Elephant Mini Complete

I first showed you this project back in November. Click here to read that brief post.

In that post I said that I hope to have it finished by the end of January. It isn't attached to the bag yet, but it is finished.

Just in time too as my first month kit for Fresh Cut (Sue's 2017 BOM) has shipped.

Churning Fourteen Progress

The top is almost together.

The top section is sewn together but the rest is still in pieces. This goes together in sections, not rows which makes it more interesting in my opinion.

For the pattern info see my previous post about this project.

Second Gratitude Top Done

My second version of this quilt is now a completed top!

It has been hard to get good outside photos around here lately. We've had record snowfall for January for our area. As a result, I can't even get to the fence in our backyard where I usually take photos.

Click here to see the first one.

Churning Fourteen

I love the Churn Dash block. I've also been on the lookout for good fat quarter friendly patterns. I came across this one recently and ordered a copy to try it out.

I picked fourteen Australian Aboriginal Designs fabrics and Grunge fabrics to test the pattern. So far I've only made four of the larger blocks.

I love the pattern and will be ordering it for my shop soon. In the meantime, I am working on getting the quilt together.

Yet Another Bag

I came across a new grocery bag pattern, one I can order paper copies of to sell in my shop. I don't have any in stock at the moment, but will order them soon. I often order just one of patterns and books to look through them and try them out before ordering copies to sell. Whenever possible, I prefer to make sure that I can recommend it before stocking it in my shop.

And it is reversible.

This pattern is similar to the others I've made, but a bit easier. Not that the other pattern is difficult; it's just not as straight-forward, in my opinion, as this one.

The name of this pattern is Grocery Tote by Erin Schlosser.

And the fabrics I used are so cute! You might need to click on the photos to see them larger. They made me laugh when my fabric rep. showed them to me and I couldn't resist ordering a few. I think they are perfect for grocery bags.

Goose on the Loose :: Block 11

I'm calling the block for this month Pinwheel Geese.

This is what you need to make one.

From scrap fabric:
*(2) 5.5" squares
(4) 2.5" by 4.5" rectangles (same fabric or at least same color)
(4) 2.5" by 6.5" rectangles 

From light background fabric:
*(8) 3" squares
(4) 2.5" squares

From dark background fabric:
(4) 2.5" squares

*If you have some extra flying geese units that you made previously you can omit the starred fabrics and just use those. You'll need eight of them that you can trim to 2.5" by 4.5". If you do this, skip to Step 2. This is what I did for my block.

Step 1: Use your Wing Clipper Ruler and the (2) 5.5" squares of scrap with the (8) 3" squares of background to make eight 2.5" by 4.5" flying geese units.

Step 2: To get the pinwheel effect in this block you will need to use the Flip, Flip, Finish technique to make those units. The Wing Clipper method will not work well for this because you need to be able to control which side the dark "sky" triangle is on.

Draw a diagonal line on the back of each of the (4) 2.5" light squares and the (4) 2.5" dark squares. Lay the dark square on the left hand side of one of your (4) 2.5" by 4.5" scrap rectangles. Sew on the line, trim 1/4" away, press. Then repeat on the right hand side with one your light squares. Repeat for the remaining three 2.5" by 4.5" scrap rectangles. For reference, I'm calling these the "night & day flying geese units."

All four of them should resemble the above unit.

Step 3: You will need to make four units that look like this:

Use one of your night & day flying geese units (from step 2) and two of your "regular" flying geese units (from step 1). Sew the two regular flying geese units together, points touching. Sew the night & day flying geese unit to the left hand side of this. Notice that all the points of the geese are in a line. Lay this unit on your table face up with the night & day flying geese unit on the left hand side. Sew a 2.5" by 6.5" scrap rectangle to the bottom long edge of the triple geese unit. Repeat so that you have (4) of these quarter block units.

Step 4: Arrange the quarter block units to make the block.

If you have any questions leave them in the comments. I'll get back to you personally if I can. If not, I'll leave the answer as another comment.

Gratitude Progress

The first of these quilts is finished. This one is the original kit using Jo Morton's fabric line called Gratitude from Moda.

I'm making good progress on my second, more modern style version.

All of my flying geese units and arrow units are made. Above I have the center almost together. Then I need to piece the remaining two borders and add them.

To read my previous post about this project, click here.

Jelly Beads Zipper Bag

Have you heard of Jelly Beads Zippers?

These are fairly new on the market. They include a pattern for this bag.

The zipper creates a pocket that wraps around the whole bag between the exterior and lining. I'll do a couple things differently on the next one I make. First, I will cut the exterior fabric as the pattern directs then insert the zipper and measure the size before cutting the rest of the pieces. On this one I ended up having to cut down the other two pieces. Not a big deal, but I could have saved a little time and fabric. Second, I will add fabric tabs to each end of the zipper before sewing it in. This will make assembling the rest of the bag much easier and make cleaner ends on the zipper.

Christmas Day Sewing

I made these on Christmas Day. We did inventory all last week at my shop so I didn't get them photographed until now.

I shopped my shop for food/cooking themed prints to use for these. For the pattern information and to see a photo of my first one of these, click here. 

It was nice to take a break from shop sewing and make something for myself!

Caravan Roundup Quilt

I made this one as a shop sample recently.

I'm not really a cowboy boot type of gal. Despite that, I really love this one! The pattern is simple, but it really allows the fabrics to shine. The fabric line is new from Moda called Caravan Roundup and this is the project intended to support the fabric line. I think it would look really cute using other fabrics too. The pattern is free from United Notions. Click here to get a copy for yourself. Currently it is the first pattern listed on the page but that will change as they post more free patterns to the page.

Gratitude Quilt Times Two

I'm currently working on two versions of the same quilt. It's called Gratitude and is the pattern and quilt kit that supports Jo Morton's recent fabric line for Moda of the same name, Gratitude. Here is what the original will look like.

I've made the five star blocks thus far, plus a bunch of flying geese units I didn't get photographed.

I love the pattern and the fabrics are really nice, but not my personal style. I thought why not make a second one using fabrics that are my personal style. A quick shopping trip through my shop and I was able to pick fabrics for a second quilt. Since I only showed the star blocks of the first one, here are the same blocks for the second quilt. Again, I've also got a bunch of flying geese units made too but not photo yet.

I'm using four Modern Background Paper prints as my light fabrics and 18 different darker prints that arrived in my shop recently for the rest. I don't usually make a pattern twice, let alone two at the same time! It is interesting to see how different the same pattern looks using completely different style fabrics.

Which is your favorite? I bet you can guess which is mine.