Giveaway!

Who's in the mood for a giveaway?!

Quilting Quickly magazine has become Fons & Porter's Pre-Cut Patchwork!  And I'm thrilled to have my new quilt, North Star Trail, in the pages of the inaugural issue!  The January/February 2019 issue is available now both in print and digitally.

North Star Trail is a fun and easy pattern made with a charm pack of 5" squares and a yard of background fabric.  I made my version using the whimsical Way Up North fabric collection by Jill Howarth for Riley Blake and I love the colorful end result!

To celebrate, I'm giving away a bundle of Way Up North fabric to two lucky quilters!  Each bundle contains 18 - 10" squares of fabric—one from each fabric in the collection.  

I'll be giving away one bundle on Instagram and one on Facebook.  To enter on Instagram, follow me @jendalyquilts, like the giveaway post and tag a friend.  On Facebook, like my page and the giveaway post and share with a friend.  Enter by midnight on Friday, January 25th.  The winners will be selected on Saturday and notified via direct message.

Good luck!!

U.S. shipping only please.

Boxes and Bows - Free Charm Pack Pattern

It's another gorgeous summer weekend here in New Hampshire—sunny and warm—and wouldn't you know it, I'm thinking about Christmas!

That's because today, my new quilt Boxes and Bows is a featured recipe at the Moda Bake Shop.

Boxes and Bows is a fast and fun 15" x 42" holiday table runner that's made with only one charm pack, a bit of background fabric, and 1⅓ yard of backing/binding fabric.  

And speaking of fabric, I made my quilt with Kate Spain's colorful North Woods collection and it really is beautiful!  (the fabric, that is, although my quilt's not bad either!)

North Woods features cranberry reds, warm linen, and three shades of green that range from citron to turquoise—yum!  In fact, I loved Kate's fabric so much that I couldn't bear to discard even the 1½" scraps from the project.  Here's a sweet mini quilt that I made with the leftovers:

The center of this little quilt is comprised of 25—1½" squares, surrounded by a ½" (finished) white border.  The outer border is made of 8—1½" x 3½" rectangles and another 4—1½" squares.  I stitched down the middle of the white border with perle cotton for fun, but at 8" square, this quilt really doesn't require any quilting.  And check out the heart in the center of the quilt...

Looks like fussy cutting, right?  Nope, the heart ending up smack dab in the center of this little square was a coincidence, a happy accident as it turns out, because I built the little quilt around it!

If you'd like to make your own version of Boxes and Bows, my free tutorial is available at the Moda Bake Shop.  You'll find complete instructions for the project and lots of photos to help you along the way.  Have fun!

Apron Strings - Free Charm Pack Pattern

Don't you just love charm packs?!  A tidy little package of perfectly trimmed 5" squares and a guilt-free way to own an entire fabric collection -- what could be better?  If you're like me, though, eventually your charm pack collection will start to pile up and you'll realize it's time to cut one from the herd.  When that time comes, you're going to need a charm pack pattern!

Today my quilt, Apron Strings, is a featured recipe at the Moda Bake Shop.

Apron Strings is a sweet little 12" x 32" table runner made with, you guessed it, a charm pack and ⅔ yard of a coordinating fabric -- perfect for when your charm pack collection becomes a bit unwieldy. 

And Apron Strings couldn't be easier!  It features simple piecing and machine quilting -- great for a beginner or a weekend project.

I made Apron Strings with the beautiful "Hyde Park" collection by Blackbird Designs for Moda and I love the fabrics!  Somehow they manage to be both colorful and muted at the same time.  They give my quilt the soft, nostalgic feel that I was going for.

But if you're wondering how Apron Strings would look in a different color palette, here's another, brighter version made with "California Girl" by Fig Tree Quilts for Moda:

Love this one too!  It's got a summery, kitchen-y, retro vibe that I really like -- also nostalgic, but in a totally different way.

If you'd like to make your own Apron Strings table runner, head over to Moda Bake Shop for my free tutorial.  It's the perfect opportunity to pare down your charm pack stash, or the perfect excuse to invest in a new charm pack.  Your decision -- this is a judgement-free zone!!

Happy Quilting!

Got Fat Quarters? - Fabric Giveaway

Are you like me?  Have you been saving a fat quarter bundle, a jelly roll, or a charm pack for just the right project?  Do you shudder at the thought of breaking up the perfectly coordinated, full collection perfection of your pre-cuts?

Take heart and read on.

Last week I posted about Quilters Newsletter's latest special issue, Best Fat Quarter Quilts 2012 (see Got Fat Quarters? below).

Best Fat Quarter Quilts 2012 is full of patterns for beautiful projects, including my In the Garden lap quilt and Charmed pillow, that are sure to convince you that it's finally time to cut into your pre-cuts.

In the Garden

Charmed

I promised to show a picture of a table quilt version of Charmed.  And here it is -- quilted, bound, finished:

Look close.  Look closer.  Recognize the fabric?  It's confession time.  This little quilt is made from a charm pack of Kansas Troubles' Bound to the Prairie fabric that I bought in Ohio 6 years ago!  That is world class hoarding.  I LOVED this fabric and could never decide how to use it.  The longer I waited, the worse it got because I knew I could never buy more if it.  Every few months, I would take out the charm pack, fan out the fabrics and imagine the possibilities, but I could never commit.  I must have designed a dozen options for this charm pack before I finally broke down over the summer and pieced this little quilt.  And let me tell you, cutting that first square was rough -- made only slightly easier by the fact that Moda actually re-released some of the Bound to the Prairie fabrics in their KT Favorites collection (wait long enough and everything comes back into style!).

