Quilts with Heart

Ten years ago today there was a huge snowstorm here in Podunk.  Why is that so memorable for me?  Because my co-worker(now Mr. Podunk) gave me a single red rose after swooping in and saving me from being stuck in the snow.   It's a long and boring story so I'll spare you the details and say the last 10 years have flown by because he's my best friend.  

While we're on the topic of love I thought it would be a good time to share my so called love or valentines quilt projects.  The first one is one made for my mom.  The quilt block was block 2 of the Erin Russeks "My Tweets" free BOM.  The blocks are no longer free but can be purchased here.  The border was designed by me but the idea came from one of Erin's quilts called Miss Belle. 

Below is "Summer Romance".  Designed and quilted by me.  It was supposed to be an entry in the first Missouri Star Quilts Iron Quilter challenge but due to biting off more than I could chew I missed the deadline.

The hand appliqued center took forever and then the quilting took even longer.

As most of you know I love to work out of my comfort zone.  It's the only way to expand ones knowledge.  The quilt below designed by me is called "Amour De Cerise".  One of the challenges in this quilt was to use valentine themed fabric.  Those of you that follow me on a regular basis know themed fabric is yukky in my book.

This was also a low volume background challenge.  I love how it turned out, even with the themed fabric.  It took one charm pack for the nine patches and fat quarter for the appliqued petals.

With the leftover scraps I made this small table topper.  You can find the free pattern here.

Another mini quilt made from the same scraps.  Not one piece of the charm pack was wasted.

"First Kiss" is one of my favorite designs.  Edited 7-7-17  I'll be writing a pattern and listing it for sale soon. 

"Hello Spring" below really isn't a Valentine quilt but since it has a red heart in the design it could be.  This is another free pattern in the tutorials tab at the top of my blog.

And the last quilt that could be considered a Valentine or Love quilt.  Made for a dear friend using her late husbands shirts.  She made the border blocks, I designed the rest, then quilted it for her.

I'm linking up at QuiltFabrications for a special Valentine Linky Parade.  Hop on over to be inspired and share a little little quilty LOVE.

And don't forget Linky Tuesday at FreeMotionbytheRiver.

~ Lea Anne ~

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Five Fat Quarter Fun~ FREE patterns

 As you all know I'm all about thrifty quilting.  Today I've another great freebie to share with you.  Amanda over at Jedi Craft Girl and Amber over at Gigi's Thimble have teamed up for a new series of FREE patterns called Five Fat Quarter Fun.

The title says it all.  Each project will use 5 FQ and a little yardage to complete.  The latest pattern is called Cabin Fever.  You can read more and find the link for your free pattern by clicking here.  Don't forget to look for their past project, it's a cutie too.

I started cutting my Wal-mart FQ Bundle yesterday evening.

Within just minutes I had my first block.  They should call this the Fast Five Fat Quarter Fun.

Since I get up before the chickens I'm making great progress.  I think I'll have a quilt top by noon.  

  

It won't take long to finish up the last 8 blocks.  

Here's a sneak peak at the next Five Fat Quarter Fun Pattern from Gigis Thimble instagram feed.  Oh I see a lot of sweet stuff going on here!  

 ~ Lea Anne ~

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Design Wall Monday ~ Moon Flower Magic ~

Good Monday Morning!  It's been a long time since my last Design Wall Monday.  Being back in the Studio is so nice.  The last couple of weeks have been a roller coaster ride, and not a fun ride.  So let me fill you in really quick.  Dad went for a yearly heart check up, found out he needed a surgery to open up an artery in his neck.  That went fine and he was home the next day.  Three days later mom has a heart attack and was hospitalized for 4 days.  Three days after that I became sick with a fever of 103.9 for two days.  Well we're all doing better and things are back on track.  All this commotion kept me out of the Studio for two weeks. Let me tell you, I NEED this stitching time!  It felt good to finally start working on the Moon Flower Magic.  The background fabric in this picture looks black but I assure it's Navy Blue.

Below is the quilt I had promised to make.  Well I had to make some changes in order to keep the units in this quilt the same dimensions as in the other quilt patterns in the Back Porch Blooms series.  

The new quilt below shows a thinner stem and leaves that are the same dimensions as in the Back Porch Blooms Block.  I'll also be adding an inside border to mine and a scrappy binding.  Of course the borders can be left off if you don't like adding borders.  

