Twisted Nines: Finished

Summer fever is in full swing for the students. The craziness that is happing in my classroom is insane. Just 10 more days! Not to mention my personal life has been non stop. Hopefully there will be updates on that front soon. Hint: I have been house hunting! (I could put in a 1,000 more ! points)

In the midst of all this crazy I did manage to whip up this baby quilt. If you don't remember I made the tutorial Twisted Nine's a couple weeks back. It uses two charm packs and a fat quarter for solid. 

It's a great little pattern if you need a baby quilt fast. 

To finish, I used a meandering stipple. This quilt finished up fast, only being 39 inches square. It's a nice baby quilt. The binding is a light mint color and the backing is bright pink polka dots. The colors ended up working out perfectly.

Fabric Used: - 1.5 yards

Net Loss: - 90.5 yards YTD

I cannot believe I have used almost a 100 yards of fabric AND still have so much around. It's been nice to see a "slight" decline in the stash. 

Twisted Nines: Tutorial

Twisted Nines is an easy baby quilt, perfect for beginners who want to take their quilting to the next step. The quilt finishes at 39 inches square.

Materials: 
To start you are going to need 2 charm packs (Dot. Dot. Dash-), and a quarter yard of solid fabric (Kona Midnight). I used fabric from yardage but if you can also use a fat quarter.
*Charm packs need to have 42 pieces of fabric each.

Disappearing 9 Patch Block: (Click the link if you are not familiar with this block)
To start sew the charm squares into a three by three block. You will use 9 charm squares for each block. Cut down the center vertically and horizontally to create four smaller blocks. Here is a visual. You will have 36 small blocks and 3 charm squares left over when finished.

The Twist: 
From the solid fabric cut three (if using yardage) 3 inch wide strips.  Subcut into 36 - 3 inch squares. Then mark a line diagonally across the square, sew along line. Trim excess a quarter inch from the sewn line. Press open. If you would like a shortcut, try the Frog Tape Trick.

Block:
Each block consists of 4 smaller blocks arranged the same way. Create 9 blocks in total. Then arrange them in a 3 by 3 layout. Sew the block together and you're finished!

Larger Size: 

Increase the size by using 3 charm packs. Sew the disappearing nine patch block, you will end up with 56 small blocks and no remaining charm squares. Cut your (1/2 yard) of solid fabric into 3 inch strips and subcut into 56 - 3 inch squares. Sew following the twist directions. Layout blocks in a 7 by 8 configuration.  Final quilt size will measure approximately, 45 inches by 52 inches.

Fabric Used: - 1.75 yards

Net Loss: - 72 yards YTD

Shhhhh: Low Volume Charm Swap II

Who's ready for another round of the Low Volume Charm Swap???  This fall Michelle, over at From Bolt to Beauty, and I are are back at it! Clearly from the pile below, one can never have enough Low Volumes.

Sorry, to all my international friends, this is a last minute decision on our part and didn't allow the time for international shipping. One day we are going to get this right for you!

DETAILS: 

Fabric Type: Low Volume

Fabric Size: 5 inch Charms

Participants: 28 Peeps, first come first serve! Don't wait :)

Timeline: Fabrics Due, Friday October 9th, 2015

Fabric Returned: Mailed out, Monday October 26th, 2015

Yield: 56 charms, 2 of each print

FABRIC REQUIREMENTS: 

1. Each person will purchase 1 yard of fabric and cut it into 5 inch charm squares.  1 yard will yield 56 charms exactly, you may want to purchase 1.25 yards just in case of an oops when cutting.  
2. Scale matters, choose prints that will work with a 5 inch square (smaller prints work the best for charms!)
3. Fabric should be designer label, 100% cotton, quilt shop quality fabric. (No Hancock's, Joann's, or Michael's fabrics)  
4. Fabric must be new and unwashed from a smoke free home.
5. Before mailing cut the fabric into 56 - 5 inch x 5 inch charm squares. Press/iron before cutting to ensure accuracy. Unsure how to cut a charm, check out Sarah's Quilts tutorial. 
6. Send your fabric in a Ziploc bag with an index card with your name and email address.
7. Upload pictures of your fabric to swap to our Flickr group and include the name of the fabric, designer, etc. This will help ensure we won't get duplicates of fabric and also, find out more about the fabrics we will be receiving. Or, if you really love one of the prints and just want more, you will know how to get more! 

 SHIPPING:

All participants must include a prepaid self-addressed, stamped envelope along with their charms when mailing. The best way is to include a prepaid priority mail envelope, if it fits it ships :) This will make it faster for us to get your fabrics back to you A.S.A.P! 

