Lulu

Lots of Christmas sewing has been happening at my house!

There's finally a chill in the air here in Florida and it's time to think about the holidays!

I've got plenty of holiday mini quilts at my house and I'm sure you agree there's always room for more mini quilts, but I've been thinking that I'd like another throw sized quilt that we can use while watching Christmas movies on the couch or playing games in the family room this winter.

Jelly Roll quilts are always a favorite of mine, so I was eager to try out the new pattern called Lulu by Amber Johnson of Gigis Thimble Quilt Patterns.

With one Jelly Roll of The Cookie Exchange fabric by Sweetwater and a coordinating fat quarter I was able to make this entire quilt!

Amber's new Lulu pattern uses every strip in the Jelly Roll and I think that's my favorite thing about it.

It's always difficult for me to choose which pieces of fabric should not 'make the cut' for a particular quilt and with this pattern that's certainly not a problem.

Lulu is a super efficient way to use a Jelly Roll with hardly any fabric left over!

I love that all of those cute low volume fabrics in this line found a home in this quilt too.

The Cookie Exchange does include lots of lighter fabrics, so this was a great match up.

The few Jelly Roll end pieces that I have left will find their way into my holiday scrap bin to be used in my next Christmas scrap quilt.

Simple but fun piecing make this pattern appropriate for a quilter at any experience level.

I was happy to able to whip this one up pretty quickly and I'm hoping to have it ready for the holidays!

We're doing some renovations on our home and we're going for lighter and brighter.

Lulu will fit in with our new decor very well with the bright festive colors of The Cookie Exchange!

I especially love the aqua in this holiday fabric line and it should go with the new paint colors in our house.

Speaking of cookies, I think I might make a batch before everyone gets home.

Thanks for stopping by to meet Lulu! 

Sugar Pine Stars - A new pattern

I've got a brand new quilt pattern to share with you today!

Last week my friend Sherri McConnell of A Quilting Life introduced one of her new patterns called Sugar Pine Stars.

I was thrilled to test this beautiful pattern for her a few weeks ago and I'm so happy that I can show you my version today!

This is the lap size Sugar Pine Stars quilt that I made with Bonnie and Camille's Little Ruby fabric line and some Vintage Picnic for the border.

I love how the two lines look together!

 When I was finished piecing the quilt I was so excited about it that I ordered some backing and binding fabric right away, so I could get started on the quilting.

This border fabric wasn't the one that I had originally planned to use here, but once I put it next to the quilt I decided it had to be the one!

Because of the small flowers, I had bought it for use as a backing fabric, now I think its got to be my favorite border ever!

My family agrees!

Sherri's combination of solid and pieced star blocks and Irish chain blocks makes a beautiful quilt.

I don't think I've ever made an Irish chain quilt before, so I was excited to give this one a try!

It was fun to see the chain sections forming as I made the blocks.

With only twelve blocks in this quilt and lots of strip piecing, it came together much faster than I would have thought.

I made mine really scrappy, using different prints for all of the star points and centers, but I stuck with reds and pinks for the fabrics in the chain blocks.

Sherri made her full size version in reds and greens with low volume background fabrics, perfect for the upcoming Christmas season.

 You can see Sherri's holiday version in her Sugar Pine Stars blog post and the Sugar Pine Stars quilt pattern is now available in Sherri's etsy shop here.  Both paper and PDF form are available.

This quilt has sky-rocked to the top of my to-be-quilted-list!

Minis and More - The Simple Patchwork Bag Parade

This month's Parade is so much fun!

Rather than a mini quilt, Sherri and I decided to feature the Simple Patchwork Bag Tutorial that can be found on Sherri's blog A Quilting Life, so everyone could enjoy the free pattern.

It's a sweet, simple bag with so many uses, especially now that the holidays are here!

These two Christmas themed bags were made by Karen.  Karen used some leftover Holly's Tree Farm scraps for her sweet bags.  She says they're the perfect size to put some goodies in to give for the holidays. How adorable!

Patty made some great bags for game pieces, that would certainly make great holiday gifts!  She has a cute tutorial on her blog that she used to create her game piece bags.  Don't forget to check out the bag event that Patty is hosting on her blog Elm Street Quilts right now.

My bag was made by combining two different mini charm packs of Modern Background Paper by Zen Chic.  I used both the Ink and Paper fabric lines.  My drawstring is made from long random scraps that I've been collecting and making into twine.  You can read more about my sweet bag in my blog post.  This bag was so quick and easy!  I definitely need to make another!

And I know you all are wondering about next month......

You're in luck!

We're featuring another free tutorial by Sherri!

This time we're making a Scrappy Patchwork Pillow!

Photo courtesy of Sherri McConnell of A Quilting Life.

A few days ago I was looking at some options for our next project and I ran across Sherri's Tutorial.  I thought it would be perfect.

We've never done a Pillow Parade before and it's a quick and easy project so you can get it finished in a busy holiday month like November. 

Sherri liked the idea too!

Just like the bag featured in this month's Parade, this scrappy pillow would make a great gift, holiday decoration, or something that you'd love to have in your home.

I know I have some scraps of my favorite fabric lines that want to save and this would be a great use for them!

I can't wait to see your pillows!

As always, don't forget to send in a picture of your project to me or to Sherri McConnell at A Quilting Life to have your picture shown in the Minis and More Parade and to be entered in the drawing for our monthly prize!

Everyone is encouraged to join us!  We'd love to have you!

Last month's winner was Brenda at The Quilting Nook.

Be sure and go over to Sherri's blog today to see the other half of the Parade.

See you soon and happy sewing!