patch Units. 

For the Pinwheel unit I followed the same steps as above to create my Half Square Triangles and then again simply assembled my 4 Patch Units.

The next unit is a Square in a Square block. To make these I put my red square down, then placed my white square and my black square in opposite corners. I used my Folded Corner Clipper to help me make these flip and stitch corners and this worked really well for me. Do this again with the other white square and green square. 

 

Now all that is left is assembling your units into blocks and you are finished. 

Have fun sewing up your blocks, I will be back with block 2 on September 3rd. 

Half Square Triangle: Intro

Happy Thursday, and it's the last day before a long weekend so even better. Do you have any special plans for Easter with your family? Our's will be a little different than usual as we usually attend worhsip services on Good Friday and Easter Sunday and have a couple large family dinners. Instead we will be doing church from home via live feed and having some much smaller dinners.  I must say I am very thankful for technology right now that allows for so much video contact with others.
Speaking of videos we did a live video at our store and introduced a new video series that we will doing via Facebook Live.
She is going to be walking us through a Half Square Triangle Sampler Quilt. Every Thursday at 1pm for the next few weeks she will show you a few different layout options to make a couple new blocks. And show you how to use the Creative Grids 4-in-1 Half Square Triangle Ruler.
To participate you will need some fabric. For this quilt along we are suggesting layer cakes, 1 of a collection and than a background one or a 2nd printed one. Now background layer cakes can be a little more difficult to find, and so one option is to just by 3meters of your background fabric and cut it into 10" squares.
Esther is using Early Bird by Bonnie and Camille, as described in her video she had a fat quarter bundle at home so she cut her 10" squares from this, and she cut her 10" background squares from a piece of yardage.
You will also need the 4-in-1 Half Square Triangle Ruler, a regular ruler, rotary cutter, mat, sewing machine, marking pen, and a ruler for marking.
A new video will be posted at 1pm on Facebook and you can tune in to watch and ask questions as we all sew together. There will be prizes available to win so make sure you tune in and say Hi so we know your watching.
As mentioned in the video the Half Square Triangle is not a new block or technique by any means but many people still shy away from them. Hopefully through these next few weeks you can gain some confidence and either learn or refresh yourselves on this fun unit that is the base of so many different patterns!
I know many of you have the Creative Grids 4-in-1 Half Square Triangle Ruler as we have sold hundreds of them during various shows, and demos, but for those of you that don't here is a link to where you can get one.
 Remember our shop is closed this weekend so there is no Curbside Pickup available until next week again.
Also next week we have a little Give Back Program happening, for every online order of $50 or more placed through our website we will donate $10 of groceries to the Coaldale Food Bank. The dates for this are April 13-18.
 Have a great Easter Weekend!
Kayla

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

Vintage Housewife QAL

This week is the start of Lori Holt's Vintage Housewife Sew Along. Each week she will be posting the next block to her website to make this super cute quilt. The quilt finishes at 74" x 82". I absolutely adore the patchwork border and love how it is wider at various points in the quilt. 

We have fabric kits available in the shop, as well as notion kits that include all the lace, ric rac and buttons needed to embellish this project. There is also a set of shapes needed for this project and we have those available too. 

If you don't want to make a full quilt you could always make a couple of the blocks and make some wall hangings or table runners. How cute would the bottom row be hanging in the laundry room?

We have the fabric in yardage too if this is a route you decide to take. The fabric collection is called Vintage Happy 2. 

You can either machine or hand applique the blocks, and we have a couple boxes of the Lori Holt Aurifil Collections available if you want a nice color match. 

You will need to go to Lori Holt's blog each week to get the information to make the block. She has posted links to several videos she has made to walk you through each step. So even if you have never done a project like this before, the information is there to help you through it all. She has also posted a  yummy recipe to go with this weeks block and a whole group of photos depicting the vintage housewife, even if you don't sew along you should go check them out.

Click here to visit Lori Holt's Blog, Bee in my Bonnet

Will you be quilt along? Esther is working on the full quilt during her vacation time, and I am thinking I may make just a couple of the blocks to hang up in various rooms in my house.

I hope to send out a newsletter this weekend which will include all our classes for the month of March.

Have a great weekend,

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

Moda Blockheads Round 3

There is a new Moda Quilt Along starting next week Wednesday. Moda Blockheads is gearing up for its third round. I did not follow along for the 1st round but did for the 2nd and it was so much fun. To be honest I haven't actually finished my Blockheads 2 quilt, I have the majority of it assembled but have to make 2 more blocks, maybe I need to finish it up before Wednesday. 

Anyways, this time around there are 14 Moda Designers that will be contributing patterns. 

Corey Yoder

Sherri McConnell 

Betsy Reed Chutchian

Jan Patek

Brigitte Heitland

Lisa Bongean

Lissa Collins Alexander

Laurie Simpson

Vanessa Goertzen

Stacy Iest Hsu

Robin Pickens

Janet Clare

Jen Kingwell

Joanna Figueroa

Each Wednesday 1 new block will be released, although sometimes there may be 2 patterns. The patterns will be posted to the designers blog and  the Moda Cutting Table Blog.

Fabric requirements have not been posted yet but, there will be some options posted soon I'm sure. This quilt along is a great way to use up some of your scraps, or it can be fun to get a new fat quarter bundle and use it for this sew along.

There is no need to officially sign up anywhere for the quilt along, the patterns are free to download from the designers. There is a Facebook Group called Moda Blockheads that you can join if you wish to see others progress and share your own. 

If you do wish to join here are a couple tips to help you keep on track. 

Print out each pattern as they are released and store it in a binder, I like to put mine in page protectors in a 1" Binder that I label on the side to keep them all together and in order. 

Make the block as soon as you can so it is done. When you do make the block, make a checkmark on your pattern so you know which ones are finished just in case you miss a couple now and then.

If you do fall behind, set aside a day to catch up, and either work from the oldest to the most recent or the other way around.

Store the fabrics you are using in a tote that you can grab quickly each week, this will make it easier to take out make the block and put it back aside. Also store all your finished blocks together so they don't get misplaced during the quilt along.

Will you be joining in for the Moda Blockheads 3?

Before I wrote this post I wasn't planning on it, but after writing I probably will, and seeing as how I will be working tomorrow, it is the perfect chance to scout out a new Fat 1/4 Bundle to use.

Have a great weekend, I am hoping my new dishwasher is ready to pick up and my hubby can install it for me, I spent the majority of 2019 washing dishes by hand so I am very much looking forward to this. 

Kayla