The Jolly Bar Bon Bons Quilt

I just completed a fun, new quilt that I'd like to introduce you to today.

It's the Jolly Bar Bon Bons Quilt!

The free pattern is available from the The Fat Quarter Shop's Shortcut Quilt pattern collection.  

There's a helpful YouTube tutorial available for you to check out to get some extra information about the quilt if you need it, or maybe you'll just want to watch it because you enjoy watching The Fat Quarter Shop's video tutorials like I do! 

Did you notice the bold background fabric I chose?

It's a beautiful Moda Grunge called Kiwi.

The brighter green background was a little bit of a risk for me.

I tend to stick to more neutral background colors, but lately I've been trying to go a little crazier and experiment with different, brighter, bolder background fabrics.

And if you follow me, you know I'm a huge fan of Moda Grunge!

A few posts back, you'll see that I made the Maple Leaf Quilt, another pattern from The Fat Quarter Shop, with a purple Moda Grunge that I just love!

Don't think I didn't use any neutral fabrics in this quilt though!

I actually reversed what I normally do, and I used the neutral fabrics as more of a focus fabric in my blocks.

As you may have figured from the name of the pattern, this quilt has a Jolly Bar in the fabric requirements.

  A Jolly Bar of Zen Chic's Modern Colorbox Background fabric is what I used here to create the shell and the filling for my Bon Bons in the quilt.

A Jolly Bar is a precut portion of fabrics from a single fabric collection, which measure 5" x 10" that's only available from The Fat Quarter Shop.

There's a lot you can do with this size precut!

If you'd rather use scraps for this quilt, that's not a problem.

You'll just need to gather 36 - 5" x 10" rectangles and then start cutting!

As I was putting this quilt together, I was thinking that it would be a great time to pull out some really cool background fabrics, like some fun text prints, or some other print that you'd love to see as the star of this quilt!

It would also be a great place to use some of those large prints that you've never wanted to cut up into little pieces as a focus fabric, because the blocks in the quilt are pretty big.

In fact, it would make a great quilt for a beginner because the cutting and sewing is pretty simple and the fabric selection could certainly be quick if you just chose your background fabric and a Jolly Bar.

You've only got to choose two things to get started!

Choosing only two things sounds like a dream to me.

We're doing a remodel of our master bath and 

I did not realize how many choices we'd have to make.

That's what we were doing this afternoon, picking out some fixtures, so making a quilt with only two fabric selections sounds like a dream to me!

The fabric selection was quick and easy, but I did make my quilting a bit more complicated.

I took the opportunity to practice some ruler work on my new sewing machine and I did a different type of quilting each time I went around the quilt.

It was so much fun!

I really enjoyed quilting it and I learned a lot in the process too.

I like a quilt that gives me the freedom to quilt it anyway I'd like, and the Jolly Bar Bon Bons Quilt definitely fits that bill.

Traditional quilting, modern quilting, or even something in between, this quilt would look great no matter how you wanted to quilt it!

Well, I hope I've given you some creative ideas about how you can customize this quilt to your own tastes or needs.

It's a fun pattern that goes together quickly and I had a great time making it for the Jolly Bar Bon Bons Quilt Along.

Don't forget to take a look at the YouTube video and check out The Fat Quarter Shop's blog, The Jolly Jabber to see the other quilts that the other participants in the quilt along made to get some more great ideas!  

Tip time!

It's tip time!

And I'm not talking about 'tip off time' as in basketball, or any other sport right now.

I've got sports on the brain as we just watched the Super Bowl and basketball season is in full swing.

With a family full of sports enthusiasts, there's always plenty of sports talk around here, but right now I'm  happy to be talking about quilting and specifically quilting tips.

Can you have too many quilting tips?

I don't think so.

Even if you don't think you can use one, you never know when that tip will come in handy in the future.

This month's Minis and More Parade is all about quilting tips and Sherri McConnell of A Quilting Life and I have been collecting the suggestions and helpful hints you've sent in so we can share them with our readers.

Brenda, who blogs at The Quilting Nook, sent in these two great ideas, one about journaling and the other about how to keep your ruler from slipping when cutting long strips of fabric.

Brenda says it best herself, so here is her first tip in her own words -

  

Quilt Journal Tips

You don’t need anything to get started with a quilt journal except a notebook, but a pretty one makes it more fun. Even if you’re not into the details, having a record of your quilt that has taken lots of time, thought and energy to make will hopefully give you and your family fond memories to look back on. This is my list of a minimum of things to include:

·       Start and Finish Date

·       Pattern Name, Designer, tutorial, blogger, etc.

