Wednesday, June 24, 2020

One Monthly Goal June Finish Link-up

Ready to link up your June finishes?
Don't panic - this link-up is open until June 30 at 11:55 pm ET.



My goal for June was to quilt my pineapple quilt.  It came out so fun and happy.  (Read more here about my quilt.)




Now it is your turn to link-up!

There will be three winners this month - Fat Quarter Shop is offering a $25 gift certificate,  Make Modern is offering a 6 month subscription and Therm O Web is offering a collection of Heat n Bond products.

Congrats to Joanne, Nancy & Sharon - our lucky winners for June!  (Winners were notified via email) Updated 7/4




Visit the One Monthly Goal event page for the specific requirements for links and social tags. 

And remember, to be eligible for the prize(s) by random drawing you must linkup at both the goal setting and the accomplishment linkup in a given month. (
June Goal Setting Link-up.)

Make sure you add a link to this OMG post so others can follow where you are linking.   Let's make that easy -  just paste this into your post:  


Sign up to receive email notifications when the One Monthly Goal linkup is open.  Think of it as a helpful reminder!  Joining the link-up from Instagram -see the tutorial.



You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter

Thanks for linking up!


Have a wonderful day! Patty

Monday, June 22, 2020

My Happy Pineapple Quilt


My latest finish!  My Happy Pineapple Quilt!

I was stumped for awhile on how to quilt and ended up going with a spiral.

One new to me technique was to shift my needle all the way over to the right.  This allowed for using the edge of the presser foot as a spacer and easily increase the distance between lines.  (I still need to go back and fill in the center starting circle.)


Each of these blocks are 12'' finished and I used these foundation paper from Fat Quarter Shop.  Paper piecing pineapple blocks (say that 3 times fast!) is an easy to create this blocks.  No specialty ruler required.  My quilt is 48'' x 48''.



The fabric I used is Moda Ombre by V & C.  Love the gold color on the back.  This is the 3rd quilt and the 5th project I've made with this fabric.  I got the fabric to support a magazine publish and then have turned in my scraps into all these other projects!

I decided to go with a faced binding because any binding color I auditioned just didn't speak to me.



Have a wonderful day! Patty

Friday, June 19, 2020

HST Scrappy Table Runner


One key goal during this stay at home (endless) reality is to use up scraps - leftover blocks, small pieces of fabric etc.   I've made baby donation quilts, this pillow, and a bunch of mini quilts and small bags.

My new table runner is my latest project!


My original plan was to big stitch quilt it but after stitching down probably a third, I decided to go with my 'quilt it to death' aesthetic', pulled out the hand stitching and buzzed away with my walking foot.



Now I've got some new decor for my entry hallway table and a pile of pretty HST are living the good life!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Zip Cork Bag

Have you experimented with cork yet?  I've made my first two bags after avoiding using cork fabric because I was a bit intimidated.  Both cork pieces are fabric backed and were sourced at QuiltCon.

The first bag was gifted to my sister.  This is an easy (free) pattern from Sew Sweetness which gave me the confidence to tackle something more complex.


My next one is for me (!!!!).  I wanted a small clutch to through my phone and a credit card when I'm running out and don't want to carry my purse.... i.e. picking up take-out.

The cork is a deep dark almost black blue and goes well with my fabric.  (I used the same fabric for the lining.)


I made this pattern up as I went but traced the original shape from this Coach clutch that I current ly use.


I took my time and thought through each step carefully.  For example, I started with just one layer of fusible fleece on the fabric but once I sewed it to the cork piece, I decided it wasn't stable enough so carefully added a second layer.  (Also added interfacing to the lining.)

Now off to pick-up lunch!  French fries anyone?

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Monday, June 15, 2020

Low Volume and Hand Pieced - Perfect Summer Sewing

I have finally found myself a fun hand piecing project (now that I finished the Book Club quilt several months ago.)


I've been saving up low volume fabric for awhile and they are perfect to use with a set of solid 2 1/2 '' squares.  Not sure if I'll be setting this on point (left below) or regular set (right below).


The block is just the right blend of easy (lots of straight seams) with a tiny challenge of partial seams since everything is sew together in steps.


I start by sewing a set of 4 irregular or stretched hexagons around the center square.  I have the wrong side of the square facing up which makes it easy to not break thread as each of the 4 irregular or stretched hexagons are attached.


My goal is to make a set of 4 smaller blocks and then join them together before starting on the next set of smaller blocks.   Things will get a bit more complicated as I join blocks together but I think it will be a fun challenge.


   
Do you have a summer stitching project?

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Thursday, June 11, 2020

Book Club QAL - Grand Prize Link-up

Welcome to the Grand Prize link-up for Book Club - A Hand Pieced QAL!!

The link-up is open until July 15, midnight ET - plenty of time to assemble your quilt!

Kristin and I have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with everyone and watching your beautiful blocks come to life.  Your excitement about hand piecing plus learning more about the books behind the blocks has made us very happy.



We are so grateful for our amazing sponsors and thank them for their support and generosity!



