Spring Candy

Longing for spring?  The weather outside is still frightful here in New England, but here's a fun weekend project that sure to lift your spirits!

It's my Spring Candy mini quilt!

Spring Candy is based on my Christmas Candy Moda Bake Shop tutorial.  This little quilt is made in exactly the same way, but I've substituted a mini charm pack of "Hazelwood" fabric by One Canoe Two and changed up the embroidery for spring. 

I remember my mom teaching me the phrase "March winds, April showers, bring forth May flowers" when I was a child and I thought this project was the perfect opportunity to stitch the rhyme.  I embroidered the lettering, flowers and vines using two strands of embroidery floss and a backstitch and the little buds at the ends of the vines are French knots.  I love how this mini quilt turned out.  The colors of the "Hazelwood" fabrics make me happy just to look at them, and the stitching takes it over the top!

Ready to make your own version of Spring Candy?

Here's the link to my original Christmas Candy Moda Bake Shop tutorial.

And here's the link to a downloadable pdf of the Spring Candy embroidery pattern.

And finally, if you'd prefer to turn your Spring Candy quilt into a pillow, here's a link to my original post for Halloween Candy, the Halloween version of this project, that contains pillow instructions.

Happy Quilting!

My Chat with Pat Sloan

I had such a great time talking with the amazing Pat Sloan today!  If you weren't able to listen live, here's a link to the podcast recording.

We got a chance to talk about the fabulous Moda Bake Shop, and in particular about two of my favorite Moda Bake Shop tutorials, namely Home Tweet Home and Just Keep Swimming.  Both are mini charm pack patterns, but if you'd like to make Home Tweet Home with a charm pack instead, here's a link to help you out.

Happy Quilting!

Just a little chat with Pat Sloan!!

Yay!!  I'm so excited to announce that I'm going to be a guest on Pat Sloan's American Patchwork & Quilting radio show!!

Tune in live on Monday, April 2, 2018 at 4:00pm EST by clicking the button below or check back here later for a link to a recording of the show.  Can't wait!

Heartland

Meet Heartland!  

Heartland is a 28" square wall quilt featuring easy log cabin blocks and simple wool appliqué.  You can find the pattern for this warm and scrappy project in the spring issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects magazine, currently available wherever quilting magazines are sold.  And if you like handwork, this is the issue for you!  There are more than a dozen beautiful projects featuring appliqué, wool appliqué and embroidery.

Here's the story behind Heartland...

I love log cabin blocks!  They're so much fun to make and so versatile!  Usually my favorite layout for log cabin blocks is the barn raising pattern, probably because it was the pattern that I used for my very first log cabin quilt.  Here's a pic:

Barn Raising - 48" x 48"

For Heartland, I wanted to try to use the strong diagonal lines of log cabin blocks to make a different secondary pattern, in this case a Sawtooth Star with a diamond center.  I used narrow logs — 1" wide unfinished — so that the "line" between the dark and light fabrics would seem smoother.  It meant cutting a lot of strips, but it also meant that I got to include a lot of different fabrics and I love the resulting sparkle.

The star layout that I chose also provided me the perfect opportunity to embellish some of the negative space with wool appliqué — another of my favorites!  I chose simple shapes and wools that echoed the color palette of the pieced blocks.

Once I'd finished the quilt top, I got a little hung up trying to figure out how to quilt Heartland.  It took me almost a year to hand quilt my first log cabin quilt and even though I love how it looks, I didn't want to take that on again.  My long arm quilter and I discussed machine quilting it, but realized that it might be difficult to see a quilted pattern on this particular quilt.  In the end, I machine quilted it myself on a regular sewing machine by stitching in the ditch between each block and along the diagonal lines between the dark and tan prints.  I also machine quilted along the outside edge of the wool appliqués.  Much easier than doing it by hand!

I love how Heartland turned out!  It's got a warm, vintage feel and the color palette of blue, green, red and plum is perfect for spring or summer.  But wouldn't it be great for fall with warm tones of red, rust, orange and brown?  Or for winter with blues ranging from gray blue to navy set against a backdrop of warm white prints?  So many possibilities!!

Happy Quilting!

Jen

Home Tweet Home Take Two

I've had some questions about how to make a larger version of Home Tweet Home, my latest Moda Bake Shop tutorial, using charm squares (5") rather than mini charm squares (2½").  If you're interested, here's some rough math to help you out.