If all goes well I plan to have this pattern ready for printing by next Tuesday.   This will also be the date for the next linky party with a giveaway.  The linky party is for Back Porch Blooms projects only.  They don't need to be finished projects.  Any progress you've made is fine.  There's still plenty of time to join in the fun.  I'll be hosting two more linky parties, one in September and one in October to finish up the quilt along.  If you'd like to join in and need some inspiration I've posted several free patterns on my blog in the tutorials tab at the top of the blog or you can click on the Back Porch Blooms image in the sidebar to taken to all post about this series.  Projects of your own design using the Back Porch Blooms Block are also welcome in the linky party. 

Hope to see you next Tuesday!

~ Lea Anne ~

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Ring Around the Posy pattern idea

This week my Studio is being repainted and redecorated by little ole me.  That means absolutely no sewing time.  While painting, the quilt ideas seem to creep into my overly quilty obsessed brain.  Luckily I can get my sewing fix from playing around in EQ7  each evening.   Yesterday evening I came up with another design using the Back Porch Blooms block and the Butterfly block.  It finishes at 49.5" square.  A good size for a baby quilt, a large wall hanging or a super cute large table topper.  I'm calling this one "Ring around the Posy".

Oh yes, I'll make this quilt someday.  All the open space for quilting...feathers, feather, feathers!

Here's some basic quilty math for those of you who would like to make it.  

I used the same butterfly block as in the last quilt "Hello Spring".  This time it's framed, but the frame is different than the one in the tutorial that can be found here.  Just omit the on point frame part of the tutorial and add this one.

You'll also need the "Back Porch Blooms" block tutorial that can be found here.

If you visiting for the first time, the "Back Porch Blooms" is a very relaxed quilt along I'm having here on my blog.  There's linky parties and giveaways, you can read more about it in the link provided for the block tutorial.  You can find all tutorials and posts by clicking on the "Back Porch Bloom" image in the right sidebar.

As I was writing this post a little idea hopped into my thoughts.  What about adding this adorable little bunny to the "Ring Around the Posy" quilt?  You can find the tutorial for the bunny in my Tutorials tab at the top of this blog.  The tutorial sets the block on point, which would work nicely in this quilt.  Just trim the block to 9.5".

Happy Stitching!

~ Lea Anne ~

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Podunk Pickin's #13(Stack and Whack Freebies)

Welcome back to another week of Podunk Pickin's!  Since my time in the sewing room is next to none these days, its a good time to share some interesting tutorials I've compiled over the years while surfing the internet.  This week the focus will be on the Improv version of Stack and Whack.  Also known as Stack and Slice or Stack and Slash the technique is great for a new quilter that only wants to focus on getting it done quickly.  There's almost no measuring required, expect to start out with several squares of the same size.   A quilter could even bypass cutting all the large squares and buy a layer cake. 

If you're a new quilter Layer Cakes might be a odd term for fabric so here's a quick lesson.   You can purchase them at most local quilt shops or online shops.  Layer Cakes are 10 inch precut squares of a fabric line.  Most have (42) squares of fabric, but be careful, not all Layer cakes have 42 squares. 

Of course you could always cut up your own squares from any fabric you like.  

Now onto the Stack and Whack techniques.

You can find the "Crazy Nine Patch Tutorial" at Jenny All Sorts.  This is a very basic Stack and Whack block, but still oh so cute!

A Stack and Whack Wonky block tutorial at The Blue Chair.  Love how Kati made the blocks look so different.

Deonn @ Quiltscapes takes the Stack and Whack a step farther by making it the low volume background then adding applique.  You can find her Stack, Slash, Switch and Stitch tutorial here.

JMDay has put together two tutorials for A Wonky Star.

One can be here 

and the other here.

Okay now it's your turn to share your quilting and sewing tutorials from your blogs or other social media sites. They can be old or new tips and tutorials as long as they are sewing or quilting related.  Remember only one link up per week.    Each week will be another entry for the giveaway when you link up.  I'll be updating this post later in the week with the giveaway BUNDLE.  So there's a clue to the giveaway, IT'S FABRIC!  Don't forget to visit other a few of the other links, everybody loves visitors.  And spread the word about the linky party.  If you write a post about the linky party or mention it in a post, just leave a comment and let me know and you'll get an extra entry in the giveaway.
Thanks!

An InLinkz Link-up

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Sycamore Hill Quilts

I hadn't planned on writing a post today, then I read my email. Have you seen this?!  Gorgeous!  This new BOM created by 

 Christy Burdick@ Sycamore Hill Quilts 

is called Longmeadow.  I love the Pennsylvania Dutch feel of this quilt.  Each month starting October 1st Christy will post a new block for this quilt and they are FREE. 

The quilt pattern isn't totally free.  The center block is sold as a PDF pattern at Patternspot.  It's very reasonably priced, a small price to pay for such an amazing pattern.  