There will be 4 grand prize winners!  (Read more about the Grand Prizes on this post.)


To be eligible for a Grand Prize, you must:

  • Share a photo of a completed quilt top (i.e. the flimsy) or a completed quilt in the link-up below or via email. All entries must be submitted by midnight July 15 ET / 9 pm July 14 PT.
  • The quilt top (blocks, sashing and borders) must be entirely hand pieced.
  • Quilt tops must use at least five unique blocks from the Book Club QAL.  You can use any layout that you chose for your quilt top.
Winners will be chosen randomly and notified via email.  Winners have 72 hours to claim their prize - if we don't hear back, we will draw another name.  Once winners have claimed their prize, this post will be updated with the names of the winners.
Photos can be shared from a blog, Flickr, or Pinterest and must include a  link to Elm Street Quilts or Simple Handmade Everyday.  Photos can also be shared via a public Instagram and must contain the tag #handpiecedqal and/or #bookclubqal 

Don't have a way to share?  You can also email them to handpiecedqal at gmail dot com.  Need instructions on how to link-up?  See the tutorial!


Quilts shared must follow the guidelines below to be eligible to win a prize.


We hope you take a few minutes to visit others and make new friends!

Please note - sharing a photo in the link-up gives Elm Street Quilts and Simple Handmade Everyday permission to feature a photo of your block on their sites.  Full attribution will be given.


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter






For more information on the QAL including catching up with any tutorials you've missed, please visit the main event page - Book Club - Hand Pieced QAL.   

You can also join our Hand Pieced Quilt Along Facebook Group and / or subscribe to our newsletter so you'll be among the first to know about new block tutorials.


Haven't yet purchased the pattern?  Get your copy here!


Have a wonderful day! Patty

Monday, June 8, 2020

Book Club QAL Grand Prize Reveal!

The time has come to turn your pile of hand pieced blocks into a quilt top.  Get this done by the end of July 15 for a chance to win a fabulous prize in the Grand Prize link-up!  

The grand prize link-up opens on Thursday, June 11!




We've been thrilled with all of the blocks that we've seen in our link-ups, on Instagram and in the Facebook group.  The interest in the QAL has exceeded our expectations and we've had such a blast working through the QAL with everyone.

As you are working on hand piecing your quilt tops, we wanted to give you a little extra incentive with a reveal of the grand prizes!




Thanks to our generous sponsors, we've assembled some amazing grand prizes:

(1) Pressing Paradise - a beautiful Wool Ironing Mat from Precision Quilting Tools and an amazing Olisio Auto Lift Pro Zone Iron TG 1600

Take your pressing to the next level with this awesome combo! The ergonomic Oliso iTouch technology allows you to simply touch the handle of this iron and it lowers, ready to rid your heaviest wrinkles. It features an extra-long cord so that you can use it anywhere in your sewing room and a 30-minute auto shut-off--perfect for quilters. The 17” x 17” felted wool pressing mat retains heat, so when you iron your fabric it's like ironing from both sides at the same time!





(2) Perfect Piecing Package -  amazing collecton of prizes - thread from Aurifil, set of snips from Famore, rotary cutter, mat and ruler from OLFA, and a queen size batting from Quilter's Dream!
You’ll always have the perfect tool for the job with this package of goodies! It includes an Olfa cutting set:  45mm rotary cutter, 6” x 12” frosted ruler, and 12” x 18” navy cutting mat, as well as a Famore zipper pouch, which is loaded with every type of snip you’ll ever need! You will always find the perfect blending thread in the Aurifil Necessities 50wt large spool thread set, and you can finish your quilt with the super-soft, high quality 100% cotton Quilters Dream batting.



(3) Quilt Designer's Dream - a $50 gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop and your very own copy of the best quilt design software EQ8 from the Electric Quilt Company

EQ8 is the standard in quilt design software. The intuitive, user-friendly interface will have you designing your own quilts in just a few minutes. You can import fabric to preview what a quilt will look like before even buying the fabric! And once you’ve made your choices, you’ve got a $50 gift card from the Fat Quarter Shop to get started!


(4) Lighten Up your room - a Stella Two - a premium LED task light from Stella Lighting


The Stella TWO LED task lamp is a beautiful addition to your sewing room! The weighted base keeps the lamp steady while the flex arm allows the light to be rotated in nearly every direction.  The raised touchpad allows you to dim the light to ten different brightness settings, so you never have to struggle with having enough light again!

Stella Lighting is also offering a 20% discount on one Stella item with promo code HPQAL in their shop.








There will be 4 grand prize winners! 


To be eligible for a Grand Prize, you must:

  • Share a photo of a completed quilt top (i.e. the flimsy) or a completed quilt in the link-up or via email. All entries must be submitted by midnight July 15 ET / 9 pm July 14 PT.
  • The quilt top (blocks, sashing and borders) must be entirely hand pieced.
  • Quilt tops must use at least five unique blocks from the Book Club QAL.  You can use any layout that you chose for your quilt top.
Winners will be chosen randomly and notified via email.  Winners have 72 hours to claim their prize - if we don't hear back, we will draw another name.  Once winners have claimed their prize, this post will be updated with the names of the winners.
The Grand Prize link-up opens on Thursday, June 11.



