QuiltCon Together Swap

QuiltCon Together is happening is just a few weeks.  Since I wanted to add a bit of extra fun to this virutal event, I signed up for my first ever MQG sponsored swap.

My quilt was inspired by Nicholas @quiltfromtheattic.  He ran a QAL via IG last year and I wanted to give it a try.  Since my swap partner seemed to like Alison Glass and I just happened to have lots of little scraps, I had everything I needed to put this together.

It was fun to see the triangles come together on my design board.  I quilted it using my walking foot.  My mini finished at 13'' x 15''.

In return, I got this wonderful quilt from Brianna.  I really love the design.  She did an amazing job putting it together. She used blues - my favorite color.  Thanks Brianna!  

This was a really fun swap.  I love that both Brianna and I finished our quilts early.  Hers arrived here first right as I was attaching the binding.  I got mine in the mail the next day.  (And, I wouldn't allow myself to open her package until mine was in the mail to her!  It was worth waiting for!)

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Harmony - Hand Pieced QAL 2021 Reveal

I am so very excited to announce the Hand Pieced QAL for 2021 - Harmony!  My friend Kristin from Simple Handmade Everyday will join me in hosting our QAL.  We had so much fun with our last two Hand Pieced QALs and we couldn't resist doing it again.

Isn’t this quilt gorgeous?  This is the Harmony throw sized quilt using the fabric Dancing in Paris (available March 2021).  This beautiful throw quilt (56’’ x 56’’) is made up of four large Harmony blocks.  

Don’t want to make a throw quilt?  Make a single Harmony block (28’’x 28’’) and create a fabulous wall hanging!  Kristin is using Moda Thatched in a lovely red, yellow, gray colorway.  (See more photos of her quilt!)

Kristin's Harmony single block 💗

The Harmony Hand Pieced QAL begins in February with weekly blog posts, check-in link-ups and all the information and support you need to fall in love with hand piecing!   The Harmony Hand Pieced QAL is perfect for beginners and experienced hand piecers.

THE PATTERN

The Harmony pattern will be available for purchase on February 8, 2021 for $10. It is a digital (PDF) pattern that includes:

• All the instructions for each unit, block construction, and final quilt top settings for wall hanging and throw quilt
• Templates for all quilt units (and rotary cutting instructions where possible)
• Coloring page

Color placement is everything in this quilt–so definitely have fun and use the coloring page. The Harmony block construction is fairly straight forward (no curves!), but still challenging enough to be fun!

Download a copy of the coloring page of a Harmony and start planning your fabric placement. (Print 4 copies of the block and tape together for a throw sized quilt.)

 The Harmony pattern is written both for yardage or FQs.

THE SCHEDULE

• The pattern goes on sale on February 8 - mark your calendar!

• The Harmony Hand Pieced QAL will run from February 22 through the end of June. 

There will be several opportunities to win prizes from our wonderful sponsors as you share photos of your progress in our check-in and grand prize link-ups.

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

• Join our Hand Pieced Quilt Along Facebook Group
  
  
  

• Subscribe to our newsletter 

• Follow Simply Everyday Handmade and Elm Street Quilts on Instagram

Looking for a hand piecing refresher before you get started?  Please consult the tutorials for Using Templates, Marking Stitching Lines, and the Running Stitch .

Have a wonderful day! Patty

One Monthly Goal January Finish Link-up

Ready to link up your January finishes?

Don't panic - this link-up is open until January 31 at 11:55 pm ET.

My goal for January was to make at least 20 of my postage stamp blocks to go with the 36 blocks I had on hand.  These blocks will be 6'' finished.   I've got 67 of these now which means I actually made 31 - go me!  You can read more about my project here.

Now it's your turn to link-up!  There will be 3 winners - Fat Quarter Shop is offering a $25 gift certificate, Quiltfolk is offering a one year subscription, and Paper Pieces will provide a EPP Starter Kit to one lucky participant!