For a 30½" square quilt made with a charm pack:

Birdhouse block size:  4¾" x 4¾" finished
Sashing strips:  1" x 4¾" finished (cut 1½" x 5¼")
Cornerstones:  1" x 1" finished (cut 1½" x 1½")
Inner border:  1" wide finished (cut 2 - 1½" x 22½" and 2 - 1½" x 24½")
HST border:  3" x 3" HSTs finished (make in the same manner described in the tutorial using 4" squares to start - you'll have to trim the charm squares first)
Outer border corner squares:  3" x 3" finished (cut 3½" x 3½")

I plugged this larger design into EQ7 and it's looks like you'd need roughly a yard of background fabric and ½ yard of fabric for the birdhouse roofs.

Here's a link to a foundation pattern that I drafted for the 4¾" birdhouse block.  And here, again, is the link to the original tutorial — the cutting measurements are different for the larger quilt, but the construction is the same.

I'd love to see what a bigger version of this quilt looks like and I may even try one myself!  One reader suggested appliquéing a black circle to the larger birdhouses rather than using buttons — great idea Cheryl!  Don't forget to tag me @JenDalyQuilts if you share your quilts on Instagram or Facebook!

Happy Quilting!

— Jen

Home Tweet Home

I know we still have two months of winter left, but somehow I can't help looking ahead to spring.  And in honor of the sweetest season, here's what I've been working on:

It's Home Tweet Home, my latest Moda Bake Shop tutorial.  This sweet quilt finishes at 15½" square.  You'll need a mini charm pack, a bit of yardage and 16 little buttons to make Home Tweet Home and you can find detailed instructions as well as plenty of how-to photos free at the Moda Bake Shop.

I made my little quilt with "Lilac Ridge" by Jan Patek Quilts.  Her shades of lavender, green, brown and cream are perfect for spring—soft, lovely and warm. 

But if you're wondering what Home Tweet Home would look like in a different color palette, here are a couple of ideas that I think are equally cute.  Each is inspired by a current or upcoming Moda fabric collection.

Mama's Cottage by April Rosenthal available now

Provencal by American Jane available in February

Whichever you choose, I hope you have fun making Home Tweet Home.  And if you share your little quilts on Instagram or Facebook, please tag me @JenDalyQuilts—I'd love to see what you're up to!

Sweet Shoppe Quilt-Along - Day 10!

❄❄❄Update:  The complete pattern for Sweet Shoppe is now available for download on my Etsy shop.  The pattern includes material requirements, step-by-step instructions, and full color diagrams to help you on your way.  Click here to view the pattern.❄❄❄

Welcome back for the final day of the Sweet Shoppe Quilt-Along!  This quilt-along has been so much fun for me because I've been able to keep the final quilt a secret until today!  So without further ado, here's a look at the finished Sweet Shoppe quilt!

Ta-da!  It's a table runner with colorful candy rows interspersed with strips of sweet stitching.  It's amazing to me how simple shapes and bright colors can combine to create a quilt that's bold and graphic but still very sweet.  Don't you just love quilting?!

Some Thoughts on Finishing Your Sweet Shoppe quilt:

The quilt was pretty before I added the red perle cotton, but I think the red stitching is really the cherry on top!  If you'd like to add the stitching to your quilt, you can also substitute 2 strands of embroidery floss for the perle cotton.  

But don't feel limited to finishing your quilt the way I did—there are countless ways to personalize this project.  You could do decorative machine stitching or a narrow quilted border pattern of wavy or swirly lines or ribbons within the sashing strips.  The larger blocks are an opportunity for some fun machine quilting—I can imagine spirals in the lollipops and maybe a small cross-hatch in the wrapped sweets.  Even the red and green peppermint stick rows could be embellished with complementary colored diagonal lines stitched between the HSTs.  And if you really want to take the Sweet Shoppe theme over the top, you could stitch little bows to the lollipop sticks or the narrow parts of the wrapped sweets and sew tiny buttons to the centers of the minty fresh and peppermint blocks.  Just have fun!

I'd love to see your finished quilts, so please tag me @JenDalyQuilts if you post them on Facebook or Instagram, or send a picture to me via email:  jendalyquilts@gmail.com.  And if you haven't been able to quilt along this year, but you'd like to make your own Sweet Shoppe quilt, the complete pattern will be available in my Etsy shop after Christmas.

Thank you all so much for following along with this year's Sweet Shoppe Quilt-Along!  Happy Holidays and, as ever, Happy Quilting!

Cheers!  Jen