EPP - My projects

Last summer, I bought a giant mini-charm pack that contained all of the colors of the Paintbrush Studios solids line.  What did I do with it?  I made hexies!  And then made more hexies using a not-quite-as-giant mini charm pack of another fabric line.

I'm sewing them together in a circle, randomly pulling each hexie as I go.  I'm quite happy with the results.  This currently measures roughly 14'' square with about 50 hexies yet to attach. (Here is what it looked like mid-January.)   I've got a plan.  We'll see if it makes sense once I get all of the hexies added!

I've been wanting to try a shape that wasn't a hexie.    This is my version of the beautiful block called Dresden's Dreaming (pattern here) from Aurifil's 2018 BOM.

I used scraps and really like my sunflower.  I've not yet cut the background down to a square because I am thinking about adding a stem and leaves and making this a mini quilt.  I'll be linking up my sunflower block here.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Valentines - Put a Little Love in It Blog Hop

(Click here for One Monthly Goal February Link-up)

Valentine's Day is right around the corner.  This year, I decided to send each of my Valentine's a fabric postcards.  This mini quilts - 4 x 6'' - are fun and fast to make.

You can do some for kids. I fussy cut the robot and the birds from other fabric and used my FMQ foot for some raw edge applique.  The message for the back?  What about "You are out of this world" for the robot or "Owl be your Valentine" for the owls!

Try some improv - I made this one from bright, bright pink fabric scraps.

Machine or hand-quilt them, or do both!  My star is hand-quilted and I did a combination of machine and hand quilting on one of the hearts.

Have I convinced you yet to give one a try?

There are lots of ways to make this little postcards - here is a brief tutorial on how I made mine.


Ingredients:

• a 4 x 6'' mini quilt (or slightly larger if you plan dense quilting
• (2) pieces of fusible fleece, cut slightly larger than 4 x 6''
• (1) piece of stabilizer (example), 4 x 6''
• (1) piece of white backing fabric, 4 x 6''

Starting with a mini quilt and fusible fleece slightly larger than the finish size gives you the opportunity to trim your piece after quilting.

Follow manufacturer's directions, iron the (2) pieces of fusible fleece to the wrong side of your mini quilt.  Quilt by machine and / or by hand.

 Make a sandwich with the quilt as the top layer, the stabilizer in the middle and white backing fabric as the third layer.

Secure with binding clips and then use a zigzag stitch on your machine to sew around all four sides.  I set my stitch length to 5 (width) and 0.5 (stitch length) to get the coverage on the edge that I wanted.

Trim any stray threads.   Flip the postcard over and write your Valentine message!

You can mail these cards as regular postcards (check with your post office for the right postage) or slip them in an envelope and mail them with a regular first class stamp.

Now enjoy a piece of chocolate and go visit the other quilters that I am sharing today with!

Life in the Scrapatch

Freemotion by the River

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Cynthia's Creating Ark

Vroomans Quilts

That Fabric Feeling

It’s A T-Sweet Day!

Elm Street Quilts

Thanks Carol at Just Let Me Quilt for organizing a fun hop!

I'll be linking up my Valentines with  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Needle and Thread Thursdays, Finish it Up Friday and Finished or Not Friday.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

One Monthly Goal February Goal Setting

Welcome to February!  We had 169 (wow!) projects linked up in January - let's see if we can beat that this month!

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.  Return t 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.  Plus anyone linking up will earn an entry for the bonus prize.  (Bonus prize to be awarded in April - you can earn up to 3 entries by joining the link-ups January through March.) 

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.

Aurifil is home to a beautiful rainbow of thread in all weights, perfect for any of your sewing and quilting needs.  My favorite product is the designer collection boxes which coordinate with various fabric lines.  Aurifil is offering a thread set for the first quarter bonus prize.

Photo credit to Christa Watson
Photo sourced from ChristaQuilts.com

Christa Watson from Christa Quilts is our featured designer for February.  Christa is an award winning quilter, a teacher, a quilt designer, and an author.  

With the release of her first fabric line, Modern Marks, and a second under development, Christa is also a fabric designer.  Pictured on left is Christa showing off her new fabric line at October Quilt Market in both the quilts that surround her and the shirt she is wearing!

Christa loves to teach and inspire quilters to make their own quilts from start to finish.  She is passionate about teaching quilters to quilt on their domestic sewing machine.  Perhaps you've been lucky enough to have taken a class from her at a quilting or guild event? as well as on Craftsy. Her blog and Facebook page have multiple tutorials.

Christa is currently running a QAL for her quilt Squiggles - a pattern from her latest book Piece and Quilt with Pre-Cuts. 

Photos and quilt credit to Christa Watson, sourced from ChristaQuilts.com
(top) Colorful Chevrons, Facets, Modern Puzzle (bottom) Modern Logs, Squiggles

Photo sourced from We All Sew

Christa is offering one lucky winner a copy of one of her books - winner's choice!  (For a US winner, the book will be a signed hardcopy;  an international winner will get a digital copy.)

You can visit Christa on her blog, on Instagram, and on Facebook.  Find her patterns in her store. Also, checkout her fabric store, The Precut Store.  Her books are available from Amazon.  Learn more about Christa on this great article on We All Sew.  This article includes several free patterns including Modern Puzzle pictured in the above collage.

My goal for February is to get back to work on my "Small Blocks and Scraps" quilt top - it needs a decision about borders, needs to be basted and the quilting started!

Now it is your turn to link up - what is your goal for February?  (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 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. 

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 February 23.)

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 February Linkup.

An InLinkz Link-up

Sign up to receive email notifications when the One Monthly Goal linkup is open.  Think of it as a helpful reminder!  

Thanks for linking up!

Have a wonderful day! Patty