Congrats to Cathy, Liz, & Beth!  (updated 2/6)

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. (January 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:  

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal - January Finish Link-up

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a wonderful day! Patty

100 Day Project Update - 29 Days to QuiltCon

When I started this project 71 days ago, I thought I'd make a little 4-patch block each day for 100 days.  A few days into this, I thought that was too easy of a goal and gave myself an additional stretch goal to sew together a 36-patch block each day for 100 days.

Here I am 71 one days into the project (which means 29 days to QuiltCon!!!) and much to my surprise I have 67 blocks done.

I'm only 4 blocks behind.

Wowza!

Now I need to ask myself why I did this?  The actual construction doesn't take much time, but the prep sure does!   Diving into my bottom-less bin of solid scraps, trimming to 1 1/2 '' strips, sewing things together, and then, pressing all those seams open.

I've got enough pieces prepped for 12 more blocks which mean they will go quickly.

I have not been working on a block each day.  Instead, I find myself batching them up and doing a whole bunch at a time.  

At this point, I believe I will make all 100 blocks.  But, I am equally confident they won't get done before QuiltCon. 

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Some Holiday Gifts

Now that all gifts have been received, I wanted to share a few things I made for family for Christmas.  (My Mom's gift took 28 days to go from NC to NJ!)

I had a FQ of this ballet fabric in my stash for awhile and decided to create a banner for my daughter's room.  I appliqued on the letters and had some fun placing them so they framed the dancers!

My daughter loved it and hung it across the window in her room.

For Mom, I made a pillow using fabric printed from Spoonflower.  This is all of her grandchildren and 2 spouses taken summer 2019.

I made yet another Hipster bag for one of my sisters in her favorite hunter green color. 

 

Finally, a bunch of journal covers.  These are very fun and satisfying to make!

Overall, my gift makes were less ambitious than prior years but I enjoyed the process and didn't feel rushed - a gift to myself.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Coming soon - the next Hand Pieced QAL!

I've been doing some secret sewing.  Some hand piecing to be precise.

Fans of our previous Hand Pieced QALs will be excited to hear that we are putting the final touches on the Hand Pieced QAL for 2021!

Kristin @ Simple Handmade Everyday and I have created a beautiful new quilt pattern for us to sew together.  You can sew along to make either a wall hanging or a throw sized quilt!

For everyone who participated in prior QALs, our new QAL will include some new skills to keep you challenged as well as practicing the skills you've already learned.  We are really excited by this year's pattern.

I'll be sewing with some FQs from the beautiful new Moda line Dancing in Paris by Zen Chic.  (Available in stores in March 2020.)

Mark your calendar for January 25 for the big quilt reveal.  We've got some amazing sponsors we can't wait to tell you about!  The pattern will go on sale on February 8th.

Until then, check out Book Club, our 2020 QAL - plus the hand piecing tutorials already available including 

• Marking Stitching Lines   - see the video

• The Running Stitch   - see the video 

• Sewing Seam Allowances  - see the video 

• Flying Geese Stitch & Flip assembly option

• Square in a Square Stitch & Flip assembly option

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

• Join our Hand Pieced Quilt Along Facebook Group.  

• Subscribe to our newsletter 

• Follow Simply Everyday Handmade and Elm Street Quilts on Instagram

Have a wonderful day! Patty

UFO vs WIP 2021 Version

What's the difference between a UFO and a WIP?  

For me, a UFO - unfinished object - is a project I've packed away with intentions of finishing someday.

 A WIP - work in progress - is a project that while I may not be actively working on it, I intend to get back to it soon.

My WIP are shown below:

• Pebble Pop blocks are done and now need to be assembled
• 100 Days to QuiltCon Together project
• Temperature Quilt 2020 and the one I will start for 2021!
• Stacked improv curve quilt
• Soon to be announced Hand Pieced QAL for 2021 (no spoilers yet!)

