Spring planting

The garden is springing to life finally.  My seedings are growing quite large.  See?!


;)

I'm basting on the patio today because the weather is so nice! That doesn't happen very often when you live in the rainy state of Oregon.

This quilt pattern is called Stems and is by Fig Tree and Co.  I love this design, so modern.  Reminds me a lot of Orla Keily designs which is probably why I like it so much.

I really wanted to do something kind of scrappy and use up a lot of my treasured Denyse Schmidt prints mixed in with some coordinating prints.  The background fabric is natural base cloth from Echino which is my go to fave sashing fabric.

So here it is! I love the way it's looking so far.  Now it's off to quilt once I figure out how I'm going to do that.

Happy Sewing!

Oh Snap block by Becky

As you know, I recently participated in the Sew Out Loud Quilt-along and there were quite a few  submissions for the twelfth and final block.  I thought some of those blocks were fantastic and deserved to be made available for other people to sew.  So I contacted fellow Oregonian, Becky of Solar Threads and offered to digitize her 'Oh Snap' design for her so you all could sew it as well. Ok I'll confess I wanted to sew it also. ;)

Here is her fabulous block design:

The final design will yield a block that is 12.5" square.  The pattern pieces for this block can be found here

The piecing guide is here.

Please NOTE that there is an error on the pattern pieces pdf.  Block H1 is incorrectly labeled and should be labeled H5.  If you assume there is no H1 and proceed from H2 you should be fine.  Also the cutting guidelines for some of the pieces seem to be wonkily off. Just add 1/4" seam allowance around each section when you are finished piecing it and you should be fine.  EQ7 is glitchy for me sometimes when running on the Mac through the virtual desktop.  I'm still working on this problem.

Prepare the sections in alphabetical order.  Starting with section A.
Make section B,  and the make C and attach them to each other - then attach that section to A. Set aside.
Make section D then E and attach them to each other.  Set aside.
Make F and then G and attach. Make H, then attach to FG.
Make I, then make J, then make K and attach J ->I ->K.  Then attach this whole section to HFG.
Make L then make M and attach to each other.  "SNAP!" is made.
Attach section N to bottom of word SNAP. Then attach section O to top of SNAP. Then attach "OH" section to top of SNAP.  Then attach sections ABC above OH SNAP words as shown in piecing diagram.
Then attach pieces P1 and Q1 and you are done!

Awesome block Becky! I can't wait to sew it up myself.  If any of you sew it up, please add it to the Sew Out Loud flickr pool we'ld all love to see it!


Happy Sewing!

Stitch block instructions

 The Sew Out Loud quilt along has been through 11 amazing weeks and 11 equally amazing blocks.  I am only about halfway through sewing up the blocks  myself but I continue to be amazed by the creativity and talent of all the designers.  Every single block is so original.

As you might know, part of the QAL was to select a 12th block from among the entries submitted by participants.  The winning entry was chosen by none other than Suzuko Koseki herself.  Quite an honor.  I'm thrilled to say that my block was chosen as the winning block.  I can't tell you how honored I am to be included.  Still kind of in shock over here.

I also wanted to say thank-you to all the designers for hosting the QAL and especially to Joanna and Juliana who organized the whole event.  It truly was the most exciting QAL I've been part of and the ladies that participated were a blast.  If you would like more info click here:

So with that, here are the instructions for sewing the block:

Go here to see the block pieces.  They are formatted to print on US 8.5x11 paper and include seam allowances.  Set your printer to print at full scale (100%).  The finished block should be 12.5".  Thanks to Joanna for help, she test printed these on A10 paper as well and they came out at the correct scale.  So I think all our European friends should have no problem printing these.

Go here to see instructions for piecing this block. Instructions are also posted in this blog post with some pictures.

Instructions for piecing of Stitch Block
Section layout ~

Foundation piecing of Stitch block.  
All Pattern pieces include ¼” seam allowance. Remember to trim up your sections to ¼” prior to attaching to the next section.  Some pieces need to printed over 2 pages. You will have to attach the pattern sections together using the guidelines prior to sewing (a glue stick works well).  All pages should be printed on a standard 8.5x11” (US/Canada) paper or foundation paper product.  

Needle ~
Stitch section A,

Stitch section B, Sew A to B

Stitch section C, Sew A to C

Sew D to B, Attach section E to C, Needle segment complete.

Attach section F to Needle section.  Attach section G to F and Needle section.  Set aside.

Spool ~
Sew section H.  Sew section M.  Sew section N.  Attach M to N. Sew section S. Attach section S to H and M/N.  Set aside.
Sew section I.  Sew section R.  Sew section O.  Attach R to I and then to O.  Set aside.
Sew section J.  Sew section K.  Sew section L.  Sew section P.  Sew section Q.  Attach L to J and then to K.  Attach Q to LJK and then to P.  

Set aside.  
Attach T to SHMN.  Then attach this whole section to RIO.  Then attach this whole section to QLJKP.  Spool segment complete.  

Sew this half of the block to the previous side (needle segment).  Block should measure 12.5”.  Trim up if necessary. Block is complete. 

With a chalk pencil, write the word STITCH and draw a thread line in a looping arc through the eye of the needle and over to the word “Stitch”.  

I like to trace a printed out word since my handwriting isn't the neatest. I tape the block to the window to help see through the block to the paper underneath.  Remember to have the thread going above  the eye of the needle on one side and and below the eye on the other side so that it looks realistic.  Use cotton embroidery floss to  stitch over your drawn lines.  You are done! Enjoy!

 Please email me or post a comment if you have any questions about the block piecing.
 Happy Sewing!