Let’s Go Fly a Kite

Last week I shared a super fun quilt pattern on the Thermoweb blog. You can check out this FREE pattern here.

The Friendship Quilt Along- Enduring

Today I get to share my Enduring block for the Friendship Quilt Along by Amanda Herring.  To make this quilt, you will need the templates and this quilt kit.  Or you can use different fabric.  But this quilt kit is so cute!

The key to this block is the buttons! But I can’t sew on the buttons until the quilt is quilted. So I have the block cut out, marked and waiting for the quilt construction.  I decided to make a needle book to showcase this cute block.

I have had a needle book on my make list for awhile.  I was excited for the excuse to finally make it.

The best part of making this block was picking out the buttons.  My grandma gave me a bunch of vintage buttons.  She bought them for $1 a box!  I can’t believe it!  I’m pretty sure I will never have to buy buttons again.

To make this needle book, I followed Amy Sinibaldi’s tutorial.  I made the book a bit bigger to accommodate the size of the block.  I had some leftover half-square triangles from my Hello Brooklyn quilt that I turned into a pinwheel block for the back.  I then added a book binding between the blocks.  I did a simple cross-hatch quilting design on the book.  After it was quilted, I used the template to mark the block.

I used my button foot to sew the buttons on.  I have a Bernina Record 830.  I had to search Ebay for a button foot (#152).  I am so glad I found one.  It is so helpful.  The button foot holds the button in place while you sew.

The best part of making a needle book is embellishing the pages.  I made these letter pins a few years ago and needed a place for them.  This needle book was perfect!  And I love the gingham ribbon!

I also used some pom poms!

And I used some rick-rack and a tag!

And last of all, the back!  I love pinwheel blocks!  I had sew much fun making this needle book!  Now I need to make more!

Chirp Out!

Jen

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Baby Beach Romper

Today is my turn to share my 4 fat quarter project with Amanda Herring’s design team.  We were given the challenge to create something with four fat quarters from the Hello Lovely fabric line for Riley Blake.

I have been thinking about this project since the day I saw Hello Lovely in person!  Baby rompers are my favorite thing!  And I love the beach!  So a baby beach romper was the perfect match!

I came across this pattern by Simplicity.  I love the Retro style patterns.  As you will notice I only have 2 prints of fabric in this pic.  I kind of cheated and used only two prints for this project.  But I was able to make this project with four fat quarters and had a bit left over.  Two half yards would also work since that is the same amount of fabric.

My favorite thing about this pattern is the ruffles!  I love ruffles!  I thought they would work perfect with Hello Lovely.  I picked pink because I have four girls and pink is the most popular color in our house!  (Did I mention that I can do a full load of laundry of pinks!?!)  And I think ruffles on a baby bum is one of my favorite things ever!

Once I was done sewing, we headed to the beach for a little photo shoot!  Here’s what the front of the romper looks like.  The pattern called for hook and loop tape to finish the outfit.  I opted for snaps instead.  I have never installed snaps before and it was a breeze!

This is the back!  I can’t get enough of these ruffles!

I made the straps a little longer than the pattern said so that this will fit the baby next year.  Fingers crossed she stays little and doesn’t grow too much!

And one more pic of these ruffles!  Oh summer don’t end!  We have had too much fun!

Chirp Out!

Jen

 

Hello Brooklyn

 

I’m excited to share my new pattern today as part of the Hello Lovely Riley Blake blog tour!  Hello Brooklyn!  Hello Lovely was designed by the lovely Amanda Herring.  She really outdid herself with this line!  I love it!  This quilt was so much fun to make.  And so much fun to take pics of!  You can find the pattern here.

I am really loving monochromatic quilts right now.  The pinks in Hello Lovely are, well, lovely!  I can’t decide which print is my favorite.  Maybe the main floral, or the polka dots.  Yeah, I can’t decide.  But run and go get some!  This line is so lovely!

I had Chelsea custom quilt this.  Each block is quilted to emphasize the block design.  She did swirls in the sashing (say that 10 times fast!) and beautiful flowers in the borders.  I could stare at this ALL day!  She really did an amazing job!