My UFO list is a bit longer.  All but one of these was a UFO coming into 2020.... some for several years now.  I created this list by looking at the UFO list in last year's planner and searching my blog for the photos.

Here is my UFO list as we start 2021:

Top row:

• Hand pieced Pumpkins (2019) - I put this aside after getting frustrated during the hand quilting

• Kinship flimsy awaits quilting from 2019 - My goal is to try some unique FMQ designs.

• Bear in the Woods (2016) - future baby quilt, just add baby!

2nd row:

• downsized version of Cheryl's Mosaic Mystery QAL (2019) - I originally made this to be a wall hanging but I think I'll turn it into baby quilt

• (downsized) version of Modern Handcraft's snowflake (2019) - just needs a binding

• Star Wars blocks - there are 3 of them... not sure what to do with them but there are fun

3rd row:

• Farmers Wife 1930's (2015-2016) - I've got all the blocks done but I made them with leftover fabrics that I wasn't so fond off.... which means I've got a pile of blocks I don't love

• Rin (2017) is all assembled into a quilt top and I need to decide on quilting

• Crossroads FQS pattern (2016) - quilting on this one is about 1/2 done and I'm not feeling it.  Sadly, I used some favorite fabric to make this one so I will finish and likely donate

bottom row:

• Summer Slow Stitch from 2020 will be back on the needle this summer

• faux needleturned applique project from 2019 

• Hand Pieced Blue (2019) and (not shown) Hand Pieced DWR mini

It helps me greatly to virtually take all these projects out and remind myself of their existence.  I expect that there are a few more buried away that didn't even make the list.  If I find them, I will come back and update this post.

How many of these will be UFOs in 2022?

Have a wonderful day! Patty

2020 Temperature Quilt Flimsy

And it is a wrap!

2020 is behind us and the high and low temperatures of each day throughout the year here in central NC is forever recorded in fabric.

Each month is represented across two columns.  all that orange and red in the center is clearly the hot Carolina summer while the blues on the edges are highs in the 40s & 50s.  We had one day were the temperature stayed in the 30s all day - the purple block in the upper right corner.  No days with temps 100 or above and no lows in the teens.

This was so much fun that I think I'll do another for 2021 - different block design but same color palette.  I've got plenty of fabric left in all colors but one so I'm good to go!

All the fabrics are Paintbrush Studios - such deep saturated colors which were perfect for this project.

The 2020 version was my 3rd year of making a temperature quilt and I can't stop now!  But next step is to quilt it - I've got a plan and need some thread.  :-)

You can read more about the design here.  The net is the 2020 quilt will be functionally sized at 48'' x 48''.   The quilt records both high and low temperatures for each day.   The block is a simple one - 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

One Monthly Goal January Link-up

Did you read about the sponsor list for One Monthly Goal 2021!  Check it out!

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 who join both the goal and the finish link-up!

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.

Quiltfolk is the magazine for quilters, by quilters, with about 180 pages of inspirational stories and stunning photography. Featuring four new locations each year, it’s like taking a vacation with your favorite quilt friends without ever leaving home!  One lucky winner will win a copy of the latest issue (January) plus a years subscription! 

Paper Pieces has provided pre-cut paper shapes for English Paper Piecing using quality card stock and exact point-to-point measurements for over 20 years. They strive to provide excellent customer service and sewing to support to our customers and community.  Paper Pieces will provide a EPP Starter Kit to one lucky participant.

Aren't these just terrific sponsors?  (Remember to check out the full sponsor list for 2021!)

For January, I will make at least 20 more of my 6" postage stamp blocks.  I've got 36 now so want to have at least 56 by the end of the month.  You can read more about my project on this post.

Now it is your turn to link up - what is your goal for this month?  (A goal could be to finish a quilt but it could also be to attach a binding.  Whatever it takes to help you move forward and make progress on your projects!  And as long as the project involves making something with a needle and/or fabric, you can link up!)

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 January 25.)

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:  

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal January Link-up

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thanks for linking up!

Patty