·       Fabrics 

·       Who the quilt is for or why you are making it (special occasion)

·       Pattern changes or special techniques used

·       Block/Quilt size

·       Picture of the final quilt

 You can take Brenda's tip, or anyone's tip for that matter, and put your own spin on it or modify it to fit your needs. 

For example, I do some quilt journaling, but I'm not quite as detailed in my journaling as Brenda. 

I focus more on my sewing machine and what kind of needles I used during quilting, what tension settings I used, and what worked best for me on that quilt.  That way, I can look back to replicate the results if I'd like to, years later.

Brenda has another great tip for us and again I'll let her explain it in her own words-

The second tip is about cutting fabric using a weight.

I saw this tip in a Jordan Fabrics video and have been using it ever since. To keep your long ruler from slipping when you are cutting strips across the width of fabric, use a hand weight at the top or near the top of the ruler to keep it from slipping. Even with non-slip rulers, I found my ruler could still slip slightly at the far end even while walking my hands to the top. I feel more confident cutting more layers of fabric using the weight now.    

Wow, thanks Brenda!

I've never heard that tip before, and I usually don't cut multiple layers of long strips of fabric because I am worried about the ruler slipping.

After my workout this morning, I'm going to keep out the hand weights and give that a try!

When I had one of my sewing machines on a quilting frame, I was using my hand weights to keep the machine steady on the frame so it wouldn't roll to one side or the other while I was changing the bobbin or cleaning it.

Who knew hand weights could be so useful in quilting?

Brenda has a whole blog post dedicated to helpful hints on her blog The Quilting Nook that I'll bet you'd love to read. You can find it here -  

https://thequiltingnook.wordpress.com

Another item that you probably have around your house that I've found to be tremendously helpful for piecing is a paper plate!

I have a large stack of thin, inexpensive paper plates that I put beside my sewing machine when I have individual blocks to piece.

Not the most glamorous picture, but this is a tip post so I'm keeping it real.

I put the pieces for each block on a separate paper plate and then stack them up, so the pieces for each block stay together.

 I don't usually ;-) get them mixed up this way.

Sometimes I even scribble a few notes on the plates or write down the size of fabric pieces beside them on the plate, so I can keep track of whats what.

I use a pencil, so I can erase them later (or not) and reuse the plate for another quilt project.

Beside my sewing machine I also keep a scrap of batting or two, like in the picture above, that were cut off the side of a quilt after quilting.

I use it as a thread catcher to keep stray pieces of thread and small scraps of fabric that I toss over there together, so they don't end up on the floor or on me.

Then when it gets pretty full, I just roll it up and throw it away, because it was just a leftover scrap of batting anyway!

I have one beside each of my machines and one on my ironing board too.

Be sure to visit Sherri at A Quilting Life to see the rest of the tips from our readers.

Feel free to add any quilting tips you'd like to share in the comments.

Now lets talk about March!

It's going to be all about pincushions!

Everybody's got pincushion fever right now, so why not make a few of your own?

I've collected some great free tutorials if you don't have any patterns in mind, and 'wow' these are so cute!

The first one is was brought to my attention on a post by Corey Yoder .  It's from a company called Just Another Button Company. It’s adorable!

https://justanotherbuttoncompany.com/shine-button-applique/

Here are some other free pincushion tutorial links from the great people over at The Moda Bakeshop-

Scrap Bag Pincushion by LeAnne Ballard

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2016/10/scrap-bag-pincushions.html

Flirtatious Pincushion by Julie Cefalu

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2013/02/flirtatious-hearts-table-topper-pincushions.html

Giant Pincushions by Julie Herman

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2009/07/giant-pincushions.html

Charming Twin Pincushions by Vickie Eapen

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2009/03/charming-twin-pincushions.html

Sweet As Candy Pincushion by Lisa Calle

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2013/03/sweet-as-candy-pincushion.html

Cathedral Windows Pincushion by Kim Niedzwiecki

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2012/03/cathedral-window-pincushion.html

Sew Simple Star Pincushion by Kimber Van Heukelom 

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2011/08/sew-simple-star-pincushion.html

Moda Love Pincushion by Margot Languedoc

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2010/01/moda-love-pincushion.html

Fabric Strawberries by Vanessa Christenson

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2009/07/fabric-strawberries.html

Sugar Cube Pincushion by Vickie Eapen

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2009/04/sugar-cube-pincushion.html

Charming Pincushion #1 by Vickie Eapen

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2009/02/charming-pincushion-1.html

Wait, I'm not done yet...........