How many of you are ready to start digging though those fabric bins?  

Enjoy!

~ Lea Anne ~

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Podunk Pickin's Week 1

I'd like to start out this weeks Podunk Pickin's by thanking all the bloggers for sharing their FREE tutorials and patterns.  The tutorials are listed in the order in which I received them.  So let's get to the FREEBIES!

Jill at Apple Avenue Quilts shared two free patterns for mini foundation pieced quilts.   Two adorable ways to use up the tiniest of scraps. You can see both mini quilts and download the free patterns by CLICKING HERE. 

Daryl from Patchouli Moon shared a creative and cute tip for hanging wall art.  You can read more about it by CLICKING HERE.   

Sharon at Vroomans Quilt shared her tutorial for a Faux Braid Quilt from a jelly roll.  This tutorial takes all the fuss out of making a braid quilt.  You can find the tutorial by CLICKING HERE.

This last freebie was from my list of freebies to share if I had no email responses.  Kaaren at The Painted Quilt has a little mystery quilt in progress.  You can find the instruction for the first step by CLICKING HERE.  

That's it for this weeks Pickin's. Eventually I might make this a linky party, if there's a good response.  But for now if you written a quilting or sewing tutorial or tip on your blog that you'd like to share please feel free to send me an email(podunkpretties@gmail.com) with the following.

1. a link to your project or tip  

2. a picture of your project(for sharing on my blog)
3. and a brief description of your project. 

 It doesn't need to be a new post it can be an older post that you'd like to revive.  I'll share your link and picture on  Podunk Pickin's the following Sunday.  I'm hoping for tons of emails with great projects so I'm asking that you only send one a week. So what happens if I get no emails?   Then it's business as usual, me sharing the freebies found while surfing the internet.  So from now on anytime you see the Podunk Pickin's image you know my post contains links to some great free patterns and tips. 

Thanks again to all the bloggers who shared their projects and made the first Podunk Pickin's a success!

~ Lea Anne ~

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Podunk Pickin's

As most of my readers know I'm all about freebies.  Sharing my creations as free tutorials and patterns as well as the freebies posted by other bloggers.   Podunk Pickin's posts will be all about YOUR tutorials, tips and free patterns.  

Image above was a free image found here

Eventually I might make this a linky party, if there's a good response.  But for now if you written a quilting or sewing tutorial or tip on your blog that you'd like to share send me an email (My email address is podunkpretties@gmail.com)

Include these 3 things in your email.

1. a link to your project or tip post  

2. a picture of your project(for sharing on my blog)
3. and a brief description of your project. 

 It doesn't need to be a new post it can be an older post that you'd like to revive.  I'll share your link and picture on  Podunk Pickin's the following Sunday.  I'm hoping for tons of emails with great projects so I'm asking that you only send one a week. So what happens if I get no emails?   Then it's business as usual, me sharing the freebies found while surfing the internet.  So from now on anytime you see the Podunk Pickin's image you know my post contains links to some great free patterns and tips.  And that's the cue for this weeks finds.

Becky over at PatchworkPosse has shared a tutorial for a sweet little baby quilt called Early Bird Baby Quilt.   You can find the tutorial by clicking  HERE.

Another adorable free baby pattern Maverick's Hippo Quilt by Rebecca Danger.  You'll need to scroll down on the page to find the link to the free printable pattern.  Click Here

Enjoy!

~ Lea Anne ~

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Friday Freebies

Another week has just flown by.  Sadly I've no Friday finish to share. So I put together a collection of blogger freebies.
  Enjoy!

Barbara over at Cat Patches tickled me pink sharing her quilting woes and this free pattern.  

 How many times have you bought a layer cake then couldn't find a pattern.  It's the forgotten precut.   Trish from Notes of Sincerity  has designed several free layer cake patterns.  Her latest is "Bartholo-meow's Reef Boxes for Brayden".  Don't forget to check out her tutorials on the right side of her blog.

How darling is this!  What little girl wouldn't love to add this to their Tea Party!  

The tutorial along with some cutie patooties enjoying cake can be found at Stitchnquilt.  Elaine must be a little girl at heart!

Want to learn  applique and hand embroidery?  Cori from Creativity Among Chaos has tutorials each month for these amazing little fruits.   The real surprise will be the finished project.  She's keeping it a mystery.  You can join in the fun here.

Janet over at Simply Pieced happily took on the challenge of her first pattern tutorial in three sizes!  

Christa Quilts  has teamed up with Camelot Fabrics for her first free pattern.   Just follow the link within the blog post.  You might also want to check out her Aurifil thread  giveaway here.

~ Lea Anne ~

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