~Turnabout Tulips ~

Hi! Happy quilting friends!   I'm so excited to finally be sharing my new pattern Turnabout Tulips.  My love of flower quilts inspired another super cute pattern.  

The pink and aqua fat quarters from the First Romance bundle by Moda made the perfect spring quilt.

But this quilt looks just as cute in more muted colors.  This is the same pattern in Cory Yoders new line Pepper and Flax.

Or how about some reproduction fabrics...  

And patriotic!  Love this one!  A coloring page has been added to this pattern so you can find just the right color combination for your decor.

You can find this pattern in my Etsy shop as a PDF download or Mailed copy. 

Thanks for stopping by my little spot in Podunk!

~  Lea Anne ~ 

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~ Making Progress using DIY Acrylic Templates ~

Hello Quilting Friends!  I'm still working on a new quilt pattern.  Many of my quilts use the stitch, clip and flip method for snowballing fabric corners.   Those cut off corners can be saved and used as half square triangles(HST's) in another quilt.  But for my new quilt pattern they'll be squared up and used in the quilt.  

Both the green HST's and the pink are clipped corners from this quilt.  I managed to work in all the pink cut offs and most of the green into the quilt pattern.  It was a fun challenge to design a quilt around one block idea and it's own leftovers.  As you know I live in a rural area (Podunk) and going into town can take a big chunk out of my day and wallet.  Planning ahead is necessary when you only go into town once every week or two.   So I try to be prepared at all times for just about anything.   Instead of running into town for just the right quilting ruler I keep Score and snap Acrylic on hand to make my own templates.  Below is two templates I've made in past year for other projects.  One is a 2.5" square and the other is 3.5" square that was used for Bonnie Hunters En Provence Mystery quilt last year.  All the lines on the 3.5" square were not needed for this project, but the middle diagonal line worked perfectly for the pink HST's.

When making your own templates there's two handy tips you should know.  

1. To make the lines permanent you need to score the acrylic with a razor knife then use a permanent marker to fill in the score line.  If you don't the lines you draw will wear off with usage. 

  BONUS  The diagonal score line for the HST's is a little bit raised.  This raised line will lock up against the diagonal line on the HST's!  Homemade block loc ruler....shhhh don't tell our secret.  It's not as raised as the real block loc rulers but it does help.

2.  Because there is no paint on the templates to help with slipping adding something to make them less slippy may be necessary.  I use a piece of tape.  If your real thrifty just scratch the Acrylic with sand paper or make a few scratch marks with the razor knife.  My 3.5" has enough scored lines that it does not slip.

This is a Bonnie Hunter tip that she uses for all her quilting rulers.  One of the best tips ever!  It's cheap and one roll of this stuff will last for a lifetime in your sewing supplies. 

Over the year I've made several different templates.  How many times have you had an odd size flying geese or Dresden blade?  Dresden's are one of my favorite quilts to make and they come in so many sizes.  Using the paper template that comes with a pattern to make an acrylic template makes the cutting process so much easier.  Sheets of Acrylic can be purchased at just about any home improvement store.  I find my best deals at Home Depot.  They have a nice variety of score and snap. That's the key...MAKE SURE IT'S SCORE AND SNAP ACRYLIC.  The thickness you can guess is about the same as any other ruler you have in your collection of rulers.  Another tip when making your template is to score the same line about 4 times, pressing hard.  This will make the perfect snap every time.  To get perfect measurements use your quilting rulers for scoring the acrylic.

Ok!  Now that all the trimming up is complete I can get this Big Ole Beauty made into a top.  See you soon for the reveal!

~ Lea Anne ~

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~ Getting Romantic ~

As soon as I saw this new line of fabric I fell in love.  This is First Romance by Kristyne Czepuryk of Pretty by Hand, made for Moda.  Isn't it just the sweetest?   Now comes the hard part...cutting away the plastic and removing the ribbon.

It took a little time I finally did it...And OH MY GOODNESS!  My knees went weak and my heart began to flutter.  Two hours later I came to my senses and chose a few little lovelies for my next quilt.  Before this line was released for sale I started designing quilts just for this bundle.  About 20 quilts were designed but only four made the cut.  And from that four I plan to make at  two.  Both are quick and easy quilts with large blocks.

So the process began.  Below is my fat quarters drying after being starched.  The starching process is very simple.... a Rubbermaid kitchen container with liquid starch.  I refold the fabric to fit the container, lay all my fat quarters in the container and pour the starch mixture in.  After the fabric absorbs the starch I carefully squeeze out the excess.  Then hang on my frame with a fan and space heater blowing on them.  When almost dry(about 45 minutes later) I start pressing each piece.  The pressing(not ironing) while still damp helps to preshrink the fabric.  

A few hours later I'm well on my way to having a quilt top made.  

I couldn't help myself....I added a little Lakehouse Drygoods(green) to the mix.

Hope to see you in a few days with a completed quilt!

~  Lea Anne ~

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~ New ideas, projects, fabric and designers ~

Hi-diddly-O!  Happy quilters!  Just thought I'd take a few minutes to pop in and share with you what I've been up to lately.  The studio is a buzz with a few different projects... well lets be real it's a mess, but I'm only going to show you pretty pictures.  Below is the starts of a project that popped in my head one afternoon and I just HAD to make it right at that moment.

 And here I'm putting in the last few stitches.  It's OH SEW CUTE and I can't wait to share it with you in the next couple of weeks.

I've also been cutting up my own jelly roll strips for Moda's national jelly roll day this coming Saturday.  I've only purchased one jelly roll in my entire quilting life.  They're cute but I always think...I want more of that fabric than just a 2.5" strip.(fabric hoarders excuse #1).  Moda has lots of stuff planned for the big day and you can read more about here at there website Project Jelly Roll.  It sounds like there going to be some freebies!

Well I couldn't wait for this weekend to start sewing up my strips. This is going to be a cutie of a quilt!

While digging through the stash looking for just the right fabrics for the homemade jelly roll I noticed I was lacking in a few colors(fabric hoarders excuse #2).  A quick search on the ever famous Google and I was headed in the right direction.   It must have been my lucky day because found this discontinued Lakehouse print at an amazing price at Gray Hen Studio. Since it was a good deal I bought it all.(fabric hoarders excuse #3)  This was my first time buying from Cindy's Etsy shop but I'll definitely be shopping there again.  The shipping was fast and the packaging...CUTE!

 Over the last couple of years I've been trying to work from the stash as much as possible.  I've done fairly well staying within my budget but all that is going to come to an end next month.  The new Moda designer from the Pretty by Hand blog will have her first line of fabric called First Romance.  I've followed Kristyne Czepuryk blog for many years and when I saw she was coming out with her own line of fabric I knew it was going to be a must have, and I will have it! (fabric hoarders excuse #4) I'm saving my pennies, literally.  The picture below is just a tease you really need to see more of these on her blog.  You can find the pinks here, aqua here, yellows here, red and white here, and the green here.

The design ideas for First Romance are overwhelming.  Everyday my quilty brain comes up with a new quilt idea.  Some I draw in EQ and others I just jot down.   It's bordering on obsession.  Checking everyday to see if by some big miracle they've shipped early.  Dreaming that Kristyne would just send me a bundle...dream on sweetie!

So do you have a must have line of fabric?  Have you been saving your pennies for that special little bundle?  Do you share my love for this new line of fabric!?

Thanks for stopping by my little spot in Podunk!

~ Lea Anne ~

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