This is a link to an adorable pincushion YouTube video that Sherri made for The Fat Quarter Shop. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=CwsTPp1mj_0

This is one that I made using Sherri's video and some scraps from her fabric lines too!

Sherri has other great pincushion ideas on her blog,  A Quilting Life so be sure to go over and visit her to get all the information!

Send in your pincushion pictures before the end of February to see them in the Parade at the beginning of March.

We'd love to have you join us.

Right now, I'm going to grab my hand weights, work out, and then cut some long fabric strips using that new tip I just learned from Brenda!

Have a great day!

Handmade gifts and some new quilting ideas to start off the new year

Happy New Year!

I just finished putting some Christmas decorations away.

This Fig Tree mini quilt is one of my favorites! 

It seems like taking them out is always fun, and I look forward to it, but putting them back is not my favorite thing to do

 Somehow that doesn't stop me from getting a few more decorations each year, and I still try to put them back into the same amount of space.

I really need to get a few more Christmas storage boxes or give away some of the older decorations that I'm not as fond of anymore.

That seems difficult for me to do.

I did finally toss the artificial evergreen wreath that I had on my pantry door for years.  Every time someone opened or closed the pantry door, needles would fall off and scatter everywhere.

It was getting to be ridiculous.

My oldest son 'wore' that wreath when he was in a wreath in the first grade Christmas play.  He's graduated from college now, so you know that was an old wreath.

It did have some sentimental value to me, but after continually sweeping up those old needles every time someone wanted a snack, I decided it was best for that wreath to move on.

I took a picture of it and let it go, because pictures fit much better in the Christmas storage boxes! 

As I put back the Christmas decorations, I do a little bit each day, I'm going to try to part with a few other items that I've probably been hanging on to for a bit too long, even thought it's not easy.

In the spirit of out with the old and in with the new, trying new things, and refreshing your home or your quilting habits, this year Sherri and I have a fun and different idea for next month's Minis and More Parade.

We'd like you to share your favorite quilting or sewing tips and tricks!

Tell us one or more of your favorite shortcuts or maybe a clever idea you have for sewing storage. You know, a helpful hint that you'd like to share with your friends.  Send in a picture too if you can!

For example, I've used more painter's tape over my quilting career than I've ever used for painting, and we've done lots of painting!

I use it to mark quilting lines on quilts, I use it all the time on my  cutting rulers to mark lines so I don't have to look at the ruler as closely when I'm cutting the same size over and over.  I also use it on my quilting rulers, now that I'm doing some ruler work on my new sewing machine.

As far as storage goes,  I like to store my old cutting mats vertically between two bookcases full of fabric.  They occupy what used to be wasted space. I use the old cutting mats on the floor when I trim the edges of quilts before binding.

So share your tips by sending a few to me or to Sherri McConnell at A Quilting Life.  Then visit both my blog and Sherri's at the beginning of next month to start out the year with some new tips and tricks to try, inspired by your friends!

In December,  Hildy did an amazing job at making lots of handmade gifts, which is the theme of today's Parade.

This cute drawstring bag was made by Hildy using a combination of a patchwork gift bag tutorial of Sherri's and a Santa pattern by Nadra. 

This pillow and the next one were Christmas gifts for Hildy's parents.  This one uses Bonnie and Camille's fabric........

........and this one uses a Fig Tree fabric collection.

Although it wasn't a Christmas gift, Hildy made this cute quilt for a friend's new baby boy.

This adorable butterfly mini is also a pattern by Nadra that Hildy made for her brother's girlfriend.

Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful handmade gifts with us Hildy!  You gave me so many great ideas for next Christmas!

Don't forget to send us your best sewing tips with pictures before the end of the month and be sure to visit Sherri's blog, A Quilting Life to see the other half of the handmade gifts Parade.

See you there!

Stitched With Love

We just got back from a marathon holiday shopping excursion and I'm happy to say we got a lot accomplished.

From great gifts to some things that we just needed to have for the next few weeks, the car was pretty full of bags.

I've got a few more Christmas items on my list of things to do, but overall I think I've got it under control.

At least for the moment! 

How about you?

Are you progressing with your holiday to do list or are you just getting started?

Sometimes I think that a little bit of last minute rushing around is part of the fun!

Cookies are the next item on my list and I'm looking forward to trying a few new recipes this year. 

I try to make a few new kinds each year to go with something different.

Sometimes I get to the new cookies, sometimes I don't. 