But look at it now!  The charm pack fabrics are just as lovely in smaller pieces and they look much better on my table than they ever did in the closet.

Now it's your turn.  Be brave!  Pull out your pre-cuts and take the plunge!

And yes, I did mention a fabric giveaway in the title of this post -- here goes:  Quilters Newsletter is promoting Best Fat Quarter Quilts 2012 by giving away fabric every day this week.  Check out the QN blog each day and leave a comment to enter your name in the drawings.  Hope you win!  Just don't wait 6 years to use the fabric!!

Got Fat Quarters?

For Christmas last year, my mom gave me a fat quarter bundle of Lynette Anderson's Secret Garden fabric.  Gorgeous fabric.  The kind of fabric that you just want to display and never use because you are afraid of making a mistake and wasting it.  Here's a picture of the fabric bundle:

See what I mean -- perfect just as it is.  Blues and greens, plums, browns and creams; all with adorable flowers, bugs, and beehives.  Yummy!  Needless to say, I let the fabric sit on my sewing table for months before I finally got up the nerve to cut into it.  But I'm so glad I did, because the end result, a lap quilt called In the Garden, is one of my favorite quilts I've ever made.

Here's a picture of the quilt top draped on our deck railing:

I wanted to stay with the garden theme of the fabrics so I decided to use a triple Irish chain as lattice work with two different "flower" blocks peeking through.  Here's a picture of the finished quilt:

You can find the pattern for In the Garden in Quilters Newsletter's latest special issue, Best Fat Quarter Quilts 2012, on newsstands now or available through the Quilt and Sew Shop.  

The pattern is probably more appropriate for an intermediate quilter because there is quite a bit of piecing -- I love piecing -- but it could be simplified by substituting a standard border(s) for the pieced border and it would still be lovely.

Want to try something a little faster?  Grab your favorite charm pack and check out page 40 of Best Fat Quarter Quilts 2012:

Charmed is a 20" x 20" pillow that's fun and easy to make.  Here's a picture of it in my favorite chair:

I turned this little quilt into a pillow (no quilting required!), but I liked the pattern so much that I'm actually making another to use as a small table quilt.  I'll post a picture of it when I'm finished.

Happy quilting!

Charmed, I'm Sure

I love charm packs!  For $10 you can own an entire fabric collection and play with fabric that you wouldn't normally buy.  I can actually remember my first charm pack.  I bought it in Ohio in 2006 and it was from Kansas Troubles' Bound to the Prairie collection.  I loved to look through those beautiful squares of fabric and imagine the possibilities.  The only problem was that I could never actually decide what to make with the charm pack.  With only 5" of each fabric I was afraid that I would choose the wrong pattern or make a mistake cutting and then the pretty stack of perfectly coordinated fabrics would be gone.  Performance anxiety kept me from using the charm pack for 6 years.  But last summer I started designing projects for charm packs and I finally used my Bound to the Prairie charm pack and guess what, the world didn't end.  Now instead of hiding away in my fabric closet collecting dust, I have a little quilt that I can enjoy every day.

If you're like me and you love to collect charm packs but you're unsure what to do with them, I've got a great pattern for you.  I've made it twice, once as a gift for one of my kids' favorite teachers.  She is a Civil War buff so I made the quilt using reproduction fabrics.  I loved it so much that after I gave the quilt away I immediately made one for me.  This quilt is 15 1/2" x 15 1/2".

I actually didn't use a charm pack to make this quilt.  I used scraps from my stash.  But I know it works for charm packs because the second time I made it I used a charm pack from the Meadow fabric collection by Blackbird Designs for Moda.  I changed the borders to show off more fabrics from the charm pack.  This one is a bit bigger, 17 1/2" x 17 1/2"

Don't you just love star blocks!  And even though these stars are only 3" finished, they are really easy to make...

From 16 background colored squares cut:

4 - 1 1/4" x 2" rectangles
4 - 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" squares
(save the leftover  1 3/4" x 5" piece for use in inner border)

From 16 star colored squares cut:

1 - 2" x 2" square
8 - 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" squares
(save the leftover 2 1/2" x 3" piece for use in outer border)

Instructions for one star block:

On the back of each of the 8 - 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" squares draw a diagonal line from corner to corner.  Place one square on one background 1 1/4" x 2" rectangle with right sides together like this:

Stitch on the drawn line, press the seam, press the seam open and trim leaving a scant 1/4" seam allowance.

Repeat on the other side of the rectangle as shown below:

The final star point unit should look like this:

Repeat to make 4 star point units.

Then assemble the 4 star point units, 4 - 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" background squares, and 2" x 2" center square one row at a time as follows:

To ease assembly, for the top and bottom rows, press towards the corner background squares and for the center row, press towards the center square.

The quilt takes 16 star blocks.  Once the center of the quilt is assembled you can use an extra fabric for an unpieced border as in the Civil War version of this quilt -- I cut the border fabric 2" wide.  But here are the cutting instructions if you like the look of the Meadow version of this quilt and you'd like to use more of your charm pack fabrics:

For the inner border...
From reserved background 1 3/4" x 5" pieces and 1 additional light charm pack square cut:

52 - 1 1/2" x  1 1/2" squares

For the outer border...
From reserved star 2 1/2" x 3" pieces and 4 additional darker charm pack squares cut:

32 - 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" squares

Refer to the photo above for the border assembly.  I machine quilted this quilt by stitching in the ditch between each star and along both sides of the inner border.

So there you have it, the perfect little quilt to showcase your favorite fabrics from that charm pack you just don't know what to do with.  You can make this quilt in weekend as a gift or, better yet, for yourself!  Just don't wait 6 years to do it!!