~ Dutch Delight Finished ~

 Every once in awhile a quilt comes along and I'm immediately swept off my feet.  Dutch Delight by Jill Finley is one of those quilts.  From the first time I laid eyes on her I knew I would make it as soon as I could get my hands on the pattern.  

She was introduced at the Spring Quilt Market this year.  Jill and her husband designed one of the cutest booths for market that won a award.  You can see her booth with all the quilts designed for her new Conservatory fabric on her website by clicking here.

It would have been nice to use her new line of fabric but I'm trying really hard to SIMPLY(my word of the year).  Simply means more than keeping thing simple.  It also means to use what I have if possible.  So I dug into the stash looking to recreate her color pallet as best I could.  You can see my fabric pull on a previous blog post by clicking here.

Since this quilt design had a fairly small amount of applique I decided to do turned edge applique instead of my go-to method of raw edge applique.  It would be nice to have the time(or the want to) to hand stitch the applique in place.  But honestly I don't like handwork.  So invisible machine applique is the next best thing.  It takes a quarter of the time and looks pretty close to the "real" thing.  Using Mono-Poly thread by Superior Threads is my secret to faking hand applique.  If you would like to see how I make my invisible machine applique click here.

Even with this speedy method I needed to take a break about halfway through stitching it into place.  Breaking one of my number one rules in the studio by bringing in my coffee.  The only rules in my studio are No Drinks, No food, No Pets.  Of course I was the only one home at the time so no one else knew but me and now you.   Shh...Don't tell Mr. Podunk, I run him out of here when her brings in a drink.

This quilt finishes at 64 x 64, a nice size throw quilt that is sure to be used often.  So I wanted to keep the quilting fairly light for a nice cuddly quilt.  I also wanted it to quilt quickly.  So I used the quilt piecing as my guide.  What does that mean?  It means very little marking, I just line up my quilt rulers with the seams or intersections (the orange dots below) of the piecing.  I did mark the long crosshatching (red arrow) because I felt it would be quicker to have them marked than to mess up and need to pick out stitches.

The binding is my favorite part of the quilting process.  It's so exciting to be on the home stretch to a completed quilt.  With this quilt I did what some call "a true quarter inch binding".  What this really means is it's a tiny binding that finishes 1/4" on the front and about 3/8" on the back, just enough to cover the stitches from stitching the binding down on the front of the quilt.  Most bindings are cut between 2" wide and 2.5" wide , the most common being 2.25" wide. (I rarely cut at 2.25).  For this binding I cut  1.5" wide strips.  Yep that's tiny, but it really isn't any harder than the larger widths.  Why would a quilter do this.  Various reasons I suppose.  I did it because this quilt doesn't have a border, so if the binding is too wide on the front it will cut off my points on the piecing.  And I like for my binding to be about the same size on the front and back of the quilt.  I made a chart for me to reference the different finished widths of binding.  You can find the free printable chart on a previous blog post by clicking here.  

She's so pretty.  I can't wait to get her washed and tossed over the back of my rocking chair.  The simplicity of this quilt is swoon worthy.  It was quick and easy, but so satisfying.  If you would like to make this quilt you can find it on Jill's website.  PDF pattern here.   And the mailed pattern here.  You can also find her Conservatory  line of fabric on her website.  Or buy them together as a kit here.  She has several of her quilt patterns kitted up and ready to ship.  Even if you don't want this quilt you should go check out her other quilts. She's an amazing designer with such a creative eye for applique.

Pulling from my stash was fun.  It gave me a chance to use some older fabrics that haven't seen the light of day in years.  Like this backing fabric, it's from the 1990's or at least that what I was told.  The blue on the label is another oldie fabric.  I'm not sure how old but I know it's over 10 yrs old because I purchased it 10 yrs ago at a local quilt show in a scrappy grab bag .

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~ Dutch Delight Quilt and Other Stuff ~

 Hello Happy Quilters!  Just thought I would pop in for a little update on the happenings in the Podunk Studio.  Lets start with my most recent new project.  It is an impulse project.  I've been admiring this quilt since seeing at quilt market.  The name of the quilt pattern is Dutch Delight by Jill Finley.  The simple design with pops of color won me over immediately.  Jill's quilt patterns almost always have a little bit of applique.  I love the way she can take a simple design and give life.   So as soon as the pattern was released I had to have it.  The temptation to buy the kit or a fat quarter bundle of her new Conservatory fabric was overwhelming.  So I told myself I could only buy the kit IF I couldn't pull the enough fabric from my stash.  As you can see I had no problem finding just the right amount blues and low volume prints, darn. I had my heart set on a new bundle of lovely prints.  You can find the pattern HERE you choose digital or traditional mailed. The quilt kits HERE.   And her new fabric line Conservatory HERE.

   

Below is Jill's finished quilt.  Simply adorable!  The pops of color in the applique is what really sold me on this pattern.  For the last three days Jill has shared video tutorials for this quilt on her Facebook and Instagram.  Hop over and check them out to see just how easy it is to construct this cute little quilt.  By the way there's a giveaway.

She used a layer cake for her quilt.  So the first thing I need to do was cut my fabrics into ten inch squares.

The hourglass blocks were a breeze to make.  I had them done in no time flat.  That's hillbilly talk or about 4 hours start to finish (trimmed).

Most of my quilts I use the raw edge method of applique.  But for this little quilt I decided to do prepared edge applique or turned edge.  That just means I turn under the edges of the applique before attaching them to the quilt top.  I was going to make a video about how to do this but life happens and didn't have time.  No worries.  Jill makes hers the same way I do.  Here's a video she made a few years ago about prepared edge applique.  Click here.

In the evenings I like to relax with a little bit of hand work.  No I'll not be hand appliqueing the Dutch Delight.  It will be done using Invisible machine applique.  If you've never seen this method you can read more about it here on my blog.  Right now I'm hand stitching the binding on my Hunkering down quilt. Quilt block tutorial and free PDF can be found HERE.  The plan was to binge on Netflix and get this done in one day.  I just don't feel like sitting all day and watching TV because I'm so excited about the Dutch Delight quilt.

The other project I'm working on is the Erin Russek's Home Again Free BOM.  You can see my blocks HERE.  And you can find the Free patterns HERE and finishing instructions HERE.  I still need to make the last three blocks and stitch down those plus 5 more.  Slowly but surely.  But there's no hurry.  This one is going to be over the top gorgeous when completed.  

In between the quilty happenings is this big ole box of peaches.  25 pounds of peaches.  We ordered them in advance from the Peach Truck and then picked them up on the scheduled day they are in our area.  I'm not a fan of peaches but my hubby says they are the best peaches he's ever ate.  You might still be able to get them in your area.  If your interested just follow the directions on their website.

See you all in a few days!  Here's an update on my girl Khaleesi.  She brings so much joy into our home.  I can't believe how much she has changed over the last year and a half.  There's no joy like a dog joy.  It's amazing what a little love and time can do for a rescue dog.

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