Kristin, of Yellow Bliss Road, has this great list of over 50 Christmas cookie recipes that look absolutely amazing. 

The recipe for Christmas Magic Layer Brownie Bars is first on my list to try.

But before I start baking, it's time for the Parade!

  

These Stitched With Love Minis are just so cute!

This month's Parade pattern was Stitched With Love, a mini sewing machine pattern by Camille Roskelley of Thimbleblossoms.

It's a perfect pattern to make for a sewing friend or to display on the wall of your sewing room.

Here's Hildy's with some flying geese that she added to her finished mini.  That aqua background really pops, and of course I'm a fan of her red striped binding!

This one was made by Brenda. Another one with a great binding!  I love that navy fabric!   And we all know that you certainly can't go wrong with a gray background, and Brenda's mini is no exception!   

After the holiday rush, the January Parade will be something to look forward to, because its free choice!

We'd love to see any handmade gifts you gave or received for the January Parade.

If you have more than one to share, feel free to send them in!

It's so fun to see the projects that you choose!

It's a great time to get new ideas and to see what your friends are working on.

Just send a picture of the finished gift that was completed before the end of December to Sherri McConnell from A Quilting Life, or to me and we'll be happy to get it in the Minis and More Parade in early January.

We welcome new participants and we're happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Have fun with your projects and enjoy the holiday season!

I'm off to open a bag of M&M's and make those cookie bars!   

It's fall, y'all!

As I write this post, I'm waiting for trick-or-treaters to arrive!

I can see my neighbors out the window setting up chairs to pass out candy in their driveway.

In our neighborhood, most people sit in lawn chairs in their driveways to pass out candy, and some even have a table set up with music and lights too.

After I'm finished writing, I plan to go out there and join the fun! 

Now that we're well into fall, we thought it would be a good time to show the fall quilts that everyone's been making this season.

Our theme for the Minis and More project last month was free choice fall.

Any fall pattern you made was eligible to be in today's Parade.

And we have some cute ones to show you! 

This one is mine.  The pattern is The Maple Leaf Quilt from The Fat Quarter Shop's Classic and Vintage series of patterns.  I used plum Mode Grunge for the background, and batiks for the leaves.  You can read more about it in my previous post. 

This cute table runner was created by our friend Patty from Elm Street Quilts.  She used the same Fat Quarter Shop pattern as I did, but she turned her's into this wonderful table runner.  She offset the leaves, so it would look like they were tumbling across the table.  If you check out her blog post, you'll see that she made a cute trivet with the Maple Leaf block too! 

This is the cutest witch hat ever!  It was made by Mary who writes the blog, Needled Mom.  She chose a paper pieced pattern by Soma of  Whims and Fancies. Mary likes Soma's patterns because of the impeccable detail and I couldn't agree more!  This is just adorable!  Did you notice Mary's background fabric?  It's a dot to dot!  Mary completed the dot to dot with orange thread.  That must have been fun!

Go over and visit my friend Sherri, at A Quilting Life, to see the other half of the fall Parade!

If you'd like to join us next time, just send a picture of next month's completed project with a short description, to either Sherri or to me, and we'll put it in the Parade. 

It's that easy! 

We give away free patterns to participants from time to time, as a fun, random, 'thank you' prize!

Are you wondering about the pattern for the next Parade?

We've chosen a newer Thimbleblossoms pattern, Stitched With Love. available from Thimbleblossoms or from The Fat Quarter Shop.

Camille Roskelley created a cute sewing machine mini pattern that would look great in your sewing area, or it would make a great holiday gift for that sewing friend that already has every quilting gadget on the planet!

I'm planning on making one to put on the wall of my new sewing room.

Oh, I've also seen this pattern made into a sewing bag and I think I've seen it made into a sewing machine cover too.

Well, I need to wrap this up!

There are trick-or-treaters at my door, and boxes of Christmas decorations to put on the tree if I decide to stay inside while I'm giving out candy!

Just kidding about the decorating the Christmas tree part, but I am feeling like it's coming up that fast!

I try to wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate for Christmas, but if I do, I feel like I'm behind.  Is it just me?

When do you start decorating for the holidays?

The Maple Leaf Quilt from the Classic and Vintage Quilt Series

I'd love to show you my Maple Leaf Quilt today!

It's a part of a Fat Quarter Shop Quilt Along featuring the Maple Leaf Quilt from their Classic and Vintage Series of patterns.