Are you convinced yet? Head over to our Google Doc's page and sign up. Remember this is first come first serve. The first five extra peeps will be placed on an alternate list in case anyone drops out. Also check out our Flickr group to see what everyone is getting before purchasing your fabric!

If you really hate low volume, the term, or the fabric, head over to Ellison Lane to find out the details on how to host your own swap. The post is very helpful and includes lots of tips to help make your swap run smoothly :) 

-Michelle & Chels

Friendship Bags

My guild hosted a yankee swap at our meeting last night and I needed something cute, quick, and easy to whip up as a gift. This little pattern from ps. i quilt, was everything I was looking for! Added with a charm pack of white fabric, it was good to go. Even through I only needed one, they were just too cute not to make a couple! 

All the fabric was pulled from my scrap bin, very good way to use up scraps!! Except the bottom fabric, that got pulled from my stash. Isn't it awesome!  When I picked it out, I thought more would show.  I guess not. There was a bunch left over so it's going to become part of another Christmas gift. Secret holiday sewing is well under way :) 

-Patch & Chels

Swell

The time change is killing me, the lack of daylight is making it difficult to take pictures of quilts. This quilt has actually been finished for some time, but I haven't had good weather to take pictures. Blah. I finally found a sliver of sun to get some pictures, before it dived behind a cloud.

Swell comes from the book Simply Retro by Camille Roskelley. Instead of using the 2.5 inch square in the pattern, I changed it to use 5 inch squares. It was great to use up some scraps. I made a quilt following the real Swell pattern too and liked it ... a lot. 

Quilt Stats: 

• Finished Size: 57 inches x 57 inches 
• Pattern: Swell
• Fabric: Assorted prints pulled from scrap bucket
• Batting: 100% Cotton
• Thread: Connecting Threads - Parchment

My very picky friend actually like ALL these colors in this quilt, so she finally gets one! Now off to conquer the rest of my WIP list. 

-Patch & Chels

Quilt Challenge 2014... The Reveal

 Last year my grandmother and I started our annual Quilt Challenge. For 2014, we are using a charm pack of Birds & Berries by Lauren & Jessi Jung, along with 3 fat quarters of coordinating prints. Check out last year's challenge :)

This weekend was the big reveal.  We finally got to see each other's work. We keep it a secret, so it's extra exciting. Here is what my grandmother came up with, pretty awesome! Hard to tell that these two quilts use EXACTLY the same fabric!  

Gram's Version

I went with a scrappy crossroads block for mine as I absolutely loved the patten. It did a good job showing off all the patterns in the line. Then finished it off with some hand quilting. 

Now we just need to decided what next year's challenge will entail .... oh the possibilities! 

-Patch & Chels

Tone it Down! Update ...

First of all... the WINNER of Mondays giveaway goes to ....

Teresa if you could e-mail me your address, I'll get these in the mail!


You all had AMAZINGLY nice things to say, this week has been kinda crazy at school with grades being due ... eek.  Rest assured that I read each and every comment, although I didn't respond (sorry poor manners).  Thank you again for making this blogging journey such an awesome experience!


Now on to regularly recorded blogging ...

It's official the packages have arrived and Michelle (From Bolt to Beauty) and I have sorted them into 28 perfect little bundles of fabric for you all :). Michelle is mailing them today or tomorrow. There wasn't one bad fabric in the bunch and that is saying something. Every time Michelle would reach for a new bag of fabric I kept getting giddy with delight. I have seen most on our Flickr page but seeing them in my hands was just so much better! 

Now I just need to come up with a plan to use them, my mind is racing and it's difficult to settle on just one idea. We are encouraging people to post what they make from their packs in the flickr group so we can see what all these magical squares become! Here are some fabric highlights or fabrics I got exceptionally giddy about ... 

Lately, some of my peeps have been asking about finding low volume fabrics, here is a linked list of some low volumes I am currently loving.

• Pink Castle offers two bundles Word Up includes some great text prints, and a Super Awesome Low Volume.  They also have a great selection of low volume yardage. 
• Moda has come out with two lines, Elementary and Figures, that have some great texty prints. 
• Art Gallery has a few lines that have AWESOME low volume selections, Cherie, Cleta, and Littlest are some of my favorites right now.
• Intrepid Thread has a low volume bundle in both a FQ and half yard. 

Almost every line of fabric has at least one low volume print, the key is finding them because they don't always draw you in with beautiful prints and colors. Most fabric sites allow you to look by color way, so searching whites and creams brings up most fabric that would be considered low volume. Some sites even let you search low volume! I try to get a selection of both cream and white backgrounds to add to the scrappy look.  Also very pale tan's and gray's add some pizzaz.  