Have a wonderful day! Patty

Friday, June 5, 2020

May Temperatures

My temperature quilt progresses!  And what a cool spring it has been!  Here are the first five months of the year - each month is two columns (i.e. the 1st to the 15th and then the 16th to the 29th, 30th or 31st.)



Now compare this to my 2019 temperature quilt (below)- I only recorded the high temperatures but you can certainly see that there were many more days in the 80s and 90s last year as compared to this one!

In fact, there have only been 9 days this year where the high temperature was 85-89 and no 90 degree days.  (Our first 90 degree day is June 3!)  In 2019, we had 8 days with a high temperature of 90 degrees by this point!



After making wall hanging sized quilts to record the daily high temperatures for the last 2 years, I knew that for 2020 I wanted a larger functional size quilt and one that recorded both high and low temperatures for each day.   When finished, the 2020 quilt will measure 48'' x 48''.

In the 2020 quilt, the low temperature is the smaller rectangle - vertical for odd numbered days and horizontal for even numbered.  The fabrics are all Painters Palette solids and I keep the color gradient at the top of my design wall so it is always available to reference.  

I've made temperature quilts for 2018 and 2019.  Want to make your own temperature quilt - check out my tutorial!


Have a wonderful day! Patty

Thursday, June 4, 2020

Book Club Check In

Have some quilt block hanging around from the Book Club QAL?


We've been blown away with all the wonderful blocks that have been shared in our link-up, on Instagram, Facebook, and via email and so thrilled that people are excited learning new hand piecing skills.

Here are just a few blocks - I love to see these beauties in all different fabrics.



Our final block link-up is open until June 11 giving you an extra week to finish your blocks and get them linked up for a chance to win a prize.  And don't forget, you can enter any blocks you finish since our last link-up - just link them (or email them) each separately.

What's next?

The Grand Prize link-up will open from June 11 through July 15.

There will be FOUR awesome Grand Prizes. That means FOUR Grand Prize winners! Look for more info on that next Monday.

To be eligible for a Grand Prize, you must:


  • Share a photo of a completed quilt top (i.e. the flimsy) or a completed quilt in the link-up below or via email.  All entries must be submitted by midnight July 15 EDT / 9 pm July 14 PDT.
  • The quilt top (blocks, sashing, and borders) must be entirely hand pieced.
  • Quilt tops must use at least five unique blocks from the Book Club QAL.  You can use any layout that you chose for your quilt top.
  • Block must visually match a block to the Book Club – A Hand Pieced QAL pattern. Blocks can be made a different size.

Stay in touch and join our community so you don't miss a thing!


Have a wonderful day! Patty

Monday, June 1, 2020

One Monthly Goal June Link-up

Welcome to June!  There were 94 people who joined the link up last month - let's see what this month brings.



New to One Monthly Goal?  Welcome!  To join, share a photo of your project, some words about what you want to accomplish in a blog post, an Instagram post (tutorial) or a post on Flickr and add that photo to the link-up.  Return at the end of the month and share your results.  You can read about the event and the rules on the main event page.

We have wonderful sponsors this month - three (3) winners will be randomly chosen from those that link up in both the goal and the finish event! 



Fat Quarter Shop offers a tremendous selection of fabric, notions, books and just about anything you will need for your project. Consider their Sew Sampler box to receive a monthly surprise delivery of fabric and fun.  Fat Quarter Shop is offering a $25 gift certificate to one lucky participant.

Make Modern is a digital magazine launched by a collaboration of quilters based in Australia. Their magazine is filled with modern quilt designs and a wonderful source of inspiration. Make Modern is offering a 6 month subscription to one lucky participant.



Therm O Web offers one of the most trusted, innovative and complete lines of adhesives for both the sewing and paper crafting markets, as well as a full line of interfacings and stabilizers for sewing, quilting, embroidery and crafts.  Therm O Web is offering a collection of HeatnBond® products including EZ print Featherlite sheets and  PeelnStick ruler tape.   (This prize can only be shipped to US addresses.)

My goal for June is to quilt my pineapple block quilt.


Make sure you visit the One Monthly Goal event page for the specific requirements for links and social tags.  Your blog post (or Flickr post) must contain a photo of your project, a clearly stated goal and a link back to Elm Street Quilts.  Your Instagram post must include a photo of your project, a clearly stated goal and the tag #onemonthlygoal.  (Entries which don't contain the required information may be disqualified.)

And remember, to be eligible for the prize(s) by random drawing you must linkup at both the goal setting and the accomplishment linkup in a given month.   (The One Monthly Goal accomplishment linkup will be available on June 24.)

Make sure you add a link to this OMG post so others can find the OMG link-up from your blog.  Let's make that easy -  just paste this into your post: 
 







You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter



Thanks for linking up!

Have a wonderful day! Patty