Recently, I've been thinking about making a fall quilt with a purple background and when the opportunity came up to make a quilt block for this quilt along, I took it farther and made plenty of blocks, because I thought it would be the perfect time to break out the plum Moda Grunge and make that purple fall quilt I'd been dreaming about!   

I paired the plum Moda Grunge background with lots of different batiks and created some fall leaves.

This is the crib sized quilt. 

I chose the crib size because wanted to make a few leaves of each color, and a few that were mixed to give the quilt a colorful feel with a definite fall vibe.

This Maple Leaf pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop is great because it gives you four different size options, so you can make a few leaves if you want to, or you can go crazy and make a large quilt with leaves all over the place if fall is on your mind!

Batiks seem to show up in so many of my fall quilts, whether I start out planning them that way or not, I've noticed.

I guess it goes back to our time living in Maine when the array of fall colors was dizzying!

Here in Florida, I've got to take my fall leaf quilt pictures with a palm tree background like the picture below, so I've got to work in my fall colors in through my quilts!

Too bad palm tree fronds don't change color in the fall.

Now that we live in Florida, we don't have much of a fall season, which I may have mentioned just a few times in previous posts.  

So, y'all know I miss having fall!

I think that's why I go overboard when it comes to the number of fall quilts I make each year.

This Florida girl still has to get some fall in somehow!

These fun, chunky, offset maple leaves make this pattern a breeze for anyone from a beginning quilter to the more advanced quilter who is looking for a new, fun, fall quilt to make.

Plus, The Fat Quarter Shop has a Maple Leaf Quilt video tutorial on their YouTube Channel that you may want to watch if you decide to make your own Maple Leaf Quilt.

One more fall quilt down for me, only a few left to go before the Christmas quilts kick in.

Have you made any Christmas quilts yet?

Sending the husband to the roof to hang lights now!

Endless Summer Minis

It certainly is an endless summer here in Florida!

We've had record high temperatures recently and September was actually a warmer month than June, July, or August this year.

So our Parade pattern, Endless Summer Mini by my friend Sherri McConnell is perfect for this time of the year.

I made my blocks with some Halloween Layer Cake squares that I had in my stash because I felt like I needed a little more fall in my life right now.

If you're fortunate enough to be experiencing some cooler temperatures where you are, please send them my way.

I'm ready for jeans and sweaters!

I love Karen's bright Endless Summer Mini.  The green contrast fabric and binding really highlight the floral stars!

Mary, from the blog Needled Mom, made her mini quilt in navy and cream fabrics.  She plans on giving it to a friend as a birthday gift.

This is the back of Mary's mini quilt.  The quilting is beautiful!

This Endless Summer Mini is the one I made with the blocks I showed you just a minute ago.  I used Deb Strain Halloween fabric from the Midnight Masquerade fabric line and Moda Grunge for the background.  You know how much I like Moda Grunge!

You can find Patty blogging at Elm Street Quilts.  She plans to make her Endless Summer Mini quilt block into a one block mini quilt and do some big stitch quilting on it.

Catch the rest of the Parade on Sherri McConnell's blog, A Quilting Life and join us next month by emailing a photo of your finished project to me, or to Sherri, and we'll be sure to get your photo in the Parade.

We'd love to have you! 

Well, we have some fun in store for you for the November Parade.

It's free choice fall project month!

Make the fall themed quilt project of your choice and enter it in next month's Parade.

Sherri and I came up with a few suggestions to give you some ideas to get you started.

Some of these are free tutorials and others are great patterns that you might be interested in.

Keep in mind that these are just suggestions.

You can make any fall project that you'd like!

Now's the time to get started on that pumpkin project you've had your eye on.

Here are a few ideas-

Brenda's Fall Project- https://thequiltingnook.wordpress.com/2018/08/30/fall-project-for-weekend-sewing/

Amy's Pumpkin Block and Table Runner- https://www.diaryofaquilter.com/2014/09/patchwork-pumpkin-quilt-block-and-table.html

Sherri's Maple Sky Mini Pattern- https://www.etsy.com/listing/473395798/maple-sky-mini-quilt-paper-pattern?ref=shop_home_active_45

Beverly's Strip Pumpkin Pattern- https://flamingotoes.com/colorful-strip-pumpkin-quilt-with-free-pattern/

Allison's Mini Pumpkin Quilt- http://cluckclucksew.com/2017/06/mini-pumpkins.html

Sew Kind Of Wonderful Mini Pumpkins- https://sewkindofwonderful.com/collections/best-seller/products/mini-pumpkins-paper-pattern?variant=9266284099

Happy sewing and have a great October!