Also look at the goods Michelle gave me for helping organize the swap! I am thinking Christmas gifts from this book. 

****If you missed this round Michelle and I were already talking about doing another swap this winter after the holiday.  We are not sure of the theme yet, but stay tuned!

-Patch & Chels

Very Pink

As part of my fabric fast this year, I also took on getting rid of many of my scraps from long ago. A while back I pulled enough charm squares to make two pink quilts. For this quilt I chose the pattern "Road to ... oh Damn" it was the perfect pattern. After sitting around for a few months, this little cutie finally got finished.  

Road to ... Oh Damn

48 inches by 48 inches

I used a simple double loop stipple pattern, it was quick and easy way to top quilt. The backing was also pulled from my stash, using some some left over charm squares and a pale pink chevron print. 

This quilt is super pink and very girly, good thing I happen to know a sweet little girl who might be in need of a snuggly quilt!  

-Patch & Giraffe

"Tone it Down!" Low Volume Swap

Michelle, over at From Bolt to Beauty, and I are doing a Low Volume Charm Swap this fall. I had jokingly mentioned doing a swap to help Michelle build her low volume stash on my Around the World Blog Hop post, and people said they would be interested. So, let's make this official!

Sorry, to all my international friends, due to postage and this being our first swap we are going to limit it to the United States only. If you are interested in doing an international swap leave a comment. Then next time we can open it up to our overseas friends, if there is enough interest :)

DETAILS: 

Fabric Type: Low Volume

Fabric Size: 5 inch Charms

Participants: 28 Peeps, first come first serve! Don't wait :)

Timeline: Fabrics Due, Monday October 6th, 2014

Fabric Returned: Mailed out, Monday October 20th, 2014

Yield: 56 charms, 2 of each print

FABRIC REQUIREMENTS: 

1. Each person will purchase 1 yard of fabric and cut it into 5 inch charm squares.  1 yard will yield 56 charms exactly, you may want to purchase 1.25 yards just in case of an oops when cutting.  
2. Scale matters, choose prints that will work with a 5 inch square (smaller prints work the best for charms!)
3. Fabric should be designer label, 100% cotton, quilt shop quality fabric. (No Hancock's, Joann's, or Michael's fabrics)  
4. Fabric must be new and unwashed from a smoke free home.
5. Before mailing cut the fabric into 56 - 5 inch x 5 inch charm squares. Press/iron before cutting to ensure accuracy. Unsure how to cut a charm, check out Elizabeth Hartman's tutorial. 
6. Send your fabric in a Ziploc bag with an index card with your name and email address.
7. Upload pictures of your fabric to swap to our Flickr group and include the name of the fabric, designer, etc. This will help ensure we won't get duplicates of fabric and also, find out more about the fabrics we will be receiving. Or, if you really love one of the prints and just want more, you will know how to get more! 

 SHIPPING:

All participants must include a prepaid self-addressed, stamped envelope along with their charms when mailing. The best way is to include a prepaid priority mail envelope for $5.60, if it fits it ships :) This will make it faster for us to get your fabrics back to you A.S.A.P! 

Are you convinced yet? Head over to our Google Doc's page and sign up, or leave a message with your name (make sure you're not a no-reply blogger!) Remember this is first come first serve. The first five extra peeps will be placed on an alternate list in case anyone drops out. Also check out our Flickr group to see what everyone is getting before purchasing your fabric!

If you really hate low volume, the term, or the fabric, head over to Ellison Lane to find out the details on how to host your own swap. The post is very helpful and includes lots of tips to help make your swap run smoothly :) 

-Michelle & Chels

Quilt Challenge 2014

Last year while shopping at a local quilt store, I came across two honey buns in a clearance bin for $10 each.  My first thought was what would I do with this?!?!  Then I got the idea of having a quilt competition with my Grandmother.  So game on.  Here is what we game up with from our honey buns last year.  I love the embroidery my Gram did in the center of her quilt.  Sorry this image is bad ... it's hard to see the details.  

Well this year we are back at it again!  This time around we are using a Birds and Berry charm pack by Lauren & Jessi Jung with some coordinating fat quarters.  

There aren't that many rules in this competition, it just has to be a baby quilt at minimum.  The rest is up to us to get creative.  I have some ideas so far, but I haven't settled on anything yet.  Anyone have any ideas???  The plan is to get started over vacation next week but, there is so much pressure I cannot bring myself to start cutting.  I am at a standstill.  Hopefully more of you out there are having a much more productive week!

Sew long for now, 

CHELS