Woodland Wonderland: Month 7

 Happy New Year Friends! I hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas and New Years break. Ours was busy even though we couldn't get together with anyone because of the current limitations here in Alberta. We had a Christmas Dinner with just our family, ate a lot of big brunches, had lots of movie nights, watched a lot of hockey, played a lot of board games, did some more work on our basement, and stayed up until midnight on New Years Eve (all four boys! lets just say New Years Day was quite lazy)

Now it is time to get back into a regular routine which I am looking forward too.

I did get some sewing done over the break, and one of the projects I finished was my Woodland Wonderland Quilt. There was just one chapter left, and so I will share the details with you now. 

Chapter 7 starts on page 34 of our booklet. There is a lot of work for this month, we need to make a couple more blocks for the quilt top, as well as some filler blocks and than we get to finally assemble the quilt top! But if you just work through step by step it is a lot less overwhelming!

First up the blocks. We need to make 2 skinny tree blocks and 1 Starburst Block. They are straightforward to make and the trees especially come together quickly. The starburst block is a little more work, but it is a bunch of small units that you make and put together and all of a sudden you are out of pieces and your block is finished. 

This completes all the main blocks for the quilt! 

Next up is the assembly of the quilt top, and the making of filler blocks. This is the overwhelming part if you look at all of it together, and I actually put it away twice thinking I did not have the mental capacity to work on it. But I finally told myself I had to have this quilt completely finished for January 4th so I better get to work, than I opened it up and just started. 

To be honest I did not cut all my background up at once, I just did it as I went along, this was for a variety of reasons, one of them was I felt like sewing at the time not cutting, but the other reasons are listed where applicable below. 

It would probably be faster to do it all once, but if you do just be sure to label each piece as some of them are very similar in size. 

The top right section gets made first. Don't worry about any of the others just focus on one at a time. You have to make the flying geese filler blocks as stated on page 38 and than use your previously made blocks, and some filler strips to get your section made. There are no steps to follow for the order of assembling this or any of the sections, you just have to look at the diagram. Start with the smallest pieces and build it. This one start with the star, add your flying geese, and add filler 4 above it. Than sew your 3 twinkle stars together with the filler piece 7 and add to the bottom of the first section, add filler 10 to the bottom of that, than sew on your Owl, and finally add your starburst block.

Once the top right is done you make the top left. 

This one has some checkerboard filler rows to make. The pattern has you cut the checkerboard pieces into small squares and than assemble them into rows. Instead I strip pieced mine. So I cut the strips of fabric to 1.5" wide and than sewed them together along the long edge. I pressed towards the background fabric. Than I cut the pieced strip in half and joined the two sections together again on the long side, repeating until I had the correct number of squares, than trimmed it to be the correct width. I did this for the small rows and the big long one, (the big long one I used 1 red strip, 1 green strip, and 2 background strips, sewing the red to a background, and the green to a background, and than sewing those two sets together before doing any cutting) I forgot to take pictures of this so I hope it makes sense without. I would not have been able to this if I had cut all the z background squares as directed in the background cutting directions. 

One the checkerboards are made, assemble the rest of the section. Again there is only an image to follow so just start with the smaller pieces, making rows and sections that can be combined. 

The Churn Dash filler row I put off for awhile but it actually came together really quick when I put my mind to it. A couple notes for this row. I did not cut my a or x squares on the diagonal before sewing. Instead I marked with a pen and sewed on either side of the line and than cut them apart. That is just personal preference but I thought I would share it with you. It also has you use some slightly bigger seams or trim blocks to make it fit. I chose to take 6 of the 8 zdz units and trim them down an 1/8th and than sewed all the units together. My row fit into my quilt really well. 

The gnome and mushroom section goes together really quickly and easily!

The flower and stem sections we mostly assembled already earlier back in Chapter 5, we just need to make the stems a little longer. Be sure to keep your pieces organized for this section, it is really stressed in the pattern too. 

Now we get to put all our sections together. Here I measured my sections before cutting my filler 7 strips so that they fit together nicely, mine were actually a smidge longer than they should have been, so I was glad I hadn't cut the filler strips at the start. 

I chose not to make the flying geese border, and instead added a small border of background fabric on all four sides of my quilt. I used up small pieces of background fabric wherever possible when making my quilt so I had enough yardage leftover to do this. If you like this idea, just be sure to see what you have left and than divide that into 6 or 7 before cutting so that you don't run out after cutting the first 5 strips. For reference mine were cut 2.5". 

I quilted my quilt with an orange peel pattern and used the solid red binding to finish it off, the backing is white Fireside. 

I loved making this quilt and hope you did too! 

Carrie will be back on Thursday with the first blocks in her new quilt along. 

Have a great week, 

Kayla

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 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: 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

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