I love living outside of NYC.  The Brooklyn Bridge is one of my favorite places.  I knew I had to take this quilt there for a photo shoot.  I was able to get some fun shots of the architecture of the bridge and this quilt.  And we got some funny looks!

This quilt is a fun sampler quilt.  Which is perfect for a Brooklyn quilt since there are so many thing to do and so much diversity.  There are five different blocks.  You make each block six times and then you have a twin size quilt!  I love the variety a sampler quilt offers.  I don’t get bored making the same block over and over again.  Haha

I hope you love this quilt as much as I do!  Go check it out in my etsy shop here or my craftsy shop here.  Say Hello Brooklyn!

Chirp Out!

Jen

How Does Your Quilty Garden Grow?

I am excited to share my new quilt pattern today, Quilty Garden!  You can find it in my shop here.  Amanda gave us the theme of flowers to share with her Flora and Fawn fabric line from Riley Blake.  I added these fun Riley Blake basics to my quilt.  They arrived on a perfectly snowy day in March.  Boo!

As I was piecing these sweet 6 inch blocks, I came across a fun new notion–fork pins!  These are a game changer!  I am always unpicking my blocks and these pins helped my blocks line up!  If you haven’t tried these, you should!We go to Washington DC every year to see the cherry blossoms.  I thought this Quilty Garden would look so cute with the cherry blossoms.  The cherry blossoms fall off in the wind.  There are beautiful pink petals everywhere.  I think this Quilty Garden fits right in!  These 6 inch blocks were a breeze to piece.  I have a fun way to piece flying geese included in my pattern.  You only need 5 different 10 inch squares for the flowers.  For the background, you need 3 fat eighths or you can use scraps like me!  That fussy cut deer is my favorite!  Isn’t it so sweet?!?

This Quilty Garden was such a fun Spring project.  You can find the pattern in my shop here!

We spent the day at Mt. Vernon, George Washington’s home.  I had to get a few pics with the quilt there.  My baby had fallen asleep and needed to try it out!

I hope you enjoy this pattern!  How does you quilty garden grow?

Chirp Out!

Jen

Jumbo Sew-Together Bag

Today is my turn to share on Amanda Herring’s ‘It’s in the bag’ blog series.  For my bag, I choose the sew-together bag by Sew Demented.  The pattern can be found here.  But, I typically can’t follow a pattern exactly.  And I also live by the phrase ‘go big or go home!’  So I am introducing my version of the JUMBO sew-together bag!  (For dimensions and such Jackie @jackiepadeskyquilts on instagram helped me out a ton!)

I mean this thing is HUGE!!!  I used an aurifil spool of thread as reference.  For the outside of the bag, I picked one of my favorite prints from Flora and Fawn by Amanda Herring for Riley Blake.  I then quilted it in a 1 inch cross-hatch pattern.  I love it!  I picked the pink text as my binding.  I love this print as a binding.  Little phrases pop out like dream lofty dreams, so cute!

My favorite part of the bag is the pockets!  Aren’t those little deer so cute?  For the middle pocket I used my other favorite teal print from this line.  I love that little floral!  The inside of the bag is the pink in the same floral.  And the sides of the bag are the cross-hatch in pink.  And I made my bag with a lot of pink!  But with four daughters, there is just a lot of pink in my house!

This bag may seem intimating with all of the zippers, but you can do it!  I found this amazing blog that walks you through this bag step by step with lots of pics!  You can find it here.

Now what is going in this bag you ask?  I have been wanting to take the plunge into EPP (English Paper Piecing).  I am in the carpool lane a lot (sometimes it feels like all day), or at swim team or activity days, you get the idea.  I’m an on the go mom!  So I need an on the go activity!  Which is why I wanted to try EPP.  And now I have the cutest bag to store all of my stuff! -scissors, thread, fabric, binding clips, and a tape measure!  I’m ready to go!

Chirp Out!

Jen